Louisa Turchet Interview
From Tin Tills to Double Decker Dreams: Lessons in Courage, Community, and Building What You Want, With Louisa Turchet
When Passion Becomes a Paycheque
Louisa Turchet lives in that rare sweet spot where the work is practical, purposeful, and actually fun.
By day, she is a director leading operations, sales, and marketing for a fintech and software company that serves martial arts clubs. Not just with tech, but with real business mentorship. The mission is simple and spicy: help instructors stop running a “club” like a hobby, and start running a business that funds the life they actually want.
Because here’s the truth most people avoid: it is not disrespectful to make money from your craft. It is respect. If you have spent years mastering an art, why should you be ashamed of being paid well for it?
Louisa has also lived the martial arts culture from the inside. Not as a lifelong dojo kid, but as someone who stepped into it through work, then fell in love with the community, the discipline, and the way it shapes families. That matters, because leadership that comes from lived experience hits different.
The Adventure Muscle Is Built Through Saying Yes
Louisa’s story is a masterclass in the kind of courage that does not look cinematic. It looks like getting on the bus anyway.
After university, a friend floated the idea of doing a ski season. The friend bailed. Louisa went anyway.
No overthinking. No perfect plan. Just a young woman stepping into the unknown, meeting strangers in London, landing in a French resort, and learning fast what it means to adapt in real time.
That season gave her more than stories. It gave her proof.
Proof that you can survive discomfort.
Proof that you can make friends in chaos.
Proof that you can build confidence by doing scary things before you feel ready.
Also, she broke both wrists snowboarding. Which is a very literal way of life saying, “Great effort, now stop launching yourself down mountains.”
Rome Taught Her a Brutal Truth
After that season, she made another bold move: she went to Italy and decided she would live in Rome.
No Instagram highlight reel. No laptop lifestyle fantasy. This was newspaper job hunting on pavements, riding trains daily, talking to strangers, and piecing together a new life one conversation at a time.
And while Rome is breathtaking, she learned something most people only learn after wasting years chasing “the dream location”:
A beautiful place cannot save a toxic environment.
You can be living behind the Pantheon in the heart of history and still feel like you are waking up in the depths of hell if the workplace is brutal, competitive, and dehumanising.
The upside: it forged her. Attention to detail. Productivity. Professional grit. Not because she was nurtured, but because mistakes had consequences. It is not how it should be, but it is part of how she became who she is.
Then She Bought a Double Decker Bus and Forgot the Small Detail
In 2017, Louisa and her sister got a wild idea: convert a classic London Routemaster into a mobile bar for weddings, festivals, and events.
A Prosecco and patisserie concept. Full branding. Oak worktops. Leather seating. The whole vision was clear enough to taste.
And here’s the part I loved most. They hit a financial barrier, had the “well, that’s it then” moment, sat on the doorstep with coffee and cigarettes, and decided to problem solve instead of quit.
Vehicle loan.
Start-up loans.
Selling what they could.
Talking to people.
Leaning on relationships.
Moving forward before certainty showed up.
This is Dream Building in the wild. Everything is created twice, first in the mind, then in form, and Louisa had that vision locked in.
Then came the funniest business lesson of all time.
They bought the bus.
Converted the bus.
Booked events.
And forgot one small thing.
Someone has to drive the bus.
That moment right there is entrepreneurship in a sentence. Big vision, big heart, then reality taps you on the shoulder and says, “Alright my goodman, who’s driving this thing?”
So Louisa did what real builders do. She adapted. She found a local ex London bus driver through the Routemaster community, and eventually decided to get qualified herself.
Two and a half grand later, she was a licensed bus driver. Problem solved. Freedom regained.
What Actually Made the Business Work
Louisa dropped a truth bomb that every burned out business owner needs to hear:
Marketing emails did not build the business.
Relationships did.
One event led to another because they spoke to people. They built rapport with other stallholders. They stayed curious. They followed leads. They let humans open doors that cold outreach never could.
They also learned to pivot fast. The Prosecco only concept was too niche. They expanded into a full bar. They adjusted branding and visibility. They improved the bus each event. They kept building.
That is the real game. Iteration, not perfection.
They eventually sold the business during COVID, when events disappeared overnight. No drama, no regret. Just adaptability.
The Real Takeaways
Louisa’s story is not about martial arts, ski seasons, or double deckers. It is about becoming.
Here are the lessons that keep punching through:
Say yes before you feel ready. That’s where the growth lives.
Stop waiting for money to magically appear. You find a way by moving first.
Community is a cheat code. Relationships create opportunities faster than strategy alone.
Toxic environments steal your life. Do not romanticise the location if the culture is rot.
Risk assess, then commit. Heart builds the thing, but thinking keeps it alive.
Adapt or die. Your first idea rarely survives contact with reality.
A Few Questions to Reflect On
As you sit with Louisa’s journey, consider:
Where are you waiting for “enough money” before you let yourself start?
What is the bus driver problem in your plan right now? The obvious piece you have not addressed yet.
Who do you need to talk to this week that could change the speed of your progress?
What would you build if you stopped treating practicality like a mood killer?
Meet Louisa Turchet
Louisa Turchet is a fintech director and business leader based in Nottingham, working at the intersection of software, finance, and martial arts entrepreneurship. She helps instructors turn their passion into sustainable businesses by stabilising cash flow, improving systems, and guiding them through the practical realities of running a club like a real company.
Outside of work, she is a kickboxer, a former Krav Maga student, and a living example of what happens when you repeatedly choose the uncomfortable door.
Connect with Louisa:
If this episode lit something up in you, take it as your sign.
Adventure is calling.
And if your brain just replied, “Yeah but I don’t have time,” you already know what I’m about to say: you don’t have a time problem, you have a priority problem.
