The… you know. Two years later Rachel wrote a book about her business failure - published, with perfect timing, in 2008 just as the recession kicked in. It seems that, in the end, all the vouchers were honoured and, after Elnaugh was talked out of suing Barclays Bank by her lawyer, the only people who lost out were the Red Letter Days suppliers, not that Elnaugh has any sympathy for them. "No. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, "So the need is being met by things such as alternative therapy, cosmic ordering, hypnotherapy and people going to mediums and stuff. Rachel Elnaugh's first book 'Business Nightmares' is being published by Crimson on 8 May 2008 and is available from www.businessnightmare.co.uk Share or comment on this article: Sometimes, when she sits savouring the comfort of her "prominent" house in Bakewell, she watches hot-air balloons fly over on pleasure trips. As if we needed any further proof of this, she admits that she is a great admirer of Jeffrey Archer and particularly of how he profitably used his time in jail to write more books and make more money. 'She lives in this 20-bedroom mansion and I go around and say, 'Oh, I am so jealous'," cries Elnaugh, whose own property portfolio also includes a warehouse apartment next to Tate Modern in London and a six-bedroom house in Sandhurst, Berkshire. "However, I see it as a gift. Rachel Elnaugh was the keynote speaker at this year's Let's Do Business Expo. She launched the experience day voucher company in 1989 when she was 24 years old. More modern properties on the edge of town are in less demand.'. Now, having reinvented herself as a motivational coach, Rachel wants to sell her £1 million hillside home in Bakewell to move with Chris and their five children - Mark, 14, Paul, 11, Eddie, seven, Michael, five, and Jack, two - back closer to London, where most of her business opportunities are to be found. And after a precarious start, a print brochure campaign launched it to success. We all realised early on that Dragons' Den was going to be a big show, so I am grateful. Looking back at her business disaster, Rachel sees various reasons for the failure - mainly that she started the business from scratch at 24, but by 2002 had lost her appetite for it. Rachel Elnaugh Evolutionary Entrepreneur and Former BBC TV's Dragons' Den 'Dragon' Rachel is the entrepreneur who created the market leading experiences brand Red Letter Days at the age of 24, which she grew from nothing, on a shoestring budget, into a multi-million turnover household name. She was one of the investors participating in the first two series of BBC Two's TV show Dragons' Den. Rachel Elnaugh knows the pitfalls of business better than most. There is a worldwide need for it and I think there is a huge market out there for it.". It was bruising for Rachel Elnaugh to see her £25 million business Red Letter Days slide into administration five years ago. Rachel argues that back then they snapped it up for a bargain, but few buyers in today's market are willing to pay the same price paid in mid-2007. She built Red Letter Days into a £17m-turnover business and became a panellist on Dragons' Den. Built into a hill on the edge of town in the Seventies, it has large floor-to-ceiling windows that make the most of the stunning views. "I don't believe in filing, it's a waste of time," she says, explaining one of her coping strategies. "He's also a dragon in terms of the Chinese horoscope.". I don't think they quite realised what they were taking on.". The company had £3 million in cash at the bank but Barclays put it beyond reach, leading to a sudden cash-flow crisis. And because Rachel had always been stern in the den with wannabe entrepreneurs, the Press reported her disaster with undisguised glee. Having a husband who is 11 years younger than her is obviously another. 'The public criticisms of me grew and that was the bit I found hardest to handle.'. Rachel Elnaugh, 51, became an entrepreneur by chance. Rachel Elnaugh, entrepreneur and founder of Red Letter Days, was the original female Dragon in the BBC TV cult business show Dragons' Den. FENG SHUI “Rachel, as a result of your help…. I'd prefer to relocate the kitchen into one of the two integral double garages - the previous owner had a lot of cars. When accounts filed for 2003 showed a £4.8million loss, her bank decided the business might not be able to honour all its outstanding vouchers. "If you look at all the religious sects, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam and everything," continues Elnaugh, "what they are actually talking about is universal energy. 'I had spent the previous six months working non-stop to try to save my business and when the end finally came it was tough, but at least I could take time off again to be with my family. The BBC handed the role of token female investor to Deborah Meaden. OK, 50p and a half-sucked mint? In this brave new world, Elnaugh hopes that we will all join with her and believe in the power of subconscious thought, the importance of self-belief and a new kind of cosmic revolution that, to be honest, she has possibly just made up. Recently, she and her family moved to Yorkshire, where she now lives with her second husband, Chris, and her four small sons "in one of the most prominent houses in Bakewell". 'Over the past two years I have been spending an average of two nights a week in London. However, not all of those global headlines bore good news. "The editing made me look bitchier than I was," says Elnaugh, in the tradition of reality-television participants. or debate this issue live on our message boards. Britain has matched just two of the EU’s 13 bans of harmful chemicals since Brexit, Jockey Club facing parliamentary scrutiny following sexism and racism allegations, National Trust members' campaign group wants 'an end to political agenda', The best British cruises to book for this summer as demand soars, Joe Biden was reduced to tears by Hunter Biden's addiction, Two US Capitol police officers injured in suspected car attack, Noel Edmonds and his cosmic-ordering lark. A dragon investor in the first two series of BBC2's Dragons' Den, she suddenly found her millionaire status revoked. Rachel Elnaugh is one of Britain’s highest profile female entrepreneurs, in early 2005, Rachel shot to fame as one of the original Dragons in BBC TV’s cult business show Dragons’ Den. Jude Levy, Rachel Elnaugh and Katharine Dever (Imago founders) www.imagopeople.tv I loved it! The Irish influencer’s husband of eight years was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in September 2018 – and sadly lost his battle on April 1, 2020 at the age of 29.. The blank screen and empty seats that surround us are rather creepy, but Elnaugh is glad of the respite. In a deserted cinema, far below the streets of London, the former Dragons' Den star Rachel Elnaugh is setting out her vision for the future. "One guy who lost about £150,000 made a big noise about me being a bitch and letting him down, but he kind of forgot that I created the industry and he made millions out of me," says Elnaugh, with something about her flinty bitterness chiming rather harshly with her new-found spirituality. Businesswoman Rachel Elnaugh was the founder of experience gift company Red Letter Days. "They thought it was a good deal. Life couldn't get better. 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