‘I’m glad I got five rejections on Dragons’ Den – now I make embarrassingly good money’-Ruth Lawes-Entertainment – Metro

Lee Dein said she would have worried the dragons would interfere with her vision (Picture: Dragons’ Den)

When Lee Dein got five nos from the Dragons’ Den panel after pitching her education business, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Lee appeared on the BBC show four years ago in a bid to expand her company, Magic Link Handwriting, which provides online courses for school children to improve their handwriting.

However, she told Metro.co.uk that when dragons Peter Jones, Touker Suleyman, Deborah Meaden, Jenny Campbell and Tej Lalvani, declined to invest in her venture, it did not dampen her spirits.

‘When someone says “No”, You just want to fight even harder, don’t you?’ the speech and language therapist and dyslexia teacher said.

Lee even admitted she was glad to receive no investment on Dragons’ Den as she feared the entrepreneurs would have ultimately meddled with her vision.

‘I was secretly relieved,’ she revealed.

‘When you’re an entrepreneur, you’re very driven and have a vision and so, if somebody then took it over and tried to guide me into a different direction, I would have struggled.’

Sticking to her guns, Lee expanded Magic Link Handwriting on her own terms – and it’s now worth five figures and pays out huge salaries to teachers.

‘It’s a really good turnover,’ she said modestly.

‘It’s good for me and good for my teachers and some earn between £1,000 to £2,000 per week.

All five dragons rejected the opportunity to invest in Magic Link Handwriting (Picture: Dragons’ Den)

Lee’s business helps young children transform their handwriting (Picture: Dragons’ Den)

‘It’s crazy what they earn – it’s embarrassingly good – but teachers deserve to be well paid.’

Lee admitted she would relish the opportunity to approach the dragons – who she has not seen since the show ended- as business has boomed.

She said: ‘My plan is eventually to approach them – I’ve always got a way to contact them through the BBC.

‘When I’m ready, I will do a little feature about proving them wrong.’

Lee describes her business as ‘life-changing’ for children (Picture: Dragons’ Den)

Lee said she only applied to Dragons’ Den on a whim when she was a ‘bit bored on a Saturday night’ and had drunk a glass of wine or two.

She completely forgot about her application when she had the call inviting her to appear on the show.

Lee said she found some of the experience ‘really scary’ as you don’t find out after the first day of filming the outcome of the pitch.

She was then asked to film for a second time three months later when she finally learned if she was receiving investment.

Lee said she would love to meet the dragons again to show how she proved them wrong (Picture: Dragons’ Den)

When asked why she thought the dragons declined to give Magic Link Handwriting a cash injection, she replied: ‘They didn’t invest because it was so unusual.

‘Maybe they just didn’t have the same vision as me, because I’m the only person to own a handwriting franchise, I believe.

‘Education is not their thing. They tend to invest in perfume, clothing and tech stuff.’

Now, Lee is hoping to expand her franchise to more locations across the UK and internationally.

She said: ‘It’s so life-changing for children and I’ve had such amazing feedback as it’s just a very simple, logical approach.’

Dragons’ Den is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

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