The owner of Northwood Cambridge has seen a message he posted on LinkedIn go viral with more than 1.5 million views so far.
Gulshan Mangat, who completed on the acquisition of Northwood Cambridge in July, talks about the stress of leaving a paid job and searching for the right franchise opportunity had caused him many sleepless nights and financial worries.
He said: “Prior to buying Northwood Cambridge I had a job as an auditor, but my wife Kam and I also bought and sold investment properties, so we both had a keen interest in this industry.
“For this reason, I left my job two years ago to pursue a dream of working in property fulltime. I looked at many different businesses before the Northwood Cambridge resale came to my attention about a year ago.
“At that time the franchise was being run remotely, and not reaching its potential, but Kam and I recognised it had huge potential and we began looking at how we could finance it. This was not easy, as in 2020 the banks were not loaning money due to the pandemic, so we withdrew all of our savings as well as borrowing money from family.”
The pair opened a new office premises in Cambridge and took on the management of all the properties.
Mangat continues: “When I realised in September that I was finally able to pay myself a small wage for the first time since leaving work two years ago, it felt like such a landmark moment. We had used up all of our savings, and been working tirelessly, and the realisation that all our hard work was beginning to pay off was such a relief that I started to cry, although they were definitely happy tears!
“I rang my wife to tell her the good news and decided to share a photograph of myself with tears in my eyes via LinkedIn. I wrote about how I was feeling and shared lots of hashtags about men’s mental health and wellbeing.
“I wanted to do this as it felt like a pivotal moment that I would always want to remember. I also thought it could help any other new business owners who may be struggling with stress and would be encouraged to know there really is light at the end of the tunnel. There is currently a stigma against men expressing their emotions, but it shouldn’t be this way. We are so used to thinking that we must always be strong, but if stress goes on too long it inevitably comes to a head. Since I posted on LinkedIn the response has been unbelievable – just today I had a call from someone in Australia thanking me for raising awareness of men’s mental health. The last time I looked my post had received over 1.5 million views!”
Northwood MD Phil Gee has commended Mangat for sharing his experience.
He commented: “Mental health is a topic that is dear to all our hearts at Northwood, and we know from research what a toll the pandemic took on everyone – particularly people who felt isolated working from home during lockdown.
“I am delighted that Gulshan has raised awareness of this important subject and wish him well for the future.”
Credit to PIE for covering a pro-mental health subject and a non-advertisement which is refreshing. 1.5m is lot of online shares and it goes it show that people are interested in this stuff.
Congrats to this courageous guy for succeeding as he says he was caught by the newly formed business trap during COVID and could not secure any bank loans or CBILS support.
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My ancestors were in a word war for 5 years
I am sick of snowflakes saying they have been stressed sitting on a sofa watching net flicks in a lockdown
What will these people do when they have a real problem,
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Mental health was an issue back then and long before then. Todays ability to freely communicate has only made it more public.
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What a horrible, insensitive comment.
You don’t have to have had something “bad” happen to you to suffer poor mental health.
It’s also not a competition as to who can have had it worse than us.
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Good to see you’re the same old sympathetic, compassionate, forward-thinking Jan we have all come to love and admire! Don’t change Jan!
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” My ancestors were in a word war for 5 years ”
Better a ” word war ” than a ” world war ” though!
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Members of my family are in a war of words a lot of the time as well.
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Presuming you mean World War jb … those suffering from mental health, usually had a choice, hide it and carry on until their illness become beyond help and they suffered significant injury, known as shell shock, or admit it and face being shot for cowardice. You’d rather revert to those days whereby people didn’t discuss their struggles. As WT states, people now feel confident to discuss, although suicide rates, in particular in young men is still very high. With your attitude, I presume family, friends, colleagues would find you unapproachable, if that is the way you are, that is how you are, no issues, however to mock those who struggle and are brave enough to talk and/or seek help makes you a rather horrid person.
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Good for you Gulshan – Never be afraid of expressing what you believe in. And hats of to PIE for covering something decent.
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Mental health is such an important topic at the moment and sadly seriously overlooked by many. This is a really positive story about a side of life the vast majority won’t share with even their nearest and dearest.
Hats off to you Gulshan for sharing your thoughts and experiences of being a new business owner, and well-done PIE for sharing a positive story about an under-exposed aspect of our industry
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