A WOMAN from Frampton Cotterell who set up a business while on maternity leave is now making nearly £6,000 a week.

Karen Dunne-Squire, 39, quit her high-flying career in recruitment while her daughter Emi was just three weeks old to set up sales training and consultancy firm Elation Experts.

The business savvy mum has since helped hundreds of firms increase their sales and grow their businesses by up to three times their turnover. 

Karen has put her success down to her “workaholic” determination.

She said: “I planned to go back to work when my daughter was four weeks old.

“But while holding her in my arms at three weeks old, I knew I wanted to spend as much time with her as possible. 

“I rang up my boss that lunchtime to say I wouldn’t be coming back."

"A few people thought I was mad, but I just said ‘I’m going to crack this’.”

In little over a month, Karen had written up a business plan, carried out market research and used her savings to have a website built. 

Five weeks after setting up, she got her first client and was asked to ring Anna Wintour’s office at Vogue to see if they would attend a launch party.

Karen, who has over 15 years experience in sales management and training, said: “I’d been feeding my baby while I made the call, so was very much juggling many things at once.

 “We got a representative from Vogue to attend so my client was happy.”

Since then, her business has gone from strength to strength.

Karen has gone on to create the Three Pillars of Successful Selling, which helps small and medium businesses be great at selling.

She explained: “I believe that if we can help small businesses thrive, we can bring greater stability to the economy.”

The business-savvy mother continues to be driven by her passion for helping small businesses grow - and to act as a role model for her daughter.

She said: “I want to show my daughter it’s possible for mothers to have successful careers.”