'University doesn't have to be for everyone.'
- How I dropped out of university after struggling with homesickness and now I run my own business from home!
Changing your plans, following your passion, feeling happy. For anyone who feels the daily struggles of living up to people's expectations – The university drop out and successful businesswomen – brings about the question, “is university for everyone?” and "does a degree define our intelligence?"
“University wasn’t for me” - Abbie Lambert believes that her life has taken a better route after dropping out of university, but “will never forget the experience”. Her 6-month journey at Buckinghamshire New University, felt longer than it sounds. The anxiety, depression and mental pressure she got from people around her to stick with her degree, “wasn’t worth it" and she had to put her happiness above anything else. She grew up living with her single mother and two younger siblings- "Having such a small and close family made it difficult for me to leave them."- she said. "I was always close with my mum from such a young age and not being able to see her everyday was unbearable". She grew up in a small town in Wales and although Bucks New University wasn't big at all, "it felt massive to me" - Abbie claims, once you have lived in such a small place all your life and see the same people mostly everyday - "it was hard to move somewhere completely new, even if Wycombe wasn't a big city". Being so far away from home was a battle she thought she was prepared for but couldn’t handle not being able to see her family - “I only saw my family twice out of those 6 months”. In an interview with Abbie, she talks about dealing with homesickness at uni and the "struggles of many other university students”. Her passion was to help others and knew even after dropping out of university she still wanted to follow through with this. “I’m only young,” she claimed – at 24 years old she has her whole future ahead of her and "wasn’t prepared to give up on her passion". Although she had only been doing her health and social care degree for 6 months, she says - "it was the best 6 months of my life and it taught me so much about myself and what I wanted to do and who I wanted to be." She never lost sight of this passion, which is when she created her business.
“University wasn’t for me” - Abbie Lambert believes that her life has taken a better route after dropping out of university, but “will never forget the experience”. Her 6-month journey at Buckinghamshire New University, felt longer than it sounds. The anxiety, depression and mental pressure she got from people around her to stick with her degree, “wasn’t worth it" and she had to put her happiness above anything else. She grew up living with her single mother and two younger siblings- "Having such a small and close family made it difficult for me to leave them."- she said. "I was always close with my mum from such a young age and not being able to see her everyday was unbearable". She grew up in a small town in Wales and although Bucks New University wasn't big at all, "it felt massive to me" - Abbie claims, once you have lived in such a small place all your life and see the same people mostly everyday - "it was hard to move somewhere completely new, even if Wycombe wasn't a big city". Being so far away from home was a battle she thought she was prepared for but couldn’t handle not being able to see her family - “I only saw my family twice out of those 6 months”. In an interview with Abbie, she talks about dealing with homesickness at uni and the "struggles of many other university students”. Her passion was to help others and knew even after dropping out of university she still wanted to follow through with this. “I’m only young,” she claimed – at 24 years old she has her whole future ahead of her and "wasn’t prepared to give up on her passion". Although she had only been doing her health and social care degree for 6 months, she says - "it was the best 6 months of my life and it taught me so much about myself and what I wanted to do and who I wanted to be." She never lost sight of this passion, which is when she created her business.
Finding an opportunity to follow her passion in a career where she didn’t have to leave home. Seeing the struggles of many university students - “opened my eyes” - she claimed. The thought of being able to somehow help these students just by simply being a “friendly face and a best friend”, someone they can talk to when everything’s becoming a little bit too overwhelming – “would “make me feel empowered”. She knew nothing about starting a business. "It was a new experience for me something big, something exciting”. Using the people around her, and lucky for her she had a great granddad who ran his own photography and arts business, so he was able to give her tips on how to get things started. “This idea felt close to my heart” - she wanted to make this business "personal to her and be able to connect to these students on deeper levels". Her Grandad gave her a hand in getting this business started and helping promote herself to different universities and websites. Building trust, respect and openness in her relationships with them. "I decided to create an online chat system that allowed me to talk to struggling students." - reaching out to universities and advertising herself through social media allowed her to connect with loads of different people, which is when the business slowly began to grow. Earning her money through funds from "many, many universities across England"- that have her talking to students at their universities. But also blogging about her experiences and advice on social media "attracts many university students". "I'm almost like a therapist" - she says. "I know that I can help these people". someone who inspired her was a guidance councilor back in her first year of college - "she helped me just by talking to me... it made me feel safe and heard." Abbie wanted to be that 'councilor' to these university students and make them "feel safe and heard too", during such an overwhelming period in their lives.
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Running a business from home...
“I started this business properly 8 months after dropping out of university.” She runs this business all from the comfort of home and works from the desk in her kitchen and says, “I even sometimes work sitting on my sofa”. The freedom, the space and the comfort of working from home- “I know I don’t regret dropping out of university”. Seeing her family everyday she knows she made the right decision for her because her happiness is given back to her in the pride, she receives from changing people's lives- claiming “nothing could make me happier, and says ",when I'm stable and ready I will have the opportunity to move out and grow my life." It truly is inspiring and empowering even, to make a difference. Part of her business allows her to connect with these students on deeper levels and build friendships as well as being able to simply help them with their university lives. “I was talking to a student in similar circumstances to me, but she believed her passion was to be found at university and wanted to stay.” This connection she has with her clients feels more like a friendship to the point she gets daily updates on these people's lives even after university - “seeing the small impacts I've had on their lives”, it feels more "personal". She's at the age where these students see her as not only " a role model, but someone who understands what young adults and teenagers go through at uni." She wants to be someone who can be relatable to these students and someone who "understands their problems, as she's been there" - because she didn't feel like anyone made that difference for her when at university "or understood how I was feeling on a deeper level".
“I started this business properly 8 months after dropping out of university.” She runs this business all from the comfort of home and works from the desk in her kitchen and says, “I even sometimes work sitting on my sofa”. The freedom, the space and the comfort of working from home- “I know I don’t regret dropping out of university”. Seeing her family everyday she knows she made the right decision for her because her happiness is given back to her in the pride, she receives from changing people's lives- claiming “nothing could make me happier, and says ",when I'm stable and ready I will have the opportunity to move out and grow my life." It truly is inspiring and empowering even, to make a difference. Part of her business allows her to connect with these students on deeper levels and build friendships as well as being able to simply help them with their university lives. “I was talking to a student in similar circumstances to me, but she believed her passion was to be found at university and wanted to stay.” This connection she has with her clients feels more like a friendship to the point she gets daily updates on these people's lives even after university - “seeing the small impacts I've had on their lives”, it feels more "personal". She's at the age where these students see her as not only " a role model, but someone who understands what young adults and teenagers go through at uni." She wants to be someone who can be relatable to these students and someone who "understands their problems, as she's been there" - because she didn't feel like anyone made that difference for her when at university "or understood how I was feeling on a deeper level".
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