Struggling mum who lived on £54-a-week & had £20k debt now runs own cleaning business after Rich House Poor House
A STRUGGLING mum-of-three who used to live off just £54 a week and had £20,000 worth of debt is now running her own business after appearing on Rich House Poor House.
Cafe worker Jamie Fox, from Bradford, her lorry driver husband Lee and their three children, Taylor, seven, Ashton, four, and three-year-old Molly-George, have seen their lives transformed after the Channel 5 show.
A year ago, they swapped lives and budget with Kent-based millionaires Jessen and Lorna James, and two of their four children, Isla, seven, and Amber, four.
In a follow-up episode tonight, Jamie was left emotional as she revealed how her life has now changed completely, and she has her own cleaning business.
The struggling couple were helped by wealthy Jessen – who made his first million aged 33 after training as a psychiatric nurse before setting up his own care business.
Firstly, Jessen paid £4,000 for Lee to upgrade his driving licence so he could make more money as a lorry driver.
He then paid for Jamie to join one of his marketing training courses and gave her start-up funds for her new cleaning business – which is now thriving.
Jamie had the idea to start her own business after paying Jessen’s cleaners more money than she made at her job.
Jessen kindly offered to mentor her and help her through the process.
Jamie said: “Jessen's helped me a lot in the sense that he has been quite harsh.
“'I've had to do business plans, cashflows, spreadsheets.
“I've not got a clue what I'm doing, he sent them all back for months.
“So in that sense it's been really good having someone with knowledge and telling me that’s not right.”
While Jamie hasn’t fully cleared her £20,000 debt, she now has a proper plan in place thanks to Jessen.
She added: “One of the first things I said to Jamie, if we're going to make your business work if we're going to give you a chance at getting ahead in life, we've got to address some of the things that are holding you back and one of those things is the debt.”
Jessen explained: “So what we did was we sat down, I gave us some advice on how she can get, you know, some of that potentially written off how she can contact these companies just speak to them, because at the end of the day, they're only interested in one thing and that is getting paid.
“So, even if they get paid a few pounds a week, that's what they want, they want progress not perfection.”
Jessen and Lorna have a privileged life and run a business school together.
In the original episode, he said: “We live a pretty cool life, we do nice things, and we've got time.
“We might go down to London and spend six, seven, £8,000 on just a shopping spree.”
Meanwhile, the Foxes rent from the community housing association and furnished it with any items they could find for free.
The family had a disposable income of just £54.20 a week compared to the James’ £1,900 budget.
Jamie said on the show: “Our financial situation is absolutely dire.”
After counting out their budget both families learned what activities they would be doing, with the Foxes taking a swimming lesson, meeting a client and going on a dinner date.
Up north the Foxes got to grips with their tight budget, and headed to the local market to scout for some deals.
Jessen said it reminded him of growing up in east London, as the pair tried to get their weekly shop for £10.
Thanks to the help from Jessen and Lorna after the experience, Jamie is now on her way to living the life of luxury.
She said: “If someone asks me ‘what do you do job wise’, I can say ‘I've got my own cleaning company.’
“It's right good to be able to say that, it's a nice feeling, onwards and upwards.”
Rich House, Poor House Changed My Life, Sundays at 9pm on Channel 5
lus this skint single mum on Rich House Poor House starts her own business after bloke she swapped lives with gives her £10k.
We shared how a skint couple who live on 50p per meal go on first date in YEARS after swapping lives on Rich House Poor House.
Meanwhile this 'dowdy’ mum-of-two who ‘felt invisible’ shaves 15 years off her age.
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