A business owner who was bombarded with creepy messages from male clients who flirted with her and asked for pictures of her feet has decided to ban most blokes from her business.
Mindy Sidhu runs the digital marketing company My Pretty Marketing - which she launched herself in March 2021 - and promotes her company on social media, where she often shares her contact details so that potential clients can get in touch with her.
But the 32-year-old claims that since her very first client, she has felt "violated and taken advantage of" by some people who contact her, with some men even sending her inappropriate messages on Instagram and WhatsApp.
The senior marketing director states that one bloke asked her for pictures of her feet and wanted to know what shoe size she is, while others have told her they "only work with pretty women" and have generally made her feel "really uncomfortable".
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And after another bloke just last week told her he was only working with her so that he could flirt with her, Mindy posted a damning business update to social media where she stated she would "only work with female clients" in the future.
However, she added that she would "select a handful of male clients" to continue her working relationships, such as those she previously had no problems with.
Mindy, from Maidenhead, Berkshire, said: "This is sexist. I can't put my finger on it, they're treating me differently than they would a male.
"I started my business a year-and-a-half ago. As you can imagine, I was so excited it was my first ever client. I sent him a quote and out of the blue, he randomly messaged me to send him pictures of my feet and asked what shoe size I was.
"I was so shocked because this was my first ever client. I was put off, I was like 'is this what's going to happen now?'. I was devastated when it first happened, I was going to quit my business.
"I put a post up on social media and said it wasn't appropriate, that if people are going to do business with me then don't [do it]. I had a few people who then carried on and I just used to ignore them.
"Or I carried on working with clients who I thought were being a bit inappropriate but would carry on and ignore their advances, hoping they'd stop.
"This is all from men, I don't get this from women.
"I'll work with males I have worked with before or ones who have come with their partner, for example, their wife or girlfriend is just as involved in the project. I have a few couples who I work with."
In part of her social media message, Mindy said her excitement about starting her own business was "squashed" when the first client she ever worked with sent her "inappropriate messages".
She then added: "I've decided I'm only working with female clients. I will select a handful of male clients that I don't mind working with but my niche is mainly females. It's a shame because I don't think men have to deal with this c**p."
Mindy also said that her move will likely result in her losing money as men make up around 35-40% of her clientele, but she believes the loss of income will be worth it for the benefit to her mental health.
She said: "I've had people ask me out for drinks out of office times. They'll say it's a meeting but I know it's not a meeting so I wouldn't go. I've had people flirting, telling me I look good.
"I've had another client saying he only works with pretty women. He asked me to get influencers for his business and to make sure they're all pretty. I understand he was trying to build an image but I felt a bit taken aback.
"Those are the sort of advances I was looking past, then when the most recent incident happened I was like 'I can't do this anymore'. It was making me really uncomfortable to talk to these people.
"Men make up between 30 per cent and 45 per cent of my clientele. I'm going to be losing money but now I just don't think it's worth my mental state of mind.
"When you start a business, you have loads of negative thoughts about your business anyway. Adding this negativity on top of it is such a burden."
Since making her experience known on social media, Mindy has received messages from other female entrepreneurs who say they've experienced the same thing.
And the business owner says inappropriate behaviour from some of her clients has directly impacted her business.
She explained: "I put it on a group for social media marketers, a private group of girls who do marketing, and I couldn't believe how many girls had gone through it.
"Do these guys not understand this is somebody's dream they're playing with?
"It's making it very difficult for me, or other women in my position, to grow and succeed. I can imagine how many women stop what they're doing because of this.
"I've had a few people, especially men, come up to me saying they're sorry I'm going through this and that it's not all of them. I don't want to generalise - I will take on a handful of male clients.
"I want to make it clear I don't want to generalise. Not all men act this way and I will take on a handful of male clients in particular circumstances.
"So many women go through this. It's easier to ignore it than raise it, but I want to raise it."
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