Mum of two Karen Wood had been backpacking around the globe and enjoying a comfortable lifestyle working in medical sales before she decided to trade it all in to sell children’s balance bikes.

Karen had initially spent 10 years working overseas as a cook, a scuba instructor, and eventually a driver for a tour company before deciding she needed more stability.

“I worked in over 100 countries over 10 years. I was hitting 30 and fed up of living out of a backpack. I blagged my way into the corporate world of medical sales. A suit and a company car were the dream when the only shoes I owned were flip-flops”.

Unfortunately, this dream eventually became unsustainable for Karen, who felt tied down by her newfound 9-5 lifestyle.

“After about 6 years I felt so constrained. I hated the constant requirements for business plans and sales predictions, but I was trapped. The mortgage needed paying”.

At a loss for her next move, inspiration struck Karen in the unlikeliest of places – on her way to her child’s nursery.

“I was on maternity leave and taking the little one to nursery and came across a wooden bike with no pedals. I was told it was a balance bike and they were completely new at the time. I quit my job on that day and found myself with a lounge full of 100 Strider balance bikes. I knew I could do something with them”.

Before long, Karen had built herself a website, and found so much success selling balance bikes that she was offered to be the official UK distributor for Strider in 2014.

Karen’s husband left his job at Aston Martin and the two committed to running their family business together – going as far as cancelling their distribution contract 5 years later and starting from scratch with their own brand of childrens’ balance bike – Kidvelo Bikes.

“We spent a lot of time talking to parents and finding out what they liked and didn’t like about the bikes and we thought ‘why don’t we do this ourselves’?”.

Karen has described starting her own company creating and selling children’s bikes as the best decision she’s made despite the risks involved, and advises anyone else looking to make a dramatic or unusual career change to “wait two nights, and if you haven’t woke up panicking about it” it may be something worth going for.