SAM Evans was just 23 years old when she was offered her first line of cocaine – at the funeral of a friend who had died from a drugs overdose.
Having been through a “heartbreaking” abortion, suffered horrendous bullying and in mourning, Sam was at an “all-time low” – so she said yes.
Within six weeks, the now 42-year-old was taking cocaine every day, spending hundreds each week. Her weight dropped from 10.5st to 8st, and she was signed off work.
It sparked a spiral of addiction that saw Sam, from London, forced to declare herself bankrupt aged 30 after getting into £40,000 of debt to fund her habit.
Now, Sam has turned her life around, earns up to £10,000 a month as a life coach helping others overcome adversity, and she has written a new book The Cognitive Switch.
“Taking drugs was a cry for help that no one could hear. I was unhappy and had been since I was little. I was desperately seeking love,” Sam said.
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“It led me into toxic relationships, and because of the way I was behaving, no job I had lasted more than 18 months.
“But through the work I’ve done on myself with coaching and therapy in the past five years, I believe what I go through I grow through to help other people. That I needed to go through the pain, come out the other end, and show people how they can do it too.”
Sam grew up in East London in a “predominately white British area”, in a “strict” Indian family with her two younger sisters.
She felt as though she didn’t fit in at school, and was bullied by classmates who racially abused her. At seven, she remembers praying to god to “take her back”.
“I didn’t fit in because I didn’t look the same. Other kids would tell me I was ‘dirty’ because of my skin colour.
“My parents were very strict, so I didn’t feel as though I could breathe without getting into trouble.
“It was the same at secondary school. I tried desperately to fit in, but friends would disappear quickly.”
At 15, Sam had “had enough” of living at home when her parents divorced, so she went to live with her grandparents nearby, who allowed her to get a part-time job in Topshop.
- The Cognitive Switch: Turn off self-sabotage and turn on self-empowerment like a flick of a switch, £8.99 from Amazon – buy now
But Sam would spend “every penny” on clothes and became addicted, hiding her haul in her wardrobe.
“I loved the new outfits and little tops, but I wasn’t allowed to wear them.”
After completing her GCSEs and A-levels, Sam studied an art foundation course, then a massage course, but she left both without finishing.
At 18, and teetotal, she started socialising and met her then boyfriend, falling pregnant when she was 20.
“I didn’t know what to do, so I had an abortion. I’d only told my ex, so he came with me to the clinic. When I came round after the procedure, I was screaming at him to leave me alone.
“I split up with him, and felt numb. Abortion was frowned upon by my family, but I eventually told my mum and she was really supportive, but I was deeply heartbroken at what I’d done.”
I was doing a gram of cocaine a day at £50 a day. I started borrowing money from friends, taking out loans and maxing credit cards to fund my clothes and drug habit. I was spiralling out of control.
Within the next year, Sam was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, just as she was going to launch her own business, a retail store selling women’s clothes.
Then, aged 23, one of Sam’s friends died of an accidental drugs overdose. And her world came crashing down.
“I was offered cocaine at his funeral. At first I said no. But I was at an all-time low, and I’d never let go after of having an abortion. When I had a taste of cocaine I thought ‘this is amazing’, it numbed my pain.
“Within six weeks, I'd been signed off from work, my weight went from 10.5st to 8st. I was addicted.
“I was doing a gram a day at £50 a day. I started borrowing money from friends, taking out loans and maxing credit cards to fund my clothes and drug habit. I was spiralling out of control.”
Working in the financial industry as a PA in London, Sam started going out clubbing.
At first, she would spend £500 a night, buying everyone drinks and drugs so she felt “in control”.
Sam would also spend £1,000 per month on clothes, opting for designer brands such as D&G, Versace and Prada.
“I just didn’t care about myself. I ended up rowing with my real friends who wanted me to stop taking drugs, and found other people who wanted to take cocaine.
“I’d get out of my head. Sometimes I’d just go off on my own, jump in a taxi and go dancing, even though I could barely stand up. I’m so grateful nothing happened to me.
“I had no sense of responsibility, and all my jobs were on short-term contracts, so I’d either get sacked or the contract would come to an end and they wouldn’t ask me to stay.”
Sam ignored her increasing debts, which were racking up interest every month.
By the age of 25, Sam was £40,000 in debt. So she took out an Individual Voluntary Arrangement with a company who called her over the phone, and started paying off £425 a month.
But her partying continued, and at 27, she met her ex-boyfriend, and she began to shut out her friends and family.
“I pushed for us to move in with each other, despite friends warning me he was a bad influence. We’d stay at home doing cocaine, sometimes staying up for days.
“People were calling me a junkie. You can see in photos how dark and sad my eyes were. I was a wreck.
