Inspirational Woman: Beth Pollard | Founder, House and Home Bespoke

Tell us a bit about yourself, background and your current role

I’m Beth Pollard, proud owner of House and Home Bespoke. My background is corporate estate agency which gave me the foundation to House and Home Bespoke. Having worked in the functional and commission driven world of estate agency for eight years I knew that I wanted House and Home Bespoke to be truly customer led and offer out of this world marketing experience.

I specialise in bringing unique and bespoke homes in Leicestershire to the forefront, combining industry expertise with lifestyle photography, home styling, personalised boards and creative writing services for a property marketing approach with a difference. From chocolate-box cottages to incredible period properties and architect-designed homes, House and Home Bespoke sell the lifestyle, not the bricks.

Did you ever sit down and plan your career?

When I was at school I always wanted to be a PE teacher but that didn’t pan out. Once I left school, I went onto college and fell into a great job in the point of sale industry so didn’t need to plan at that point, it gave me various opportunities and I grew as a person. Following a redundancy I had  some time to plan and came across an opportunity for a Lettings Manager which turned into an estate agency role and that’s where the bug for property started –  the moment I sat behind a desk in an estate agency office in Leicester city centre I knew I wanted my own agency, then I started planning – unfortunately it didn’t happen immediately due to life happening but I knew one day it would all come together and it did in 2019.

Have you faced any challenges along the way?

Load of challenges and sacrifices too many to mention but my business is everything to me and comes first. Nothing can be more of a challenge that the last year and we’ve got through that! I launched just before the pandemic, and it many ways that was challenging. The housing market always has ups and downs, but what doesn’t change is people’s desire for a happy and beautiful home, so I always keep that in mind.

What has been your biggest achievement to date?

Launching my brand was the biggest achievement, seeing it come to life was amazing and then re positioning my business in a pandemic was something else, it completely blew my mind and have created a brand beyond my dreams.

What one thing do you believe has been a major factor in you achieving success?

Dedication, commitment and of course clients. Client support and word of mouth has been very special. I build great relationships with sellers and buyers, and will even now pop in for coffee to see a house I sold two years ago.

How do you feel about mentoring? Have you mentored anyone or are you someone’s mentee?

I’d love to do this in the future but right now the main focus is business growth. I’m inspired by the women I surround myself with, both in my personal and professional life. I think that mentoring relationships are great as they provide both parties with the opportunity to learn and develop.

If you could change one thing to accelerate the pace of change for Gender Equality, what would it be?

It’s a huge topic but I think woman have got to be championed more within their industries, women have got to be prepared to break the mould. Estate agency is still a very male dominated industry, but women do have the opportunity to stand up and do things differently.

If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self what would it be?

Do what you love and don’t let anyone stop you, if they’re not a positive influencer then walk away. I got trapped by toxic people all too often and it stopped me from growing.

What is your next challenge and what are you hoping to achieve in the future?

The next chapter is moving to a larger office and growing the team so we can keep delivering world class bespoke marketing for beautiful homes.