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I started trying to be a writer and failed for years. I tried novels, short stories, sitcoms, movies, plays, anything. And then, to support myself, I had millions of jobs on the fringes of show business.

It's taken me a long time to get back into the industry. People were not really open to me working, or being a part of the industry.

I feel very lucky that I've been able to carve out any niche at all in this business. It's so hard to get into.

I didn't come out and roll from job to job - my first year was really tough. I had to work as a teaching assistant for an agency; I ran a pancake stall in Dulwich Market. I taught drama classes and ran my own workshops. I applied for every advert on Gumtree there possibly was.

I did a business in a box called College Pro Painters. They taught you how to paint houses, how to hire and fire, how to sell, how to deal with customers. You got a one-year franchise. It was the hardest year of my life in terms of hard work. I won manager of the year. It was very successful.

You have to be really strong in the music industry, and I'm naturally very timid. That was really hard for me. You have to be tough. You have to make decisions and be a businesswoman.

My career has been successful, but it's been a grind of hard work.

I found the most difficult thing when you became successful - when I had the record album, it won Album of the Year - that you were cut off from the source of your material. Your material was everyday people, and you were kind of cut off from that, and you had to work at it.

I'm trying to solidify a long-term career, because I have no other skills and no other abilities.

At age 28, I had no retail experience, no consumer marketing experience and no real Internet experience. But I decided I wanted to work for myself. I felt starting a company would enable me to get the responsibility I deserved and that I couldn't do that within the confines of a bigger company.