Eight years ago on the 3rd of August 2012, Unique Young Mum was born. From idea to action in less than 24 hours, I started Unique Young Mum with the main idea of it becoming my hobby, somewhere to document mine and Spud's adventures, our holidays and our memories.
Within just two weeks, companies were wanting to work with me and I found myself registering as Self Employed with HMRC. I didn't know what the future held, I had never been self-employed before, I had always worked for companies earning money that way, yet here I was becoming my own boss!
I went from having a routine to not knowing what each day would hold, I went from having to serve customers to picking what 'customers' (clients) I wanted to work with, working life had changed - and for the better too.
Prior to starting Unique Young Mum, I had enrolled for university, with a start date of September 2012, only Unique Young Mum opened up opportunities I never knew possible. I was left with the choices of giving up something I had only just started - but something I loved, or starting something new and something I had been so excited for - university.
With not a lot of time to spare, I withdrew my place at university and carried on with Unique Young Mum instead. It was a gamble, possibly a huge one, but it paid off, and to this day and forever, I'll never forget my decision back then when it was made.
Unique Young Mum has given not just me, but Spud and my loved one's opportunities we could only ever imagine. We have been to money can't buy events, we've worked with hundreds of amazing companies, we've worked on campaigns kids could only dream of.
Putting the materialistic things to the side, Unique Young Mum has been a lifeline for me, well writing in general has. Unique Young Mum has been there for me when no one knew I was down, when I felt like I couldn't talk to anyone, and when I just didn't fancy facing the world.
Writing has opened up so many pathways, both financially and mentally. I have made great friends in the blogosphere, even becoming friends with PRs and competition winners! The friendships and working relationships I've made have been amazing, and of course, there have been break ups involved too - blogging isn't a smooth sail at sea, just like nothing is in life. You get the pros and the cons, but thankfully, the pros have far outweighed the cons.
I would just like to say thank you to everyone who has took the time to visit my blog, thank you to those who have took their time to read a post or lots of posts. Thank you to my readers, the ones who repeatedly come back, thank you to the compers who share my competitions with their friends, thank you to the brands, companies, individuals, SEO's and PRs who give me the opportunity to work with them.
Thank you to my friends, for not being annoyed when I tell you for the 100th time I'm working, can I call you back! Thanks also for the support, in difficult and good times.
Thank you to my amazing family - who have been there for me throughout these past 8 years. Helping me lots in those early days, and helping me with short notice too! The number of times I have got a last-minute BBQ brief in and my family will drop everything to come and BBQ with me!
Thank you to Gareth, who knew the bare minimum about blogging, but who was willing to learn it all to help me in any way possible.
Thank you to Spud - for everything baby boy. Without you, I wouldn't be a mum, so without you Unique Young Mum would never have been born. You are my biggest life blessing, and always will be. You have been a huge part of Unique Young Mum, and always will be.
I really could be here all day, writing thank yous to so many people, however, time is precious and so are my fans! So to celebrate Unique Young Mum's birthday, I'm going to be hosting a month-long virtual party full of competitions and giveaways!
Make sure you check back on the homepage or comeptition page every day for your chance to enter the competitions and keep an eye out on my social channels too!
Thank you as always for the support, here's to chapter 8.
Jada xx
