It all comes down to confidence.
I don’t really know where to start so I’m going to just begin and see where it goes. I
think about how confident I am now, how well I am getting to know myself and live
the life I want to live, Every day it just gets better and better.
And then, I look back to the 18-year-old Beccy who left school with no idea of who
she was, what she liked, what she was good at let alone what she wanted to do with
her life. It’s quite amazing to see how far I’ve come.
My first experience of living life on my own terms was when I worked at a ski resort
after leaving school. I couldn’t believe how much fun it was. I met incredible people
and realized, for the first time, this is what life should feel like. Full of joy and
excitement.
It was such an eye-opener for me. It marked the beginning of my mission to create a
fabulous, joy-filled life. But for a long time, I couldn’t figure out why I could live this
amazing life abroad, only to feel like it disappeared the moment I came back home to
England.
In my early 30s, I had a life-changing weekend at the Priory in London that shook my
world. I was only there for an hour when it hit me: how much I had been conditioned
by society, how my survival instincts had shaped my world, and how many of my
decisions were unconscious, based on outdated beliefs buried in my subconscious
mind. It was earth shattering. I had to completely re-evaluate everything I knew;
nothing was what I thought it was!
That weekend was the beginning of something new—my first tentative steps toward
creating the life I wanted and becoming the person who had been hidden deep
inside me all along.
The next pivotal moment came in my late 30s when I decided I wanted to change
careers. I love my job as a greetings card designer and the heart of my home is the
kitchen, so what I really wanted to do was become a homeware designer and design
kitchen textiles. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t land the role I wanted. So, I
decided that if no one was going to give me the job, I would create it myself. And
that’s exactly what I did.
That decision became the catalyst for my personal development and growing
confidence. I started small designing a few fabrics and making all the products
myself: tea towels, aprons, and napkins. There was so much to learn, but I loved it.
From learning how to run a business to constantly asking, What’s the next small step
I can take? —I found the process exhilarating. And realised with each step I took out
of my comfort zone, my confidence grew. It then gave me the confidence to try the
new thing. The more I did this, the more I got to know myself. Discovered I loved
making recipe videos for my YouTube channel, I loved doing live baking
demonstrations that were fun and sometimes things went a bit wrong, and people
loved it because they got to see how to rescue something.
That’s it’s OK not to be perfect and you can still succeed. This is one of the biggest
lies we are told; success only comes with perfection. Then it begs the question, “what is success?”
I called my business Chez Beccy, because I didn’t want to limit myself, I knew my
business had the potential to be so much bigger than just a few tea towels and
aprons. I wanted it to reflect my world, my kitchen—even though I didn’t fully
understand what that meant at the time.
Today, that vision has blossomed into something extraordinary, and I know there is
so much more to come. A lot of coaches say you must have a vision to know where
you are going. Personally, I find that too scary and it stops me in my tracks. I like to
feel my way, go where my intuition takes me and I outsource my vision to my
inspiring coach and mentor Elif Köse. And I can do this because she SEES me.
Everything we do at Chez Beccy is centred around the joy of connecting around the
kitchen table. The joy of connecting with our loved ones and just as importantly
ourselves.
As Brené Brown says “Connection is why we are here. It gives purpose and
meaning to our lives.”
They say we all turn into our mother’s! My Mum is an amazing cook, and I learnt so
much from her. But she was not a baker, she doesn’t like sweet things, so had no
interest in baking, unlike me!
My customers now have the opportunity to join me in my kitchen for baking
demonstrations, followed by a delicious full Afternoon Tea experience. And this year,
I’m thrilled to be a baking demonstrator at the Cheltenham Food Festival!
I am published author of A Guide to Hosting Afternoon Tea with Beccy’s Favorite
Recipes, which is available on Amazon and chezbeccy.com. You can even find my
recipes on the Chez Beccy YouTube channel.
I am passionate about designing beautiful useful items for the kitchen. I’ve curated a
fabulous collection of luxury kitchen textiles, which are now exclusively made for
Chez Beccy right here in the UK. My designs include a wide variety of styles from
bright colourful spray of hearts to soft muted ditsy florals, hand painted cake
illustrations and of course my Christmas Collection is always a firm favorite. You
can explore the collection at chezbeccy.com.
I’m also passionate about supporting other small British brands. Every year, I
showcase their incredible work in my 12 Days of Christmas Joy interview series,
which you can find on the Chez Beccy YouTube channel.
I remember someone once asking me, “Who do you want to be?” I thought it was
such an odd question with such an obvious answer: “I want to be me, of course.” But
that simple question has shaped my life’s mission since I was 18 years old. It’s been
a journey to truly come home to myself, to become me.
And do you know what? I think I’m finally there—or at least close. Of course, it’s not a
destination. I’m continually growing, discovering new things I love, and building my
confidence. As I become better at listening to my intuition and staying true to myself, life just
keeps getting better and better.
It’s hard work. It’s scary, especially at the beginning. It takes courage that you have to dig
deep to find. But now I have self-belief, I can look back and see, I can do hard things, so I
can do this.
And oh wow-it’s worth it.
