Patricia Bright: How She Made Her Millions

Patricia Bright is one of the most innovate and inspiring influencers working today. Born and bred in South London, Patricia shares advice and stories on beauty, style, fashion and finance to her 2.8 million YouTube subscribers on her channel Patricia Bright, and her 1.2 million Instagram followers. She’s also a founder of The Break, which offers financial advice to her followers, as well as de-mystifying how you try and achieve personal success. She says she called it ‘The Break’ “to represent the gap between what you see as a ‘good’ lifestyle and how you build a plan to actually get there”. Before becoming an influencer full time, she juggled posting on youtube with being a student, working for an investment bank and a Top Four consultancy firm. Now, she’s the CEO of her own brand. Patricia is a different kind of influencer with an incredible story to tell, I’m sure in this conversation you’ll begin to understand what it took to get her where she is today. Follow Patricia: Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thepatriciabright Twitter - https://twitter.com/pattyolovesu YouTube - https://youtube.com/PatriciaBright Follow me: https://beacons.ai/diaryofaceo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  This is like a therapy session.

• 0:01Steven Bartlett?

  Patricia Bryant, she's a creator, author, entrepreneur with an incredible story.

• 0:06Speaker 00

  Growing up, my mum should take us to offices to clean the offices and we'll go to school. And she would say, like, just don't tell anyone that you're working at five o'clock in the morning. You just go to school in the morning and act like everything was normal. There is pressure for influencers to speak up on every topic all the time. Bearing in mind that my forte is makeup and clothing and financed, you know, to an extent. But we are not credible sources who know everything. We just don't. And I think it's really important for us to say, speaking up on stuff that you know nothing about is very, very dangerous. I had a stalker for like three years and it was someone who would like just message me on all my platforms constantly.

• 0:47Speaker 00

  Send emails, message family members. I did a meet and greet, an event. And then they messaged me, he's like, haha, I was at your meet and greet. So I remember feeling so anxious. You didn't see me. You look so terrible in person. Next time I'm gonna do something.

• 1:12Steven Bartlett?

  Patricia Bryant, she's a creator, author, entrepreneur and a mother. And she has a remarkable, inspiring story. Growing up on a council estate, having her dad deported when she was just five years old. A Nigerian mother that came to this country doing cleaning jobs at night, which she took Patricia along to with her. And that mother became a property mogul and Patricia, she became a superstar in her own right. So it's no surprise that when I looked at the comment section on a previous podcast episode, a comment requesting Patricia Bright to sit here with me and to be on this podcast had over a hundred upvotes.

• 1:53Steven Bartlett?

  And now I know why. Her attitude, perspective, ambition, self-belief, resilience is incredible. So without further ado, I'm Stephen Butler and this is the Diary of a CEO. I hope nobody's listening, but if you are, then please keep this to yourself.

• 2:17Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 2:18Steven Bartlett?

  We share one big similarity with our childhoods in the fact that we both had Nigerian mothers.

• 2:25Speaker 00

  We did.

• 2:25Steven Bartlett?

  We did, yeah.

• 2:26Speaker 00

  I didn't know that.

• 2:27Steven Bartlett?

  Really?

• 2:28Speaker 00

  No, I didn't actually.

• 2:29Steven Bartlett?

  Well, I still have a Nigerian mother, so I should say I had.

• 2:31Speaker 00

  Yeah, we did.

• 2:32Steven Bartlett?

  Both have Nigerian mothers and I believe both of our Nigerian mothers moved from Nigeria to the UK.

• 2:38Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah.

• 2:40Steven Bartlett?

  So they were both born in Nigeria, so their, you know, authentic roots are there. But, you know, tell me about the rest of your childhood. I only had one Nigerian parent. I hear you had two.

• 2:50Speaker 00

  Yeah, I had both my mum and dad growing up, but my dad was actually deported. So he got deported when I was probably like six years old. And I actually remember the experience of his deportation as being something very traumatic. In hindsight, as an adult, I recognise that. But growing up, you know, with an African mum, African dad, our culture was just a part of us on an everyday basis. But also, I was from South London as well. So I kind of grew up in Battersea and I came from a very diverse school, but I always went back to like a very African home. And yeah, I think it really shaped me to who I am today.

• 3:32Steven Bartlett?

  In what ways?

• 3:34Speaker 00

  I think it's that kind of, I'm going to say aggression. There's something about Nigerians out of all other people from, say, the diaspora that I think means that we're quite aggressive and very passionate. Let's not say aggressive, let's say passionate. We're intense, we know what we want. And there's also a huge sense of like pride as well, that we can do anything and we're good. And I feel very privileged that I had a lot of that, you're great, you'll do well, you'll be successful, don't worry about what's going on, don't, don't see reality as a definition of a limitation for yourself. And I think that that's really made me do

• 4:16Speaker 00

  a lot of things that supposedly I shouldn't be able to do. But that kind of upbringing made me be like, no, I can do it. It's fine. It was always fine. I watched my mum do a lot of things that would be considered impossible for her. And she just did it with ease and chaos, in my opinion now. But somehow she kind of achieved those things. And I would feel very privileged to kind of grow up with that. Sense of confidence instilled in me, which I think is really cultural as a Nigerian.

• 4:47Steven Bartlett?

  And I bet she didn't complain either.

• 4:49Speaker 00

  Oh, there was no complaining. She did. She just got on with it. Like even when my dad was deported, she just got on with it. And there were times that, you know, growing up, my mum used to work on the trains. So she was one of the train cleaners and my sister's three and I'm five should go out at night and leave us because there was no one to like look after her kids. She'd go out, she'll clean, she'll clean offices. She'd take us to offices to clean the offices when we were younger. And um she just did it and we'll go to school and she would say like, just don't tell anyone that you're working at five o'clock in the morning. She obviously you're not going to go to school and tell people, oh, I've just been at Foxtons like cleaning and helping my mum out.

• 5:30Speaker 00

  You just go to school in the morning and act like everything was normal. Um but no, there wasn't any complaining and she just kind of got on with it.

• 5:37Steven Bartlett?

  And do you think, you know, you you referred to that as being, that gave you kind of confidence that you could do anything. But for me, it sounds a lot like because that immigrant story is so connected with like survival. And that's why I talked about like she didn't complain because it's like a lot of complaint comes from privilege almost, doesn't it? When you when you feel like you have a choice.

• 5:55Speaker 00

  Yeah, but what's really also really interesting is that some people still feel lucky. The fact that she wasn't deported when my dad was deported, she probably felt, oh, my God, I'm so lucky. I got to kind of stay here. And um why would you complain when you feel like you're in a better position for yourself and your children in the long term? So, yeah, she didn't have the privilege of wanting to complain, but I think she was really like happy to still be here. Though she had to work hard, I think she knew that she had a lot of opportunity while being here. And she'd be trained and she she became a nurse and then she bought properties and then she retired in her forties.

• 6:34Speaker 00

  Like, I love England in that it's kind of like the land of opportunity for those who really wanna like, you know. Work out what to do and use it. So I think she could see that that was possible for her.

• 6:48Steven Bartlett?

  And you talked about that, that day when you were six years old, when you're, there's a knock on the door at night time, at night time.

• 6:53Speaker 00

  It might have been at night, it might have been in the middle of the day, to be honest. What I do remember is like literally about four burly police officers, officers kind of walking in. Um, shouting, like screaming, like, and there's me as a five year old, my sister is a three year old. My mom in tears and then literally dragging my dad out of the house. And it was like. Your dad's gone, like at that one moment, and we didn't see him again for seven years afterwards. So it was like, I, at the time, I didn't, I never processed it. It's only in the last year or two, I've processed how kind of maybe traumatic that kind of experience would have been for me as a child.

• 7:34Speaker 00

  And I think it's also made me really be fearful of loss, which is why I work so hard. So that things like that don't happen, hopefully to me and my family in the future.

• 7:46Steven Bartlett?

  So in the last couple of years, you've had time to reflect on that and you, you, I, I guess you're saying. Did you choose to reflect on that or go through the journey of reflecting on that because you could see things in your behaviour that you thought? Maybe that's connected.

• 7:59Speaker 00

  I didn't even recognise it. I knew that there was, like, I work really hard, like, I'm really intense and I'm always like, let's just keep going. I'm always like that. And until I literally, you know, started to have therapy, I was like, where does that come from? And it was that then got uncovered in my therapy sessions that actually the, maybe one of the triggers for me to like working hard. Was because, because of that maybe fear of loss. Um, and obviously there's other aspects as well. I just like hustling, that's fun. But there was also maybe this thing here that was one of my drivers that I've actually used in a positive way. But it's also important to kind of reflect on like dealing with things like that.

• 8:40Speaker 00

  And I think that I came from a place of, no, it happened. That just happened. It's fine. Onto the next. Whereas like when you sit down and talk about it, you're like, oh, that's, that's not great.

• 8:51Steven Bartlett?

