Latest news with #PaigeWilliams
Forbes
28-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
When The Deal Falls Through: Leading With Courage And Resilience
Paige Williams is a founder, filmmaker & creator of The Creative Keys and AudPop. Learn more at It all happened fast. I received an offer to buy my company. After a few weeks of intense negotiation, drafting terms and reviewing paperwork, we had a final call that was intended to wrap things up. Instead, everything unraveled. There would be no sale, no closing and no check. What followed was something I wasn't prepared for: not just the loss of the deal, but the weight of having to tell everyone it was over, including my team, my creditors, my investors and my family. There's no script for that moment. I was left only with the quiet, aching question: 'Now what?' In the aftermath, I found myself returning to a 12-part framework I developed from more than a decade of coaching, entrepreneurship and personal growth work. I typically use it to help women leaders unlock clarity, courage and aligned action, but this experience reminded me that my framework is for me, too. And along the way, I've learned valuable lessons I believe other entrepreneurs can use who are working through the painful loss of a deal. The Long Climb Before that call, I was finally catching my breath after a decade of bootstrapping a startup from scratch. In 2013, I founded my business to democratize storytelling and connect diverse filmmakers with opportunity. We built a platform for branded video contests and authentic storytelling. We found success, and we did it without venture capital. I poured everything into it. There was a lien on my home at one point. The first time through, founding the business felt like pushing a boulder up a mountain, but I'd survived. Founders know how to endure. We stretch every dollar. We hold the risk. And when someone says, 'We want to buy what you've built,' it can feel like oxygen. That's what happened. The buyer was enthusiastic. The offer was clean. I negotiated work for myself and my team. We were ready to transition and keep serving storytellers. I thought this deal was divine timing. I saw it as a reward for the grind, the sacrifice and the years of pushing. But when they walked away, I felt shame, I felt embarrassed, and I felt small, not just as a businesswoman but as a human. Why 'Surrender' Isn't A Soft Word In my framework, key four is 'surrender.' It's not passive. It's not quitting. It's what comes when you've given everything and the outcome still collapses. Surrender asks: Who are you when you no longer get what you want? What do you trust when your plans fall apart? In my case, the collapse of the deal didn't just hit my business. It cracked my identity. There was no headline or comforting post. It was just me, at my kitchen table, writing the hardest email I've ever sent: 'The sale didn't go through.' 'There will be no payout.' 'I'm sorry.' This was a story I didn't want to tell. But through breathwork, journaling and honesty, I found my footing again. Surrender created space. And in that space, truth returned. The Keys Of Honesty And Aligned Action Another key I often discuss with clients is honesty. I had to ask myself: • What part of me needed this deal to validate my worth? • What was I avoiding by trying to wrap it up neatly? • What is the real truth underneath? Here it is: I wanted to be saved from the financial pressure, the relentless hustle and the weight of holding it all together. But in entrepreneurship, there are no saviors. There are just choices and chapters. I also realized that this wasn't rejection. It was redirection. There were no red flags or signs I ignored. But that's what makes situations like this so hard: When things fall apart with no warning, what do you trust? Here's what I've come to know: Sometimes, the lesson isn't in what you missed. It's in what you're asked to hold when there's nothing left to fix. This wasn't the end. It was a threshold, and it was time for me to reclaim the story. After the sale fell through, I returned to what I knew: coaching women through transitions; holding honest, grounded spaces inside the council I founded; and writing and speaking with transparency. I'm not here to perform leadership. I'm here to live it. Another key of my framework—taking aligned action—isn't about perfection. It's about courageous movement, especially after a fall. What Entrepreneurs Can Learn If you've ever had to say, 'It's not happening,' 'I was wrong,' or 'I don't know what comes next,' let me tell you this: You are not the failed deal. You are the leader still standing. And that matters more than you know. When a business deal falls through—especially one that feels like