I'd kept hearing about Dragons' Den but I'd never actually seen it. I didn't imagine for a minute that my first experience of the programme would be in front of the camera and I'd walk away with James Caan as my new business partner. It was after dropping out of university, then abandoning a career as a chief make-up artist that I started working with dogs. I already had one of my own when I began to train other dogs seriously. I felt I had finally found something I cared about doing. Things initially didn’t go according to plan however, as due to illness I was unable to exercise the dogs. So, with the idea of a canine exercising machine in mind, I put the dogs on a standard treadmill and sketched out how it could be properly adapted for animals. The last three years have been tough - I’ve put my heart into trying to build my business, but it isn’t easy working and raising my two children. I’ll admit that my slow progress hasn’t all been down to a lack of time: a total lack of experience has never allowed me to realise my ambitions but all this would change when I met James. After downloading the Dragons’ Den application form and passing the selection process, my friends and family coached me on how to present myself for my pitch. I couldn’t have done it without them, but I was still incredibly nervous when the day arrived. I had Daffy the dog for support which helped me enormously, but the reality was that if I didn’t attract investment, Fit Fur Life was going into liquidation. My heart raced as I climbed the stairs to meet the dragons. Peter Jones began by saying, “This is so sad”, which totally threw me and from that moment on I was convinced nobody was interested. Theo Paphitis and Duncan Bannatyne had a good laugh about how noisy they thought the machine was. But James didn’t find my idea funny and asked me some questions about me and my situation. I was relieved to feel that there was some compassion in the Den. As I would soon discover, James puts a lot of faith in a person’s character, so finding out more about me was very important to him. I was stunned when he offered me the full £100,000 for half of my company. I had been prepared for the worst, but now had the chance to turn my fortunes around..jpg) What you see of James on Dragons’ Den is what you get: he is a softly spoken, calm and genuine man. He doesn’t make decisions lightly and with his handshake comes total conviction. Already James has put the most amazing team into place around me and I have learnt so much. Making Fit Fur Life work is going to be tough but with James on my side I know I can succeed.
Watch Sammy pitch for investment in Dragons Den here!
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