  Five years old as well.

• 8:52Speaker 00

  That's not a great situation.

• 8:53Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah, it must have taught you something about something, even if that lesson was wrong. That's where I think about it. I'm like, that must have taught you something about the nature of life. Cause at five years old, you're learning what the world means and what this means and that power and your dad and your mum, it must have taught you some lesson about something, even if that lesson was wrong, right?

• 9:08Speaker 00

  Yeah, exactly. I mean, I didn't even realise that it could have been teaching me something, like no idea, but maybe that stuff happened. That's life. You're not really in control of anything. But things like that can't stop you.

• 9:26Steven Bartlett?

  Hmm. Yeah. I mean, yeah, I think if my parents were snatched out of my house, I definitely wouldn't feel safe. I wouldn't feel safe. You know, because that's, parents represent the foundation of like safety. And you know, this is my house and these are my parents and they just are. And then one of those things is snatched out, it makes you, I guess, insecure about ever feeling too safe to some degree.

• 9:48Speaker 00

  Yeah. But I think for me, maybe mine was that I can't rely on the system or other people to secure my safety, maybe. And so I kind of am always trying to make sure I secure myself with the actions that I take. Cause those are the only things I'm in control of. So I'm very much like, I'll do it myself. I'll swear out myself. Oh, don't worry because you never know what's gonna happen there. And I, I'm like that as a person.

• 10:18Steven Bartlett?

  Does that make you paranoid about, I guess, everything? Professionally?

• 10:25Speaker 00

  No, it makes me really objective. Like I'm a pure realist, like something's probably gonna go wrong at some point in time. And that's fine. Like, how are you gonna handle that? Like, it's almost like I prepare for something to go wrong in a way. This is like a therapy session.

• 10:43Steven Bartlett?

  No, yeah, I mean, this is, this is pretty much what this podcast is.

• 10:46Speaker 00

  Okay, great.

• 10:47Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah. Well, no, I just find, I think when I started this podcast, I, I am, I was anticipating to find these like wild differences between everybody. But in fact, I found the opposite, which is that fundamentally, we're all very, very similar.

• 11:00Speaker 00

  Right.

• 11:01Steven Bartlett?

  When it relates to things like insecurity and safety and childhood. And then obviously, because in many respects, you've, you've gone on to create a career for yourself that is so different from so many. It would, sometimes you think, well, what was the initial catalyst that caused that person to be different? What was the like, the envi- it's almost like a cauldron. What was the furnace they were like scolded in to make them then more hard working or obsessive or whatever? And.

• 11:26Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah, I guess, I mean, having a Nigerian mother, I already know what that part is like.

• 11:31Speaker 00

  You could call it a cauldron.

• 11:32Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, that work ethic piece as well, which is quite absent in this culture. And that, you know, what we talked about complaining, you refer to this as the land of opportunity.

• 11:43Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 11:44Steven Bartlett?

  How does that make you feel when you see people who have lots of, a much more, let's say financially privileged start to life?

• 11:56Steven Bartlett?

  And they don't fully understand the land of opportunity.

• 12:02Speaker 00

  So my first thought is like, I roll, like, oh, there you go, moaning or complaining. But I also realised that there are so many different types of privileges that people have that can actually provide them like a long term foundation. I think that if you don't, some people have financial privilege, but they have no love, they have no hope, they have no, no one to tell them that they're good, whereas I mean, I've had the financial privileges, but I had a mum who was so loving and so caring and so encouraging that I was in a better position just because I had that. So I don't want to ever tell someone that you're privileged because of X, Y, Z. Maybe in other areas, they didn't have the support that they needed to actually

• 12:47Speaker 00

  spur them on to be the best version of themselves. So I try not to be that judgmental anymore because there's so many different categorisations of privilege.

• 12:58Steven Bartlett?

  And at some point, you know, you said your mum, she retrained herself, she became a nurse, which is amazing.

• 13:04Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 13:05Steven Bartlett?

  And off you went to university.

• 13:08Speaker 00

  I did, yeah, I went off to university.

• 13:10Steven Bartlett?

  MMU, we have a similarity again.

• 13:12Speaker 00

  Really? Oh, my gosh, I love that. Yeah.

• 13:14Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah, I lasted one lecture, but. I was there for all three years, but I just dropped out.

• 13:19Speaker 00

  Okay, great. We have that in common because I was barely there. But I was, I had a great social life.

• 13:25Steven Bartlett?

  So amazing.

• 13:25Speaker 00

  Enjoying.

• 13:26Steven Bartlett?

  Manchester's great.

• 13:26Speaker 00

  It's great, yeah. Yeah, no, I went to university after like leaving home and I was so ready to like get out of my house and get out of London and try something new and then find myself in like a new city. I actually went in to do fashion marketing. And to my parents despair, because again, as an African, you don't do fashion. That's not, that's not a real course. You do accounting, you do law. You do business, you don't do fashion marketing. But I think I've always had this kind of more creative or creative streak as well as rebellious streak as well. Like I'm gonna do what I wanna do. But funny, I kind of went there to do fashion, but changed my course to accounting and finance.

• 14:11Speaker 00

  Because I realized that there was no financial hope in fashion. I was like, oh, I'm not gonna be broke when I leave university. Hell no. So I changed.

• 14:21Steven Bartlett?

  Purely on that, on that basis that you.

• 14:23Speaker 00

  Purely on that basis. I didn't love my course. And then when they were doing internship opportunities, they were paying interns eight K a year, ten K a year, and like graduate starting salaries were like eight, eight K. I was like, I, I'm not rich enough to do this. No way. And then I found out about accounting and finance. And they, they were like the banks that had really good opportunities. And I was really good at the accounting because we had a module in the fashion marketing and I would, I smashed it. And I was like, I'll do accounting and finance.

• 14:56Steven Bartlett?

  Wow. You said at this point that you were, your parents, you know, typical Nigerian parents, my mom was the same. When I, actually when I dropped out is when I got help. Because you know, that's even worse.

• 15:05Steven Bartlett?

  Rather you're doing something at university. Just, I feel like part of it's just, just so she can tell her friends or something. It's like, do you know what I mean? It's just like, it's like, I'm going to university so that you get a degree as being a good mother.

• 15:16Speaker 00

  It's a fact. My child is at university is what they tell all the aunties. Like, it's very important.

• 15:22Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah. And at that point, your dad was, he was back in your life?

• 15:25Speaker 00

  Yes. So by the time I was about twelve, he came back. So fundamentally, they they defined his deportation as an illegal deportation. But I remember going to the court cases and my mum pleading with, you know, social services and lawyers and just people help us, help us get my, our dad back. Like, how do we do this? And then we went to the court case and she was like, I don't know why this man was deported. Like, gavel down, bring him back. I was like, that took seven years for you guys to do that. But he got back. And like, he just started again, worked as a security guard, did all of that kind of stuff, and then ended up working in the home office.

• 16:08Speaker 00

  For immigration, which is so random because he was, you know, deported.

• 16:13Steven Bartlett?

  Are you pissed off about that?

• 16:16Steven Bartlett?

  The fact that you lost your dad for seven years? For what, what sounds like it was a bit of a mistake or just negligence?

• 16:23Steven Bartlett?

  Or at least a lack of empathy to take a dad from their kids for what?

• 16:27Speaker 00

  Yeah, oh, am I, I'm not pissed off. Maybe I haven't processed it enough to be pissed off. It just felt like it is what it is and this is how it went. I felt more upset for my mum in that I know how difficult it was for her to like have us and have responsibilities and deal with like managing this court case. She managed it her entire self. She represented herself because she didn't have money for like lawyers and stuff. So she was under a lot of stress. But she did it and she did other stuff as well. So that was really the main thing that kind of upset me, I'd say.

• 17:08Steven Bartlett?

  When did your dad come back? Did you have a relationship with him?

• 17:10Speaker 00

  It was weird. It was so weird. It's like, this is my dad. My dad. Like, how how do we have a relationship with the man we haven't seen for seven years? But, you know, he was the kind of. What stoic African dad. So I remember he always gave me an envelope with money at the beginning of term, like, well done, look after yourself. Okay, how's the weather? Are you reading your books? Yes, dad. Yes, dad. Okay, good. Like, it was that kind of relationship, but I knew it was it was still caring. It was the way he kind of communicated his ca- care for me, which is that envelope of cash.

• 17:47Steven Bartlett?

  And that's probably like a Nigerian generational cycle of like male figures.

• 17:51Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 17:52Steven Bartlett?

  Just being a bit, you know.

• 17:53Speaker 00

  A bit standoffish, but caring. And when they ask you certain questions, whether it's about the we- weather or your studies, how are how is your studies going? Like, that's just, they don't really know what else to ask you. But them asking you that is is powerful. And my dad calls me every day. Hi, how are you? Fine, dad. How are the kids? Fine, dad. Okay, bye. Like, it just it's that checking in, which is really, I like it.