a lifeline—the emotional fallout can be intense: shame, self-doubt and the fear of being seen as a failure. I've been there. One of the first steps I recommend is creating space to process before reacting. Don't rush into explanations or fixes. Instead, pause. Breathe. This gives your nervous system time to regulate and your intuition time to rise. From there, name the shame. I believe shame thrives in silence, but it loses power when spoken aloud. Talk to a trusted advisor, coach or friend. When I finally said, 'I feel like I let everyone down,' I could hear the deeper truth underneath: I was still worthy, even when things didn't go as planned. For myself, I'm now no longer chasing clean lines. I'm building from something deeper—a space where truth, clarity and courage guide the way. I believe clarity often arrives through the fall, courage is quiet and surrender is sacred. And that's what I'm walking toward now. Reclaim your own story. What happened to you is real—but it's not the whole story. You have to surrender control over outcomes and take aligned action even when the path is uncertain. For any leader in a storm, ask yourself: What old story do you need to shed—and what truer story are you ready to move into? Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Driving instructors say rising prices are fair - but learners can't keep up
Paige Williams is desperate to pass her driving test. Her three-year-old son sometimes has "meltdowns" on public transport, where he might scream, cry or throw himself on the floor, she says. She just wants to be able to visit family and go on day trips more easily. But the 28-year-old single mum, from Barnsley, is having to drastically cut back on how much she spends on food, gas and electricity to be able to afford her £35-an-hour lessons, which she's been having since September. "It's literally scrimping and scraping to be able to manage to get one lesson a week," she says. As the cost of driving lessons continues to rise alongside an already high cost of living, experiences like Paige's may be becoming increasingly common. The BBC has spoken to more than a dozen learners and parents of learners who say they're frustrated by how much they have to pay - and also to instructors who argue that the prices are justified. Driving instructors can charge what they like, and the DVSA does not release official statistics on average lesson costs. But a DVSA survey completed by more than 5,000 approved driving instructors (ADIs) in September shows how prices have shot up in recent years. In the survey, the most common price bracket for an hour lesson was £36 to £40 per hour. Just 31.5% of driving instructors said they charged £35 or less per hour - that number had halved since the DVSA's June 2023 survey. While 20.8% said they charged more than £40 an hour - nearly triple as many as in June 2023. For many people, driving is essential for taking their kids to school, going to work or carrying out caring responsibilities. Public transport might be unaffordable, inaccessible or simply not available for some people. Two-thirds of people in Great Britain who commute to work drive in, and 45% of five-to-10 year olds are taken to school by car, Department for Transport figures from 2023 show. Faustina Kamara, a 23-year-old in Birmingham, needs a licence for her dream job - being a runner in the media industry. But the £60 cost of her two-hour driving lessons means she's only having them once a fortnight, which isn't as frequently as she'd like, and means it will delay when she can take her test. She says she'd love to have lessons weekly but it would mean she'd have to cut back on spending money seeing her friends. Other people also say that the high cost of driving lessons means it's taking them longer to learn to drive. Rather than having the two lessons a week she would have liked, Sandra Onuora, a 30-year-old civil servant in Newcastle, had three per month until she passed her test in March. "That was all I could afford," she says. And even then, "I had to take a lot of money from my savings" for her £39-an-hour lessons, she adds. Because she had to space out her lessons more, she had to wait longer until she felt ready to take her test. She'd spend hours every week travelling between her home, her son's childminder's and her office, taking six buses every weekday. "It was a rough year," says Sandra. She would return home "so exhausted". And just as driving lessons become more expensive, some learners are also finding they're having to take more of them. That's because of a huge practical test backlog, which means learners are having to take lessons for longer to keep up their skills. Keith Rose hasn't been able to book a driving test near where he lives in Bridgwater, Somerset, for his 17-year-old son, Brandon. The best option he could find is an hour's drive away in Newport, Wales, and isn't until September. Keith says that his son is ready to take his test, but will need to keep taking lessons at a cost of £76 for a two-hour session to maintain his skills. "We're being forced into spending money that we don't need to," Keith says. