At the end of June, I will walk away from two clients, a reliable income and the comfort that comes from knowing exactly where your next month's revenue is coming from.
I am 57 years old.
Most people would probably say this is the stage of life where you play it safe.
Instead, I am starting a new chapter.
Back in 2018, I walked away from a career in recruitment after more than 25 years.
At the time, it felt like a huge leap.
Recruitment was what I knew. It was the industry where I had built my experience, my reputation and my confidence. I understood how it worked and what success looked like.
Leaving meant stepping into the unknown.
I had no idea whether the skills I had developed over 25 years could be transferred into something completely different.
Could I build a business?
Could I win clients?
Could I make a success of myself outside the world I had always known?
The honest answer was that I didn't know.
But I did it anyway.
Looking back now, that decision changed everything.
Over the last eight years I have worked in funding, business support, coaching, marketing, communications and storytelling.
I have taken on projects that stretched me.
I have said yes to opportunities before I knew exactly how I would deliver them.
I have spent years learning new skills, meeting extraordinary people and building relationships that have enriched my life in ways I could never have predicted.
Some of those people have become lifelong friends.
One of them became my husband.
If someone had told me back in 2018 what the next eight years would look like, I would never have believed them.
The business I built gave me far more than income.
It gave me confidence.
It gave me purpose.
It gave me opportunities.
It gave me experiences I never imagined I would have.
Most importantly, it showed me that we are capable of far more reinvention than we often give ourselves credit for.
Over the last few years I have had the privilege of working with the 2025 Group and Our Future North East Lincolnshire.
Those roles have allowed me to tell stories that matter.
I have interviewed business owners, volunteers, community leaders, residents, young people and people quietly making a difference every single day.
I have sat with people who care deeply about Grimsby and North East Lincolnshire and listened to their hopes for the future.
I have had the responsibility of helping to tell the story of our town centre's regeneration journey and share the positive changes happening across our communities.
I have had the privilege of encouraging people to become part of the positive conversation about the place we call home.
Sharing stories of people who are creating change, often without recognition.
It has been a genuine privilege.
When I look back on these experiences, one lesson stands out above all others.
Stories matter.
People connect with people.
The most powerful thing any organisation, business or community project can share is not a strategy document or a list of achievements.
It is a human story.
That belief is one of the reasons I feel excited about what comes next.
Gary has spent years building a successful photography and videography business, working with organisations, businesses and community projects to capture the people and stories behind their work.
His reputation has been built on creating authentic visual content that helps people connect with organisations in a meaningful way.
This next chapter is not about starting from nothing.
It is about building on strong foundations.
Over the years, Gary and I have often found ourselves working alongside one another. Gary telling stories through photography and video, and me helping organisations communicate through marketing, storytelling and the written word.
The more we worked together, the more we realised how naturally our skills complement each other.
Gary captures the visual story.
I help uncover and tell the human story behind it.
Now we have the opportunity to bring those strengths together more intentionally.
My role will be to help develop relationships, open new opportunities, support sales and marketing activity, and help clients tell their stories through photography, film, podcasts and written content.
Together, we want to help organisations, businesses and community projects shine a light on the people who make everything possible.
The employees who go the extra mile.
The volunteers who give their time.
The customers whose lives have been changed.
The leaders with a vision.
The communities that make places special.
Our shared belief is simple.
We are all about great people.
And every great organisation has great people at the heart of its story.
While this will be a new role for me, we feel incredibly positive about what lies ahead.
Not because we can predict the future, but because we are building on years of experience, complementary skills and a shared belief in the power of great storytelling.
We know the value that authentic stories bring to organisations.
We know how much people connect with people.
And we are excited about helping more organisations tell those stories in a way that feels genuine, human and memorable.
Will there be challenges along the way?
Of course.
Every new chapter brings them.
But for the first time, Gary and I have the opportunity to combine our skills, experience and shared passion for storytelling into one business, and that feels incredibly exciting.
People often assume decisions like this are all about money.
For me, they are about something much bigger.
Of course, we need to earn a living.
We want to continue enjoying the things we love, including our annual January escape to Bali, which has become something of a tradition.
But success means something different to me now than it did twenty years ago.
Success looks like having more time together.
More flexibility.
More mornings that don't begin with rushing.
More afternoons spent at the allotment.
More opportunities to visit Charlie in Paris.
More time with our grandpup Sid.
More chances to spend time with our elderly parents while we still can.
More space to enjoy the life we have worked hard to create.
At this stage of life, I am far more interested in building a business around the life we want to live than building a life around work.
Before any of that begins, I am doing something that doesn't come naturally to me.
I am taking the whole of July off.
No clients.
No deadlines.
No meetings.
No pressure.
Just time to recharge.
A trip to Paris to spend time with Charlie.
Days at the allotment with Gary and Sid.
Time to slow down, reflect and enjoy the summer before the next chapter begins.
When I was younger, I thought success was about climbing.
The next promotion.
The next salary increase.
The next achievement.
What I have learned is that success is much more personal than that.
It is about building a life that feels like your own.
One that reflects your values, your priorities and the people you want to spend your time with.
So here I am.
Starting a new chapter at 57.
Not because I have to.
Because I want to.
Because every significant chapter of my life has started with a decision that didn't make complete sense on paper.
Because some opportunities only appear when you are willing to leave certainty behind.
Because I believe in what Gary and I can build together.
And because after all these years, I still believe that the best stories rarely begin with certainty.
They begin with a decision to turn the page and see what happens next.