• 18:19Steven Bartlett?

  Hmm. I think that's probably also just a male a male issue. I think men typically aren't as emotionally open. So they they don't build that, you know, because vulnerability to well, connection seems to be built on vulnerability and they seem to have a bit of a guard up. I my dad is definitely exactly the same. Like.

• 18:35Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 18:35Steven Bartlett?

  The questions are so like, you know, just surface level. Yes. Are you okay? Yes. Okay, goodbye.

• 18:42Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah.

• 18:42Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah, let me know if you're not. Okay.

• 18:44Speaker 00

  Exactly. Yeah.

• 18:46Steven Bartlett?

  Um. So MMU, you go there, you feel a bit out of place.

• 18:49Speaker 00

  Yeah, quite out of place.

• 18:52Steven Bartlett?

  What do you mean by that?

• 18:54Speaker 00

  Because I'd never left, like, London and I'd like I had to make new friends and I didn't know anyone and I wasn't really good at it. And I I couldn't really find my tribe very early on. And I was on a ca- a campus really far away. I was on the Didsbury campus.

• 19:11Steven Bartlett?

  Oh, yeah.

• 19:11Speaker 00

  Like, that was.

• 19:12Steven Bartlett?

  Out of town, yeah.

• 19:12Speaker 00

  Yeah, out of town, right? And then there was like the main campus for Manchester University that everyone was at.

• 19:18Steven Bartlett?

  That's where I was.

• 19:19Speaker 00

  Yeah, I wasn't there, right? Yeah, in the spot.

• 19:22Steven Bartlett?

  It was a party, it's unbelievable.

• 19:23Speaker 00

  It was great. And I'm in Didsbury. All right, I was like, come on. And and I actually ended up like moving out of my halls of residence.

• 19:30Steven Bartlett?

  Really?

• 19:30Speaker 00

  And crashing with a number of girls in that main campus. And I would move from room to room. So once one friend got annoyed with me after two weeks, another friend would stay with me. I'd stay with them for two weeks and then I'd just go back and forth like a nomad for a bit.

• 19:48Steven Bartlett?

  And you. You you change course to accounting.

• 19:51Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 19:52Steven Bartlett?

  In hindsight, how important was it? How like pivotal was it for you to have an understanding of finance? For everything that would then come in your in your career? Because I feel like I feel like finance is such a neglected topic for for kids. I wish someone had told me about fucking credit scores before I smashed mine.

• 20:11Speaker 00

  Okay, so the moving role was pivotal for my life, like it set me up on a completely different trajectory that I I wouldn't have even been aware of because off the back of that role, I worked at, you know, all the top four four companies in the world in finance. I worked at Merrill Lynch and Deloitte Consulting, banks, all of that stuff. I would have never done that if I'd stayed in fashion. When it came to from a personal finance perspective, didn't prepare me at all.

• 20:37Steven Bartlett?

  Really?

• 20:38Speaker 00

  Not a clue. I owe the taxman money. I I I got my taxes wrong. I had to pay fines. I had no clue what I was actually doing. I had the degree, I had the T one. Great, you've passed. How do you actually apply financial knowledge to running your own business, to your everyday personal taxes? Like, I didn't have a clue. Spent the money, bought bags, made extra money on the side, spent it all, owe the taxman, and I wasn't prepared.

• 21:08Steven Bartlett?

  Fucking hell. Well, I mean, that's a great advert for Manchester, much more than university.

• 21:13Speaker 00

  Maybe it was just me. Maybe I was just like young and dumb, but like it helped me from a career perspective, but a lot of the financial courses out there don't help people be better themselves with money.

• 21:25Steven Bartlett?

  And that psychology point, because money is such an emotional thing, especially as like an immigrant.

• 21:29Speaker 00

  Yeah. Oh, yeah, exactly. Yeah.

• 21:31Steven Bartlett?

  And you grew up in a council estate, right? Growing up in a council estate, getting money.

• 21:35Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 21:35Steven Bartlett?

  Dangerous concoction for getting a Lamborghini or fucking up with some Chanel bag or some shit.

• 21:40Speaker 00

  Exactly. But like, I grew up on a council estate. And then my mum bought her council house, right, for seventeen grand, sold that house for two hundred and fifty grand, used that money to buy it to build a property empire. And that's how she ended up retiring. So when I was in Manchester, I was actually, my mum bought like four houses in Manchester. So I was doing property management while being a student. So I was still like running businessy stuff, like as a student. So even though I had that, came from the council background, I'd seen kind of like how hustle and money could kind of be made and that I didn't have to be broke forever if I was kind of smart about it.

• 22:21Steven Bartlett?

  Mm hmm. Your mum sounds like a right beast.

• 22:24Speaker 00

  She's wild.

• 22:25Steven Bartlett?

  She bought four houses while you were in Manchester?

• 22:27Speaker 00

  Yeah. No, how many? No, three.

• 22:29Steven Bartlett?

  Oh, well.

• 22:30Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 22:31Steven Bartlett?

  So different, yeah.

• 22:33Speaker 00

  Yeah, but they were, and I can't swear.

• 22:35Steven Bartlett?

  I can't swear?

• 22:36Speaker 00

  Can I swear?

• 22:37Steven Bartlett?

  Of course you can swear.

• 22:37Speaker 00

  They were shit holes.

• 22:39Steven Bartlett?

  Oh, okay.

• 22:39Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 22:39Steven Bartlett?

  Well, that's still, I mean, you know.

• 22:41Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 22:41Steven Bartlett?

  She, she was just in it for the flip.

• 22:43Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah, exactly.

• 22:44Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah. So you start at some point blogging while at university and, and why did you turn to blogging? Why, why was that a compelling path?

• 22:52Speaker 00

  Blogging, vlogging, I kind of went into it because I kind of had like a friendship fallout. And I became a bit of a loner, like I didn't have a big social group, like people would go out without me and I, I would live with a group of girls and they'd all go out together and I'd be like left at home by myself. So I, I found like online communities. So I was part of different forums before Reddit was Reddit, before YouTube existed, there were like forums where girls would talk to each other about beauty and makeup. And I'd spend hours like writing to these girls across the world and sending them pictures. And they used, before Instagram, there was Fokkey, there was all these platforms where we were communicating.

• 23:35Speaker 00

  And then, um, some of the girls would send videos to each other of like their new hair and their new makeup, like so, so random. And then YouTube had just launched, it was like, this is a great way to send videos to each other. And so I kind of got sucked up in commu- meaning communicating with all the people that I met online because my real life wasn't that great.

• 23:58Steven Bartlett?

  And I guess when you started on YouTube, you never. Never thought it was anything more than a.

• 24:02Speaker 00

  Oh, no, it wasn't a thing. At the time of me like watching YouTube and kind of creating on the platform, there wasn't actually that many people on there. Um. And so like little artists could go viral and there'd be like, there was a song Chocolate Rain. I don't know if you guys remember that.

• 24:18Steven Bartlett?

  I remember with the the black guy with the hat.

• 24:20Speaker 00

  Yeah, like.

• 24:21Steven Bartlett?

  The, yeah.

• 24:22Speaker 00

  Yeah, that was like mind-blowingly amazing. And then what there was Michelle Phan, she was like the main beauty girl that was really like killing it. So it was such a small little ecosystem that wasn't a business, but it was genuinely about like connecting and talking to other people online.

• 24:39Steven Bartlett?

  Why did you do so well in hindsight on YouTube?

• 24:44Speaker 00

  Honestly, length of time, like I was just doing it for a really long time and I was very transparent, like I was so transparent. I was putting a lot of information out there. Um. I wasn't that strategic with it, but I loved talking to people online, like they were literally my friends. And I use it a bit like a a online diary in a way, very earlier on. Um. But it wasn't like a full-time thing. I was like interning and wo- working. Um. But I think eventually I got really strategic about it. And that's when I saw like more growth or huge growth.

• 25:23Steven Bartlett?

  Um. You were saying that, you know, you first started um like the online forums and stuff at a time when you'd like fallen out with your flatmates and um. I guess from what it sounds like YouTube was giving you that sense of like community, I guess, and that you weren't getting in the real world.

• 25:38Speaker 00

  In fact, yes, definitely. I didn't have like a huge social life after a while, um after the fallout. And I had so much solace with just this online community. I never felt lonely because I could log in and there'd be someone on there and I could read all the forum updates and talk to the girls who were into the things that I was into. They were all over the world. It was just really nice to like have friends.

• 26:03Steven Bartlett?

  You referred to the fallout as if it was a really pivotal moment in your life.

• 26:08Speaker 00

  It wasn't, it wasn't, uh, it wasn't that pivotal, but it's quite hard when you're at uni and like, your friends are off doing stuff and like meeting people and then you're, you don't have anything to do. Or they, they're not talking to you. It feels like a big thing. In, in real life, it's really not a big thing like. But at the time it was like, I'm so lonely. I'll go online.

