Nothing quite alters your mindset until you realise, no matter how many years of service you give to a company, how easily dispensable you are.

I had worked in my hotel events role for several years and had just gone back to work after 9 months of maternity leave. The balancing act of becoming a new mum whilst being back in my full time job was exhausting. I was back to being in an office 9-5, no working from home, five days a week all the while my hormones were still raging, I missed my boy terribly and I was still producing milk that needed pumping at lunchtime.

The business had been through it’s own set of changes over my nine month maternity leave going from independent ownership to corporate ownership. Let’s face it, nothing had been the same since COVID anyway, but whilst I was trying to get back to some sort of normal, a restructure of staff was announced, sales strategies were altered, cost savings made, and I was made redundant having returned to the office for a mere two months.

For my years of loyalty to the brand and hotel that I loved, I felt abandoned at a time when I needed stability more than ever.

The redundancy money lasted all of three months – I had a mortgage and bills to pay, all our family savings had been used to keep us afloat during my maternity leave. I was panicking, and so was my poor husband!

I’ve always been a hard worker and grafter. My panic mode consisted of spending time in the library researching local jobs, signing up to my local chamber of commerce, signing up for online business training courses and handing out CV’s to local businesses.

I’d always wanted to start my own business. My mum works hard and owns her own beauty salon in Brighton. My husband took the step into self employment and hasn’t looked back since. I had dabbled on the idea that I could set something up whilst on maternity leave to supplement our income during the last few months of statutory maternity pay. I registered my home kitchen as a food premises for Charlotte’s Sweet Treats but found myself completely absorbed in navigating motherhood (and catching up on lost sleep & washing!)

I figured redundancy was maybe a sign, the push I needed to really go for it. To focus on something that could be entirely mine, where I would only answer to myself and nobody could discard me easily again.

I set-up an events coordination website for weddings and conferences (Help Me With My Event) with testimonials from my previous years of employment and also started to take steps into building up my baking business.

I had always been baking for my family and friends so started to take pictures of the cakes I made for social media and set-up my website properly.

I attended an online Natwest funded course called ‘Her Biz’ and came runner up in the business plan competition. I learnt about becoming self employed, taking payments and starting a side hustle business. My initial plan was to attend events to sell coffee and cake from a food trailer, I just needed the initial investment.

Through the course I realised that this wasn’t going to be an overnight project and that I would need to build this slowly and organically – and find my own funds all the while needing to continue to pay bills and reach affordability checks on any business loans I applied for.

I attended the Newhaven Chamber of Commerce who were super welcoming. I loved attending the networking breakfasts and made some good contacts. I also won their Christmas baking competition with my gingerbread house at the business enterprise centre.

I had met a local lady called Michaela, an aspiring entrepreneur who was arranging a local Christmas Festival and required coordination assistance. She kept me afloat for a couple months (Help Me With My Event) as I helped her secure sponsorship, vendors and coordinated stalls and facilities for this first local event in my home town of Newhaven.

I’d managed to source local food vendors for the event, but nobody was available as a sweet offering.

I decided to fill a gap in the market – invested in a commercial waffle machine, got a second hand gazebo off Facebook Marketplace, did my food hygiene training online and used my first ever hired generator. Let me tell you, it was an experience – aka absolutely freezing my butt off for three solid days! Being the first event of its kind, the footfall was really low but the atmosphere inside my gazebo was magical. I really enjoyed the smiles and laughter that my stall brought to kids and adults alike and both husband and baby came and attended in support of the cause.

Following this I signed up to the local Christmas market in Seaford and, whilst waffling wasn’t permitted due to local business competition (and no generators allowed) I also ran my first ever successful gingerbread stall.

After Christmas, things were really quiet and that slow anxiety started to set in as the money stopped coming in. Money was dwindling and business leads were slow. I started to feel desperate.

