For the entrepreneur and author Anna Davidson, it’s overcoming an adversity that most of us cannot begin to imagine, that has inspired her journey to success.
In fact, the 45-year-old mum of two admits it’s her years as a victim of domestic violence that have empowered her to turn her life around. And today she is an internationally award-winning businesswoman proudly inspiring others to do just the same.
By sharing her own story of resilience, the self-taught digital marketing guru has a new mission in life – to support other female entrepreneurs in pursuit of their own business dreams.
When Anna met and fell in love with her husband soon after moving to the West Midlands in 1999, it was a loving relationship like any other. But the arrival of their sons, now aged 13 and 10, and Anna’s ambitions to set up her own business following redundancy, put a strain on the marriage which soon took the ultimate toll.
Rows would regularly flare up into violent attacks resulting in Anna feeling forced to flee the home, often in fear of her life.
She said: “My sons were both under three and I was trying to build up my business just before redundancy and was really going for it. There was a great deal of financial pressure and we were having a lot of arguments. Then, one day, I also found out he was having an affair.”
“He would come in at night and flip me off the bed so I’d end up on the floor with the mattress on top of me. And I’d sometimes fall asleep on the sofa and he would flip the sofa over on top of me.”
“He’d also start smashing stuff up during arguments and I’d end up fleeing the house with the boys because we were so scared. He smashed an internal glass door, cut up my tights and one day found him burning some of my clothes and our wedding photos in the garden.”
She added: “When he strangled me during an argument one day I was really scared because I thought he was going to kill me. He just completely lost it. Despite begging me to come home and promises it would not happen again, he did it again about eight months later. I couldn’t swallow for weeks after that.”
Despite the police urging Anna to press charges after a string of SOS calls to her home, it wasn’t until one day in 2015 that she decided to take control.
She recalls: “My final lightbulb moment came one day when this argument started after we’d eaten and I was clearing the table. He smashed a plate out of my hand, and Jacob came running downstairs and threw his bouncy ball off the back off his head to distract him and to try and protect me.”
“That was when I thought, enough is enough. My seven-year-old is trying to save me and what am I teaching my sons with all of this? From then on I just focused on my exit plan. I knew if I fled again there and then, he would just come after us again.”
A backdrop of harassment charges, court battles and injunctions over the subsequent years, did not slow Anna’s efforts to pursue independence and build on her business education – and she now teaches others how to emulate her success as an Amazon entrepreneur. She was featured in Forbes last April 2020 about how to successfully sell online.
In the past year alone she has also released her book, She Made It Happen; and an e-book, The Amazon 101 Academy; as well as the launch of the Your Freedom Podcast; and, most recently, a membership site for budding entrepreneurs called Make Sh*t Happen.
She Made It Happen is the most personal of these projects in which she retells the inspirational stories of 15 women who, like herself, have turned adversity into success.
The Your Freedom Podcast interviews guests about love, money and mind, the three topics which, Anna says, helped ‘get back some equilibrium’ in her life.
It’s by also introducing her Amazon 101 Academy course and Make Sh*t Happen site that she hopes to set people on the same path to entrepreneurial success that she herself enjoys today. The success has led her to be recognised on a global platform after winning The Women Connect Her Power Entrepreneurship Competition, organised by DHgate – the Chinese equivalent of eBay.
Anna was among just three winners from more than 450 entries in the international campaign, established to honour outstanding female entrepreneurs from around the world.
And once again, she is paying it forward by awarding a third of her $3,000 prize money to further the efforts of another entrepreneur who entered Anna’s competition.
It’s this sentiment that also led her to The Buddy Bag Foundation, of which she is now an ambassador.
“I’d heard about it on Facebook and one day decided to approach them. I wanted to find some goodness from all of the bad that had happened and this was my way of giving back,” said Anna.
“They help people that have to flee to refugees and give them what they call a bag of love with emergency things in. I really related to what they were doing because I lived with that bag in my boot for many months.”
But for Anna, who has already trained more than 2,000 students on Amazon selling, there is still so much more to give.
“Apparently 60% of women want to run their own online business but fear stops them.”
“My goal now is to impact a million women globally with my story. So many women have sent me stories of what they’ve been through and thank me for speaking out. It makes me feel really good,” she said.
And there’s no doubting it’s been an emotional journey – but one that Anna takes many positives from.
She said: “I have been through so much but I’m grateful for the perspective the experience has given me in life.
“My pain has become my power. I feel like I’ve found a meaning in all the suffering to help other people, especially women, because there are a lot of women who are scared to start a business. Everyone has an adversity but I think it’s about facing fear which helps you grow and become a better person.
“For so long I was embarrassed about it. I didn’t want to be seen as this domestic violence survivor. But I hope my story might inspire someone and make them believe that they can achieve anything by facing their fears first. If I can do it as a single parent, they can too!”
To know more about Anna and her advocacies, visit: theannadavidson.com
Subscribe to her YouTube channel – Anna Davidson
Joined her Tribe on Your Freedom Project Facebook group and get connected with amazing people.
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