Lemonade from Lemons by Gavin Neate
The last few years have been some of the toughest for society and for me, although I'm very aware that I am fortunate to live in the country I do and have the support and love of my friends and family. However, I want to share with you the coping mechanism I have employed just in case something in it might be helpful to you.
Three lemons on a table
For those who don't know me, I'm Gavin, the founder of Neatebox and the fella behind WelcoMe. In brief, WelcoMe is a web-based app that gives disabled people the opportunity to connect directly to customer service teams before they arrive at a venue and allows them to provide staff with information on both their access and communication needs. It's simple stuff really, but totally innovative and, at a time when disability discrimination, isolation, and loneliness appear to be increasing, could not be needed more.
..but this isn't about WelcoMe. This is about me and the coping mechanisms it takes to ultimately bring a genuinely innovative idea into a market that doesn't realise it needs it yet during one of the most significant global challenges we have faced in a generation.
I've never been paid much; I've served in the Royal Air Force as a Police Attack Dog Trainer and with the charity Guide Dogs for the Blind as a Mobility Instructor, and having left Guide Dogs in 2015 went without any income at all until September 2018. All of my savings and the equity from my house had gone into the biggest gamble of my life, my company, and I was, in poker parlance, "all in". It was scary but I wasn't scared. I believed in what I was doing and what I wanted to achieve, and I wanted to prove that it was still possible to revolutionise an industry for the good of all totally. There was light at the end of the tunnel, though. By the start of 2020, with a general increase in awareness for equality, diversity, and inclusion, we were starting to make headway and finally generate income.
The pandemic hit us all in different ways. We were in trouble as a small company selling a product that only a few enlightened companies realised they needed in a customer service market with no face-to-face customers. We were in big trouble. My team needed to be paid, my developers needed to develop, and I needed to see a future where my vision for societal improvement could become a reality.
I freed up cash for my company by selling my house, reducing my salary to 12k, and moving to the Highlands of Scotland to stay with my sister, where I saw out the rest of the pandemic working from home and helping her on her farm.
However, this was not a long-term solution, and something had to change.
..and then it did.
In November 2021, a family friend asked me to house-sit for her for ten days whilst she attended a physiotherapy course. My accommodation was free, food was in the fridge, and I even had Netflix.
Perhaps "pet sitting" could be the answer, and maybe house-sitting might give me something more than just accommodation whilst I waited for an upturn in the customer service marketplace. I didn't know it then, but I was about to learn how to make lemonade.
I joined specialist websites, Trusted House Sitters and House Sitters UK, and so began what turned out to be the best and most exciting year of my life.
Twelve months and twelve house-sits with numerous types, breeds, colours, and characters of animals. Boston Terriers, Horses and, Golden Retrievers, Labradors, Poodles, Jack Russells, Spaniel's cats, hamsters, goldfish, and llamas, it's been phenomenal and an opportunity for me to reconnect with my first love.. dog and animal training.
Lots of animals..
..but there's more..
Of course, I had no access to friends and family. By definition, I was on my own, so it could have been a little lonely and monotonous, so I decided that at each house sit, I would start a new hobby based on the inspiration I gained from the family I was house-sitting for. In 2022 I learned to bake, mountain bike, row, wild swim, and kayak; I learned the piano, baked some more, weight trained, learned how to throw a pot, roller coasted, learned how to make biltong, learned to fly a drone and edit movies. I started genealogy, learned to roller blade, and even took singing lessons. (Les Mis Empty Chairs Empty Tables)
I made lemonade.
Gavin and his hobbies.
In a year that could have destroyed me, I made 12k lemonade..
I've met the most fantastic people from all over the country, and have lived in Kent, Stafford, North London, Surrey, The Highlands, and Edinburgh and started my own Instagram hashtag, #WorkingFromHomes.
..and even though the company is turning around and gaining real momentum, I've decided to do it all again. More than that, I've just bought a motorhome, and I'm going to do it all whilst seeing even more of our great country, going to the regions I need WelcoMe to expand into, and with luck, meeting as many of my disability advocacy hero's as I possibly can.
So, yes, it's tough, and yes, it would be easy to feel you need to put your life on hold until there is a turnaround.. But turnarounds start here.. with you, in your heart.. You have everything you need to make small or even significant changes, to do something new, and to do it differently. I don't have the things I thought I'd have by this stage, but I have experiences. I have lived in the moment and loved every minute of it. You can too.
Oh, and I'm looking for a good lemonade recipe because it's something I haven't actually done yet.
Gavin on top of a hill. His sister's dog, Suzie, sits on a rock in the background.
