I left school at 13 and lived in a hostel – now I’m earning six figures at 23

A TEENAGE mum who left school without a qualification tells how she turned her life around and now runs a six-figure business.

Paige Brookes quit when she was just 13 years old – two years before her father was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident.

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Estranged from her mother, she was working at McDonald’s at 16 and living in a hostel when she unexpectedly became pregnant and suffered a miscarriage, reports What’s the jam.

Two years later, Paige became pregnant again, and this time she was carried to term.

While she was thrilled with her bundle of joy – who she named Oscar – the single mother soon became pregnant with her second child, Everleigh.

The Stafford native knew she had to find a way to make more money and build a secure future for herself and her children.

In just five years, the mother-of-three has built a business empire that is expected to turn over more than £400,000 this year.

“I didn’t have a good start in life,” said the now 23-year-old Absolutely businesslike.

“I was moved around by the healthcare system and lost in the school system.

“I never graduated from high school and never went to college. I had my oldest when I was 18 years old.

“I faced many hardships growing up, but I was determined to work hard and earn money.

Paige recalled working two jobs a day in an effort to keep her family afloat.

“It started with an administrative job at a funeral home, working 9 to 5, plus a two-hour drive,” she explained.

“Then I would take a break before rushing to a cafe to work from 8pm to midnight, while I was pregnant.”

She talked about how her growing family gave her the drive she needed to succeed.

“Despite having no outside support, I was excited to be a mother and decided that my children would get a better upbringing than I did,” she said.

“I’ve had times in my life when I was doing some basic shopping and I was 13 cents short at the cash register.

“I felt ashamed and alone. I couldn’t afford sanitary products when I lived in care.

“It would have been very easy to fall into a difficult and depressing way of life, but my family deserved more than that.”

In 2019, the single mother set up her own online business called Behind the trend.

“It all started when I had a gift voucher for Currys and I saw a [hobby craft] machine called ‘Cricut Joy,'” Paige said.

“I started watching TikTok videos on what I could do with it.

“I placed my first order sitting on the floor of my flat when my son was just six months old.

“I ordered some loose baby box keys from Amazon for £8 and that’s where it started.

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“I fell in love with it so quickly and created a Facebook group called Behind The Trend because I always wanted to be the one behind and start new trends.”

Paige then created a new design and soon had hundreds of orders.

“The baby boxes were a personalized photo storage box with 16 compartments for children’s memories.

She sold hundreds of items for £50 each.

“This was the first time I had real money [in] my bank account and I couldn’t get supplies fast enough,” she recalls.

“I needed to upgrade my machine and I knew from shipping addresses all over the country that I could really make something of this.”

These days, Paige is juggling “three babies and three businesses.”

In addition to Behind The Trend, which now also offers accessories and personalized drinking cups, she also founded Pinky Promises, an events company, and runs an online consultancy business.

I used to earn £10 a day from orders – now that figure is £5,000 a day.

Paige Brookes

She has also expanded her family; along with five-year-old Oscar and four-year-old Everleigh, she also has one-year-old Noah, whom she shares with her partner Connor.

“Now I have savings and investments and a solid future for my family,” she said.

“It’s not money that 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 an effort to be as open and honest as possible and encourage other young women to bet on themselves.

“I’m so open about my upbringing because I always looked at other people’s lives and wondered how they did it, always assuming they took the easy way out,” she said.

“I used to earn £10 a day from orders – now that figure is £5,000 a day, but that didn’t happen overnight.

“I am very transparent about money, why should I be secretive? It does not detract from my business operations, there is room for everyone at the table.

“You don’t have to have a perfect start, but you can turn your life around.

“Although it can be very tiring, it is also the most rewarding feeling in the world to know that I worked hard to get where I am today and that I am doing it for my family.”

In the future, Paige wants to travel the world and buy a property for herself and her family.

For now, she’s grateful she doesn’t have to check her bank balance for a grocery store and can give back to other women.