After founding a 6-figure business, he lost his ability to walk. But he bounced back and now tells how

Lee Chambers is a British radio host, psychologist, life coach, and entrepreneur. Born on May 22, 1985, he is the founder of both PhenomGames and Essentialise.

Chambers was in charge of gaming retail business PhenomGames in 2014 when he suffered from a life-changing condition where his immune system attacked the connective tissue in his joints. The condition took away his ability to walk.

The illness saw him move from playing team sports to lying in a hospital bed unable to feed himself. However, the British entrepreneur has managed to overcome the challenges to get his career and life back on track.

“My illness was a turning point for me. I’ve spent the last five years studying a practicing everything I’ve learned to optimize my mind, body, and soul,” he noted on this blog.

“I studied to become an Environmental Psychologist, to complement my qualifications in Performance Nutrition and Sleep Practitioner.”

He told Business Live that through all the physio and hydrotherapy, he was never offered support for his mind to understand the reality of chronic illness. As a result, he developed the idea for his other company Essentialise, which aims to help people achieve their potential through coaching and workplace wellbeing.

Chamber hails from Greater Manchester and is the first member of his family to attend university. This set a precedent for his two other brothers to attend university.

Despite acquiring a university education, Chambers said he knocked his confidence and started avoiding things due to fear of failure.

“Events occurred that knocked my confidence, and I started to avoid doing things in case I failed. I felt like I didn’t have anyone to relate to. I was a crazy mix of ‘entrepreneur, scientist and philosopher’ rather than the ‘normal’ mindset of a young, black male,” he explained to Business Live.

“I was isolated and didn’t have anything to turn to, so I locked myself away from society. I could feel myself spiraling away from life and tried to block everything out.”

According to him, he was “rescued” home by his father and he used the period to reflect on his life. Realizing the need to fix himself, Chambers enrolled in a degree program and first worked as a financial advisor after graduating.

However, he was made redundant after the 2008 financial crisis and decided to take control of his life. He used the money he earned at Bolton Council to create his own video game business, PhenomGames.

The video game became an instant hit, bringing in six figures revenue within a matter of months. The business continued to post six-figure profits three years afterwards.

Chambers was voted in the Top 50 BAME Entrepreneurs Under 50 in 2020. He has been awarded the Organisational Psychologist of the Year at the UK Enterprise Awards.