Joanne Dewberry

“LOST MY JOB 3 YEARS AGO WHILE 8 MONTHS PREGNANT BUT I TURNED THIS AROUND AND I NOW RUN A SUCCESSFUL ONLINE BABY GIFT BUSINESS WITH MY TWIN SISTER”

My life was turned upside down 3 years ago when I was made redundant from a role I had held at an events-management company for six years.  I was seven months pregnant when I was told and eight months when I left the company.  It was a very traumatic time for my husband and I as suddenly I had no job to return to after the birth of my daughter.

So once I was ready to go back to work I started looking for a job but I found it nearly impossible to find something that would give me flexible hours so I could bring my daughter up while making a living.

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I was asked by the amazing Emma Wimhurst to give a testimonial about her workshop and book BOOM.  Here it is enjoy .. it is slightly cringe worthy.

It’s raining outside!  I can’t pack the children off to the park or into the garden. How do I get my work done without sitting them in front of the TV?

I didn’t get to bed until midnight last night as I had 300 e-mails to trawl through once I had cleared the holiday washing – we were camping last week!  Despite setting the alarm for 8.15am I didn’t surface until  9.30am. What a luxury not to have the school run to contend with!  After supervising the family breakfast and a quick shower and hair wash, I tackled the Tuesday morning chores: changed the towels and stripped the children’s beds.

At  11am I took my 14 year old son Peter to the Drs to have a very sore toe checked over. On top of this we discovered that my 9 year old daughter had some unwanted visitors! –  her first head lice infestation in two years! I thought we were past all that!  After the Dr’s appointment, we popped to the chemist to buy the necessary lotions (£15 a bottle!) and then to the vets to stock up on pet food.

Home for a quick bagel lunch. Now, how to entertain my 9 year old daughter for the afternoon? Luckily , a couple of days ago, she’d talked me into buying her some felt and patterned fabric off-cuts so that she could make a cartoon character that she’d designed. Today was as good a day as any to get her started on it. I then disappeared into the office whilst my husband tackled some ironing. Despite stopping every 30 minutes to help my daughter with her creation, I got quite a lot done. I pulled together some information ready for a 7.30pm meeting with a potential new trader. I answered several queries from team members and called a couple of customers. I also managed to clear a pile of outstanding orders.

Later in the afternoon, my husband prepared dinner with a bit of help from my son whilst I made the children’s beds and freshened up for my meeting.

Off to Salisbury after dinner to meet with my potential new recruit then home for a delousing session for everyone – just in case! Makes me itch just thinking about it!

Sarah Gifford lives in Rural Dorset with her husband and 2 children.

Independent Phoenix Executive Trader 8281

www.phoenix-trading.co.uk/web/sarahgifford
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