By Saira Bilal

Sayhmylle Peixe had a lengthy corporate career, and after becoming a mum, she transitioned into a life as an entrepreneur. Today she is a ‘mumpreneur’, an international speaker, a financial freedom and work-life balance coach as well as a property expert. Her journey, albeit not easy, is fascinating and shows how she manages to ‘have it all’.

What can you tell us about your background?

First of all, many thanks for inviting me to do this interview with the Business Woman Today. I am originally from Brazil but have been living in the UK for over 20 years. My business background is in business & HR. After graduation, I worked for different businesses in the corporate environment for almost 15 years. When my daughter Mickaella was born, I really struggled to find the right balance between work and home and after a few years of pushing myself, I found I had become a miserable person, dragging myself to work every day and being absent from my family.

How did you transition from the world of corporate HR in the UK to co-founding your own property and coaching business?

Once my daughter had started school, things became even more challenging to balance, which back in 2015 led to me becoming unwell due to the high pressure at work. I was signed off sick for a few months, when I was due to return to work, my employer terminated my contract of employment, and in hindsight, I know now how blessed I was to have received this news that was very shocking to me at the time.

Luckily, before this episode, I knew that working in a corporate environment was not right for me anymore and I started to look for opportunities elsewhere. At the time, we had finished a big refurb in my house and seeing the transformation of the property was really exciting. When the valuer came around to value our property we couldn’t believe how much value we had added to it,compared to what we had spent on the refurb. After that I started looking for events and courses related to properties and investments, and eventually enrolled on an investment course. It was a transformational year and I learned so much about myself and my partner.Together we did lots of self-development courses and decided to hire a coach to guide us during the process of understanding our main purpose and values. It was a journey with ups and downs, but today I consider myself a better person, and most importantly a mother that is present for her kids.

We then decided to release some equity from our own house to start investing in the UK and one year later, with only a few properties, I become financially free and decided to start coaching people to believe that they can also become financially free and see the power within them.

Which countries do you run your business in? How do you work and divide areas of responsibility with your business partner(s)?

At the moment we are based in the UK but have also started a new business in Portugal. We have a power team that are in the investments areas in both the UK and Portugal, but the business offers broader services in Portugal, including brokering, sourcing, sales and holiday home management services, giving people an opportunity to purchase a holiday home that pays for itself. The property market in Portugal is still growing and the returns are incredible. With as little as 10,000 euros you can purchase your own place in the sun with much lower interest rates than what we have here in the UK.

What I love about Portugal is that they have opened their doors to everyone, so any nationality can get a mortgage there. They have also introduced a scheme called a golden visa, where any global citizen that invests 500,000 eurosin properties are entitled to a Portuguese citizenship, giving people the opportunity to move to the sunniest place in Europe.

As for my business partner, he is really good at doing all the research and desk top work, and I really enjoy the networking, including speaking with investors about the deals and getting funds for the projects, including inspiring others by doing public speaking. I am the face of the business together with the kids as I take them to most events and meetings that I attend. Recently I have been taking my youngest sonMiguelto Portugal to negotiate a few deals and form close partnerships with local businesses. My aim is to spread a message by inspiring other mums to not stop doing what they love once you have kids.

Everything is possible, you just have to believe it and yes, people are surprised when I tell them that my nine months old son is my business partner! Yet more and more clients and partnerships are appreciating how I work with the presence of my kids and it is amazing to see the transformation on peoples faces when they see Miguel with me!

We also work on bigger projects, so if you want to find out more about how you can get involved, please get in touch.

Who are the people you typically coach?  Is your coaching more oriented towards people wanting to achieve property success and financial freedom, or is it broader than that?

It is definitely broader and I always do a free half hour session with the clients to understand their needs and make sure I can help them. I have threemain client groups. People that are:

• Looking to find their purpose, find the right work life balance, and believe that they can also become financially free.
• New to property (including clients that are looking to buy their own home). I have been helping the Brazilian community achieve their dream of buying their own home in the UK.
• Already have a few investments but are looking to invest in the UK & Portugal, and people that have money but are looking to invest and don’t know who with. They will work with us for an interest or in some projects, we can also be business partners and share the profit.

What hurdles did you need to overcome when starting and running your business?

Financially it was very difficult, because without my salary we had to reorganise our finances and I had to use my credit cards to survive. But with the help of the coach I understood that money is energy, therefore once you are clear on your main purpose and you focus on it, nothing can stop you and yes, things do flow eventually, you just have to believe it. I also had lots of criticism from people who were very close to me at the time, but now I also understand that when someone is negative about something it’s only a reflection of themselves and their own fears. I understand that your dream is yours and you should never let other opinions make you give up, so being persistent, patient and in peace with yourself are keys to success. Being grateful and giving back is key to your growth.

What do you personally experience as the most difficult aspect in achieving a work-life balance?

With two young kids your day will never go according to plan, so learn to delegate and letting go is very important. Understand one thing; everything happens for a reason and if perhaps you missed an appointment or a deal, it was not meant to be. So appreciating the moment and planning your day but knowing and accepting that things will change during the day are key.

What advice would you give to anyone thinking of starting their own business?

Be grateful and make sure you believe in your purpose and vision.

Be persistent, as enjoying every moment of the journey is also crucial.

Having a mentor/coach to guide me was also vital to my success.

Any future plans you’d like to share with us? 

With business growing so rapidly in Portugal we have a plan to eventually move there with the family and have our own place in the sun.