Everyday People

This is a story of how a girl from Scunthorpe ended up on the road to finding meaning and growing a purposeful business. It’s been an eventful journey, but like the Japanese art Kintsugi – I’ve chosen to embrace missteps along the way.

Kintsugi – by putting broken pottery pieces back together with gold we can create stronger, more beautiful pieces of art.

Weathering the storm

Growing a business is hard. It makes you wonder why people do it and what keeps them going. To be able to understand what motivates me, I first had to weather the storm.

I became a single mum at university, and after graduating I spent over ten years in a controlling marriage.

Divorced and feeling liberated, I grew an award-winning events company while raising my two daughters. But then I went on to do something that would make an interesting premise for a Netflix documentary. I married somebody too quickly so a faith I didn’t believe in would accept him back. For years I felt ashamed of this, but I now realise I did it out of compassion.

Little did I know life’s ups and downs would eventually lead me to a path to finding purpose and meaning.

In 2016, I hit another bump in the road. It’s not even noteworthy and I’d been through harder times, but this was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

It felt like I’d hit rock bottom.

Questioning the purpose of life

Picking myself back up this time was more difficult. I did what I can only describe as walking gratitude meditation. For months, I’d walk about 8 miles a day thinking about what I was grateful for.

With all this time to explore my thoughts, I began to question the purpose of life. Why are we here?

While trying to discover what would give my life more meaning, I read a lot of books. One had a profound effect, Man’s Search for Meaning, by Victor Frankl.

I read the book in one day and I remember waking up the following morning enjoying my coffee like never before, and still to this day I have a heightened appreciation of the simple things in life.

The book also helped me to realise that I’m in control of how I react to difficult situations. It also made me feel that making a difference to others (no matter how small) would give my life more meaning.

A new venture

During this period of soul-searching and self-discovery, I was growing a new business. Inspired by the grit of small business owners, I wanted to create a hub that made it easier to find support – that was accessible to all and driven by the business community. I spoke with a Business Link advisor who convinced me I needed to be more niche. At that time, I probably lacked confidence in my ability, and I trusted her advice.

I was passionate about working with people who not only had the skills I needed but also shared my values, so I set about creating a bespoke freelance platform.

Things got off to a great start. A minimum viable product validated the idea, but to scale, a few things needed fixing. My developers started work, then they went out of business, and I’d run out of money.

Another developer offered to finish the site in return for me doing some work for them. The time it took to do this almost crippled the business, but I carried on.

After the initial momentum of getting my idea off the ground – the business started to feel soulless. My vision got lost along the way, and I began to question the impact it was having. Some freelancers didn’t get work, which weighed heavy on my mind.

I was now in a wonderful relationship with somebody who shared my values. And I got a lot of pleasure from seeing my girls become independent and kind-hearted women. But I was still trying to find a purpose and I wanted to do more to help make the world a better place.

It felt like we were in the trenches

This brings us to March 2020.

Among many devastating things, the effects of Covid swept the small business community like a tsunami. It felt like we were in the trenches, and I was compelled to do something to help.

There was a flurry of support for businesses. Though, with so much information on the internet, it was hard to keep up, let alone decide what was right for you.

Maybe it’s because I’m a little bit introverted, but I find social media overwhelming and tend to zone out when there’s too much information. To help make the support easier to access, I organised it into searchable directories. Drawing out the most relevant and meaningful information – which included the organisation’s values and ethos.

I paid the hub’s expenses and worked unpaid for a year or so, but eventually introduced a small charge to feature on the directories to help fund the work.

Sunshine among the clouds

Throughout the pandemic, people came together to help others. They were supporting their local communities, donating time to charities, and championing change. It gave me hope and made it feel like a kinder world is on the horizon.

As we came out of the other side of Covid, businesses started to bounce back, so I decided to steer the hub in a new direction.

I was inspired by the growing community of people and organisations doing everything they could to make a difference.

Businesses were becoming unlikely heroes, using their resources to give back, creating inclusive workplaces where everybody feels like they belong, supporting local communities, and inspiring others by growing a business in a caring way.

I wanted to support and champion these values-driven organisations – by creating a hub where you can find everything you need to grow a business that makes a difference. Making it easier to connect with others who share your values, learn and find support.

We can’t single handily solve the world’s problems – but our little actions do make a difference and inspire others – creating a ripple effect.

Where is the girl from sunny scunny along the road to finding meaning?

I still have ups and downs, but doing my bit to help make the world a better place has given me a purpose. Having a purpose acts like an internal compass and it helps to keep me going on difficult days. Being part of a community of kind and compassionate people has given my life more meaning and made it easier to see sunshine among the clouds.