2Inspire Network Profile: Julia Smith, Co-Founder of Cre8 Sales Solutions

In this profile interview we meet Julia Smith, who is primarily a mum to two wonderful boys, swiftly followed by successful business woman and keen runner with a love of cooking – the last two go hand in hand, one cannot love cooking without some exercise thrown in.  Having worked in sales for over 20 years she is passionate about sales & marketing, and jointly owns and runs successful business development company www.cre8salessolutions.co.uk with her long term partner in crime and bestie Tracy Gilmour. 

Please tell us what is a typical business day for you?
I take my boys to school first, so it’s always a busy start to the day. A bit like breakfast networking but with two boys to get my brain activated. At 9am I am at my desk, checking my to do list and seeing what the priority is. I generally start with ticking off the number one task, which is usually the biggest and one I may not really want to do, so I cross that off first. Then it could be working on a customer campaign, going for a meeting or networking event, working on a blog or some social media, writing a tender application. There isn’t really a typical day. I finish up with collecting the boys from school.

What made you start the business and what steps did you take to start operating as a business?
When my boys were quite young, I quickly realised that whilst I was working part time, I didn’t have the flexibility I really needed to be the kind of mum I wanted to. I also didn’t have the ability to progress further in my job whilst working part time. So self employment seemed like the logical choice. I started off by going to business events that were for mums in business to get inspiration and ideas, then other business events. I became a sponge and sucked up as much information as I could, before writing a long list of business ideas, and checking out every one before settling on working in sales & marketing, because it’s what I knew best and felt passionate about.

What would you say has been your greatest accomplishment in the business world to date?
How much I have grown as a person; growing a business grows you. Over 4 years I seem to have completely reinvented myself. It’s quite incredible the difference really, and my potential and comfort zone seems to stretch with each passing day. Also every day how I am able to be there for my children whilst being successful in business, loving what I do and providing an income for my family all at the same time. It feels amazing J

What has been your biggest challenge in business so far?
Managing peaks and troughs, which provide challenges with cash flow, and juggling school holidays. It all makes it very interesting, but we’ve learnt far more during our challenging times than we do when times are easy. We welcome the challenges now for the lessons they give us.

What are your future plans for the business?
We want to keep growing, to employ more people so they have the flexibility we do, to work with young people and start ups and encourage them to give business a go, helping others through what we’ve learnt. We also want to work with the manufacturing and bioenergy sectors as we feel our unique approach to business development and telemarketing can be a real benefit there.

If you had to do it all over again, what would you do differently?
We don’t believe in regrets; it’s been perfect as it is. Whatever was challenging we’ve learnt from. Maybe we could have invested differently – we spent a lot of money on SEO that didn’t work for example. But in essence we’re happy with how we’ve done things.

What’s the best compliment you could receive in business?
“Cre8 are the company we always turn to” Then we know we’re doing a good job from our customer’s perspective.

Why is it so important to inspire young women in particular to follow their dreams?
Because we have so many demands on us that men don’t (in business at least). We love men in suits, but they don’t (generally anyway) have the kids to think about in the same way. Women will often sacrifice their own needs for their family, but we firmly believe that being a business owner means you can be a mum and a success in your professional life at the same time. You can have it all. We’ve done it and would love to help others do the same. One of our biggest lessons has been that being yourself brings the greatest success, which is why following your dreams is imperative.

What advice would you give to somebody who wants to start a business in your industry?
Just do it. It would be so easy to sit and say “I don’t know enough”, “I haven’t got an idea”, “I don’t know what I want to do”, “I haven’t got any capital”. But business is a journey. Where you start is not where you end up. There are detours and diversions, some beautiful, some not so, but sure as eggs are eggs, getting started means you’ll evolve and develop and grow and end up somewhere else, which is better than not moving anywhere at all.

What or who inspires you in business and why?
Richard Branson. He never fails to inspire us. We love his approach to life and business, to take them by the scruff of the neck and just do it! He always seems to be himself and doesn’t aspire to be like anyone else, and that’s something we love about him, among a host of other qualities.

What is your favourite inspirational quote?
We love inspiring quotes, but one of our big favourites is “The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it”. It’s a Chinese proverb and we love it.

julia@cre8salessolutions.co.uk

www.cre8salessolutions.co.uk

M: 07591 109259

2Inspire Network Business Profile: Kelly Ruston, Communications and PR Director of Lightbox

In this 2inspire Network profile we meet Kelly Ruston, Communications and PR Director of Lightbox, mother of one and partner to an accountant who shares her story on how she gave up her formidable and somewhat envious career to go into business in the Marketing and PR industry. Read her inspirational story below and hopefully you can also believe in the power of your own dreams.