• 26:29Steven Bartlett?

  Okay.

• 26:29Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 26:30Steven Bartlett?

  Well, wow. Good thing you did.

• 26:31Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 26:32Steven Bartlett?

  What a journey. And you say consistency, you point to consistency as being the real um factor to your success, but consistency must come from, you know, en- enjoying it. Cause there'll, there'll be a lot of people listening to this thinking, I wanna be a YouTuber. I mean, everybody seems to wanna be a YouTuber these days.

• 26:45Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 26:46Steven Bartlett?

  But the insanity to do it as long as you did without the um guarantee

• 26:52Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 26:52Steven Bartlett?

  of money

• 26:54Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 26:55Steven Bartlett?

  must have come from somewhere.

• 26:56Speaker 00

  There was no guarantee of money. It was a hobby. Like, if you're a painter, you like painting at the weekend, you're gonna paint anyway. Whether someone pays you for your art or not, you just enjoy doing it. So I just enjoyed making videos that other girls watch and I could talk to the other girls. So I didn't get paid for like four years, but I was always uploading every weekend. It was my hobby. Like it wasn't, this is gonna be my new job, which is why I even struggle with it now in that I really wanna enjoy it in the same way that I always enjoyed it. And do I need to look for a new hobby? And is now YouTube my job? Like, oh, I find it really hard to kind of balance the fact that this thing that was my, my escape is kind of like my job now.

• 27:40Steven Bartlett?

  Hmm. There's a, we, I was talking to one of the guests on the podcast a couple of weeks ago about um this study where when someone gets paid to do a task they used to love doing, they lose motivation for it.

• 27:49Speaker 00

  Hmm.

• 27:50Steven Bartlett?

  And it's just mental. They, they do this study where they give people this game. People enjoy doing the game. They then say, we're gonna ask you to do the game again, but this time you're gonna get paid. The other group don't get paid. And the group that got paid to do the thing they just enjoyed doing, lose motivation. Doesn't it make a lot of sense?

• 28:06Speaker 00

  YouTube stopped paying me. No, I like those checks. Um, that is insane.

• 28:12Steven Bartlett?

  It's, you lose internal motivation when it becomes, when, when some of the um reason for doing it becomes extrinsic monetary. So, and, and, and this is a, you know, it's so wise.

• 28:25Speaker 00

  Oh my gosh.

• 28:26Steven Bartlett?

  It's tough, isn't it?

• 28:27Speaker 00

  It's really tough because

• 28:29Steven Bartlett?

  People are like, oh my god, like what a privileged conversation.

• 28:32Speaker 00

  It's not because like, say, imagine someone's like a a darts player or something, right? But eventually, once they get into the competitive sports of darts, maybe it becomes a bit more stressful. Maybe they don't enjoy it as much. Maybe the the the challenge of doing it is now I've got to perform for my management. And the the the crew or whatever, I don't know, there's a dark crew. I just made that up. But that becomes like, I don't know, more pressure than the person who just wanted to play darts on the Saturday night would feel.

• 29:04Steven Bartlett?

  Can you feel that?

• 29:06Speaker 00

  No, no. The reason being is that I'm I try to frame what I do as I've accepted that I have a huge desire to create stuff. Right? That's it. So as long as I focus on this process is creation, this process is creation, I'll be fine. And that might mean saying no to work and no to sponsorships for a season. So I can at least feel that creation because I'm very much like, how do I feel about this? Which is kind of bad, but also it's allowed me to do what I'm doing.

• 29:39Steven Bartlett?

  Feels like a good long term strategy.

• 29:41Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 29:42Steven Bartlett?

  Right. Because if you're not asking that question in the short term, how do I feel about this? So many people, and in fact, I think the guest that just sat in that chair last, um, you end up gradually becoming someone you never intended to be and ending up somewhere you never intended to go. So that constant asking of that question, how do I feel about this today? Which I, as you alluded to, means turning down money sometimes, but you know, thinking longer term about what you're doing and why you're doing, I think is so critical. So critically important. You know, we've got two guests that have come to watch this podcast today and Sophia, I said, Sophia, you know, she's she's followed you for some time. I said, Sophia, if you could ask Patricia any question, what would it be? She said to me, um, how did she find the confidence to make the leap from that sort of corporate career

• 30:26Steven Bartlett?

  to going full time with this thing called YouTube?

• 30:30Speaker 00

  So for me, my confidence came from an Excel spreadsheet. So I am not a risk taker. I'm more of a steady and stable person. But I did a bit of maths. I did a bit of a projection. I looked at what my long term potential um earnings and lifestyle would look like if I stayed in the banking industry. And then I looked at what my numbers were looking like. You know, if I stayed as a creator, where could I take it? And even at that time, I had no clue I could get to where I am today. But the numbers looked healthy enough. So I was like, okay, I'll I'll take the leap. Even if I do it for two years, it could be okay.

• 31:12Speaker 00

  Um, and I didn't just jump out. I kind of um took a toe dip in. And I quit my job, but then I took another job that was part time. So I could make content and have a job as well.

• 31:25Steven Bartlett?

  And you call your mum and you say, I quit my job.

• 31:28Speaker 00

  I didn't tell her. I didn't tell my mum. I didn't tell anybody what you've quit your big banking job. Oh, hell no. I could never do that. So I I knew my parents would be worried and scared.

• 31:40Steven Bartlett?

  Shall we tell them now?

• 31:41Speaker 00

  No.

• 31:44Speaker 00

  So mum, I left my job. They barely know what I do right now. They're like, I do this thing on the internet. They're like, oh, well done. It's fine.

• 31:53Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah, yeah. So my mum. But yeah, so you you made that you took that leap into YouTube. Um, was there a moment where you think, oh, fucking hell, this is this is moving, this is?

• 32:04Steven Bartlett?

  Or was it just one step at a time?

• 32:06Speaker 00

  Slow and steady.

• 32:07Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah.

• 32:08Speaker 00

  Slow and steady. I was making I'd been making content for seven years. And then I got to a million subscribers. So I didn't have any of those really viral moments. And I saw lots of people kind of steamroll ahead of me, like go viral. They were part of these groups and these crews and, you know, there was a time that there was a thing called the Brit Pack. They were all there. And I was just like in the corner by myself, like prodding along. And then inevitably, like my time my time came. And it took again that seven years to one million and then one more year to another million and a half. And I then had my own viral moments off the back of myself.

• 32:50Speaker 00

  And um but I never kind of took the step back to be like, oh, you've made it. Because I never feel like I've made it.

• 32:57Steven Bartlett?

  Not even now.

• 32:59Speaker 00

  Not yet.

• 33:03Steven Bartlett?

  A lot of people might be surprised by that.

• 33:05Speaker 00

  Hmm, maybe, but it depends on someone's personal definition of making it, right?

• 33:11Steven Bartlett?

  And what's yours?

• 33:13Speaker 00

  World domination.

• 33:16Speaker 00

  What is mine? Um, it's not just being popular on social media. That's not my complete definition of success, right? I think for me, it's like creating things that I wanna create when I wanna create them and monetizing them and bringing value. So if I say my overall thing, that's it. What that looks like, I don't know just yet.

• 33:38Steven Bartlett?

  And you don't think you're there yet? You don't think you're creating things that you really?

• 33:41Speaker 00

  Oh, I'm doing it. I'm doing it, but I don't think I've had like one big thing yet. Does anyone have one big thing now?

• 33:50Steven Bartlett?

  I don't know. I think that, I, you know, I think if you'd gone back and asked Patricia when she was at MMU, what her making it look like you would have said, you know, a hundred thousand followers. On my, do you know what I mean? So there's.

• 34:02Speaker 00

  Free clothes, free food.

• 34:04Steven Bartlett?

  Exactly, yeah. So maybe the goalpost is just moving off into the future. Maybe that's, maybe that speaks to what life is. It's just that journey as opposed to that destination, right? So.

• 34:13Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah.

• 34:15Steven Bartlett?

  And influencers, being an influencer. Talk to me about that. When I say it, you know, what do you think about the lifestyle, the stigmas, et cetera, et cetera?

• 34:26Speaker 00

  So when people say influence, I think there's a little cringe when they say it. But I think this concept of being influential is, has always been around. But it's al- always been around with the hands of the upper echelon of people. Only certain people are, are picked by certain industries to be influential. But what I love is like now there's this democratization. People can choose who they want to be influenced by. And how I got in my position is because people liked me. They, they decided that actually I wanna hear what Patricia has to say. I wanna see what she's buying. I wanna see what she likes. So I think it's a really.

• 35:06Speaker 00

  Powerful tool. We've all been influenced. The question is like, we wanna choose who those influences are.

• 35:13Steven Bartlett?

  It's a, it's a, it's a big, I guess, responsibility to some because I know for a fact that every time something happens in the world, you get a DM, Patricia, I thought you were with us. Why aren't you doing fifty five Instagram posts about Palestine or Kenya or India or oxygen in fires in Australia? I thought you were one of, it's a lot.

