27/06/2023
The stress of running your own business is unimaginable, when things are really tough, you don't sleep. You have the belief that you have a really good business and you just need one thing to come right. Something will happen and pull you back from the brink. I didn't take a wage for the last 3 years I was in business. I survived on tax credits and handouts. I wanted my business to survive. It's heartbreaking when it's not working, you can't compete with the internet, other people around you. I would spend hours with a customer and they would walk out with nothing, then come back in later wearing all the new gear they bought on the internet. The first CCJ threat I got terrified me. Then I stopped loving it. In the end I had the choice to close, before I was forced to. I kept my staff fully informed all the way. They chose to stay with me till the end. Amazing people Lucinda Lee , Teresa Williams and Vicki Williams, Charlotte Louise and Emily Estelle Roe. I'd have been lost without them. to those who have lost their livelihood and give them time to sort things out. Lower the business rates, lower the rents, businesses get charged for EVERYTHING. Waste collection is not included in their rates.