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has acknowledged that waiting times for tests are too long and pledged to reduce the average waiting time for a driving test to no more than seven weeks by summer 2026. Instructors say that they have little choice but to charge these kind of rates if they want to make a profit. "Prices for driving lessons are where they should be, having been probably under-priced for many years," says Stewart Lochrie, the owner of a driving school in Glasgow and chair of the Approved Driving Instructors National Joint Council (ADINJ). "I think the price was overdue a reset." Stewart notes that the UK's more than 41,000 approved driving instructors are having to pay more for the expenses associated with their jobs like buying or leasing a car, fuel, insurance and maintenance. "We have costs to cover as well and if the things that we need to run our business go up, then our prices will have to go up as well," he says. The rising price of lessons "isn't really translating to a pay increase in our pockets," adds Terry Edwards, a driving instructor in Ashford, Kent. His expenses include around £280 a month on fuel, £135 on insurance and £440 on car payments. Other costs include servicing, repairing and cleaning his car. Terry charges £39 an hour, but offers a discount for buying in bulk. While customers "don't generally push back" against his prices, some "try and be a bit cheeky" and ask for discounts, he says. For Amy Burnett, a pharmacy advisor in Glasgow, the prices are so high that she's avoiding learning for the time being. The only instructors she'd found with availability charge between £50 and £60 an hour, she says. "I'm living pay cheque to pay cheque as it is," the 22-year-old says. But she sees being able to drive as an investment in her future - she'd have more freedom and she's had to limit her previous job searches to roles accessible by public transport, she says. Amy hopes to pass her test by the time she's 24 - if she can find a more affordable instructor with availability in her area, she says. Paige, the mum in Barnsley, is sure her frugality will be worth it in the end. Being able to drive would make it much easier for her to return to work, she says. And it would make journeys with her son much less stressful, she says. Most of all, she wants to take her two children to the seaside. "It'd be so good for my son Ronald, with his sensory needs," Paige says. "Getting to go on the little arcade rides and seeing his little face would be lovely." 'I was 11,000th in the queue': Learner drivers struggle with test backlog 'I passed my driving test at 74 - it was now or never' Driving instructor gives car to pupil with new son
BBC News
24-05-2025
- Automotive
- BBC News
Driving lessons: Learners struggle to pay before test, but instructors say pricing fair
Paige Williams is desperate to pass her driving three-year-old son sometimes has "meltdowns" on public transport, where he might scream, cry or throw himself on the floor, she says. She just wants to be able to visit family and go on day trips more the 28-year-old single mum, from Barnsley, is having to drastically cut back on how much she spends on food, gas and electricity to be able to afford her £35-an-hour lessons, which she's been having since September."It's literally scrimping and scraping to be able to manage to get one lesson a week," she says. As the cost of driving lessons continues to rise alongside an already high cost of living, experiences like Paige's may be becoming increasingly common. The BBC has spoken to more than a dozen learners and parents of learners who say they're frustrated by how much they have to pay - and also to instructors who argue that the prices are instructors can charge what they like, and the DVSA does not release official statistics on average lesson costs. But a DVSA survey completed by more than 5,000 approved driving instructors (ADIs) in September shows how prices have shot up in recent the survey, the most common price bracket for an hour lesson was £36 to £40 per 31.5% of driving instructors said they charged £35 or less per hour - that number had halved since the DVSA's June 2023 survey. While 20.8% said they charged more than £40 an hour - nearly triple as many as in June 2023. For many people, driving is essential for taking their kids to school, going to