• 35:38Speaker 00

  It's a lot. It's a lot. Bearing in mind that my forte is makeup and clothing and maybe financed, you know, to an extent, I feel there is pressure for influencers to speak up on every topic all the time, but we are not credible sources who know everything. We just don't. And I think it's really important for us to say we're ignorant on a matter and we're, we're learning, but kind of speaking up on stuff that you know nothing about is very, very

• 36:09Steven Bartlett?

  Stupid.

• 36:10Speaker 00

  Dangerous.

• 36:11Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah.

• 36:11Speaker 00

  Yeah, and stupid.

• 36:12Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah.

• 36:12Speaker 00

  Um, and also what is really scary is that if you don't think the same way that everybody else thinks, you're in trouble.

• 36:20Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah.

• 36:20Speaker 00

  What if you have an alternative perspective? You're not allowed to have an alternative perspective. If you answer peace, whether or not it's, you know, in the Middle East specifically or on a certain matter, oh, no way. Cause the world wants to keep everything burning, but like, personally, I'm like, can, can this just chill? Like, not just that situation specifically, but a lot of situations, I'm like, I just wish it wasn't happening.

• 36:48Steven Bartlett?

  Is that your approach to it? You think generally if I don't have a, a proper, well-rounded view, cause it's all well, people like, cause I get the same, this is how I know you'd get the same. People message me and say, Steve, speak on this issue or Black Lives Matter or whatever. Um, while I'm still processing it. And what you're right, what they're actually saying is share my opinion to your followers of, on this issue. And they're trying, they try and like guilt trip me into it, like.

• 37:13Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 37:13Steven Bartlett?

  You know, especially when it's, when it's a group of people that I can relate to just viscerally. So like my skin color.

• 37:19Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah.

• 37:20Steven Bartlett?

  I'm expected to be a, you know. The spokesman of all black people.

• 37:24Speaker 00

  Yeah. Oh, me too as well.

• 37:25Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah.

• 37:26Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 37:26Steven Bartlett?

  It's a lot of, yeah, a lot of nastiness. What else do you think is unappreciated about being an influencer? You've obviously got a big platform. The other thing I was going to say, right? And this is what I was just thinking as we're talking. The other day, I thought, and I've been working out for a year and a half now. I always like talking about this.

• 37:41Speaker 00

  Love it.

• 37:42Steven Bartlett?

  And Grace, who sat behind that curtain over there, I sent her a photo and I was like, I'm going to post like a transformation picture.

• 37:48Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 37:49Steven Bartlett?

  Of like the before and after. And me and Grace had a conversation because if I was a female and I posted that, I would have got fucking ripped to pieces.

• 38:01Speaker 00

  Right.

• 38:01Steven Bartlett?

  I would have been told I was toxic, irresponsible, body image, da, da, da, da, da, da.

• 38:05Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah.

• 38:06Steven Bartlett?

  I posted it, fine.

• 38:07Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 38:07Steven Bartlett?

  Hundred percent of people like, send us your plan, like whatever.

• 38:10Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah.

• 38:11Steven Bartlett?

  And it really made me reflect on how tough it is to be a woman on social media with a big audience. It's like the standard of perfection in terms of your like morals, what you're posting, how you're posting it, what you're saying is a high bar to reach.

• 38:24Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 38:25Steven Bartlett?

  Whereas I'm not held to that standard as a guy.

• 38:27Speaker 00

  Okay, yeah, yeah. I'm not surprised, but there's going to be different standards you're held by. So with the women, like ours, there's a lot of pressure around our appearance. Or if we're mothers, how we mother or what we're wearing. I mean, it's so random, but I'm sure there's definitely things that men are going to expect from you that they're like, can't believe you did this or something.

• 38:54Steven Bartlett?

  It even relates to success. It's like, I can come on and I could come on this podcast.

• 38:58Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 38:59Steven Bartlett?

  And say that I, the reason I'm successful is because of me. And I can talk about my big old ambitions and I'm gonna, but when a woman does it, it's like, you know what I mean? It's just seems like there's just a double, a total double standard. The fact that I can post, me being kind of slightly overweight and out of shape, and then like nineteen pack, like, do you know what I mean? I saw many videos, you said seven abs or whatever, like seven abs, whatever. And the comments are like, woo! But I know if, if, if a woman did the same thing, it would be like, this is irresponsible. What are you saying? Fat shame, da, da, da, da, da.

• 39:33Speaker 00

  Oh, why is that?

• 39:37Speaker 00

  Is it because like, men and women are fundamentally different. So I'm presuming that your audience is like, probably, say sixty percent to seventy percent male.

• 39:47Steven Bartlett?

  Eighty percent women.

• 39:48Speaker 00

  Eighty percent women.

• 39:51Steven Bartlett?

  On my Instagram in particular.

• 39:52Speaker 00

  Wow. I think women judge men by different standards. So what you'll see, oh, let's talk about this. What you'll actually see in the world of beauty and women's fashion and um industries that are predominantly consumed by women, men are always at the forefront. So the biggest influences in the beauty industry are five men, men who wear makeup, right?

• 40:19Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah, that's so true.

• 40:21Speaker 00

  Men who wear makeup are more popular than, or let's say three, men who wear makeup can be bigger and get to bigger stratospheres than any woman could. Um, the fashion industry and fashion brands, all of them, the majority of them are owned by men and run by men or creative directors are men, not wi- not women. There aren't a lot of brands that are run and owned by women. And I just think this is something to do with biology, sociology, the way in which kind of women interact with men is different to how we interact with each other. I wish it was different, but I've I've just noticed this like a lot.

• 41:03Steven Bartlett?

  And and the other point, which I kind of alluded to there as well, is on on this topic of gender disparities, I guess, is like dis- discrediting success.

• 41:12Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 41:12Steven Bartlett?

  Do people discredit your success?

• 41:16Speaker 00

  Do you know what? Not so much. And I think also because I'm a black woman, people are so happy to see me do well because they feel like it's rare. And so I think I'm afforded a bit more luxury to be a bit more like aggressive about, you know, I'm pushing, I'm moving hard, whether you like it or not. That's the Nigerian in me coming out. And culturally, I think um I'm allowed to celebrate that a lot more because Brits, I don't think, like to celebrate people doing too well or being too much. Um, so I can get away with it a little bit more. Um, but I know like, there there is a little.

• 41:58Speaker 00

  There can be tension when I talk about my numbers too much and I'll definitely get the messages of this is not what you should be talking about. You shouldn't talk about how much you earn. It's a bit rude.

• 42:08Steven Bartlett?

  Imagine a guy doing it though.

• 42:10Speaker 00

  Oh.

• 42:11Steven Bartlett?

  Oh.

• 42:12Speaker 00

  Go on.

• 42:13Steven Bartlett?

  What, show us the Lamborghini again. Do you know what I mean? It's like, that's all guys do. That's how they build their status is like, I mean, just that's what, that's how it works.

• 42:21Speaker 00

  Have you put your Lamborghini on?

• 42:23Steven Bartlett?

  No, no, I don't have a Lamborghini. But no, but I can openly talk about how much money I've, I've generated in my companies and no one's ever gonna say, oh, that's so distasteful. They clap. And but when women do it, they, people do go, oh, God, she's not, that's not good taste, is it?

• 42:37Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 42:38Steven Bartlett?

  And that again is a huge, like Ben Francis, he talks about, he's built a one point something billion dollar company. Everyone's like, amazing.

• 42:44Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 42:44Steven Bartlett?

  You know, they can show, men can show the nice things, the cars, the houses, whatever. And it's all, but the, the minute Grace Beverly does a house tour.

• 42:52Speaker 00

  You can't do it. Yeah. I have a video called like, how I made a million on YouTube, right? And it firstly, it's got like over almost a million views on it. And but the comments were so kind of crazy. People are like, I can't believe you're sharing this. We're really excited. But also like, hmm, you shouldn't be putting this out there. And what I actually did is there's no way I could actually share my actual numbers. Cause I think people would judge me negatively and like fall over, be like, what the hell? How is it possible? And like, almost wanna stop the bag, if that makes any sense.

• 43:33Speaker 00

  Like, they don't, people don't like to see women doing too big numbers. You've got to still be humble as a woman.

• 43:39Steven Bartlett?

  How do you respond to that though? How do you, how does that impact the choices you make? And does it impact the choices you make? Isn't that sad though, that you?

• 43:46Speaker 00

  It really does. So I've moved away from like putting out my numbers. I'm not gonna use, using my numbers as a strategy or showing my things too much as a strategy. I also bought a couple of properties and, you know, I really want to share with people about financial empowerment and properties and making money. But like, I can see that almost like a sour taste sometimes in people's mouths. So I show a bit less of it. I, I'm not gonna show you the new house that I bought or, or something else. I'm, I'm not gonna show it as much. And I've tried to make more relatable content. Um. A lot of us have to be relatable and remain humble to still be considered um

• 44:31Speaker 00

  a good influencer.

