Only Human
Her first crisis in business broke her heart but freed her from people pleasing tendencies she didn’t even know were holding her back. Laura Middleton tells us how her unapologetic realness is paying off personally and commercially…
Entrepreneurship wasn’t on my radar at all. I don’t even know how it happened. What I really wanted to be was an actor and I still hold out hope I’ll be on Hollyoaks one day!
I did a business finance degree andI job hopped at the beginning trying everything from retail management, recruitment and even worked as cabin crew for Virgin. Then I fell into a role in HR and that’s when I realised the thing that connected all the jobs I loved was people. I loved talking to people, making sure they are happy and that things were working well.
I’m an all or nothing person so when I fell pregnant, I decided to throw myself into it and before I knew it I was a fulltime mummy to two under twos.
Life was chaos! I had no money and was forever looking for things for us to do. I was always turning up late for activities or I’d miss things because I didn’t know what was going on. Facebook was pretty new at this point and I thought wouldn’t it be good if there was a Facebook Page telling the parents of Sunderland what was happening in the city. So, I decided to create one myself.
My approach to the project followed the same pattern as everything I do in my life – I became addicted to it.
In the middle of the night while feeding the baby I’d be building a website, putting content out there, learning how to send email marketing. Then it turned into something else and I learned to monetise it. Businesses started contacting me to advertise on the page and then they started asking for help with Facebook and before I knew it I was earning a really good freelance income.
I couldn’t understand why people found it so hard to build community and connect with people online when I found it really easy and natural.
But I don’t think you realise what your skills are until you realise what other people find difficult. I decided to go for it properly doing the things I love, which are building community and monetising them by working with brands to market to the communities. I kicked the kids out of the playroom, hired some MacBooks, hired some staff and created a business from home using £20,000 I borrowed from my lovely little gran who lived next door.
It grew really quickly and turned into a monster. I ended up with 21 staff and had two years of it being absolutely amazing.
We were making money, we had an office on the marina and I took the team to Ibiza. Then within the space of three weeks we lost our two biggest clients – 65% revenue of the business. At the same time the introduction of GDPR changed how we could track customers online and the Cambridge Analytica scandal changed how people wanted to work with Facebook. All of this happened at once. It was a perfect storm.
It was the first time since starting a business that I had to make some really hard decisions. I had to offer voluntary redundancies and the the team went from 21 to six.
Half of the room cried with me and wanted to hug me and the other half hated me and blamed me. It was just horrific. I went home and cried and cried and cried. This is the side of business that people don’t always see. People often think the business owner is this thick-skinned person who’s making loads of money. But in reality, if the business is making money, you’re throwing it all back in and when something like this happens it’s all on you.
It was a pivotal moment for me because I’m such a people person and a people pleaser. It highlighted to me that running a business isn’t always about being liked and that’s okay.
I remember thinking to myself ‘I just want everyone to have a nice time’ but I’d created a situation where people hate me. It was a tough lesson but it was actually very liberating and it has gone on to shape and improve everything that I’ve done since that point. I realised it didn’t matter what people thought – some people are going to love you and some hate you so you just have to go for it.
That unapologetic realness was the magic ingredient that made my next business fly.
I bought an ecommerce business called What About This, set up by two ladies who had a great idea but just couldn’t make it work. I decided the best way to sell was to try the clothes on in videos and be really honest about them. Nobody else was doing this kind of real marketing then and it really grabbed attention. Because I’d got used to the feeling of some people not liking me it meant I was able to put myself out there and be comfortable on a camera just being me. It worked brilliantly and the business grew extremely quickly.
It was all going really well then Covid hit and there was no longer demand for the type of clothing we were selling.
The business survived and came out of the other side really lean and efficient but by this point we were drained mentally, financially and physically and decided to sell it. I still can’t believe we sold a business if I’m honest and I’m so proud of it. It was built on everything I learned from that very first business. People talking to people and helping each other.
I’ve now stepped back into my original business, which has transformed into an influencer marketing agency, Bump, Baby and You.
This was anatural, organic pivot. During Covid lots of mums at home started their own Instagram accounts and want to build relationships with brands and so we’ve been in the perfect position to match brands to creators.
The most exciting bit for me is I’ve gone back to creating a community of parents. I love it because they’re essentially just me.
I’m helping them to build an income around their family and work out what they’d like to do in the future. We have over 500 members and I have huge plans. I’m in talks with an investor and really excited to work with someone else. My three-to-five-year plan is to build the business and then sell it and focus on consultancy work, which I love.
I got described as a Tasmanian Devil once. In the moment I was really hurt but after I processed it, I realised how true it was and happy I am to be that way.
I’m a proper grafter but if something isn’t a good fit I will leave and move on. If I can work out what works for me and build a business around that then anyone who wants to can. You don’t have to be brilliant at everything – just be brilliant at one thing and really go for it.