Edge Forum

Amy Beeton is one of the few women to have reached the summit of Mount Everest.  She gave up a full time job in London to concentrate on mountaineering and now runs her own business as a motivational speaker from Cumbria.

What do you do?

I am a motivational speaker giving talks to a wide variety of clients on a range of themes. My talks are based on my experiences of mountaineering; I love all types of climbing, especially ice climbing and alpine climbing.

My passion for mountaineering can be traced back years but in 2000 I took on my first major expedition.  Since then I have climbed in the French, Swiss and Italian Alps, the Pyrenees, Dolomites Andes, Himalaya, Karakoram and many other

places.  Climbing Mount Everest (29,035ft) was an exceptional experience on many levels, encompassing both very rewarding and very difficult scenarios. I learn a valuable lesson from each mountain I climb and Everest taught me many.  

My return from quite literally “the top of the world” really changed my perspective, opened up new opportunities for me and led me to motivational and inspirational speaking.

What was your journey to get where you are?

I have taken a rather complex route to get where I am. I did well at school and then went to study psychology at Southampton University; then followed years of numerous different jobs. Living in London at the time, my career began with the Independent newspaper, a job I loved. Eighteen months later I moved on and over the next few years I held various roles, focusing on publishing, sales and business development for different radio stations, consumer magazines and national newspapers.

It was while working for Classic FM - a job that for the most part was fantastic -that I had a “bolt out the blue moment”. I finally admitted to myself that if I continued on this pathway, I would never reach my personal potential.  Life really was too precious to attend constant meetings about meetings and CC: the world by email!  My passion for mountains grew, I felt trapped and I finally ‘let the beast out of the cage’; I planned my first major expedition to an 8,000 metre peak and quit my job!  A big financial risk, but it was something I had to do.

It wasn’t until I returned from climbing Everest that I got into motivational speaking. An ex-client of mine from a previous job asked me to come and talk to her team about my experiences. I realised that I really loved it; the chance to speak about my passion and how I managed to make the drastic change; to inspire others and still be able to follow my love of climbing.

What was your education like?

I really liked school; not all of the styles of teaching I must say, but I loved and still do love to learn! The accomplishment of gaining knowledge is fantastic. I carried on at school doing my A levels and then went to university.

I relished many of the experiences that school provided. On the fitness front I particularly enjoyed sport and athletics. I ran cross country and played in the hockey team. The team dynamic of sport, that feeling of fitness have definitely impacted on my life. I think one of the experiences that shaped me most profoundly was an outdoor adventure school trip to Wales; I found sleeping outside, leaping into ridiculously cold rivers, abseiling and getting covered in mud strangely exhilarating. I had found my love for the outdoors, something that has only flourished since!

I went straight to university from school, I think I have been trying to catch up on having a gap year ever since! I believe that everything in your past contributes to who you are so my schooling must have influenced me in ways that I’m not conscious of.

What challenges have you faced?

One of the major challenges that I have faced has been financial; sadly expeditions don’t pay for themselves and the financial outlay is huge. It’s not just about shoving on a pair of boots and leaping up a mountain.  In preparation for my early expeditions I literally saved every penny; I stopped spending on going out and used my time to become seriously fit instead. I worked hard and saved it all. I suppose I have always struggled for time as well. Before I took up motivational speaking I was squeezing expeditions and climbing trips in between a full time job, was training for about three hours each evening as well as writing sponsorship proposals until the early hours. It was hard.

What drives you?

I am driven by doing what I love and by knowing that I’ll feel an enormous sense of satisfaction with every achievement. I went for my dream and it has paid off. I have high levels of self-motivation, yet also love being part of a team. My job gives me both; the opportunity to work alone and test myself in amazing places, but also to work with and inspire other people.

Who is your role model?

I don’t have a role model. I believe that becoming the person you want to be must reflect you and not you trying to be someone else. Our society tends to highlight as role models people who are obsessed with all things material, fame and power; people who aren’t necessarily happy or engaging with life at a fulfilling level.

Instead, I admire individual qualities and characteristics in people, which highlight the characteristics that I want to enhance in myself.  Equally, I’m influenced in reverse; I see traits in other people that I don’t wish to have myself so I’m influenced not to be like them.

You can learn from everyone; all background and all ages. A person I find very inspiring is a 23 year old friend, James, who works as a personal trainer. He is determined, enthusiastic, optimistic and works very hard.  I also have great admiration for people with specialist, practical skills that I don’t have, such as engineers, carpenters, builders, plumbers. Their work is crucial and too often taken for granted.

What advice would you give to young people?

Do some thing to keep fit and stay fit. Being physically fit makes you so much happier, sharper and able to do far more in life. Work wise; find something that you really love and work for it. It doesn’t matter what it is; singing, working with children or deciding to climb mountains. At the final analysis, you know yourself best and sometimes you have got to make a clear, firm decision as to what you truly want to do and become; not what someone else wants you to do. Then work hard and enjoy it. Everyone has potential but you have to work to fulfil it.

What do you think education should be like?

I enjoyed my education and the experiences it provided, but I think - and this is certainly how I felt at the time – our education system channels young people too early, narrowing their subjects at a stage when they don’t really know what they want to do. Years later many people realise that it’s a bit too late and it feels too hard to go back. It would have been nice to have had more help in making the “big decisions” such as what subjects to take and what path to follow. The Career choices presented to me could have been taken from of a book entitled “How to Limit the Aspirations of All Females and Follow Strict Gender Stereotypes – Volume 1”. The careers advice was frankly, appalling. What’s wrong with being a female mechanic? Women are excellent with hand-eye coordination, detail and dexterity. What’s wrong with a man being a nurse?

I also wish I had been taught how to study. As I didn’t know the best way to go about it, I tended to work too hard “just in case”, causing myself unnecessary grief. I could have done with more confidence with that. An older mentor would have been great in that respect.

And what about success

Success in work is about doing something that you love and doing it well. When you do what you love to do, hard work, determination, enthusiasm and courage follow naturally. Very much linked to this is personal success, which is being happy with who you are, working to improve weaknesses and building upon strengths. Ultimately, you are truly successful if you are genuinely happy. To quote Thucydides; the secret of Happiness is Freedom. The secret of Freedom is Courage.

www.amybeeton.com