Found peace as a freelance designer

I was left alone with my two young children 3 years ago and fell into depression and anxiety. When I think back to that time, I remember how difficult and a big struggle it was to get through everyday life while also having to deal with the grief of my two young children.

I have always had the dream of being an independent jewelry designer. I love being creative and the immersion in designing jewelry gives me great inner peace.

I used to be a freelance jewelry designer, but when I was left alone with my two small children in 2014, I didn't have the energy to continue running my company. That's why it closed down and I started an office job.

After a few months there, I fell into depression and anxiety. The grief over my husband's death, my children's grief over losing their father, and the pressures of being a single mother and holding down a full-time job just didn't add up.

I remember sitting there shaking and having a hard time concentrating on my work. I was called in sick, and after 3 weeks of illness I was fired. I was told that they didn't have the resources to keep me employed, and they could see that it would be a long-term illness. I completely broke down and thought that it was all completely hopeless, I was a single mother, I was fired from my job and I was feeling really bad.

I've always been a positive person, but I had a really hard time seeing the meaning of everything that had happened in my life. But for the sake of my children, I decided to fight my way out of it.

Every day, after dropping off my children, I started by going for a walk. I went for a walk around Hørholm Church, which is so beautiful, while listening to my favorite music. I went to a psychologist once a week and ate healthy food. I had great support from Hørsholm Municipality, who were very understanding about my situation, and slowly I got better and better. I started going to the gym and started working out. For me, that was the right way to get better.

I spent the time figuring out what I wanted to do in the future. After about six months, I started applying for jobs. But I could tell that this wasn't what I was meant to do. I knew that I wouldn't enjoy sitting in an office and I would quickly get bored.

That's why I decided to follow my dream. I thought:

“I only live once, and I have to do what makes me happy.”

By being independent, I also had the opportunity to decide on my own time, and I wouldn't be so pressured with the children.

I started designing leather bags to try something different, but jewelry quickly came back, as it's an interest I've had since I was 15, so it was hard to let go.

As an entrepreneur, you do everything yourself – accounting, sales, marketing, design, etc. There are a lot of things you need to know.

Selling to stores was really hard. I thought it was very challenging to have to stand and sell my own designs, and I could tell that this was going to be a big challenge. I talked to my sister about it, and she mentioned that hypnosis might help me.

So I decided to try it, it couldn't hurt. I tried it twice and could already feel that I had more self-esteem. After the second time, I got the courage to go around to different stores in Lyngby shopping center and present my designs. So it had helped. I bought an app. with hypnosis, where I listened to different treatments. The ones I chose to listen to were about reducing self-doubt, reducing anxiety, strengthening self-esteem and how to achieve success.

I have always struggled with my self-esteem, and hypnosis has definitely helped to strengthen that. I have gained a lot more faith in myself, and I believe that WiOGA will be a success. I can also see it in my designs, I now dare to challenge them more.

I started getting a lot of orders and suddenly got very busy. That's why I quickly saw that I needed help so as not to drown in work tasks. I got a bookkeeper for the accounts, I had an auditor. A consultant helps me with Google, and I have a distributor to sell my designs to stores. I get the designs myself, contact China and India, as well as my webshop, Instagram and Facebook.

It's impossible to do everything yourself, which is why I believe that if you want to achieve success, you should do what you're good at and not be afraid to ask others for help with what you're not so good at.

Remember "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger " is what I've learned from all this.