As siblings get older it's easy to lose that everyday contact you get growing up under one roof.
As day-to-day life became so busy brother Michael Higgins, 32, and his two sisters Sammy-Jo Higgins, 30 and Courtney Nathaniel, 24, felt like ships passing one another at their mother's house meaning they only ever got to properly see one another on special occasions.
So when Michael decided he wanted to set up his own business his two siblings were quick to come onboard and Rhondda-based home and garden retailer Niture was born.
Read more: The Rhondda Cynon Taf entrepreneurs who took the leap to start their own business
At the very beginning of their life after a tough start Michael, Sammy-Jo, and their single mum Diane moved to Gelli, Rhondda. Diane then met her partner at the time Martin Nathaniel and they went on to eventually have Courtney.
Martin treated both Michael and Sammy-Jo as his own children and, while he and Diane had separated by the time he died in 2010 of cancer, he remained close to the children. Michael was 20, Sammy-Jo was 18, and Courtney just 12 at the time he died.
They were devastated but the three children credit the foundation and success of their business to him.
Martin, known to all who knew him as 'Naffy', was "The Del Boy of the Rhondda," they said. He was a huge inspiration to them all and encouraged them to work for themselves.
"He used to always take us down the market and encouraged me to start up a web business years ago. He always had a million different side projects on the go. I never thought of it before but he was definitely a huge inspiration for wanting to own my own family business," said Michael.
In July 2019 Michael had an idea to start the business when he had some time off with his first child. He said: "I really wanted to be my own boss for many reasons, like so that I could take the kids back and forth to school, and I wanted life to be more enjoyable."
Michael was working as an engineer at the time and had been offered a promotion in work so put the idea on the shelf but always knew he would come back to it eventually.
During the pandemic Michael was placed on furlough where he decided to really go for it and that's how Niture was reborn.
As the business grew month by month he decided to quit his job, along with his sisters one by one, and to really give it everything they had. In their first few months of business they were selling more than £125,000 of products a month and it's gone from strength to strength from there. As the months went on the business continued to grow and they now have office space and are eventually looking to have their own showroom for their products which include everything from sofas, tables, and wardrobes to hot tubs and pizza ovens.
Over the years as Michael had children and Courtney and Sammy-Jo focused on their careers life got in the way of them getting to see each other often. They would bump in to each other at their mother's house or catch up at special events but often went weeks without seeing each other.
"It just made sense for us all to work together as we were all always saying how we didn't get to see each other enough. I did worry to start how it would work as we're all very different but it has. We all have different strengths which is why it works so well," said Sammy-Jo.
Michael, who is managing director while Sammy-Jo is responsible for customer service and supplier relations and Courtney is responsible for customer service and marketing, continued: "I always wanted to have my sisters onboard for the loyalty to the brand – they would want to see it succeed because we're all invested in it as a family. When you work for a company you aren't as invested in it as if you would be if it were your own."
He added: "We all have a different skill set so we all bring something different to the table."
And as well as the business performing well the three siblings are happier than ever to be working together and spending time with each other.
Courtney said: "We've seen each other more in the last year of working together than we had in the last few years."
But Sammy-Jo admitted: "If our work group chat goes off after I get home – and it's always Michael because he never talks about anything other than work – I mute it until the following day."
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