I never planned any of this.
Where it started
I started making bouquets to build a bit of independence.
Six years ago I was coming out of a really bad marriage. I started making bouquets to build a bit of independence and some confidence, because at the time I did not have much of either.
That little thing I did to feel like myself again is what eventually became Penelopes Flowers.
The hard part
While I was going through court, the stress did something to my body.
My skin became so inflamed it would literally fall off. It was as bad as this for three years. For nearly a whole year of that I lived in bleach baths, because that was the only way to get the dead skin off. I felt broken and defeated, sat in that water for hours with my anxiety through the roof. Every time I heard footsteps on the stones outside my heart would race.
I missed everything. I could not do the school run, I could not leave the house, I could not be the mum I wanted to be. When you are that vulnerable, it takes everything from you.
Toward the end of that year I had pretty much given up. I could not see a life where I did not feel like this. My confidence was at zero and I genuinely did not know what to do.
The turn
Three months after I stopped the baths, I met my partner.
I met him in the most random way. I was not even looking for it, I was still covering my face with makeup to hide my skin, even on my best days. But it just happened, and the timing could not have been better. He gave me the confidence and the support I needed to push myself into something new.
I was shy and I did not say much. The only thing that lit me up was flowers. I would buy peonies, make little bouquets and put them in vases all round the house.
So we found a one day floristry course and I went. That one day changed everything.
The real start
Five months in, the fairytale bouquet went viral.
After the course I started putting my bouquets on Instagram. Five months in I made one I called the fairytale bouquet, it took off, and that was the real start of Penelopes Flowers.
People all over the country wanted bouquets posted to them. My partner understood the parts of business I did not and would not stop until we worked out how to send bouquets nationwide without issues. It took about six months of trial and error. As far as we know we were one of the first to do it, and not small ones, £500 bouquets.
Growing up with it
The day we hit 15,000 followers, the children celebrated with us.
We blew up a balloon, took a photo, and made a fuss of it together. To them it was just a happy day at home. To me it was proof that the little thing I started in my garage had become something real.
They have grown up watching every milestone. The followers, the orders, the late nights, the academy. They see what it takes to build something, and one day they will carry that with them. That is the part you cannot put a price on.
Before all that
I did some daft things first.
When I was finding my feet I experimented with all sorts. I once put tiny pineapples in a bouquet. People loved them anyway, and every odd one taught me something I still use today.
The academy
Florists started asking me to teach them.
About eighteen months in, that started happening. So I decided to learn everything I could, because I did not just want to teach people how to make a Penelopes bouquet. I wanted to make sure they walked away with everything they needed to start a business of their own.
That is why our courses are so different to everyone else's. You can do a one day course with us and start your business the very next day. That is how Penelopes Academy began, and we have trained over 300 people since. We even started our own wholesale company when the usual suppliers would not sell to our students.
My superhero
Then Penelope gave me a drawing. My mum, my superhero.
This Mother's Day she gave it to me. She had watched me work without really knowing what I had come through. And I realised my first superhero was my mum too, and that it passes down.
That is why I stopped keeping my story to myself, and decided to use it to help someone else.
Most of us are so busy working that we never see our little ones looking up at us, watching what we do and learning from it.
That is what I want to show people. And to give someone the chance to become a superhero of their own.
This was never really about me. It is about her. The woman reading this who thinks she has left it too late, who is sat where I once sat. I found my way out, and now I want to hand that same chance to someone else.
That is why we started Penelopes Superheroes.