work or carrying out caring responsibilities. Public transport might be unaffordable, inaccessible or simply not available for some people. Two-thirds of people in Great Britain who commute to work drive in, and 45% of five-to-10 year olds are taken to school by car, Department for Transport figures from 2023 Kamara, a 23-year-old in Birmingham, needs a licence for her dream job - being a runner in the media industry. But the £60 cost of her two-hour driving lessons means she's only having them once a fortnight, which isn't as frequently as she'd like, and means it will delay when she can take her test. She says she'd love to have lessons weekly but it would mean she'd have to cut back on spending money seeing her friends. Other people also say that the high cost of driving lessons means it's taking them longer to learn to than having the two lessons a week she would have liked, Sandra Onuora, a 30-year-old civil servant in Newcastle, had three per month until she passed her test in March."That was all I could afford," she says. And even then, "I had to take a lot of money from my savings" for her £39-an-hour lessons, she she had to space out her lessons more, she had to wait longer until she felt ready to take her test. She'd spend hours every week travelling between her home, her son's childminder's and her office, taking six buses every weekday."It was a rough year," says Sandra. She would return home "so exhausted". And just as driving lessons become more expensive, some learners are also finding they're having to take more of them. That's because of a huge practical test backlog, which means learners are having to take lessons for longer to keep up their Rose hasn't been able to book a driving test near where he lives in Bridgwater, Somerset, for his 17-year-old son, Brandon. The best option he could find is an hour's drive away in Newport, Wales, and isn't until says that his son is ready to take his test, but will need to keep taking lessons at a cost of £76 for a two-hour session to maintain his skills. "We're being forced into spending money that we don't need to," Keith says. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has acknowledged that waiting times for tests are too long and pledged to reduce the average waiting time for a driving test to no more than seven weeks by summer 2026. Instructors say that they have little choice but to charge these kind of rates if they want to make a profit."Prices for driving lessons are where they should be, having been probably under-priced for many years," says Stewart Lochrie, the owner of a driving school in Glasgow and chair of the Approved Driving Instructors National Joint Council (ADINJ). "I think the price was overdue a reset."Stewart notes that the UK's more than 41,000 approved driving instructors are having to pay more for the expenses associated with their jobs like buying or leasing a car, fuel, insurance and maintenance."We have costs to cover as well and if the things that we need to run our business go up, then our prices will have to go up as well," he says. The rising price of lessons "isn't really translating to a pay increase in our pockets," adds Terry Edwards, a driving instructor in Ashford, Kent. His expenses include around £280 a month on fuel, £135 on insurance and £440 on car costs include servicing, repairing and cleaning his charges £39 an hour, but offers a discount for buying in bulk. While customers "don't generally push back" against his prices, some "try and be a bit cheeky" and ask for discounts, he says. For Amy Burnett, a pharmacy advisor in Glasgow, the prices are so high that she's avoiding learning for the time being. The only instructors she'd found with availability charge between £50 and £60 an hour, she says."I'm living pay cheque to pay cheque as it is," the 22-year-old says. But she sees being able to drive as an investment in her future - she'd have more freedom and she's had to limit her previous job searches to roles accessible by public transport, she says. Amy hopes to pass her test by the time she's 24 - if she can find a more affordable instructor with availability in her area, she says. Paige, the mum in Barnsley, is sure her frugality will be worth it in the end. Being able to drive would make it much easier for her to return to work, she it would make journeys with her son much less stressful, she says. Most of all, she wants to take her two children to the seaside."It'd be so good for my son Ronald, with his sensory needs," Paige says. "Getting to go on the little arcade rides and seeing his little face would be lovely."
The Sun
20-05-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Who is Paige Williams (aka P.Louise) and what is the make-up entrepreneur's net worth?
