About Amanda Hargreaves

A Little About Me!

As a single mum and breadwinner, I know all about facing a challenge. But what I have learnt over the years is that most things are possible, if you know what you want and if you are determined to get it.

Hello, my name is Amanda Hargreaves and this is a little about me!

My early life was spent in North Wales, which I left as a very scared and naive 16 year old to follow my dream of studying dance at the London Dance Studio Centre. The big city of London might have seemed exciting to some but, to me, it was pretty terrifying and those early weeks were filled with awful home sickness. However, three years later and I graduated with my diploma and was off, dancing in various shows and productions around the country.

Dancing was, and will always be my first love. But I quickly realised that the life of a dancer would not make me rich. So putting my 'Miss Positive' hat on, I decided to add a new career to my bow and became...

'Mobile' Amanda

Everyone seemed to need a mobile phone and, spotting the opportunity, I started working in the emerging mobile phone industry.

Rather like dancing, this was far from glamorous. Working 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, was certainly hard, especially as I did it for 5 full years. But I had a dream and no one was going to stop me. Despite having no real business experience, I opened my own shop when I was just 25 (despite everyone telling me "Amanda, you have no real business experience").

Life continued until I was 28, when I moved out of the mobile world to take on a whole new challenge.

Georgia On My Mind!

As anyone will tell you, having a baby is one of the great experiences of life and, after becoming pregnant, baby Georgia, the most precious thing in my life, was born.

I guess we all dream of the perfect relationship and the perfect life. But, not too long after her birth, harsh reality soon kicked in - the relationship went sour and I had to make the hard decision to leave.

Having given up my career to have Georgia made it a really tough decision as I no longer had any real means of supporting myself, but I valued my sanity and self respect too much and so leave I did!

I quickly found myself pretty much at rock bottom... with no real income, no where to live and a small baby to look after. I soon managed to sort out a roof over our heads but if I tell you that we had no furniture for ages and Georgia had no bed for 18 months, you get a feeling for how difficult life was.

Rock Bottom... or New Challenge, New Future?

The good thing about being at rock bottom (and yes, there is one) is that the only way is up. So I started the slow struggle back.

I studied for a qualification as a Personal Trainer and set about proving that you can get your figure back after having a baby (hard work, but it can be done girls).

I trained four times a week throughout my pregnancy and was in the gym just 4 days before Georgia was born. The result of all of this hard work was that, just hours after giving birth, my stomach was pretty much flat. So I decided to 'spread the word' that the bump can be banished and started to specialise in training pregnant women, which was great fun and incredibly rewarding.

Having now got my training qualification, I started to build up my list of paying customers and slowly things started to improve.

"You Must Be Mad?!"

Then, at the ripe old age of 31, a friend said I should try modeling! My first reaction was that they were mad, but the prospect of additional income to feed and cloth my daughter was pretty compelling. So I decided I had nothing to loose.

Now while I look ok, I am no Kate Moss or Cindy Crawford. However, hours of work in the gym had given me a figure that I was proud of. So, taking my courage in my hands, I had some pictures taken and off they were sent.

I admit that luck plays a part in anyone's success. But looking back, if I didn't have the courage and determination to give modeling a try, at an age when most models are retiring, then I would never have succeeded.

Since then I have done work for Lacoste, Ultrafit Magazine and several fitness videos. And my picture has appeared all over the world, from Manchester to Madrid, Luton to Los Angels. In addition to this, I even appeared in the film 'Wimbledon', which was real fun.

More recently, I launched Amanda Hargreaves Fitness Equipment - my own company that specialises in designing tailor-made gyms in people's houses (with a few more business projects in the wings).

The Secret To Success?

So how can an ordinary girl, from an ordinary family, keep getting back up and succeeding?

Well, when I think about it, I don't really have any more talent or intelligence than the average person. I think the moral of my story is that it's all down to attitude and determination... and I do have a lot of those two things!

At the end of the day, it's all about believing you can achieve whatever you want and, with a positive mind, anything is possible!

	Amanda Hargreaves Managing Director