"Destroying this beautiful person"

Elizabeth

This is not another of my 'Small is Beautiful' articles. It is about why all enterprising people deserve a better deal and why one 'beautiful person', with a potentially beautiful enterprise, has been, shamefully, let down by 'the system'.

The magnified image is of a tick, before and after gorging itself on human blood. It is so tiny, smaller than half a poppy seed, that you're unlikely to notice it has attached itself to your skin. Nine months ago, whilst out walking in our glorious Yorkshire woodlands, such a tick gave Lyme Disease to Elizabeth Stevenson. Elizabeth is one of our clients at our multi award winning, Yorkshire In Business - an Enterprise Agency.

I was chatting to our fabulous CEO and Daily Mirror's 'High Street Hero 2018' (who knew?), Jenn, when a tearful Jo burst into the room. Jo is one of our top business advisers and, like all our advisers, has run her own business, and is a total professional helping our clients, free of charge, from all backgrounds and in all circumstances, to start and grow their businesses.

Jo was distraught and asked me if I could do 'anything' to help Elizabeth Stevenson. I hope that one or more readers of this article, may be able to help too. Elizabeth has daily seizures, each one lasting over an hour. Jo described how Elizabeth's body shakes so much it looks as if she is on 'a vibrating board'. Elizabeth feels as if her head might fall off and Jo, who has seen everything, found it hard to watch. Elizabeth's memory has gone and some days she can't talk as she has forgotten her vocabulary. At night her body is in chronic pain. As Jo said 'Lyme disease is destroying this beautiful person'.

Elizabeth had first come to see Jo with high hopes of turning her part time candle making business into full time self employment. We always advise test trading, preferably while you're in a job or have other income, and Elizabeth's approach, passion, energy and skill gave her every chance of building a viable business. The enthusiastic, skateboarding, bmx biking, nature exploring, young Mum, sunny Scarborough resident and prospective business owner who Jo first met, was no longer present.

Mean

As you know from my show, my writing and my campaigns I'm certain that for most people in the UK, the American Way of starting and 'scaling' a business is not the best. The way I prefer is followed by most successful micro business owners. I believe that the American Way is discriminatory, mean and built on mindset myths.

Discriminatory because wealth and size are the main measures of success - the wealthy with big goals and big businesses are 'winners', and the not wealthy with self employed or micro businesses are 'losers'. It's a cop out for the wealthy.

Mean because it views a career as a successful entrepreneur as immediately available to everyone whatever their skills or circumstances. Everyone can do 'rags to riches' so it's your own fault if you end up in debt and depressed. It's a cop out for the wealthy.

'Mindset myths' because although the American Way is much loved by our Government, our banks, our academics and our business media, our research shows it leads to a high start-up failure rate, loss of control and sadly, in too many cases, debt and despair. Success is not all down to a positive mindset, a growth mindset, big goals, big dreams, loads of gratitude, only associating with successful people and using the 'law of attraction'. Stuff happens. We can only control our own thoughts and actions. We are not in control of everything that happens to us - despite the 'law of attraction' devotees suggesting illness, disease and even an untimely death is caused by our own negative thinking. It's a cop out for the wealthy.

In Elizabeth's case she is suffering intolerably because she cannot afford the private health care which the wealthy, including our Government Ministers, use. Worse, the NHS care system in Scarborough, care for the not wealthy, is broken. This is a political decision as the NHS staff are fabulous but they don't have enough time or resource to provide the care they would like. The recently prescribed solution to the Lyme disease destroying her life and spoiling her partner and young son's lives too, is for her to practice mindfulness to reduce her anxiety. Anxiety is now regarded as the cause by her overworked GP. The Lyme Disease Action charity says mis-diagnosis is common.

In my opinion, Elizabeth's treatment is discriminatory, mean and based on mindset myths.

One of many

Despite having three blood tests that show Elizabeth has Stage 3 Lyme Disease, the tests no longer show positive. Timing of the tests is vital and the only way Elizabeth can get a diagnosis to get treatment is to go to London to have timed, spinal fluid tests but the NHS do not do these tests so will not accept the results. Managing day to day is almost impossible.

Elizabeth has been prescribed pain killers in the past but pain killers are only prescribed from a GP appointment and she has to be well enough to get to the surgery. As we all know appointments are often weeks in advance and Elizabeth is not deemed ill enough to get an emergency appointment. Elizabeth recently spent 9.5 hours in Scarborough Hospital corridor when her partner called an ambulance after the seizure lasted more than an hour.

Maslow and Herzberg both made the point that self actualisation and achievement, in Elizabeth's case being a fulfilled enterprise owner, will only be gained if the basic or hygiene needs - safety, physiological, social, enough money to get by - are met. Elizabeth is one of hundreds of people we see each year at our Enterprise Agency, who through no fault of her own, desperately needs help from 'the system' before we can help them to make ends meet by starting and running their own business. These are enterprising people with positive attitudes who deserve better.

What should we do next to help Elizabeth and others in such distressing situations?