I’m tired and on my knees after my firm failed

THE founder and managing director of a digital marketing agency has issued an emotional statement after the firm entered liquidation.

Wayne Berry, who established JAW Digital in Altrincham in 2014, said: “I’m tired and on my knees but fighting to rebuild my life and my career.”

He said the business started to fail after its income went from £35,000 a month to £10,000 ‘in a matter of weeks’ at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

He added that he invested £30,000 of his own savings in a bid to save the company which was also hit by a ‘devastating flood’ and major clients going into liquidation.

In a LinkedIn post, Mr Berry said that because of those issues, as well as raising two children under the age of two, the ‘difficult decision had to be made for my mental health and my family’.

According to documents filed with Companies House, Dow Schofield Watts was appointed as the liquidator on May 30.

The documents also show the business owed more than £206,000 to creditors.

Mr Berry said: “It is with a heavy heart and an exhausted mind that I announce the liquidation of JAW Digital Ltd.

“The most incredible journey I’ve ever been on has come to an end. Everything about my greatest professional success will be all but wiped out and resigned to the history books and it’s almost killed me.

“Life has been hell on earth for my family and everybody involved, since around the turn of this year, but the real issues started with the first lockdown and we never really recovered, we were never going to in hindsight.”