East Sussex businesswomen helps unemployed mother set up her own company

Katy Jobbins from Chailey met Nadine Hill on ‘Rich House, Poor House’ in 2020, where the two swapped budgets for one week on the third series of the show.

At the time, Nadine was living in a two-bedroom flat with her son Morgan, living off £86 disposable income a week and a mountain of debt to pay off.

On the other hand, Katie and her husband Paul where living off £1,800 disposable income a week, thanks to the success of Katy’s Permanent Makeup Training Academy in Wivelsfield.

At the end of the episode, after noticing they had similar backgrounds, Katie offered to train the single mother to be a make-up artist for free.

Three years later, Nadine now has her own permanent makeup clinic and is a double permanent makeup award finalist.

Katy said: “The first hurdle we faced with Nadine was getting her to face reality, to actually look at the debt that she had, and that took quite a lot of confronting with her.

"Once she looked at and accepted it, she actually called and negotiated all of her debt down.”

Nadine said: “When Katy offered me the training for free, I was amazed. I did think these sort of things don't happen very often and definitely not to me.

"I sat down with Paul and we made a plan to prioritise my finances and set goals for the future. Amazingly, with his help and a little forward planning, within just 12 months of training in permanent makeup I was able to clear all my debt."

Nadine opened her very own permanent makeup clinic in Cosham in September 2020, after Katy and Paul offered to mentor her on the business and marketing side for the next couple of years.

As a result of Nadine’s initial success, Channel 5 commissioned a one hour special follow up show called ‘Rich House, Poor House Changed My Life’ which was aired in April 2021 showing their journey since the first show.

Nadine said: “Katy’s training and mentoring me has been life changing in so many ways. From not just the big things like homes and finances, but down to the smaller things like being able to put my son into clubs he is interested in.

"I’ve had more time for my own self development both creatively and spiritually. The best thing I’ve learned is results aren’t always instant but keep on chipping away and building momentum and results will come.

“I feel so much more independent now, have much more self esteem and truly believe in my own worth knowing that anything is possible. This has all come from Paul and Katy helping over the last few years and I will be eternally grateful.”

Katy added: “It was the best feeling in the world to show my 3 children how far Nadine has come and what can be accomplished with a lot of belief, support, practice and hard work. I wish I could celebrate each and every student success in this way, but there are so many triumphs & not enough days in the week.”