It was lovely to receive this message from someone who attended our Work For Yourself programme;
Hi Penny,
You probably won’t remember me, but I attended one of your Work For Yourself courses at Bolsover Council back in the early noughties. I thought you might like to hear where I am at today and also to thank you for that course as it gave me the oomph to keep going and keep persevering. I initially started out as a knitwear designer but as years progressed there were so many patterns released as free downloads on the internet, I slowly saw a decline in sales. When the pandemic hit, I knew I had to diversify to keep going. So, in 2020 I launched a print on demand home decor store – I initially paid for commercial licences to use other Artists work to create designs. It was slow and quite frankly demoralising where I questioned many times if I was doing the right thing. But in 2021 I persevered and bought myself a graphics tablet teaching myself to draw my own art and business has steadily improved month on month) – it’s been really hard work, but I am still at it. I supplemented my income with a part time morning job working from home doing expenses for corporate companies, I also write books and do a bit of radio presenter work all from home, so I have kept myself busy. So, thank you for giving me the kickstart and impetus to have a dream and keep at it.