Inspirational Woman: Jane Michell | Founder, Jane Plan

Jane Michell Jane Michell is a nutrition and weight loss expert, as well as a published author, with over 15 years’ experience supporting people on their weight loss journey.

Jane started Jane Plan in 2010 from her kitchen table in London, after working for four years in weight loss and bariatrics at a leading London hospital. Prior to that Jane worked in the BBC with leading UK chefs including Delia Smith, Rick Stein and Gary Rhodes.

Jane Plan was started as a ‘kitchen table business’ when Jane was a busy mum of 3 children, with no investment and no bank loans with Jane making all the meals herself, delivering them herself and was the sole nutritionist supporting clients. Jane Plan now has seven nutritionists supporting clients. Since 2010 Jane Plan has sold over 14million meals and has a client database of over 100,000. Jane Plan’s Trustpilot score is 4.6 – higher than any other direct competitor. She is currently a finalist (alongside prestigious names such as Sam Cameron), for the Natwest Every Woman Award celebrating women in business.

Combining her love for food with her passion for healthy living and exercise, Jane has spent the past decade growing her ready-made meal delivery company into a UK wide, multi award-winning business. She is now one of the media’s go-to experts on healthy eating, weight loss and nutrition, while her clients are frequently written about in the press for their incredible weight loss stories.

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

I am the founder of Jane Plan, the UK’s leading healthy ready meal delivery service. Prior to Jane Plan I worked in a London hospital with people who were really challenged by their weight and who needed to make significant changes to become a healthy weight.

Did you ever sit down and plan your career?

Sadly no – after university I worked for the BBC, then went on to have 3 children. I retrained after my third child was born and then worked as a nutritionist in a hospital. I certainly never intended to setup my own business – Jane Plan was not planned!

Have you faced any challenges along the way?

Absolutely – I had never run a business before Jane Plan so that in itself was a challenge. I started the business with no plans, no funds and didn’t even have the confidence or the know how to take out a bank loan. The business grew really rapidly, and I had to make some tough decisions along the way to accommodate the growth. We’ve had some fairly aggressive competitors to deal with, and I have had to make tough decisions, like outsourcing our warehouse.

What has been your biggest achievement to date?

Jane Plan is now the largest business of it’s type in the UK – all this from starting just 9 years ago from my kitchen table. We are on national Tv pretty much every day and have become a household name.

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

Never give up and learn from your failures.

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

I love the idea of mentoring and already mentor one business woman – I would love to mentor more. I am not a mentee!

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

I would work on closing the confidence gap. Even when there are no differences in ability between men and women, studies have shown that women consistently under-rate their abilities, demonstrating a significant confidence gap. Appropriate leadership training and strong mentors can help build a strong foundation of confidence.

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

Believe in yourself

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

The next challenge is business growth – we are looking to grow three fold in the next three years and now we have to roll out our plan to achieve this growth.

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