Sara Davies’ business lost ‘hundreds of thousands’ during her time on Strictly | Celebrity News | Showbiz & TV

Sara Davies, 38, said her business profits plummeted by “hundreds of thousands” while she was competing on Strictly Come Dancing last year. However, the star was willing to accept the dent in her bank balance if it meant fulfilling her lifelong ambition to appear on the BBC dance show.

Sara has owned craft supply company, Crafter’s Companion, since 2005 and has lived and breathed the business since she founded it at the age of 21.

Eventually, she decided it was time to do something “simply for her”.

Writing in her new book, We Can All Make It, the Dragons’ Den star said: “The cost to the business of me being essentially ‘missing in action’ for several months was in the hundreds of thousands – way more than the fee the BBC offers any of the contestants to do the show.”

When asked in an interview with Express.co.uk why she was willing to lose such a whopping amount of money, Sara explained: “I think life is about priorities.

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“Crafters Companion now is a £40 million business and we have 250 staff that we employ all over the world.

“I am still a big fundamental part of that business, I am still what keeps the wheels turning in a lot of regards, so I need to be physically there to make a lot of the sales that the company relies on.”

While she knew taking time out would be “really hard”, Sara had never had many days off and she decided the autumn of 2021 was the right time.

She explained: “For the last 17 years I haven’t really had many holidays and I don’t take days off because I would think, why would I take a day off if I could be earning money for the business?

Despite the huge commitment it took to take part, Sara wasn’t completely out of business-mode and still did “lots of work” during her time on the show.

Recalling her final performance of the Argentine Tango, the mum-of-two says she only had around eight hours sleep for the whole week because she was juggling so much.

Her schedule included training with Aljaz from 6am until noon, then heading straight to the office for 1pm before a TV broadcast to the US which was on-air until 5am.

Understandably, Sara says it was “a killer”.

Sara’s book hits the shelves on Thursday and takes readers through her journey to success.

This includes running her business from her university bedroom all the way to becoming the youngest female investor on Dragons’ Den.

On her motivation to write the book, Sara said: “I want people, whether they are entrepreneurs or mums who are trying to juggle everything, to pick up my book and connect with something in it.

“I want them to think, if she has done that I can go and do whatever it is that I am trying to achieve.”

We Can All Make It: My Story by Sara Davies is published on 28th April by Bantam Press. RRP £20.