A short story about my business journey

May is national #ShareAStoryMonth, so here's the one about how I started in business...

Despite 2020 being a cataclysmic year for me along with the rest of the world, it worked out pretty well in the end. Redundancy, furlough, two job losses and of course the other stuff that was going on, meant that I was forced to make a decision - although I didn't, until right at the end of the year.

January saw me made redundant from a job I adored and was really good at. It was a very sad time for me and my boss, but she had to make changes in her business and that meant I didn't fit in anymore. I was offered all the support to start my own social media management business, even offered the clients I worked on solely, but I was too nervous and took a job instead.

Sadly that job was the polar opposite of the employment I had enjoyed for the past 7 years - the environment, the atmosphere, the lack of autonomy all added up to an unhappy Hilary. So, when furlough came around in March I was actually pretty happy about it! I had my redundancy pay out, my wage, my girls and husband at home and nowhere to go, nothing to do except garden, nap and learn soooo much about my children (and GCSE maths!)

The next event was my furlough ending and my employment not being renewed. I was still under probation, so it was easy to just end our agreement. And just like that, sitting on a bench in the middle of an industrial estate, it ended - I had to do something fast.

I called my marketing mentor who very quickly got me an introduction to a small business that needed marketing management - winner! However, their customers were 90% indie retail and hospitality, and as we all recall, 2020 basically kneecapped them.

When lockdown 2 came around, I lost that job with zero notice. Going into the most expensive month of the year, I had no income.

That night, I went to yoga and walked home with my instructor. We talked about what had happened to me and that's when my life changed, standing on the pavement outside her house, she offered me work - my first client!

My second client came along when a yoga-buddy saw the increase in social messaging and asked if it was me.

My third client was a call from someone I had done a bit of writing for in lockdown 1. And so it seemed I had started a business!

At this point I realised had no website, no networking and hadn't even updated my LinkedIn profile. Once that was done, the calls came in and after about three weeks, I was comfortable again.

I consider myself lucky that the events occurred the way they did - others might say it had nothing to do with luck. All I know is, here I sit, comfortable in my home office, managing my clients and happy with the way it all worked out.