nic’s story

My story is a little bit different from Ella’s. I can’t say I had never considered working for myself before – the appeal had always been there. I spent a lot of time travelling in my early twenties and knew I’d always love the ability to have my own schedule.

I left school as soon as I could at 16 and got straight to full-time working. I started my career with an apprenticeship in Business Administration. Unlike Ella, I wasn’t praised for cleverness until much later. I was very shy and quiet and mostly kept myself to myself. I was a good enough worker – I hit all my targets and always tried my best. Eventually though, I would always get bored and end up desperately counting the days to the weekend.

After my years in administration and a brief interlude in marketing, I decided I needed to take some time out and travel. I explored a lot of the world – including Europe, Asia and Africa. While I was travelling, I volunteered for some really great charities and tried to make the most of the experience.

However, despite being extremely fun, travelling full time was exhausting and lonely, so eventually I came back home. Throughout all of this, I knew that there was something missing – what did I want to do with my life?

I got back into full-time work and it felt like I had found a new sense of purpose I had lacked before. I quickly rose in the company I worked for until I was Office Manager for a distribution site handling millions of pounds worth of stock a week. But, I was miserable.

It wasn’t what I wanted to do. Management took advantage of me. I was always a very quick worker and felt a sense of pride in that. I love tackling something and diving in head-first.

So, I decided to move on again – to a role I thought was perfect. I thought to myself, surely, I had found what I wanted to do.

Sadly not.

The only saving grace was that I met my Business Partner/close friend, Ella. And with that, bridgers was born.

With Ella’s encouragement, I was able to share my ideas and dreams. So, we put our heads together and decided to put as much energy as we could into bridgers. She also was a huge comfort and support when I told her I finally wanted to go to university (at 29!).

Working for myself, and with Ella, means that I have that freedom and flexibility I was always craving. Working full time and trying to launch a business is tough, and there have been many stresses. It’s important though to take that leap of faith and believe in yourself.

With university coming up quicker than I realised, I told Ella that if we were serious about starting something – we had to do it soon.

Thankfully, she agreed.