PAIGE WILLIAMS is the founder and CEO of a viral beauty brand and make-up academy. After building her empire from the ground up, she's secured her spot as one of the nation's wealthiest 40-under-40 on this year's Rich List. 3 3 Who is Paige Williams? Born to a 16-year-old mum and raised on a council estate in Manchester, Paige spent most of her childhood helping her mum care for her five brothers, and left school with no qualifications. Although her brand is now best-known for scroll-stopping products like their bestselling Rumour Base, Paige started at the age of 20 as a side hustle, working as a freelance bridal make-up artist and training others alongside a retail job. As she worked tirelessly building her academy- often spending 17 hours a day working - she started to notice gaps in the beauty industry. "I was using these products each and every day and seeing so many missing items," Paige told Grazia in an interview. "The cost of many of the products was incredibly high, too." "Alongside this, the eye base I was using daily was being discontinued - so I created my own. And that's the base that you see today." Over her nine years in business under the name, she's skyrocketed to success. Since those humble beginnings earning under £600 per month at Selfridges, Paige, now 31, has amassed a net worth of £100million. The story behind the brand Come 2018, Paige - equipped with years of experience as a make-up artist, her recently-created eyeshadow base, and a £20,000 loan from her grandmother - created the brand as we know it today. In their first year of business, the brand brought in an impressive £6million - and in 2024, the brand broke records by making £1.5million in just 12 hours on a TikTok Shop Live. Now, has a home office, cafe, and a shop in Stockport - all done up in the same pastel pink shades and whimsical Barbie Dreamhouse style seen in each product's packaging. 'I went from council estate to a cosmetic kingdom,' Paige wrote in a post on her Instagram page. With her brand going from strength to strength, Paige has made providing affordable and accessible beauty products and giving back a priority - both to her family, and to those who come from similar underprivileged backgrounds. "'I think that a huge amount of the brand vision came from this place and the things I missed out on," Paige said to Grazia. "On a personal level, I wanted to almost create a childhood for myself that I never had. But above all else, I wanted to create memories for people that I never got to make." In addition to starting a six-week Kids Eat for Free scheme for local families over the summer holidays, Paige has also been able to help her hardworking mum leave her job as an ICU nurse, providing her with a higher salary and flexibility. "I gave her a new salary of £42,000 with the option to work her own hours around my brothers," Paige shared with The Daily Mail. "It was the best decision I've ever made. Being surrounded by a happy family is so important."
Scottish Sun
20-05-2025
- Business
- Scottish Sun
Who is Paige Williams (aka P.Louise) and what is the make-up entrepreneur's net worth?
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) PAIGE WILLIAMS is the founder and CEO of a viral beauty brand and make-up academy. After building her empire from the ground up, she's secured her spot as one of the nation's wealthiest 40-under-40 on this year's Rich List. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 3 Paige Williams is the founder of a viral UK beauty brand Credit: Instagram/plouise1 3 Having grown up on a Manchester council estate, Paige is now worth £100million. Credit: Instagram/plouise1 Who is Paige Williams? Born to a 16-year-old mum and raised on a council estate in Manchester, Paige spent most of her childhood helping her mum care for her five brothers, and left school with no qualifications. Although her brand is now best-known for scroll-stopping products like their bestselling Rumour Base, Paige started at the age of 20 as a side hustle, working as a freelance bridal make-up artist and training others alongside a retail job. As she worked tirelessly building her academy- often spending 17 hours a day working - she started to notice gaps in the beauty industry. "I was using these products each and every day and seeing so many missing items," Paige told Grazia in an interview. "The cost of many of the products was incredibly high, too." "Alongside this, the eye base I was using daily was being discontinued - so I created my own. And that's the base that you see today." Over her nine years in business under the name, she's skyrocketed to success. Since those humble beginnings earning under £600 per month at Selfridges, Paige, now 31, has amassed a net worth of £100million. The story behind the brand Come 2018, Paige - equipped with years of experience as a make-up artist, her recently-created eyeshadow base, and a £20,000 loan from her grandmother - created the brand as we know it today. In their first year of business, the brand brought in an impressive £6million - and in 2024, the brand broke records by making £1.5million in just 12 hours on a TikTok Shop Live. Now, has a home office, cafe, and a shop in Stockport - all done up in the same pastel pink shades and whimsical Barbie Dreamhouse style seen in each product's packaging. 3 is best known for its viral Rumour Base primer Credit: Instagram/plouise1 'I went from council estate to a cosmetic kingdom,' Paige wrote in a post on her Instagram page. With her brand going from strength to strength, Paige has made providing affordable and accessible beauty products and giving back a priority - both to her family, and to those who come from similar underprivileged backgrounds. "'I think that a huge amount of the brand vision came from this place and the things I missed out on," Paige said to Grazia. "On a personal level, I wanted to almost create a childhood for myself that I never had. But above all else, I wanted to create memories for people that I never got to make." In addition to starting a six-week Kids Eat for Free scheme for local families over the summer holidays, Paige has also been able to help her hardworking mum leave her job as an ICU nurse, providing her with a higher salary and flexibility. "I gave her a new salary of £42,000 with the option to work her own hours around my brothers," Paige shared with The Daily Mail. "It was the best decision I've ever made. Being surrounded by a happy family is so important."