• 44:34Speaker 00

  Just don't show what you have.

• 44:37Steven Bartlett?

  Are you happy with that, though? Are you happy to go along with that and to to do what um? Because when we spoke earlier about what your goal is, it's to make stuff that like really matters to you. And that sounds like it's driven by like my terms, you know, what I care about in my way and not allowing the audience to dictate what you create. That sounded like your north star. And this being a good influence, but it doesn't sound like it's going to make you very happy.

• 45:01Speaker 00

  Yeah, I think it's all about being strategic, though, right? So like, if um eventually showing lots of glamorous stuff is gonna impact growth, uh it would be silly for me to keep doing it, right? And I, again, that's not my personal strategy anyway. I'll be honest with you. I don't want to be like, look at my new Lamborghini, look at my new house. Look, that's not who I am as a person. It's a bit cringe for me and it's not part of my strategy. But um I do want to remain authentic, but I understand that showing too much of my success um doesn't always sit well for people. And I'm happy to like, remove that aspect if that makes people more comfortable.

• 45:46Speaker 00

  And I think that's because I'm a woman. I want people to feel comfortable.

• 45:49Steven Bartlett?

  Hmm. And, you know, you you start this platform called The Break.

• 45:53Speaker 00

  Yeah, that was it.

• 45:55Steven Bartlett?

  When I say, when I say that, there's a big smile on your face.

• 45:57Speaker 00

  Yeah, that's like my, like my passion project turned like great potential business opportunity. And I think for me, that's like where I decided to start talking about these things. And we're just, we're talking about this now that people don't talk about money, women don't talk about money. On that platform, I am unapologetic. And that's why I shared about the making a million in a year or making a million over a lifetime and showing how I budget my salary and showing you how I bought a house in 10 minutes. I put that all on there because I feel like. You know, over there is where I'm gonna talk about this stuff. So if you like it, it's there. If you don't like it, let's go put a makeup on my other channel.

• 46:38Speaker 00

  And um it's been just insane to see how it's grown and how much there's a huge demand for this type of content within this demographic.

• 46:48Steven Bartlett?

  It was what was missing when you started out from what you said earlier.

• 46:51Speaker 00

  Exactly. And and that's why I created it.

• 46:54Steven Bartlett?

  Cause you were buying all those bags and being a bit reckless and no one told you, so.

• 46:58Speaker 00

  Exactly. And the taxman came knocking at my door and I got fined and I was like, nobody needs to do this. This is how you incorporate. This is how you get your pension sorted out. This is how you can buy a property for your business. And I was just literally doing all the stuff that I kind of learnt from my accountant. And from the financial mistakes that I've made, I really wanted to just say, here you go, here's this information, use this. Make it be valuable to you to help you on your journey.

• 47:25Steven Bartlett?

  Do you know in black culture, we um growing up, you know, I was watching fifty cent and all this stuff and he is a bad financial advisor.

• 47:35Speaker 00

  Who gets their advice on fifty cent though?

• 47:37Steven Bartlett?

  Fucking every black, young black man, do you know what I mean? And what he told me about bottles and Lamborghinis and stuff, it really hurt me when I was twenty one and I finally got money. And I went to the club and I was getting five bottles of Dom Perignon, please. And I blew a lot of cash and I just wish those those role models, like the rappers that I followed when I was younger, I wish they'd told me about credit scores. You know what I mean?

• 47:56Speaker 00

  I wish, but that's not, it's not sexy.

• 47:59Steven Bartlett?

  Hmm.

• 47:59Speaker 00

  Right? It's not glamorous. It's not fun. Like I have a video on pensions, like four O, four O one Ks and and whether or not you should be making a contribution to your SIP, right? That is not, oh, this is glamorous. No one wants to hear that, but there are gonna be a few who do take it and use it. I wish we could dress up like credit scores, like give it lipstick, give it a Lamborghini. Um but we haven't mastered that yet. Maybe I'll do that later. But they they don't want people to know the truth. I don't think anybody wants people to really know the truth about finances. It's it's not beneficial. It's not beneficial to government. It's not beneficial to corporations.

• 48:40Speaker 00

  It's not beneficial to banks and lenders who actually want people to be. Inept in this area so they can make financial mistakes and then give them more money.

• 48:51Steven Bartlett?

  Hmm.

• 48:51Speaker 00

  So like, that's the reality of it. Like, rich people aren't actually struggling financially. It's actually everyone else on the maybe lower end of the spectrum who don't have this information. But this information would transform their lives.

• 49:05Steven Bartlett?

  I guess that's why they call it financial freedom.

• 49:07Speaker 00

  There we go. Yeah.

• 49:08Steven Bartlett?

  And you said this started as a passion project and now it's turned into a potential business opportunity.

• 49:12Speaker 00

  Exactly.

• 49:13Steven Bartlett?

  Talk to me about that and where is it going?

• 49:15Speaker 00

  Ah, this is, this is a lot. What, so where's it going? So we really wanna build out like a web platform which has content but also tools that people can use. So one of the things that I created was a simple budgeting like template. And like literally in like two weeks, we had like twenty thousand people download an Excel spreadsheet on how to manage their day to day income. So clearly, there's more that we can do here. We then launched a planner as well that just sold out in like a day or two. And then we're launching more of these. So for, in the long run, I'd like to provide more financial tools and resources that people could use to help them with managing their everyday finances. The dream is like an app, but that takes time to like happen.

• 49:58Speaker 00

  But like, we've got the designs and we're doing some testing now to really see how we can like build that out further.

• 50:05Steven Bartlett?

  Of all the work you're doing, across all of these different projects, and I'm sure there's many, many more that we won't even talk about today.

• 50:10Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 50:11Steven Bartlett?

  Is this the thing you're most excited about?

• 50:14Steven Bartlett?

  And it's like choosing your, choosing your favorite child, but.

• 50:17Speaker 00

  I would say it's something I'm really excited about because it's so valuable. So I'm very excited about it and I think it's a new challenge. So as an influencer, like I work for brands, I, I make amazing content for them. I get nice things, but now this is my chance to kind of be a brand and create value more so. So it's really like a new challenge for me that I'm excited to kind of get into.

• 50:44Steven Bartlett?

  And you, when you were saying we, you know, we've, we've made an Excel document. Who's we?

• 50:48Speaker 00

  So actually, the Excel document I made, but I do have like my husband who's been really supportive and like helping me build that out. And then I've like recruited a COO to like help, help me think about scaling this out. But um I've had other team members here and there, freelancers here and there. But I know inevitably that scaling is something I'm gonna have to be willing to do. And that's hard for myself to do. Yeah.

• 51:16Steven Bartlett?

  Your husband?

• 51:17Speaker 00

  My husband, Michael.

• 51:18Steven Bartlett?

  Michael. Can I call him Mike?

• 51:21Speaker 00

  You can call him Mike.

• 51:22Steven Bartlett?

  I can, I can see him over there in the corner of the room.

• 51:25Speaker 00

  Follow me around.

• 51:27Steven Bartlett?

  What's it like working with Mike?

• 51:29Speaker 00

  So, oh, that's a really good question. So, working with Mike. You know what? Michael's been like with me for every step of my journey as a creator. And he's always worked a full-time job. And then he inevitably went even to more of a freelance role so that I could use him when I needed him. So he will work as a contractor and I'm like, Mike, I need your help. Quit your job, come and help me. And so throughout my entire journey, he's been there to do that. However, working with your significant other can be real difficult. Um, and there are times where we're like, hmm, let's not do this. Go back to your job, make something happen, go back contracting. And then when we're like, oh, we're cool, come back again.

• 52:13Speaker 00

  So it's, what's important for us is actually to establish how we communicate with each other and boundaries. Like when we're working together, we actually don't work in the same environment. So he'll work in an, an office and I'll work somewhere else. Cause if you work in the same room at the same time, it's not pretty.

• 52:30Steven Bartlett?

  We're gonna send the microphone over to Mike in the audience to get his take on it.

• 52:36Steven Bartlett?

  It's not pretty.

• 52:37Speaker 00

  Yeah, because I think when you're in like boss mode, like you can be quite direct, like I'm very like, this doesn't look good. I don't like this. Can we change this? How how do we do this better? This is wrong, right? And I think there are, when it's with your partner, they're gonna take that personally over, say, someone else who is, you know, just working with you. And I haven't developed my managerial skills to be great when it comes to, you know, my interpersonal skills just yet. So, and I think when you're working with a loved one as well, you you feel like you wanna be more direct, like they should know, just you should know this, come on, like, but

• 53:19Speaker 00

  he doesn't always know and he can't read my mind and he's a man. So there's there's differences there. Um. So that's when it gets a bit difficult when we're together.

• 53:27Steven Bartlett?

