The unfiltered journey of Susanna Cole – business, betrayal, four cancers, and the mindset that kept her alive.
This blog post is based on a raw, honest conversation from the UFO Podcast (Unfiltered Frank and Open).
Susanna Cole doesn’t fit the typical entrepreneur mould. She’s a 5‑foot‑2 Glaswegian with English parents, a single mother who built businesses from scratch, and someone who has faced down not just market downturns but four simultaneous cancer diagnoses.
The Girl Behind the Business
Her story begins in St. Andrews, where as an 18‑year‑old university student, she started running nightclub events. “Anybody who’s 18 running nightclub events will know that you’re not inviting the cleanest of people in the world,” she recalls. There she sat, thousands of pounds in a money belt, surrounded by DJs and bouncers she wasn’t sure she could trust, while drug dealers asked about their cut. When the police commissioner shut her down due to drug issues she refused to control, she learned her first hard lesson: some opportunities aren’t worth the cost.
“It is doing different things and learning more about what you don’t wanna do.”
— Susanna Cole
The Fair Trade Years: Passion Meets Reality
At 21, with a young daughter and a single parent’s determination, Susanna launched a fair‑trade business. This was very early on in the fair‑trade movement, at a time when it was just beginning to become known for products like coffee and chocolate. She built five shops across Scotland and ran a festival operation that took her to Glastonbury, Reading, and WOMAD.
But here’s what made her different: she was the only festival trader with a filing cabinet in the back of her van, tracking exact takings and predicting proportions. “All the other hippies would come into the back of my van and go, ‘show me your takings,'” she laughs.
What she didn’t have was a business partner she could trust. That partnership ended badly, with her being ripped off.
The Best Advice She Ever Received
The turning point came when the chief executive of a 70‑shop retail chain gave her brutally honest feedback: “Mate, the only way you can scale this is by working harder and you’re already working seven days a week, so I’d shut it down and move on to your next business.”
He was right. She was already at capacity.
“You know what business partners do, don’t we, occasionally? I haven’t yet … well, be careful.”
— Susanna Cole
The Property Pivot
After seven years in fair trade, Susanna decided she needed to learn from others. She took four different director‑level jobs over two‑and‑a‑half years — running a radio station in Bristol, working in international cashmere marketing (where she learned that the world’s best cashmere comes from Scotland, not just Italy), and advising failing textile companies for Scottish Enterprise.
“I think I need some edges rubbed off,” she explains. “I’ve been an entrepreneur since I was sort of 18, so I probably don’t know a lot of stuff.”
Then she returned to property. As a single parent on a decent but limited salary, she had to fundraise. Her approach was disarmingly simple: complete honesty. She would produce 8‑to‑10‑page deal reports detailing everything that could go wrong, sharing her mortgage statement, salary, and even her inside‑leg measurement.
“The two questions for investors are: how much money am I gonna earn? And how safe is my money?”
— Susanna Cole
By being transparent about risks, she built trust. And with that trust, she raised millions and was doing about 50 houses a year.
The Truth About Investors
Susanna learned a crucial distinction about the types of investors she worked with. At the bottom were people with around £50,000. In the middle were small business owners or corporate professionals with £150,000 to £300,000. At the top were people who had sold businesses for around £5 million.
“The most fun people to work with were the highly competent business mentors,” she says. Why? Because they operated on trust first, contracts second. “Whatever we agreed at the coffee or at lunch was what we then delivered.”
The smaller investors, however, were a different story. They would panic at the first sign of a downturn, listening to the TV or a worried sister‑in‑law. Susanna learned the hard way that some people don’t have the nerves of steel required for property investment.
The Million‑Pound Tax Mindset
One of the most striking insights from the conversation came when Neville shared his unusual goal: “I would pay a million pound in tax every year.”
His reasoning? If you’re paying a million in tax, you’re doing something right. It reframes the entire conversation from “how much am I taking home?” to “how much value am I creating?” Susanna loved this perspective, referencing it as a powerful mental reframe.
Systems, Trust, and Getting Paid
Neville shared a brilliant cash‑flow strategy from his retail days. Instead of accepting standard 30‑day payment terms, he offered suppliers payment in 1 day in exchange for a 10% discount.
The result? An extra £160,000 profit in the first year — without raising prices.
But the real magic was the ripple effect. Suppliers started calling them first when they had surplus stock because they knew they’d get paid immediately and take the entire lot.
“Fundamentally, the relationship is one of trust. I just don’t think you get away with that in business to not have a fundamental business relationship with trust.”
— Susanna Cole
Four Cancers and a Second Opinion
In 2020, as the world grappled with a pandemic, Susanna received a diagnosis that would have broken most people: four independent, unconnected cancers at the same time.
But here’s where her story takes a remarkable turn. She had already planned a six‑month sabbatical. She’d built her property portfolio and an education business that she loved.
Then she discovered that the NHS department she was in was dysfunctional. “I wouldn’t be alive if I’d stayed with them,” she states flatly.
She transferred her care to the Royal Marsden, paying six figures out of pocket, and got four different professors and surgeons on her team.
Then she did something extraordinary: she read over 1,000 medical papers and a couple of hundred books.
“I decided to learn every single thing I possibly could, and then find every single expert and specialist that would assist.”
She combined conventional treatment with acupuncture, hypnotherapy, massage, and nutrition. She walked into chemo saying, “I want chemo with chocolate and rainbows, please.”
Lessons for Life and Business
What we can all take away:
- Systems matter. Whether it’s a 147‑page SOP or a six‑week sprint, clear processes create clarity and control.
- Trust is non‑negotiable. With investors, suppliers, or doctors — honesty wins.
- Know the price you’re willing to pay. It’s not always money; it’s energy and focus.
- Get a second opinion. In business and in health, never accept the first answer as the only answer.
- Don’t let fear stop you from learning. The basics — KPIs, performance standards, customer care — never go out of style.
Where Is She Now?
Susanna is based in Barcelona, 11 minutes from the beach, starting most days with a run and a swim in the sea. She’s recently returned to work after three‑and‑a‑half years focused entirely on her health.
“I intend to do the 1% — can I improve? Can I improve? I quite like to stay alive if possible.”
— Susanna Cole
The girl who started with nightclub events, built fair‑trade shops, raised millions for property deals, and beat four cancers is now sharing what she’s learned — through YouTube, her education business, and conversations like this one.
Connect with Susanna Cole
Instagram: @susannaco_uk
YouTube: Susanna Cole & The Good Property Company
Website: thegoodpropertycompany.co.uk
“Today is the first day of the rest of your life. A lot of people retire, but a lot of people start at retirement age and go for years and years and build incredible businesses. It’s to do with what you personally want — your aims, your wants, your needs, your hopes, and your dreams.”
This article is based on an episode of the UFO Podcast (Unfiltered Frank and Open conversations). The views expressed are those of the participants and are shared for informational and inspirational purposes.