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Q&A with Catherine Ellis, Hill & Ellis
If you’re cycling to work, or (social distancing allowing) to a meeting or to see friends, you’ll need a practical pannier bag. Hill & Ellis make a range of attractive, versatile pannier bags that easily unclip from your bike and transition perfectly into a stylish over the shoulder bag. Their leather range is ideal for the office, with plenty of space for your laptop, mobile phone and other work essentials. Their trendy, colourful canvas range, inspired by the founder’s favourite cycle routes, is perfect for shopping and social activities. Today I am sharing my interview with the founder of this company. I hope you enjoy reading about Catherine Ellis. Tell…
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Interview with Roz Thornton, Founding Partner at Roots
Regular readers know how I love to share the stories of inspirational women. Today I share my interview with Roz Thornton, Founding Partner of Roots. Tell us a little about your childhood and teenager years I was born in the UK in the mid 70’s when things allegedly felt pretty bleak. My Dad, who was a ‘jobbing musician’, had been impacted by the effects of the three-day week and decided to look for work outside of the UK. He was attracted to Holland due to its culture of liberalism and tolerance and he was fortunate to land a permanent job there as a recording engineer. We lived in Holland for…
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Delicious health snacks from the Squirrel Sisters
I am delighted to share an inspirational interview with Gracie & Sophie Tyrrell, Founders, Squirrel Sisters. Squirrel Sisters is a multi award-winning health and wellness company with a range of delicious and health snacks. This business came about after the sisters underwent some very challenging times. It’s a really heart-warming tale of how challenges can make us stronger. The Squirrel Sisters have done everything themselves from product development, sales, finance and all the things that go towards launching a successful business. Tell us a little about your childhood and teenager years We were both born in Richmond, Surrey and enjoyed growing up there until we were 9 and 11 years…
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Eco-friendly t-shirts and art from Artful Sonder
Imagine starting a business in lockdown! As regular readers know I love to feature inspirational business women and their life stories on my blog. Frankie has just launched an Eco-friendly t-shirt and art print brand that’s based in the UK and operates online at https://artfulsonder.com/. The business designs all t-shirts and art in house and ensures the process is environmentally friendly and ethical from manufacturing, to the materials used, right down to the packaging. You can find out more about how the business strives to be an ethical, Eco-friendly brand here: https://artfulsonder.com/pages/sustainability What was your first career? What did you learn from this? I’ve actually worked within digital marketing for…
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How is Customer Engagement Changing?
When it comes to having a successful business, the customer is always at the heart of it. So many businesses will always be looking at ways to keep their customers happy. But as the business world progresses, and technology advances, many businesses will be finding that engaging with the customers is a lot different to how it used to be. Mainly because a lot of it is online now, rather than face to face. Customer engagement is the emotional affinity or connection a customer develops during their interaction with your business. In the past, this used to be just when they came into your physical store, but now with things…
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WHY YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS AN OUTSOURCED WEB DEVELOPER
Running a business in the current climate is a tough challenge and leaves not much time to push your business to where it needs to be to make a mark in the ever changing marketplace. Indeed, the need to market yourself online is practically a full time job in itself with various social media outlets to advertise on, products to promote and updates to give on a daily basis. Your company identity can be handled by an outside digital agency that not only provides the very best image for your company, but also gives back time and business that you would be losing every day to focus on driving your…
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How to choose a theme for your website
I remember when I first established a blog that I was confused by the terminology. When people talked about themes I thought that must mean the topic you were going to write about. In reality, a theme refers to the look of your website or blog. There are so many choices available when selecting a theme for WordPress, Shopify, WooCommerce and HTML5 that you may feel quite overwhelmed. You have so much tech to think about when setting up a website or self-hosted blog. I am going to share some tips on how to choose a theme for your website. Header design Your header is the first thing visitors to…
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Online fitness classes for mums – Claire’s story
