Enough Is Enough: The Human Behind The Business

For the last 18 months, I’ve painted on a brave face, one that says, “I’m OK. Things will get better. I don’t care what people who’ve never met me think, people that wouldn’t even recognise me if they crossed my path in the street.” But if I’m being honest, that’s a lie.

I do care.

No matter how logical I am or how much coaching I have had over the years or the legal  advice I have received that states “say nothing” or  “What someone else thinks of you is none of your business.” The truth is, it hurts. And when I ignore that hurt, it burns even more. Following my gut is the only way I’ve made it this far, but recently, my gut has been in knots and I live in a constant state of anxiety.

When you’re standing on the sidelines of your child’s rugby match and overhear another parent talking about you,not even knowing you, not knowing all of the facts and  not daring to say it to your face then sorry,that’s when you know something has to change.

Let me be clear: every business has its ups and downs. Every business makes mistakes. I’m no different. What sets me apart is that I own mine.,I face them, I try to learn and do better. I have spent the last 18 months trying to make good any of my mistakes that I may have made and will continue to do so. I am not a big corporate business, I am a small business owner but that is as far as it goes, my private life outside of that should be exactly that, where my children go to school, where I live who I see and speak to is none of the concern of the people that have behaved in an atrocious manner.

The past two years have been nothing short of brutal, emotionally, financially, and physically. But every single day, I get up and give it everything I have. As a partner, mum, grandma, daughter, sister and business owner, I might not always get it right, but I always try.

And lately? Just putting one foot in front of the other has been all I have been able to manage.

I’ve always been a fighter, I’ve always strived to inspire, to help, to lift people up. But now I’m exhausted. I’m sickened by the behaviour of people who’ve never met me,people who’ve created a witch hunt, fuelled by whispers and social media, backed by the very admins who should be promoting the community, to the point they have directly messaged family members casting their opinion on my relationship with my partner .

It hasn’t just affected me, it’s affected my children. And that, I’m afraid, is unforgivable.

I would be the first one to admit empathy hasn’t always been my strong point. I am a Virgo, we are known for being direct, black-and-white. But although my girls are older since having my little boy, I have changed, maybe it’s life experience, maybe a little wisdom. I try to understand everything from all sides and I am that person that will go out of my way to help others. I’ve always made a point of getting to know our clients personally, making them feel heard, wanting to know how they want their home to feel. I’ve taken pride in our work and our ethics, I am extremley proud of the fact that in a sector that creates millions of tons of landfill waste yearly we are actively trying to buck that trend, I have been very proud of the many projects that we have taken part in and the feedback we have received. Stupidly I removed our google account with over 10 years of good reviews out of a place of fear,because of the social media effect. We help where we can. We give back, offering at least one charity job a year, because that’s who we are and we like for people to experience something that they may not ordinarily have or it makes their lives a little lighter. .

The truth about our industry is this: margins are tight. Expectations are high. Since COVID, many clients shop purely on price point, but still want more and more. That puts everyone under pressure, especially tradespeople.

Worse still, there’s a rising trend I can’t ignore: clients nearing the end of a job, refusing to make final payments by claiming dissatisfaction. That’s bad enough. But what happens when those clients kick you off site, block your number, refuse to let you collect your tools, and use social media to publicly shame you, while you’re blocked and can’t even reply? They’ll twist the Consumer Rights Act 2015 to their favour, forgetting that it also gives us , the tradespeople,the right to finish the job and make things right.

Instead, you’re left silenced, watching a narrative unfold about you in a space you can’t access. Fake reviews appear. People who’ve never worked with you jump in with their pitchforks, or people that you once did a quote for 10years ago but it didn’t match their budget. The same people who share posts preaching #BeKind are the first to pile in without knowing the full story.

So here’s my one ask of you, next time you see a post about a business being shared online, don’t take it at face value. Don’t add to the noise. Don’t judge from behind a screen. Don’t be a keyboard warrior.

Behind every business is a person. Someone who was brave enough, passionate enough, maybe even a little bit crazy, to start something from nothing because they wanted to be better andd to do better. And when things go wrong, they’re the ones who carry the weight.

We need to remove the stigma around failure. Around mistakes. Around the messiness of trying. And above all, we need to lead with humanity.

Because one day, it might be you on the receiving end of a bad job, a bad day, or a bad post. And when that happens, you’ll hope that someone, somewhere, remembers to treat you like a human being.