Defying Racist Bullying To Achieve Huge Business Success

Forbes

4 days ago

Rudy Heywood
'Don't dream too small - and if there's no obvious path, create your own.' These are the words of Rudy Heywood, a Birmingham-based entrepreneur who did exactly that after a chance conversation with actor Idris Elba. But not before enduring a level of bullying that might have destroyed most people.
He is the founder of Famous Wolf, a successful digital marketing agency that holds the record for one of the highest-performing ad campaigns in the U.K. As he explains, the road to success was far from easy. Along the way, he had to contend with vile racist bullying, but refused to let it destroy his passion and determination to succeed.
A tough start
Born to a Jamaican father and a White British mother, his parents worked long hours and lived from one pay packet to the next. By the age of five, he'd already experienced direct racism from a toddler league football coach and had noticed verbal racist abuse directed at his parents on the street. His dad always told him he'd have to work ten times harder just to be seen as equal, and this has driven him throughout his life.
'When my dad gave me that advice, I was very aware that I was looked at and treated differently,' says Heywood. 'It didn't discourage me or upset me, it simply made me more determined and lit an unquenchable fire that still drives me today.'
Stage and screen
After leaving school, he pursued his dream of becoming an actor, securing an agent and landing a scholarship at the prestigious East 15 Acting School. He won roles on the West End stage and in numerous TV shows. But the industry was tough, especially for Black and mixed-race actors, and within a couple of years, Heywood was questioning his choice of career. The tipping point came after a chance meeting with actor Idris Elba in a Covent Garden health store.
'That was a defining moment for me,' says Heywood. 'Idris had just secured the role in The Wire, which was also a defining moment in his career. He noticed my Spotlight card in my wallet as I was paying for a protein shake and asked me how long I'd been acting. I told him I was thinking of quitting, and instead of asking why, he said, 'It's hard at the moment for us, isn't it? The roles for people that look like you and I are very slim, but don't worry, I aim to change that one day.'
Discovering a new talent
Although after this meeting, Heywood decided to switch careers, Elba's words stayed with him. 'He made me realize that if I want things to change, I needed to create my own path and be the changemaker in whichever career I move into, which is my primary goal today.'
Charting a new career course, Heywood secured a graduate job in advertising sales, where he quickly discovered he had a real talent for impactful, results-driven marketing. He says: 'The interview process was roleplay-led, which played to my acting skills. I realized I was good at it when I sold a £27,000 marketing campaign to a high-end furniture brand that delivered a ten-fold return for them. As a result, they offered me a position in their marketing team.'
Racist bullying
His career rocketed as he built high-profile creative campaigns, closed seven-figure partnerships, travelled the world and sold hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of ads. In just a few short years, he had worked his way up to become a regional director for a global multimedia agency, overseeing 150 staff. But behind the scenes, he was suffering racial abuse at the hands of senior directors.
'The racial abuse that I experienced was incredibly direct,' he recalls. 'Racist slurs were being said in my presence. Some senior directors made comments about black women being seen as ugly, in text messages, emails and in meetings. It was raised with HR, but they ignored it. That was when I decided to resign; the best decision I ever made as it drove me to start my own agency, Famous Wolf.'
Entrepreneurial spirit
Heywood threw himself into launching his new business, which was completely self-funded. He set about networking, building relationships with business owners, knocking on doors and cold calling. Within the first month, he was winning business. He quickly earned a reputation for delivering results, and thanks to word-of-mouth recommendations, Famous Wolf began to scale.
In March 2020, he encountered his first major challenge. The business had been running for a year and had scaled to £10,000 per month when the pandemic hit. 'We lost 75% of our monthly revenue practically overnight,' says Heywood. 'I had to think quickly to assess the new landscape, pivot, and adapt to keep Famous Wolf alive.'
He spotted a significant gap in the market. COVID had severely impacted the ability of small businesses to keep trading because traditional marketing methods had been rendered ineffective. Many small firms were unfamiliar with digital marketing and couldn't afford agencies to support them on a retainer.
Heywood's solution was to establish the Famous Wolf E-learning platform, delivering regular, updated monthly step-by-step video training directly to SME's that they could implement directly into their businesses for a small monthly subscription fee. 'We helped over 200 businesses to survive and thrive throughout the pandemic,' says Heywood. 'It also acted as a nurture programme for Famous Wolf, which encouraged those businesses to become clients and kept a steady flow of revenue coming in.
Award-winning agency
Now one of the U.K.'s fastest-growing digital marketing agencies, Famous Wolf has grown 300% in the last 12 months and holds a Meta U.K. record for one of the highest performing ad campaigns. It has also established a broad and increasingly global client base.
German audio equipment manufacturer Sennheiser began partnering with Famous Wolf in May this year to accelerate its digital growth strategy. 'In just three months, our Google Ads conversions increased by 70% under Famous Wolf's guidance,' says content coordinator Chris Smee. 'Rudy Heywood's entrepreneurial vision and data-driven approach have not only optimized our campaigns, but also but also laid the groundwork for sustained, market-leading performance. We're looking forward to a long and successful partnership with Famous Wolf.'
Another client partnership was established much closer to home when tech retailer Box and Famous Wolf crossed paths during a power outage last year in their shared office building in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter.
Emma Powell, marketing manager at Box, says: 'Rudy and I both stepped out of our offices wondering what was going on and ended up having one of those classic 'what do you do?' chats. It turned out, we were looking for video support, and they were just two doors down, specializing in exactly that.'
Since then, Famous Wolf has helped Box to bring bespoke video production back into its offering. 'Their support has been instrumental in helping us produce high-quality, platform-ready video content that fits seamlessly into our social commerce strategy,' adds Powell. 'As an online tech retailer, engaging, agile video content is key, and their team consistently delivers work that's both creative and commercially effective.'
Transforming dreams
Heywood attributes his business success to resilience, skill transfer and adaptation, visionary mindset, and relentless hustle. His advice to today's young entrepreneurs is to understand that true entrepreneurial success is born from boldly transforming past skills into new ventures, embracing challenges as opportunities to pivot, and harnessing the resilience and mental toughness to turn setbacks into fuel for growth.
Having overcome the trauma of bullying, he says: 'Being an entrepreneur demands relentless perseverance regardless of background, so building strong networks, staying agile and being customer focused, while holding fast to a visionary mindset, will transform dreams into lasting impact.'