In 1996, I was diagnosed with Meningitis which left me with both Guillain–Barré syndrome (G.B.S.) and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E.), from both of these illnesses I suffered several stroke like episodes which left me in a wheelchair. I was told in 1997 that I would never walk, talk, work or have kids. Since then I have diagnosed with diabetes, a hernia, retinopathy, neuropathy, I am losing my eyesight and my hearing. I was told I would never walk, talk, work or have kids…

I admit, I’m a stubborn old bird and decided to totally ignore all of that and carry on regardless. I have since walked, talked (probably too much), worked and have 2 beautiful daughters. I haven’t just worked, I have owned businesses from creation to sale that have sustained me, financially, for 31 years.

After my abusive father left when I was 11 years old and subsequent abusive issues with an ex boyfriend, I lost every ounce of confidence. I became so painfully shy and anxious that when I decided to open a new shop, my friend Susan just laughed and said “What are you going to do? Hold up signs to customers to tell them how much to pay?” and she was right, I couldn’t even speak to new people let alone run a shop. I was good at business, good at tech, good at design and all that, but I wasn’t good at being me…

The nerves got so bad that when asked to speak about social media and marketing at a ‘Women in Business’ event, I almost threw up in the car park before I went in and completely lost it. With no one to replace me, I had to find a way to carry on but feel comfortable, so Susan (who was also with me at this event too) came up with the idea of sitting me behind a desk with a laptop so I could speak as if I was live streaming a video instead of speaking to a large live audience. It worked.

From there I threw myself more into the tech world. Web design and marketing have always been a huge passion of mine and my businesses, but I didn’t have the voice to back it up. I had to teach myself coping mechanisms to deal with the ever growing client list I had and then I realised that the reason I had all these clients was because they trusted me to get the job done, and I did. So if they trusted me, I should trust myself.

As I grew as a person, I started working on who I wanted to be, working on my dreams and goals. Working on changes I wanted to make for myself and working on my knowledge of business, SEO, marketing and social media. And that is the key my dearest readers. Changes I wanted to make for me. Just me. Not because I was told I had to, not because I wasn’t good enough, but because it was my time to blossom into the person I wanted to be. The person I knew I was. I wanted to be confident again and to run my dream business. Since then, I haven’t looked back. It’s taken a long time to get where I am today but now I have multiple thriving businesses which I adore. I live stream videos once a week, speak at shows, spend a lot of my time at trade shows and exhibitions and enjoy being able to say… I am Sally. Although I still get a little freaked out when people ask to have photos taken with me at trade shows! That might take a bit more getting used to!

Many people may think that business coaching, design and online marketing are ‘new fangled bollocks’ but they aren’t. To have someone in your corner, having someone help you along the way who not only knows their stuff but also who has been exactly where you are, are priceless whether you are just starting out or been in business for a while, and social media marketing is even better than traditional marketing as in the most part, it’s free to do! Also, marketing, PR, SEO, web design, budgets, business plans and all that jazz are easier to learn, work on and use consistently, if you are in a more positive mindset yourself. So with me, you will always receive practical but positive coaching.

So… here I am now. I am still a nerd, a real full time geek, but I love my business and I want you to love yours too. I want you to be so successful that you can afford that holiday, the new car, your new clothes, treat your kids, treat yourself, give to charity or whatever it is you want. I want you to be happy in your work, and I want you and your business to grow.s