This is a story of how a girl from Scunthorpe ended up on the road to finding meaning and growing a business with purpose.

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 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.

Questioning the purpose of life

In 2016, I hit a bump in the road. It felt like I’d hit rock bottom.

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 helped me to realise that I’m in control of how I react to difficult situations. It also made me feel like I wanted to do something that made a difference to others.

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 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. It was tough, 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.

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.

I find social media overwhelming and zone out when there’s too much information. I wanted to make it easier for businesses to find the support they needed. So 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 it felt like a kinder world was on the horizon.

Businesses are 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 values-driven businesses.

We can’t single-handedly solve the world’s problems,  but there are over 5 million small businesses in the UK. Can you imagine the difference we could make if we all did our bit?

Grow a business that makes you beam with pride.

Everyday People is a hub for small businesses that want
to do their bit to make a difference.