A BOROUGH businesswoman has highlighted the pressure and difficulties she and others face as they try to make a go of smaller, homespun businesses.

Jodie Stammers from Grays has been determined to keep a family name alive through her preserves business, Nanny Violets, which is based on family baking and cooking traditions.

Jodie has been making preserves, jams and chutneys based on her grandmother's recipes both online and by taking her wares to local events, table-top sales and craft shows.

She has also been working hard to build up the brand online.

And all this while trying to make a success of another online venture, Classic Luxury Beauty which offers world-renowned beauty treatments in the tranquility of her Grays home.

But Jodie says the time may be approaching when she has to give up at least one of the strings to her business bow because of rising costs – and a lack of patience and understanding from some potential customers.

She says: "Running a business – and certainly two - is really hard. With gas and electric rising as it is Nanny Violets needs to scale down! Not stop but scale down! I will have to be seasonal about it. I was due to take a pitch at Old Spitalfields market but I have put that on hold. I just can't do it for £1 a jar profit! 2021 was my worst year to date!

"2022 will see me concentrating on my beauty business, set up from home 20 years ago. But to keep that going – and hopefully Ole Nanny Violets, will take some understanding and help.

"What they don't tell you when you are contemplating a business is that it is mentally draining and potentially leads to severe anxiety, stress and depression in even the most laid back people. People will talk about you, compare you to others, use you, they will view you as a service and not a person anymore.

"You have to worry about if you forget to phone/message someone back, are they going to think it was on purpose? Did you disappoint them? Will they hold that against you? When in reality, you just can't get to everyone's messages and emails sometimes.

"You have the continuous stress of whether your business is making enough profit, if you have made enough to pay the bills, pay the wages, scrape by.

"Starting up and running a successful business puts incredible strain on personal lives and relationships, sometimes causing them to breakdown and fail because there just is no work-life balance when starting a new business.

"You need to be the director, the worker, the admin, the marketing team, the accountant, the cleaner..... All whilst being a parent, a husband or a wife, family support, friend... you don't get to go home and forget about it, it's a 24/7 thing that's on your mind.

"There's a reason you don't see many people succeed in small businesses after five to 10 years. It takes a toll. It's freaking exhausting, especially the past two years. Here's a small reminder that we are just normal people with hectic lives. Be kind, be patient….. and hopefully, more of us will stick around!

It would be great if more people could show that tolerance and support and help small local businesses in 2022. We are all in this together!"

Find out more about Jodie's beauty business here.

And you can check out the Nanny Violets Facebook page here.