At one of my health visitor check-ups, I was recommended to go and check out the job centre. Me in my naivety thought I’d be able to drop in, have a discussion with someone about local jobs and talk to a business focused individual that could help me during this time.

How wrong I was. This was one of the worst experiences of my life.

I was greeted on arrival by a literal door bouncer who wouldn’t let me in without an appointment. When I did finally speak to someone, they were less focused on hearing about any plans I had for self employment and was unable to advise me on any local job openings. The whole appointment was about signing up for benefits. Any entrepreneurial dreams I had were immediately crushed and I left the building in tears.

Let me tell you in hindsight, it is harder and longer to sign onto benefits, than it is to sign up to a recruitment agency and get a job. The time it took to try and sign on, I had found a job opening and reluctantly made my way back into local temporary employment in order to keep paying the bills.

What started as a temp job opening, quickly became a full time offered position which in the end turned out to be a bad call of judgement on my part. Their were multiple signs that the business I was working for was in trouble and managed badly but decided to look past that in a bid to secure a salary and start paying my way in the world again. It started okay and the money was good, but quickly spiralled into a nightmare. But that’s another story for another day.

All the while I was working, I contacted the Seaford Bonfire Society who agreed to let me attend their monthly car boot sale on a Sunday. I signed up my weekends to local and charitable pop-up events in my little gazebo and would hire a generator for power. I also made contacts with the local RNLI station and started attending their local events and pop-ups. When I first started, I barely made any profit but I did it for the love of it, the marketing and the fact that I was building something that was my own.

Family was supportive of my ventures and not only ordered birthday cakes from me that year, but would show up, help me set-up and buy waffles from the events I was attending. I didn’t charge much – or to make a profit but it was good to get the photos for the socials.

Whilst I was at these events, I realised that the children I was serving started referring to me as The Waffle Lady – and I absolutely loved it!

I had initially set- up the waffles as an extension of the Charlotte’s Sweet Treats but I decided to make it it’s own venture, brand everything in pink and set-up a separate website.

For Charlotte’s Sweet Treats, the cakes naturally had to slow down as I was back to working full time with the only ability to bake in the evenings. Weekends were taken up with trying to find and attend local events with The Waffle Lady – all the while having a one year old and navigating motherhood!

Now fate should have it that the hotel that made me redundant, got back in contact with me to advise of a job opening……

For context, I was hanging on by a thread in the previous job I had found and was actively looking for an exit and opportunity to leave.

I felt like it was a sliding doors moment.

Should I go back to the place that crushed my soul and discarded me so readily but was now offering resolution? I’d be back with a team that I knew and loved, a job that I knew inside out, back on my old salary that I knew would be paid on time, I would also have set hours – which kept me free at the weekend for waffling.

Whether it was the wrong or right decision, I decided to go back. The timing of the job offer was too coincidental and I believed it was a sign that a new chapter was starting.

I made a conscious decision in that moment to detach myself and my personal goals from this job. As long as I can continue to grow my personal ventures. And I have.

This years waffle events have been better than last year, turning a slight profit. I’ve upgraded my gazebo, got some professional printing done, made contacts within the events where I can share power and lower my costs. Each little step is a milestone for me and my business.

I’m a mother, a working professional, a business owner, an entrepreneur – and I’m proud.

Sure, I get comments – “How do you have time to do it all?” “You work too much” ” Your priorities are wrong”” “What about spending time with your family” but remember ..

Nothing quite alters your mindset until you realise, no matter how many years of service you give to a company, how easily dispensable you are. I will not be discarded again.

I’m building something that is meaningful to me and my family, and that my son will look back on and say how proud he is of his mummy.

My next step goals;

• Upgrade my waffle machine – she’s coming to the end of her run after two good years!
• Upgrade my current gazebo set-up to a catering trailer
• Convert my garage to an air B&B for additional income
• Go part time on the corporate
• Work more on my business
• Find a permanent site for local trading

If you’d like to support me in my ventures, see my crowdfunding page below;