It’s me you’ll be dealing with.

I always wanted to run a business. I just thought you needed a Dragons' Den idea to start one.

In 2020 I was a business and management student, sent home in lockdown, playing far too much Call of Duty and with no idea what to do next.

So I tried things. Wallets on eBay that were, honestly, rubbish. Dropshipping. A clothing brand with a mate that sold two t-shirts.

Then I started making posters and album covers for local DJs, for next to nothing. That's where I learned how a social presence actually gets built.

The rave was a uni project. I ran all the marketing and we sold hundreds of tickets, and raised around £1,000 for charity.

The first time I saw marketing actually fill a room was a charity rave in Bath.

For four years I ran marketing for a seven-figure tool company. Tool content, trends, influencer collabs, the newsletter, and every trade show going.

We took the socials past 10,000 followers and the mailing list past 10,000 UK electricians. Talking to customers on a stand all day is where I learned to sell.

I spent years standing at trade shows talking to electricians. That's where I learned how trades people actually buy.

My first website client was my golf coach. £300. I was absolutely buzzing.

Then came a property client, Ben Hollingsworth, and the side work started to look like a business.

I'd built a brand and a website for my own design and web business, announced it, and told a mate at uni I'd probably drop out because I'd be making so much money.

I launched in 2021 and waited for the phone to ring. Nobody messaged me. That's the most useful thing that ever happened to me: announcing you exist isn't marketing.

Working with Ben in property taught me a lot. Then I built Facebook ads for a worktop restoration business run by Ashley Coombs, and the enquiries came in like a flood.

The first time a client's phone wouldn't stop from an ad I'd built, I knew this was the job.

Social Flow became a limited company in July 2025.

I had a house and a mortgage by then, so I didn't jump. I handed my notice in in January 2026 and left at the end of March.

Going full-time is what took the service up a level.

I used to sit there and wish my life away waiting for 5 o'clock. I left when the business could pay the mortgage, not before.

Gavin is the reason I work with trades. He does the best work and knows his trade inside out, and he was living on word of mouth, never sure where the next job was coming from.

Now he runs Paradigm Lofts, a specialist loft brand. Working with him showed me how easy it is to stand out when the work is that good.

When the work is that good, you just have to show it properly. Gavin's the proof.