I left home aged 14 and lived in a bedsit above a shop – now my pop-up business turns over £700k
I left home aged 14 and lived in a bedsit above a shop – now my pop-up business turns over £700k
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STARING at the ceiling in a bedsit above the hairdresser she worked in, Tillie Peel knew she was destined for more. The 31-year-old is a risk taker. She left home aged 14 and spent two years staying with various family members and friends, before moving into the studio flat aged 16.
![[Woman sitting cross-legged in a shop, surrounded by merchandise.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Tillie-Peel-founder-of-The-Pop-Up-Club-02.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
She had been sweeping the floors and washing hair at the salon for two years, and jumped at the chance to have her a place of her own to call home when the room upstairs became available. Tillie is no longer a hairdresser. Now, she is a successful business owner whose company is turning over a whopping £700,000 a year.
![[The Pop-Up Club shop interior.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/The-Pop-Up-Club.png?strip=all&w=727)
Tillie runs The Pop-up Club, which finds unused public spaces and organises a consortium of local small businesses to sell the products or services out of. Think of it like an indoor market - and Tillie is the proprietor. In its first year, the business made a shy £12,000.
![[Woman at The Pop-Up Club merchandise stand.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Tillie-Peel-2024.jpeg?strip=all&w=960)
But Tillie kept plugging away, leading The Pop-up Club to pocket £75,000 in its third year - that’s a mammoth 525% increase on Year One. “I was living in my overdraft when the business started,” she tells Fabulous for our exclusive series, Bossing It.
![[Tillie Peel, founder of The Pop-Up Club.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Tillie-Peel-founder-of-The-Pop-Up-Club.jpg?strip=all&w=641)
“Coming from nothing, I remember thinking, ‘this has to work’. I didn’t have any other choice, I knew that making my business work was what I had to do. “It took sheer determination and not being too scared of taking risks. “Women in business have to jump through so many hoops and be knocked back so many times to be taken seriously, but I’ve built my confidence dealing with that now.”.
