Rachael Flanagan’s business Mrs Bucket is now worth £3.5 million
The entrepreneurial Welsh Mum Rachael Flanagan known as Mrs Bucket – pronounced Bouquet launched her company after getting a U in her business A-level – and says lots of people doubted her at first. is now worth a staggering 3.5 million (March 2019).
I spent £20 on 5,000 black-and-white flyers
Spending £20 on 5000 black and white Flyers which at the time I thought was a lot of money. I couldn’t even afford a hoover myself so just had to use other people’s stuff.
People told me ‘you can’t have a business if you had a U Rachael, don’t be so stupid, you’re only going to be a cleaner, you’ll never be a businesswoman.
Rachael Flanagan was physically cleaning for 50 hours a week, with the dedicated teen also doing bookkeeping on Saturdays, visiting customers to price up jobs in the evenings and handing out more flyers on Sundays.
My mum was paying her cleaner £40-a-week for four hours
Rachael Flanagan said: “My mum was paying her cleaner £40-a-week for four hours and I was coming back for a two-hour lecture and she’d be walking home.
“My mum wasn’t happy with the standard, so that’s where I got the idea for my company.
“I could see the stress it put on my mum, because she was busy with two children and a teacher herself, working long hours further away.
“I said ‘I’ll do it for a bit of extra money’ and when I was sitting my business A-levels I started writing all of my ideas for this cleaning business I was going to grow.”