“This carried on until I was 29. Then we split up, and I was devastated. I found out he hadn’t been paying the rent, so I had to pay the arrears.
How YOU can boss it like Sam and set up your own business:
- Blog your growth journey on social media as soon as you start so people can see your growth and wins.
- In social media marketing, pending on your industry, use language your audience will understand instead of using jargon that can confuse.
- If you are ever going to invest in anyone to help you and your business, research the person you are going to invest in as there are many people who play for the income, not your wellbeing.
- Get an affordable accountant for about £40 a month to help with your banking as this will take the pressure off you when it comes to tax returns.
- Never forget why you started your venture and always remain in that energy and treat every day like your first day in the office.
- If you are just starting out, opt-in for something affordable like lead pages instead of a full-on website. Most people think that having a website is vital, but it's not straight away because you need to build a good amount of testimonials proof to show why you are the expert plus it saves your money.
- Open a business account to keep your personal expenditure and business expenditure separate. They are normally free for the first year and still affordable thereafter.
- Be wise with your business investment choices. I know it looks good to purchase the latest apps and platforms, but the most important thing is, is to show up online as to why you are the expert. Not a flashy system.
- Plan your finances wisely. There could be ups and downs at first, so before you splurge on the latest pair of Manolos, project your income for the coming months to ensure there is always money flowing in the bank.
- Always do what feels right for you by taking on what you need as opposed to doing it like everyone else and most importantly, always have fun.
“I then had a call to say my IVA had been conning me, so none of my debt had gone away. That money I had paid every month for five years just disappeared.
“I then lost my £30,000-a-year job at a bank, and had an emotional breakdown. I hit rock bottom.”
Sam managed to pick herself back up, but it took seven months to find a new job because of her bad credit rating.
Aged 30, she started working at the Bank of America, moving into a new flat and she cut down the amount of drugs she was taking, but she was “still addicted”.
The following year, at work, Sam met her now husband Barry, now 45, and it was “love at first sight” – after a whirlwind romance, Barry proposed to Sam on her 31st birthday in 2011.
Having found someone who gave Sam the security she longed for, she quit her drug habit overnight. She found a “different high in life”.
“We had moved into his house in South East London, and I was pregnant with our first child, when Barry got down on one knee, and I said yes straight away.”
Sam suffered postnatal depression after Joshua, now nine, was born and decided to quit her banking career to become a montessori teacher.
After welcoming their second child, Micah, in 2013, Sam started to work in network marketing, which introduced her to positive affirmations and the benefits they had on her mindset.
This led her to the world of coaching, and in 2018, she started to work with therapists and mentors to “peel off a layer at a time”.
“It was a really emotional time – I would cry a lot during these sessions as all the negative emotions from my past would come to the surface.
“I got to the root cause of why I had turned to drugs, and had become addicted to buying clothes.”
In 2018, Sam – who is now a qualified Emotional Quotient Practitioner and Hypnotherapy coach – set up her own business Sam Evans Global, where she helps clients through personal crises and meet their professional goals.
“I help people who feel stuck and like they’re going round in a vicious cycle and no matter how hard they push themselves they feel like they’re going backwards.
I would cry a lot during therapy sessions as all the negative emotions from my past would come to the surface. I got to the root cause of why I had turned to drugs, and had become addicted to buying clothes…
“I rewire their thinking, to forgive the past so they can achieve what they want, whether that’s in a relationship, in a business or as a parent.”
Through one-on-one and group sessions, Sam’s business has soared, with her earnings topping £10,000 a month.
Sam charges £2,000 a month for her one-to-one programme, and offers these or group sessions, which vary from £299 to £1,197pp per month. Her clients are based in the UK and the US.
On top of this, she also earns money from book royalties, her practitioner courses and training other coaches.
She has written about her experiences and coaching techniques in a new book called The Cognitive Switch: Turn off self-sabotage and turn on self-empowerment like a flick of a switch.
“I’ve shared these powerful tools to allow readers to take ownership themselves. I tell them how to do it, and guide them through the process, and they know that I’ve been where they are.
“The book put every single piece of information in my brain together. It was like everything I had been through had led to this point.
“I now feel aligned and now feel content. I understand why I went through everything that I did. I now know my purpose, more than ever, and I now know that my purpose is definitely bigger than me.”
For more inspiring real life stories, Jemma Solomon revealed her sister sister Stacey caught the labelling bug from her – she set up her company with £300 & now Lord Sugar has invested.
And Tropic Skincare's Susie Ma set up her £51m business when she was 15 – Lord Sugar fired her on The Apprentice but STILL invested £200k.
Plus Rayner Davies was a single teenage mum on benefits – now her cleaning business turns over £4m a year.
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