How this mum-of-six went from being homeless to a millionaire

A mum-of-six, who lost her son to cancer before becoming homeless, has made herself a millionaire by helping people to follow their dreams.

This year, 42-year-old Vanessa Ogden Moss’ business will turn over more than $3.1 million (£1.7 million) – even though she only works a few hours a week and has no GCSEs.

But it’s a far cry from where Vanessa was 15 years ago, when her five-year-old son, Tom, had just died from a rare form of cancer, she had split from her partner, and was left sofa-surfing between friends and family.

After suffering a mental breakdown, the former stay-at-home mum from Quarndon in the UK, decided to channel her grief into motivating others on social media, and ten years later, has built up her own company which enrols people in online training courses.

“I left school with no GCSEs and I got pregnant really young. I had three kids and I was a stay-at-home mum with no skills,” Vanessa said.

“After losing my son I had a complete mental breakdown, I could hardly function and I filed for bankruptcy, I ended up homeless and lost everything.

“I didn’t have a penny to my name but I had a crappy computer and we were staying with family and friends so I had access to the internet.”

With two children still to look after, Vanessa decided to set up a motivational Facebook page called ‘Yummy Mummy’ with a 12-week weight loss programme for new mothers.

But soon, people were so pleased with Vanessa’s results that they were prepared to pay for her advice.

Today Vanessa estimates that she does three hours of work to make between $18 and $46,000 and by next month, her business will have turned over a profit of $3.1 million.

“I learned everything off YouTube and Google and started coaching people who wanted to learn new things and they paid me to do the course,” Vanessa, who is also set to appear on a reality TV show in April, said.

“Just this last month I’ve been to Bali, I made roughly $46k a day, I took a Bentley Continental GT for a test drive and we signed for a new house in Wilmslow, Cheshire.”

Vanessa said it is only recently she has been able to really look back at everything she has come from, and this is the first time she has opened up about the death of her son, Tom.

“He had been sick for months, but it came out of nowhere. He had Rhabdomyosarcoma. It was really deep inside his skull so it was pressing on his brain fluid so he was having lots of problems with his sight,” she said.

“He was getting worse and worse and I knew in my heart that he was going to die because nothing was working.

“I can’t even explain the feeling I had when he died, his suffering was over but he wasn’t here anymore.

“It was like a kind of numbness. I couldn’t do anything, I was paralysed with grief, I couldn’t even get dressed.”

For the last 12 years, Vanessa has been with her husband, Ben and has had three more children.

“I always say that helping people was the thing that made me better,” she said.

“I don’t know how I would have got through that breakdown without focussing my energy on helping other people.

“I didn’t even realise that I was helping myself as well.”

Got a story tip? Send it to lifestyle.tips@verizonmedia.com

Want more lifestyle and celebrity news? Follow Yahoo Lifestyle on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Or sign up to our daily newsletter here.