Francesca Farrow

I started the business as a way to continue working with a new baby. I’d returned to work after a really short maternity leave but quickly realised I was struggling to balance everything. Initially I decided to offer social media management as it was flexible and I could do it from home with a new baby, but now 8 years later I’ve grown the business into a fully fledged full-service agency.

Since launching my business, I have gone through the breakdown of the relationship with my daughter’s father leading to me being a single mother/co-parenting. This brought many challenges as I was now 100% responsible for the income into my household and had no-one or nothing to lean on or act as a safety net. My self-esteem also plummeted which hugely affected my business. I also spent time in a psychiatric ward, was heavily medicated for various mental health conditions, and received an autism diagnosis. I have overcome all of this and am now confident and stable with a new sense of self an understand of myself which means I have made changes to how I run my business and how I live my life - all with positive outcomes.

The best thing about being my own boss is being able to see my daughter smiling at me when I pick her up from school every day. The flexibility to work around my family’s needs is something I wouldn’t trade for anything.

I have always wanted to have my own business. I was the child in the playground selling friendship bracelets and chocolate, so from a young age I knew this was the route I wanted to go down, but until I had my daughter I didn’t have a real push and reason to go for it. I was never really inspired by anyone else in particular, just my own passion and desire to achieve.