About Katie Birkett | Wilderness of Business
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About Katie Birkett

The guide,not the coach.

I'm Katie Birkett, The Business Survivalist.

After 27 years building businesses myself, I help entrepreneurs navigate the first years, avoid the mistakes I've already made, and build the foundations they need to survive and thrive.

Read my storyFind your next step
Katie Birkett relaxed on a grey sofa in a white shirt and jeans
Been there.
Done that.
7years old when I sold my first product: rose-petal perfume in jam jars
17when I started my first proper business, on a Prince's Trust grant
143houses in my first ever property deal
27years starting, building and running businesses
My story

Twenty-seven years in the terrain.

I've never not been in business. Here's the route so far, and what each stretch taught me.

Age seven

Rose-petal perfume in jam jars

I saw what people would pay for before I knew the word customer.

Age seventeen

My first proper business, on a Prince's Trust grant

Having nothing forces you to build smart. Constraints are an advantage.

My early twenties

I sold my first business. Then I built one that owned me.

450 events in a year, no systems, and I couldn't take a week off.

Foundations, or the business runs you.

Along the way

My first ever property deal: 143 houses

I didn't know how. I knew who.

Along the way

Failing gyms turned into five-star spa estates

Training, systems, standards. The boring stuff is the business.

Along the way

Fitness ideas turned into seven-figure, CPD-accredited training businesses

A good idea isn't a business until it has a model.

Covid

I gave 17 businesses 90 days

16 are still trading. 11 now turn over seven figures.

Diagnosis first. The route is different for every business.

Today

Wilderness of Business

Everything I've learned, turned into a proper route for people in their first years of business.

Been there. Done that. Still doing it.

Katie Birkett laughing, holding an ornate gold picture frame
My mission

Less lonely. Less confusing. More survivable.

I want to make the first years of business less lonely, less confusing and more survivable, so you can build a business that gives you the life you started it for.

What I stand for

  • Business knowledge that is affordable and accessible.
  • Normalising everyday business struggles. Everybody has them. What matters is how you manage them.
  • Fewer businesses failing in years one, two and three.
  • Building your business to the size you choose. No bottleneck, no ceiling, no burnout.

Katie x

Why Wilderness of Business?

Nobody knows what terrain lies ahead.

"Business" says what we do. "Wilderness" says exactly where so many founders are in the first years: on their own, exposed, with no map.

It isn't about making business sound frightening. The terrain changes, the weather arrives, and routes need replotting. So I make sure you have the knowledge, skills, kit and support to navigate it.

  1. I check your backpack.

  2. I hand you a compass.

  3. I walk the route with you.

  4. I get you into the right rooms.

And I won't let go of your hand until you're ready.

The human bit

Real life. Real business.

  • Mum of two border collies. Two border collies, better humans.
  • Proudly unemployable.
  • Calls BS on "£100k months". Profit, not hype.
  • Ambition without burnout. Build a business that can carry you, not one you have to carry.
  • My experience spans property, health and fitness, professional education and civil engineering.
  • Based in North Wales.
Katie Birkett leaning back in an armchair, feet up in red heels, laughing
Ambition
without burnout.
Build a business that can carry you — not one you have to carry.
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