A teen mum who left school with no qualifications has shared how she turned her life around and now runs a six-figure business.
Paige Brookes dropped out when she was just 13 years old – two years before her dad tragically died in a motorbike accident.
Estranged from her mum, at 16, she was working for minimum wage at McDonald’s and living out of a hostel when she unexpectedly fell pregnant and miscarried.
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Two years later, Paige got pregnant again and this time carried to term.
While overjoyed with her bundle of joy – who she named Oscar – the single mum soon fell pregnant with her second child, Everleigh.
Paige, from Stafford, knew that she needed to find a way to earn more money and build a secure future for herself and her children.
In just five years, the mum has built a business empire that is set to turn over £400,000 this year.
“I didn’t have a good start in life,” the now-23-year-old told Absolutely Business.
“I was moved around the care system and became lost in the school system.
“I’ve never gained a GCSE or been to college and had my eldest when I was 18 years old.
“I faced many hardships growing up, but I was determined to work hard and earn money.
“I worked two jobs a day.
“It started with an admin job in a funeral home job, working 9 to 5, plus a two-hour commute.
“Then I’d take a break before rushing to a late-night café to work from 8pm to midnight, all while I was pregnant.
“Despite having no outside support, I was excited to be a mum and determined my children would have a better upbringing than I did.
“I’ve had times in my life where I’ve been doing a basic shop and I was 13p short at the till.
“I’ve felt embarrassed and alone.
“I couldn’t afford sanitary products when I was living in care.
“It would have been very easy to slip into a difficult and depressing way of life, but my family deserved more than that.”
In 2019, the single mum set up her own online business called Behind The Trend.
Paige said: “It all started when I had a gift card for Currys and I saw a machine called ‘Cricut Joy’ [hobby craft machine].
“I started to watch TikTok videos about what I could do with it.
“I made my first order sitting on the floor of my council estate flat when my son was just six months old.
“I ordered some keying blanks of baby boxes from Amazon for £8 and it started there.
“I fell in love with it so quickly and made a Facebook group called Behind The Trend because I always wanted to be the one behind new trends and starting them.”
Paige then created a new design and quickly had hundreds of orders.
“The baby boxes were a 16-compartment, personalised photo storage box for children’s memories.
“At £50 each, I sold hundreds of them.
“This was the first time I had real money – my bank account and I couldn’t get stock in fast enough.
“I had to upgrade my machine and I knew from the shipping addresses all over the country that I could really make something from this.”
Today, Paige is 23 years old and juggles “three babies and three businesses”.
Alongside Behind The Trend, which now also offers accessories and personalised drink tumblers, she has also founded Pinky Promises, an events company, and runs an online consultancy business, providing support to other small start-ups.
She’s also expanded her family; Oscar and Everleigh are five and four years old respectively.
Paige also shares one-year-old Noah with her partner, Connor.
She said: “Now I’ve got savings and investments and a solid future for my family.
“It’s not money I’m addicted to, it’s what I can provide for my children with that money.
“That’s why I work so hard.”
Paige shares her life and business wins on TikTok in a bid to be as open and honest as possible, and encourage other young women to bet on themselves.
She said: “I’m so open about my upbringing because I used to look at other people’s lives and wonder how they did it, always assuming they had the easy route.
“I used to make £10 a day in orders – now that figure is at £5,000 a day, but it didn’t happen overnight.
“I’m really transparent about money.
“Why be secretive? It’s not detrimental to my business, there is space for everyone at the table.
“You don’t have to have a perfect start – but you can turn your life around.
“While it can be very exhausting, it’s also the most rewarding feeling in the world to know that I’ve worked hard to get where I am and I’m doing it for my family.”
In the future, Paige would like to travel the world and buy a property for herself and her family.
For now, she’s grateful to not have to check her bank balance for a food shop and to be able to give back to other women.