Pinar Parry was targeted by online trolls after launching Delta and Co - but she "blasted back". Photo / Instagram
Pinar Parry was targeted by online trolls after launching Delta and Co - but she "blasted back". Photo / Instagram
Brisbane woman Pinar Parry was in a personal slump when she came up with the business idea that would turn her life around.
The mum was dealing with an ailing business and had put on weight due to stress several years ago.
"I went through a really hard time trying to grow my business and my whole life went to sh*t," she told news.com.au.
"I wasn't looking after myself, I put on weight, and I wasn't living my best life.
"I started looking at what had gone wrong, and I was reading a lot of psychology books about how to find your passion and purpose. I learnt so many new ideas, and I thought it would be great to wear something to remind you to live your best life every day."
And so the idea behind Delta and Co was born — a jewellery company which produces delicate bracelets engraved with straight-talking "truth bombs" and phrases designed to inspire the wearer.
It officially launched in January 2016 as a side hustle, while Mrs Parry was pregnant with her third child.
At that time, her husband Anthony was often away as a FIFO worker, and Mrs Parry struggled to juggle her hectic family life with her growing business.
For 12 months, Delta and Co products were sold at pop up stores and events but last November, Mrs Parry realised it was time to go "all in" and focus solely on the business.
Her husband quit his FIFO job and joined the company full-time, and they soon "started to find their stride" through Facebook ads.
But then the abuse began.
"I started running Facebook ads as a way of marketing and I noticed some comments on the ads saying I'd copied the quotes from another business," the 39-year-old said.
"They started popping up every day and at the beginning I addressed them nicely and diplomatically, and then I started deleting them.
"But eventually I decided to address them full-on."
In a post which soon went viral, Mrs Parry explained the business was "100 per cent original" and that its branding and quotes had been inspired by her own experiences.
" … if you are going to let yourself be bullied by random people on the internet you won't survive in business, or in life for very long," Mrs Parry wrote in her viral post.
"If you let yourself get pushed around and listen to every a**hole with a two-bit opinion about what you SHOULD or SHOULDN'T be doing, you are simply NOT going to make it.
Mrs Parry eventually decided to 'blast back'. Photo / Facebook
"It's your life and you need to defend your right to exist, to shine, to grow, fiercely. And no one is going to step in and do that for you, but you."
The post soon attracted thousands of likes, comments and shares, with many Facebook users praising Mrs Parry for fighting back against trolls.
"The story about haters trying to hurt my business resonated with people," she said, noting the post had led to a big spike in sales.
"The haters f***ed up — it ended up turning things from lemons to lemonade because I spun it around and sold so many (bracelets) just by telling my authentic story.
"Being authentic about who you are really resonates, rather than just saying 'buy my sh*t' — that doesn't work."
Mrs Parry said she was proud of the fact she had overcome the abuse, but said it had been a horrific experience.
"It was a small group of people — the same people commenting again and again — and one of them even messaged me and told me to go f**k myself," she said.
"We were a small business — my husband had just quit his job, I had a new baby, and we'd been … trying to make it work, attending events with a baby in our arms.
"To have them attack me really riled me up. I tried the diplomatic route but in the end I blasted back and people loved that. Being real can help a business grow instead of being very politically correct all the time."
These days, Delta and Co is going from strength to strength, with Mrs Parry often struggling to keep up with demand for stock.
In September, the company made around $30,000 in sales, which doubled to $70,000 in October.
This month, it has already reached more than $94,000 and based on current figures, it is now on track to turn over $3 million annually.
The business's bestsellers in 2018 have been its "F***ing fierce" and "F*"k what they think" bands.