  And how do you how do you balance like leaving work at work? And not bringing that home with you? Because one thing I came to learn was that the Steve Bartlett that succeeds in a professional environment that is direct, that is is very clear and uncompromising, is not the same Steve Bartlett that is is required to compromise and, oh, you wanna go for a walk in the park for no reason?

• 53:48Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 53:49Steven Bartlett?

  How do you how do you be two different people in order to achieve two completely different objectives?

• 53:54Speaker 00

  And how do you do that also when you you live and work in the house, right? The same house, because that's something that we deal with. I think it's again about setting these boundaries, like physically. So Michael won't really work in a house, even if he's working on my projects. And I try and work from an office as well as much as possible. Um. And then it's the case of like switching off. It's hard, man. It's really hard. I think as a creator, as a social media creator, like you're always on. I haven't mastered that yet. But we have kids. So the good thing about kids is that they force us to. Like give them love and give them attention. So we have to switch off and sort the kids

• 54:36Speaker 00

  out and give them a bath and give them dinner. So we'll always kind of, I don't know, switch brains because of that.

• 54:43Steven Bartlett?

  Oh, that's a really good point. I never actually thought about the fact that kids would actually force some kind of balance into your life.

• 54:48Speaker 00

  They do.

• 54:49Steven Bartlett?

  Which is, you know.

• 54:50Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 54:51Steven Bartlett?

  Amazing. And you guys have been together a long time.

• 54:53Speaker 00

  A long time, yeah. We've been together for fourteen, fourteen years.

• 54:58Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah.

• 54:58Speaker 00

  And married for like nine years, I think. Yeah, nine years. Yeah.

• 55:02Steven Bartlett?

  I always, I always think, cause, cause, um, cause of my own experiences of being pretty useless at relationships.

• 55:07Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 55:08Steven Bartlett?

  Um, entrepreneurs and especially crea-, I mean, creators, it's a different bag. Cause as you say, you're always on, they're, they're quite difficult to date.

• 55:15Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 55:16Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah.

• 55:16Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 55:16Steven Bartlett?

  And I think as well, and I'm probably gonna get in shitloads of trouble saying this, but I don't really care. I'm gonna die anyway. Um, I think from entrepreneurs from other cultures who've come up from another backgrounds and another, another mother can be even more tricky to date.

• 55:32Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 55:33Steven Bartlett?

  You spoke to your, your mother, you used the word.

• 55:35Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 55:35Steven Bartlett?

  We'll say passionate.

• 55:36Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 55:38Steven Bartlett?

  Does, does that really?

• 55:39Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah. So obviously Michael's like a Englishman from, from Manchester, right? And like, we are very culturally very different. And I think, but it's so interesting. I think if I wasn't with Michael, I'd be very single and very lonely. Like I've accepted that. I don't know if anybody else would like actually handle me, if that makes any sense. I think it takes a certain kind of person to be with an entrepreneurial person, let alone an entrepreneurial Nigerian woman. Like, that's like so many different layers there. And yeah, yeah, he's like a magician to be able to handle that. And we're like polar opposite people. I'm

• 56:20Speaker 00

  very like emotional and like, let's do this now. And he's very logical, steady, stable. And I think that actually is the balance that I've needed. Like, and I think we're meant to be together to like. I don't know.

• 56:35Steven Bartlett?

  Ying and yang.

• 56:36Speaker 00

  Ying and yang. It's great.

• 56:38Steven Bartlett?

  You said he followed you here today, but I heard you actually had a cyber stalker.

• 56:42Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah.

• 56:43Steven Bartlett?

  It's not, it's not my, wasn't my.

• 56:44Speaker 00

  I found out it was actually his account stalking me. Yeah, no, I did. I had a stalker for like three years.

• 56:51Steven Bartlett?

  Oh, wow.

• 56:51Speaker 00

  Um, and it was someone who would like just message me on all my platforms constantly, send emails, message family members. Really weird. And nowadays I can't even remember like what their, what their issue was. Don't think they even had one. They were just obsessive me and obsessive like my relationship to an extent. Cause I used to put vlogs out and I used to have like content with me and my husband and I stopped like actually it sounds so bad, but I think it was enough to tell me I'm not going to put myself out there in that way.

• 57:27Steven Bartlett?

  Why?

• 57:29Speaker 00

  I, I think it takes an emotional toll, toll having a stalker. Cause you're worried like when you log in, am I going to see their messages? What are they going to do today? What are they going to say today? Are they going to dox me? So they found out my parents' name and address. They say, your mum's this name and she lives here. So like those things, and obviously it was like psychological warfare, um warfare, but it was, yeah, it was more psychological. But like, when I was thinking about it, I kept thinking it's because I put myself out there too much. This is why they're targeting me. And I think inevitably it made me wanna retreat in certain aspects.

• 58:07Steven Bartlett?

  Do you still think that was the case now?

• 58:10Speaker 00

  I think that was one of my triggers, but I think inevitably I was like putting yourself out there too much. From a personal perspective, um, wasn't something I wanted to do. Like I used to show, like I showed our wedding. I showed me giving birth. I showed, I put a lot out there, okay?

• 58:28Steven Bartlett?

  Link in the bio.

• 58:29Speaker 00

  Link in bio, my best story.

• 58:32Speaker 00

  Um, and like the platforms love it when you put yourself out there a lot. But inevitably it does take a toll on you as a person. And I, I just said, we're gonna stop this. I don't wanna be that person. I actually care more about my real life than putting a version of my real life online.

• 58:50Steven Bartlett?

  I, I tend to think when you're reaching that many people, just probabilistically, just by numbers, you're gonna reach at least ten artists.

• 58:58Speaker 00

  Yeah, okay.

• 58:58Steven Bartlett?

  Just like, do you know what I mean? Regardless.

• 59:00Speaker 00

  It just happens. Yeah, yeah.

• 59:01Steven Bartlett?

  And you're blocking this person, I'm guessing, every time they pop up and then they're making a new account.

• 59:05Speaker 00

  Oh, they're making hundreds of accounts. They're messaging other people. So what would happen is that when I would message someone online, they would like be in, in the thread or they'd be watching everything I was doing. So I'd have to tell people, I'm really sorry, I've got a stalker. Like if you got that message, it's from, it's from a stalker. They'd like message brands sometimes. It was just really weird behaviour.

• 59:29Steven Bartlett?

  And at some point it stopped. It vanished or?

• 59:31Speaker 00

  Yeah, it reduced, it reduced, I'd say. And then it inevitably like disappeared. I kind of forgot about it, to be honest, after a while. But I learnt how to like, listen to their speech pattern. So even if they would create new profiles, I always knew it was them, based on the things that they would say and how they would say it. So they'll try to hide that it was them, but it's like, it's clearly you, like. And there's even like online forums where people like moan about online creators. And she would like, she, she or he would go into the forums and be like talking about me. So I would stalk my stalker, right? So I knew it was them. And then other people in the forum would be like, you're Patricia's stalker.

• 1:00:13Speaker 00

  But they would know it was the stalker. So, yeah, anyway.

• 1:00:17Steven Bartlett?

  Wow, what a ride. That made you feel unsafe at any point? There was nothing where it was like, we know your home address, we're gonna, I'm gonna come there.

• 1:00:26Speaker 00

  There was some of that.

• 1:00:27Steven Bartlett?

  Oh, really?

• 1:00:27Speaker 00

  So there was some of, so I did a meet and greet, an event. And then they messaged me, he's like, haha, I was at your meet and greet. You didn't even know who I was. You didn't see me. You look so terrible in person. Next time I'm gonna do something, right? So I remember feeling so anxious and I would, I, I vlogged it. And I remember like looking through the footage and I was like, who could it be? Who could it be? It's like racking my brain. It's like, which one is it? Which one is it? And I think it made me a bit paranoid, like, sure, a season. But I was never scared, cause I'm from South London.

• 1:01:01Speaker 00

  I'm not scared. Come to my house.

• 1:01:04Speaker 00

  We'll see. I even prefer that. Like, come to my house. And let's see.

• 1:01:10Steven Bartlett?

  So what's next for you then in your, in your life as you look forward, you know, I'm not talking about goals. I'm just saying the, the sort of macro, the overall feeling you want from your life and where you want to be.

• 1:01:21Speaker 00

  I think it's being open to more challenges that are different to what I'm used to. I have been making content and creating by myself, for myself, for brands for so long, for like 10 years. And I, I, although I think I'm a brave person, I feel like I've got very comfortable. So I wanna set myself out on challenges that are completely outside of my comfort zone. Maybe do something that, you know, is unexpected for me, unexpected for me as a creator. Influencers don't do this, or influencers of your size don't do this, or this kind of thing.

• 1:01:59Speaker 00

  And I really wanna work on like creating more products and really building out a brand and not necessarily being the face of everything.

• 1:02:08Steven Bartlett?

  Why? Why not the face of everything?

