17/08/2026
*** JUST THIS ***
What has the last year taught me about running a business?
A hell of a lot, actually. I’ve learned that growing a business means trusting other people with something you’ve built from the ground up. You can’t do everything yourself forever, so you learn to step back, delegate and let other people carry parts of it with you. Sometimes things work exactly as you’d hoped, sometimes they don’t, and sometimes you have to change direction. But every experience teaches you something about your business, your standards and what you want moving forward.
Social media has been another massive learning curve. I’m not amazing at it and I’ve never pretended to be. It takes far more time than I think people realise and, with my eyesight as it is now, something that might take somebody else ten minutes can take me ten times as long. Everyone tells me to use AI and save myself hours, but I won’t hand my brand over to AI. NF Fitness has a brand. We have a brand kit, our own colours, our own style and our own identity. I’ve spent years building that. People see something of ours and know it’s NF Fitness. Why would I want to lose that and blend into a sea of posts that look like every other Tom, Dick and Harry?
Then there’s been the slightly bonkers decision to start designing our own clothing. Designing when you’re not a designer has certainly tested me! Learning software, changing things a hundred times, thinking something is finished and then deciding it needs something else. And then you discover designing it is only half the battle. Finding the right people to actually produce it has been another journey altogether. Things get promised, things change, you get close and then have to rethink something. But we’re finally there. The designs are ready, I’m proud of them, I’m proud of what they stand for and now it’s time to get them into production.
Then there’s creating our CIC. I could have simply set something up and gone straight after funding, but that wasn’t what I wanted. If I was going to create something new, I wanted to put the same thought into it that I’ve put into NF Fitness. I wanted it to have a purpose, an identity and something that made it different. Something that fitted naturally alongside everything we already do while offering something of its own within the community. That’s taken thought, planning, time and a lot of energy. Because I’ve learned that setting yourself apart doesn’t just happen. You have to know what you stand for, what you’re offering and why you’re doing it. Sometimes the groundwork nobody sees is actually the most important part.
I’ve also learned to value my own time and energy much more. I’ve always been someone who will help people. I’ve given away a lot of my time over the years, done things for nothing, helped people out and said yes simply because I could. I don’t ever want to lose that part of myself, but I’ve learned that being generous doesn’t mean you have to give endlessly, particularly to people who wouldn’t necessarily give that same time and energy back to you. I’ll always help where I can and I’ll always care about the communities we work in. But NF Fitness isn’t a hobby. It’s my business, my livelihood and something I’ve worked incredibly hard to build. My time has value, and I’ve learned that it’s okay to treat it that way.
And then this year taught me something I could never have planned for. What happens when your own health suddenly changes? You adapt. You find different ways of working, you change things when you need to, you work out what you can do rather than focusing on what you can’t, and you find ways to keep earning a living and keep the business moving forward. If anything, it’s made me think even more about the future and what else we can build.
Through all of this, I genuinely appreciate the people who are standing alongside me and supporting everything we’re doing, especially my current instructors and my lovely Donna. Without you right now, who knows where NF Fitness would be. You’ve stepped up when I’ve needed you, kept things moving and supported both me and the business. Thank you. It means more than you probably realise. And thank you to every person who books our classes, turns up, recommends us, shares our posts and continues to support what we’re building.
Running a business isn’t just the bit people see. It’s the hours behind the scenes, the ideas, the learning, the mistakes, the changes of direction, the risks, the things that don’t quite work and the moments when something you’ve worked bloody hard on finally does.
I’m still learning. I’m still adapting. I’m still building. And I’m bloody proud of what we’re creating. ❤️