Online fitness classes for mums seem like a great idea to help you stay mentally well and to improve your physical health too. I am delighted to share my interview with Claire Cole , Founder, Movement for Mums. As with so many of my inspirational business women, she shows that whatever your background and education, if you have a dream and enough self-belief you can do just about anything. Tell us a little about your childhood and teenager years I grew up at the bottom of the valleys in South Wales. My mum worked in the local Supermarket canteen as a cook. My Dad had a haulage business and I…
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Social Media Management Business – Sara’s story
Today’s business woman interview is with Sara Tomaszewska who is the Director of Little Media Agency Ltd. She tells us about moving from Poland to the UK and of setting up a company offering social media management solutions to small businesses. Tell us a little about your childhood and teenager years I grew up in Kraków in Poland. From a very young age, I was very stubborn. So, when I decided to move to England at the age of 18, even my mum knew there was no way of persuading me to go back. My parents divorced when I was little and as I was growing up, my mum worked quite…
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Handmade hair accessories from Rudi Designs
Sharing the stories of business women is one of my favourite things about blogging. I know their tales will inspire other women to follow their dreams and create their own incomes. Today I am sharing my interview with Vanessa from Rudi Designs who turned her hobby into what she describes as a cottage industry. I would encourage you to check out her affordable range of handmade hair accessories, shoe bows and more. I know so many women are creative and like to craft. This story will show how you can take that interest and design products for clients in the marketplace. Whilst we are talking about hair I also wanted…
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Interior design courses online – Anne’s powerful story
If you have ever fancied learning more about interior design and/or setting up your own business, I think you will love this inspirational interview from Anne who along with her partner Rachael offers online interior design courses. She has an interesting life story and some great tips on making business dreams come true. Tell us a little about your childhood and teenager years Well, I have 3 brothers and one of them is my twin. You’d be amazed how often I’m asked if we are identical! My mum says I was a ‘born organiser’ and it’s true that I love planning, scheduling and making events happen. Apparently from a very…
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Support for the hospitality industry – Ashleigh’s story
I love it when women contact me to tell me about their businesses. Today I am delighted to share Ashleigh’s powerful story about the business she runs with her husband offering support for the hospitality industry. Let’s get to know more about the woman behind Halo Business Consultancy. Tell us a little about your childhood and teenager years I grew up in Newcastle upon Tyne with plenty of time spent in the great outdoors of Northumberland. We had so much freedom as children (or maybe my parents did!) and would make the most of building dens in the woods, braving swimming the North Sea and have camp fires with friends.…
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How to develop an Instagram strategy
In June 2018, the number of active monthly users on Instagram hit one billion. That’s a huge number of people, and a good percentage of them may be your target audience. Whether you’re a part-time blogger or a full-time social media manager, you can’t afford to be ignoring Insta. But with so many users and even more posts each day, how can you cut through the noise and get yourself heard? Amy Stenson, Social Media Manager at digital marketing agency, The Audit Lab, shares her secrets on how to develop an Instagram strategy for your business or blog. Get back to the basics And by basics we mean your profile.…
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Top Tips for Using Branded Merchandise to Promote Your Business
Branded merchandise can help your business to attract new customers and increase sales. Business cards and flyers are an essential part of networking and marketing your brand, but taking your promotional merchandise one step further can really help to build brand awareness and achieve returning customers. If your company is planning to host a stand at an exhibition, be sure to take along some freebies for your visitors. You will find that your stand is far more popular if you are giving away free gifts. When deciding what promotional merchandise to use at the exhibition, it is important to consider how useful your gifts will be to the user. For…
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How Can Signage Help My Business?
A well-designed sign can help your business in many ways. Not only can signage help people to locate your premises, but it can also provide marketing for your brand, by attracting the attention of prospective customers. If you are considering new signage for your business, here is some useful information from the UK’s leading provider of high quality signage… In order to make a good first impression and attract new customers, your sign needs to stand out from the crowd and effectively represent your brand, products and services. When designing your sign it is important to include both your business name and logo. This will help you to achieve the…