• 1:02:09Speaker 00

  So I actually realised, though I'm in the public eye to an extent, like I don't really like being famous. I don't really wanna be a personality. I don't want things to be about me. And I don't know why I put myself out there if I didn't want that. But I think fundamentally, I'm happy to slink into the background.

• 1:02:28Steven Bartlett?

  Why do you want that?

• 1:02:32Speaker 00

  I think there are other people who want it more. Like, I don't enjoy being

• 1:02:39Speaker 00

  famous, as in, not that I don't enjoy, but I think there are people who like really wanna be famous, right? And there are people who just wanna do what they do and do it well. And, and like not, just have their own normal friends, do their, their own normal things and get on with life. Like I get on the train every day and I, I go on the underground and some people are like, you get on the underground? I'm like, yes, it's quicker. But I don't wanna ever be in a place where I can't get on the underground.

• 1:03:03Steven Bartlett?

  People are stopping you saying, hi, Cheshire, can I have?

• 1:03:06Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:03:06Steven Bartlett?

  Pitch and you're like, no Covid.

• 1:03:08Speaker 00

  No, I always say, no, I was like, no, I'm always friendly.

• 1:03:12Steven Bartlett?

  I guess you can use that fame for things that you do care about there, right? Like.

• 1:03:17Speaker 00

  I like that. You're right.

• 1:03:18Steven Bartlett?

  You know what I mean? It's like double edged sword. It costs something, but it creates an opportunity for something in a way.

• 1:03:23Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah. Wow. You just, you just, yeah, you just told me off there in a good way.

• 1:03:29Steven Bartlett?

  No, no.

• 1:03:29Speaker 00

  No, I love that. And I love what you just said, that you can use the fame for value.

• 1:03:34Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah, that's kind of what I can, the battle I'm having at the moment, because obviously just done Dragon's Den.

• 1:03:40Speaker 00

  Yeah, exactly.

• 1:03:41Steven Bartlett?

  And that's going to be all over the TV and stuff. And people are going to start coming up to me and pitching me their business ideas in the street, which I don't want to fuck in here.

• 1:03:46Speaker 00

  Well, I have an idea for you.

• 1:03:49Steven Bartlett?

  No, but you know what I mean? Like you're gonna get, because I went out with Peter Jones for like dinner.

• 1:03:52Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:03:53Steven Bartlett?

  And he goes, I'm just gonna pop to the toilet.

• 1:03:55Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:03:55Steven Bartlett?

  And he takes three steps and a guy stops him. Hi, Peter. I knew you were here. Pictures in the idea, the percentage, asks it. And I'm just looking at Peter thinking that's gonna be my fucking life.

• 1:04:05Speaker 00

  Oh, oh, God.

• 1:04:07Steven Bartlett?

  But what's, so what's the upside? What's the, why am I doing this? Why have I created, why have I put myself out there? And I think, okay, all the other upsides are that it's gonna allow me to build things that are more in line with, you know, things I care about. It gives you a platform and audience, won't you know?

• 1:04:20Speaker 00

  Yeah, no, I love it. You're right. You're right. And I, and I'm battling with the fact that there's clearly a reason why I'm, I'm here or why I've got this audience and why I, people connect with me, right? And actually, maybe it's a good thing that I have no huge desires to be famous. So I'm gonna have to work out how to deal with that attention in a way better and not just think about slinking into the background.

• 1:04:48Steven Bartlett?

  That's how you feel? Slinking into the background?

• 1:04:51Speaker 00

  I wanna, I wanna be low key. Like, I wanna make my videos and it sounds crazy and no one really watches them. Well, I like, I like the idea of when things are small, though, because I've been very viral. Like, so I was really viral. I was getting like eight million views a video, thirteen million views a video. And at the time I was like, oh, this is quite, this is a lot for me to like handle because people are like messaging me all the time, like Patricia. And I'd be like, hey, guys, hey. So it's not that I want to slink into the background. I think I just need to be more comfortable with recognizing that, you know, I'm here, I'm, I'm doing it. But still keep that normality. That's really important for me.

• 1:05:31Steven Bartlett?

  And what have you learned over the, in terms, as it relates to, if you, because I'm thinking now about, you've got an entrepreneur over there in the corner, Sophia, and she's, she's starting a meal prep business. She's also working in the city in finance.

• 1:05:41Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 1:05:42Steven Bartlett?

  So it's very coincidental that she's, she happens to be here today. If you were speaking to someone like Sophia and you, you were just giving her a bit of advice on how to

• 1:05:52Steven Bartlett?

  become successful in what you do as you have been. What are those underlying principles where you say that really is the thing? There's no quick, that thing there is the thing.

• 1:06:04Speaker 00

  So I think the first thing is leaning into your like authentic tone. Like what is the thing that makes you or your brand yours? And not running away from that and not trying to be something else. It's like learning to not be scared of yourself. This is what we are. This is who I am. This is it, right? And then consistently putting that out all the time so that people connect with that. They either connect or they don't, but you only want those who are going to connect with that true version of yourself or your brand. And then it's, of course, you know, you're going to jump on trends or, or things that are viral so you can get traction. That's what I did.

• 1:06:49Speaker 00

  I would jump onto viral trends, but do it in my own tone of voice.

• 1:06:55Speaker 00

  And, you know, it's the consistency, continue.

• 1:07:00Steven Bartlett?

  I've never done this before, but I want to ask Mike a question if I can.

• 1:07:02Speaker 00

  You can ask Mike a question. He's famous.

• 1:07:04Steven Bartlett?

  Mike, I saw you on her Instagram, actually, with the, with the baby father's day. I wanted to ask you, from your perspective, why do you think Patricia has been so successful in what she's done?

• 1:07:14Speaker 02

  Well, I reckon for a number of reasons. Partly, I think it's her personality.

• 1:07:19Steven Bartlett?

  Personality.

• 1:07:19Speaker 02

  She doesn't acknowledge. So Patricia, Patricia doesn't acknowledge a lot of good things about herself. She's definitely a hundred percent her biggest critic. She brings a lot of energy and passion and enthusiasm and stuff like that. So when you watch her, you feel good or you feel happy or you feel interested or inspired. But something that she doesn't really acknowledge, but I think that's a part of it. I do think there's certain fundamental, like, I suppose, numerical things like consistency and sticking with it over time and know all those types of facts that you can look at from a numbers perspective that help. So definitely doing that and staying with it and doing, you know, your free uploads a week and your regular posts and all those sort of things that help. But there's a lot of people that do that and don't have the same level of success, right?

• 1:08:05Speaker 02

  So that's why you have to look at, well, what's the differentiating factors? So I think there's that. I think there's an element of um her kind of openness and honesty and her also because I think partly because she's done it a long time. She's very natural and authentic. So you don't feel like you're watching someone who's performing. You feel like you're watching someone who is genuinely, you know, giving who they are to you.

• 1:08:31Steven Bartlett?

  And that's rare, right? So I asked Mike there what, you know, what his, he thought the causal factors behind your success, where he pointed at personality, you being vulnerable and you being authentic. And um, yeah, I mean, that's, that's kind of rare online with the world we live in with perfection filters and don't share the bad shit.

• 1:08:53Speaker 00

  Yeah, and I think I'm lucky in that I came up in an age of making content where it was so authentic, there was no business behind it and it was about connection. So I had that training. That was my training gown for being a creator. Just, just do what you do. Don't, don't think about it. Just do what you like. So I, I feel lucky that I've got that as like my basis as creating and being an influencer.

• 1:09:20Steven Bartlett?

  Well, I, I can certainly feel that and I think it comes through in everything you do, especially the stuff you're doing on the break. I've never watched videos about finance that seem to be so entertaining and real and weren't trying to be like snotty financial, like long word business bullshit advice.

• 1:09:34Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:09:34Steven Bartlett?

  So it made it super like inclusive and um real. And obviously that's what's absent in that space.

• 1:09:40Speaker 00

  Exactly.

• 1:09:41Steven Bartlett?

  Is inclusion. That's why we both probably bought bags we shouldn't have bought. Don't pay on that, I definitely shouldn't have bought.

• 1:09:46Speaker 00

  Definitely.

• 1:09:47Steven Bartlett?

  So, thank you so much Patricia for your time today. You're such an inspiration to so many.

• 1:09:50Speaker 00

  Thank you.

• 1:09:51Steven Bartlett?

  And much, you know, much of the reason for that, in my view, is because you're such a real person.

• 1:09:55Speaker 00

  Thank you, yeah.

• 1:09:56Steven Bartlett?

  And you're willing to share that realness with everybody. And what you've done is remarkable and I'm sure this is just the beginning for you. You look about 23 as well. I was like, you literally look 23, but that's part of the upside of the ethnic background. Thank you so much for your time, it's such an honour.

• 1:10:11Speaker 00

  Thank you for having me, it was great to come on and have a chat.

• 1:10:13Steven Bartlett?

  Thank you.