Stroke forced her off the 9-9 grind

A former recruiter and self confessed workaholic has told of how her “dream has come true” having switched into the travel industry as a career. Sue Lennox , 47, previously suffered a stroke while at work – a frightening episode which has since turned her life in a completely different direction. The mum-of-one says the devastating event, which occurred when she was only 43 and leading recruitment for an education group, served as a “wake-up call”. And she is now encouraging others to follow their

passions in life. Sue explained: “I ended up having a stroke at work. I was on the phone and all my left side went, the phone dropped to the floor. I knew I’d been doing too much with all the commuting and meetings after meetings. “I’m a bit of a workaholic and I had such huge responsibility with recruitment of all the teachers and every single division – it was relentless. So an ambulance was called and took me away and then I had numerous

brain scans and had to go through all the hospital appointments and even lost a bit of my speech.” Having had six months off to recover, Sue was back at work but the experience had jolted her into thinking about her passion for travel and comments from friends and family about her ability to find good, cheap deals. She started working as a travel consultant in her spare time under the banner of national giant Hays Travel. Not only did Sue enjoy the work, she

found a real aptitude for it and decided to go full time as a self employed as homeworking consultant operating through Hays’ brand. Despite the support of her husband, the leap was a daunting one – meaning hard grafter Sue left her comfortable salary and pension behind. Now more than two and half years in, she is among Hays’ top sellers and is frequently flown around the world while also making a very healthy income. She raked in £1.2m of sales in her first year

alone, juggling family life and school runs for her son, who is now 12. Hays recognised Sue’s talent, singling her out at an early conference as the fastest growing homeworking consultant among about 400 peers. And in her second year she picked up an award for the most long-haul business. Having clocked up well over £2m in sales so far she is also earning double what she had been in her old job. And customers have also praised Sue’s approach with scores of five-star reviews

online. “It’s been amazing. I just look back now and I pinch myself. Sometimes people don’t want to take a risk in life”, said Sue, who also points to her stroke as a turning point. “I’m running a successful business from home, from Scunthorpe. It’s just like a dream.” “I say it was a 9-5 but my old job was more like 9-9 and from doing all that commute, to thinking “life’s too short – I’m literally going to do this”. Thanks to her success

as one of Hays’ top sellers, Sue has been sent all over the world to test and learn more about locations from the Norwegian fjords to Dubai and Lapland. Her absolute family favourite is Orlando, Florida, where she is heading in August before a trip to Sri Lanka in October followed by LA and Vegas only weeks after. “I just look back and think about the dark place I was in just a few years ago. I was in bed all the time and my

little boy was coming in to ask: “Mummy are you ok?”. Obviously I’m going to be on medication for the rest of my life but I’ve made a full recovery and I’m absolutely fine “I just think that life is too short and other people might be out there in 9-5, dead-end jobs and not enjoying it. Sometimes you have to take a bit of a risk in life. You just never know.” Did you know you can get all the latest Scunthorpe headlines sent

straight to your inbox for free? All you have to do is click this link and we’ll update you on all the latest stories as they happen.

Sue Lennox, stroke survivor, Hays Travel, travel consultant, Scunthorpe, Orlando, Dubai, Lapland, Norwegian fjords, long-haul business award, recruitment