The founder and managing director of a digital marketing agency has issued an emotional statement after the firm entered liquidation, owning more than £200,000 to its creditors.
Wayne Berry, who established JAW Digital in Altrincham in 2014, said the business started to fail after its income went from £35,000 a month to £10,000 "in a matter of weeks" at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
He added that he invested £30,000 of his own savings in a bid to save the company which was also hit by a "devastating flood" and major clients going into liquidation.
In a LinkedIn post, Mr Berry said that because of those issues, as well as raising two children under the age of two, the "difficult decision had to be made for my mental health and my family".
According to documents filed with Companies House, Dow Schofield Watts was appointed as the liquidator on May 30. The documents also show the business owed more than £206,000 to creditors.
Mr Berry said: "It is with a heavy heart and an exhausted mind that I announce the liquidation of JAW Digital Ltd.
"The most incredible journey I’ve ever been on has come to an end. Everything about my greatest professional success will be all but wiped out and resigned to the history books and it’s almost killed me.
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"Life has been hell on earth for my family and everybody involved, since around the turn of this year, but the real issues started with the first lockdown and we never really recovered, we were never going to in hindsight."
He added: "I never believed I would ever make anything of myself. Not given a chance from an early age, as a troubled kid, most people expected me to end up in jail. I had a poor, turbulent upbringing and losing my dad in my late teens sent me into an angry spiral.
"That spiral culminated in me narrowly avoiding jail for a serious assault during a bar brawl in Warrington in my early 20s. The day I escaped a jail sentence I promised my mother I’d turn my life around.
"I put absolutely every ounce of my focus, energy and drive into the e-commerce and SEO sales job I had at the time and doors began to open.
"I was promoted, I built teams, skilled up, matured, achieved, earned well and was eventually approached by a leading SEO agency based in Leeds. The first time I’d left Warrington to live on my own and focus on a career.
"That focus, learning and achievement continued and I eventually found myself sort after and looking to move back to Manchester/Warrington to be closer to my mum.
"I was head hunted for a directors role at another Cheshire based agency but found myself in a power struggle and being grossly undervalued and disrespected. By now I’m 30 years old and vowed to go it alone and never be undervalued or disrespected again
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"JAWDigital was born. I built the business from nothing and alone for the first 12 months.
"Growing rapidly, we started rubbing shoulders with the big boys and our success peaked just before the first lockdown as we hit our highest ever revenues and won Manchester's Best Digital Agency at The Talk of Manchester awards.
"I’d now been running a successful agency for five years with a team of eight amazing young stars that I’m proud to have built.
"We were heavily reliant on two sectors, dental and hairs transplants. Sectors that were almost completely destroyed by the pandemic with a lot of companies never recovering.
"Going from £35K a month to just £10K in a matter of weeks is where the collapse began.
"We’ve battled hard, I’ve put £30,000 of my own savings back in to save it, but with issue after issue including a devastating flood, major clients going into liquidation and me trying to raise two kids under two, the difficult decision had to be made for my mental health and my family.
"I’m sorry and grateful but in a better place and have learned so much from it all. I'm tired and on my knees but fighting to rebuild my life and my career."