I got fed up waiting for someone else to do it. So I started. Best decision I ever made.
Here’s what happened
When I bought my house, I had no idea what I was doing
I had a long list of jobs and no idea how to tackle them. I didn’t have the budget to pay someone. I didn’t want to wait for someone to help me. And somewhere in the back of my mind, I had this quiet, stubborn feeling that I could figure it out myself if I just started.
So I started.
But honestly, the drill wasn’t really about the house.
We moved in with a two-year-old, and within the year, there were two of them. I’d spent the early years of motherhood consumed by chaos — dirty nappies, a messy home, a body I didn’t recognise and tiny humans I was giving everything to and wondering if it was enough. I’ve never felt as lonely as I did in those early years — husband at work, just me and the babies, and a silence nobody had warned me about.
Being able to start a project, finish it and actually see the result, that did something. It made me feel like I was achieving something for myself again. With wood and tools, if something goes wrong, you can fix it. You can sand it back, start over, make it right. Children, as any parent will tell you, are considerably less predictable.
DIY gave me back a version of myself I thought I’d lost somewhere between the sleepless nights and the soft play sessions. I made mistakes. I YouTubed the same things seventeen times. I cut the wood too short. I tripped the electrics. I filled holes in walls I’d just made.
But every mistake taught me something.
And over time, I hung shelves, fixed doors, tiled floors and renovated rooms. Things I never would have believed I could do if you’d asked me before I picked up a drill.
I’d post what I was doing on social media, and people responded well to my videos. Women I’d never met before were watching, trying the same things, reaching out to share what they’d made, what they’d fixed, what they’d finally done themselves. What had started as a personal renovation, became something much bigger. Women teaching each other. Teaching me. Showing up. Reaching out. Having a go. Supporting each other through the frustrating bits and celebrating the wins.
190,000 followers later, I still receive messages from women doing things they never thought they could. It’s a real buzz, and this is why DIY Her Way exists. Because I’ve been exactly where you are right now, looking at a job that needs doing, wondering if you’re the kind of person who can do it. You are. You just haven’t started yet.
I understand what it feels like when the gap between wanting to do something and actually starting it feels impossible to cross. That’s exactly the gap these courses are designed to close.
Something unexpected happened
A post went viral. Then another. And suddenly there was a demand I hadn’t anticipated, not just for DIY content, but for a product.
I’d spotted a trend. Creators in the US were using wall panelling products that simply weren’t available in the UK. Maybe I could get them here? I learned how to source and ship internationally, created a design patent, navigated customs, government identification codes, logistics. All of it. I could see the demand and I needed to move fast.
I secured stock, set up fulfilment and watched the orders come in. It was exciting. It felt like a business was taking shape.
Then Amazon lost my stock.
Across four shipments, they lost 15%, but on one shipment alone, they lost two-thirds of it. When it came to replacing what they owed me, the small print kicked in. They would refund cost price only. No import fees. No delivery costs. No marketing spend. No compensation for the customers I’d let down.
And when I went to my insurance, I’d ticked the wrong box on the form, easy to do when you’re filling in paperwork one-handed with a toddler on your hip and no one to sense-check anything.
It broke the business.
I took Amazon to court. My hearing is on 30th September 2026, and I fully intend to see it through.
In the aftermath, I had to ask myself a question that I had not expected to face so soon. What do I really want this to be?
The answer was right there in my DMs. Women who were capable, curious and paying for someone to do what they knew they could do themselves. Or were fed up of waiting. Waiting for someone – a partner, a dad – to have the time. They knew they could do it, but they just needed to be shown how.
That’s what I decided to do.
This shouldn't still need saying. But it does.
DIY has always been for women.
DIY Her Way exists to put practical skills in the hands of women who never thought those skills were for them. To make confidence feel normal. To make the trades feel possible. And to keep going until the idea of a woman with a drill in her hand surprises no-one.
PRESS AND AWARDS
- The Telegraph — “Meet the Millennials Making DIY a Woman’s World”, July 2023
- Your Home — Garden makeover feature, September 2025
- Style at Home — Kitchen makeover feature, April 2025
- uFurnish Home Awards 2025, in partnership with Metro — Winner, Best DIY Creation
- BBC DIY SOS — Contributed to four builds
- South East StartUp Awards 2025 — Winner, Best Construction Industry Startup
- Great British Entrepreneur Awards 2025 (Allica Bank) — Finalist, Randall Foundation Entrepreneur of the Year (South East)
Learn from the people that do this for real
Becky Russell
Becky picked up her first power tool a few years ago in her late 30’s. Since then she’s built a 190,000-strong following by sharing her DIY journey honestly — the mistakes, the wins and everything in between. She teaches the way she learned: by doing. And DIY Her Way is where that passion moves off the screen and into the room with you.
Emma Daley
Emma was the kind of person who rebuilt a hi-fi unit as a teenager and asked for a drill for her 21st birthday. Carpentry is her speciality and wood is her material of choice. Over the years she’s tackled countless DIY and carpentry projects with the confidence to just get stuck in. We think you’ll understand why we chose her when you meet her.