Never Give Up day is all about cultivating a mindset of determination... where people's perseverance and resilience is celebrated.

I grew up on a Glasgow council estate; this is where I met my husband Stephen. I initially started my career as a nursery nurse, but after been inspired by Sarah Beeny's TV show Property Ladder, we bought a house to renovate. I was only 23 but we sold it for £36,000 profit, which paid for the next property. Working on our project houses also inspired a business idea. We realised there was a gap in the market for reliable tradespeople, so we started a home improvements business in 2006. The same year we got married. At our peak, we employed 29 people with a massive £5.1million turnover before it all came crashing down in 2016!

When the business collapsed, we were so stressed, I couldn't sleep at night, I couldn't face speaking to friends or anyone from work who knew we'd lost everything. I was so ashamed and felt like I'd lost all purpose. I questioned if I was good enough - if success happened to people like me. I was so disappointed, and we had zero confidence.

I truly wanted to give up – but then I remembered, ‘success belongs to those who never give up.’

Drawing on our successes and failures, we now run two new hugely successful businesses, a venture called We Love Your Projects, a multi-trade home improvements company, and Angela McKillop Coaching.

Having lived the devastation of losing something we'd sacrificed a lot for, I don't want anyone to go through what I did. But I feel that our experience has served a massive purpose. I love the fact that our failure is helping many more business owners as a lesson.

Here are 6 things that helped me massively when I felt like giving up:

1. I switched from a victim mindset to one of gratitude. Instead of being the person who said why me or the person who cried about all the bills I had to pay, I started noticing how lucky I was to have a supportive family, a healthy son & a roof over my head. It wasn’t easy at first but it made me feel better & things slowly started to change.

2. I took full responsibility. I knew the only person who could change things was me. Waiting for someone to help me or save me was soul destroying. It only made me feel worse. Taking responsibility as hard as it was became empowering & made me determined.

3. I didn’t let my comfort zone get in the way. All the things I had to take action on to get me out of this situation were uncomfortable. The calls, the meetings, putting myself out there on social media. This actually propelled things forward hugely.

4. Focused on all my achievements. Not just in business but in life too. This is a game changer for confidence. I started being nice to myself. I spoke to myself the way I would speak to my 3-year-old. I thought back to all the compliments I had, I even wrote them down! This sound fluffy but it rewires the brain. It’s very powerful!

5. I asked myself what was the alternative? Did I want to stay feeling this way? Did I want failure to be my story? Did I want to shrink knowing that I was capable of being so much more? The answer was always no which encouraged me to take action!

6. I asked for help. Don’t ever be afraid to ask for help. Something so small can be the lifeline that you need!