by 
It all started with an aromatherapy business.
I’d always had a love for making potions since I was a little girl. Mud, flowers, water and I was in my happy place. One day I decided that I’d like to do it for real, replacing mud for something slightly superior. I qualified as an aromatherapist and a natural skin care formulator and started making products. My focus was on creating aromatherapy well-being products.
I loved this business, until one day I didn’t.
A product business that involves any substance being used on the skin is a mind field. There are approvals to be met, testing to be done, certificates to be obtained and an extortionate amount of paperwork to be carried out.
Despite all my best efforts this business was a money loss and eventually I threw in the towel.
I still love aromatherapy, but I’m quite happy buying other peoples products rather than creating my own.
Unfortunately with bills to pay and mouths to feed, I had to venture back into the world of working for someone else.
Pre pandemic I’d been a volunteer for Age UK so it made sense for me to take on a paid position within the charity. With Covid just about to hit the world this was the best decision that I could have made. Overnight I became a key worker and was being clapped every Thursday night. My role was to care for the elderly in the community and for some, my PPE’d presence was the only human being that they were allowed to see. It was a tough time but they were all so resilient that you couldn’t help but adopt a Keep Calm and Carry On frame of mind.
I had many discussions with my elderly clients of what life as a child was like growing up through the war. The world was fighting a different battle, yet I would take the war on Covid any day. I shared information on the ‘outside’ world to my ladies and gentlemen, as this group of ‘vulnerable’ people had been shut behind closed doors for weeks.
One of my biggest takeaways during this period was that life goes quickly and opportunities are there for the taking.
I learnt that despite having a full and varied life you could still have regrets when you’re a 90 year old.
The Pet Sitter Solihull
Despite the money losing aromatherapy business I knew that I still had a business inside of me, I just needed to figure out what it was.
The summer of 2020 we were all given some freedom. We could grab our passports and head off with our facemasks to see what life looked like beyond our towns. And like many others I was in need of some R&R.
But we had 5 little quirky problems in the form of 3 cats and 2 guinea pigs. With the exception of 1 of our cats all our pets are quite needy and I wasn’t quite sure who would be up for the job of caring for them.
Eventually Paul and I decided to take separate holidays at separate times so that our pampered pets were looked after by us. Fine for one holiday, but not ideal for the future of our family holidays.
Back at work and back into the routine of PPE and sanitiser it was whilst travelling to one of my Age UK clients that I had my epiphany moment. I loved caring for the elderly, I loved pets…why not become a pet carer?
The seed was planted, but it took a while to grow.
My ‘don’t live to regret it’ decision came in the form of catching Covid and having to stop work for two weeks whilst I undertook the mandatory self isolation. For me, my light bout of Covid was a blessing in disguise. The Pet Sitter Solihull was about to have a big growth spurt.
That was January 2022. The Pet Sitter Solihull is still growing, but in pet numbers rather than just in my dreams.
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