 

Kelly Ruston

Please tell us what is a typical business day for you?

There’s no such thing in my world! I work flexibly so every day is different but it’s always an early start and always a late finish (and that’s seven days a week!)

I work around my two year old daughter, so I’m usually up around 7am checking emails; journalist pitches mainly and then onto motherhood duties like breakfast and getting dressed.

After an hour of juggling business and childcare, I’m usually found in the office or at home working on proposals, PR campaigns, calling clients or something very different like toddler swimming lessons or soft play. As I said I am very fortunate that my business allows me to work around clients and my family so neither play second best in my life.

I have at least two days in the office or client facing so I am fully up to speed on what’s going on whether that’s internally at Lightbox or on the accounts we manage.  Office days seem like a breeze in comparison to working from home as you can actually drink a hot cup of coffee whilst working, but trying to have a cup of coffee and some lunch whilst working from home and juggling childcare is usually non-existent.

In PR, every day is different; so one morning I could be on the phone to a journalist for a National or I could be working on a pitch very late at night as PR doesn’t stop – especially now social media platforms are taking off! Over 59% of journalists use twitter for work purposes and lots of opportunities come in at night time – especially those that have a significant reach, so I can often be found tweeting after 8pm for clients after my daughter has gone to bed.

In a nutshell my day starts around 7am and finishes around 9-10pm on a good day but tied up in that is having fun with my daughter.

What made you start the business and how did you get started?

Throughout my ten year plus career as an employee I was frequently told to ‘go it alone’ but never had the guts to do so.  It was only when I was on

maternity leave in 2012 that the idea of going back to my then glamorous and very envious job as Head of European Communications at Claire’s Accessories and all the travel involved, did self-employment really appeal to me. At first I did a little bit of freelancing for small PR firms and then realised I wanted more. After a chance meeting at a networking gig in Birmingham, I met my now business partner Rob Pollard as we decided to merge our businesses together to offer all Marketing, PR, Creative and Digital services as a fully integrated creative services agency (Rob had a web and digital agency at the time).

We’re relaunching Lightbox as we speak through traditional and viral platforms including social media, filers, new website and more to highlight our new service offering and tell the business world so to speak about our ‘perfect marriage’ of marketing and PR.

What would you say has been your greatest accomplishment in the business world to date?

That’s a tough question, as I’ve been an ‘employee’ for so many years and have some fantastic shout out loud achievements but as a new business owner, I’d have to say landing our very first clients coverage in Hello Magazine. That was quite something.

I love to make clients happy and achieve their goals and this client in particular was new to their industry, had very little budget and was slightly concerned at paying for PR so when I called them to say one of their products was going to be featured in Hello’s Christmas Gift Guide for Foodies they were over the moon and so was I!

What has been your biggest challenge in business so far?

Probably the workload, I’m used to working hard, working long hours – I’m a mum to a two year old so I never stop – but when you are working for yourself, you work a lot of hours and don’t get paid. That’s the challenge right there – turning your efforts into profit.

What are your future plans for the business?

Rob and I are very ambitious and have already said our short-term strategy (12-18months) is to double our 2013 turnover from the original business entities and recruit 2 more personnel. Our longer term strategy (3-5 years) would be to double our staffing and resourcing, move premises to the city centre and again double our 2014 projected income.

Our five year plan is somewhat bigger but we are very humbled to be where we are now so any growth is better than none.

If you had to do it all over again, what would you do differently?

I’m a big believer in fate, so I think my time came to go into business after having my daughter.  I could easily say starting my family earlier and going into business but then the timings might have been completely different and would never have met my new partner in crime (so to speak – we do everything by the books!)

Why is it so important to inspire young women in particular to follow their dreams?

Women always have it tough; whether it’s staying at home to be a mum, running a business, getting ahead in business or for some just getting a job in a very male dominated industry. For me I want young women to realise that we can indeed have it all…yes you might have to make a few sacrifices like I have done (for example my party lifestyle of a singleton is no longer now I have a family and a business to run!)

I want women to realise that having children doesn’t mean ‘end of the road’ for their career or end of motherhood either. Working flexibly around your children and business commitments should be easy to ask for in today’s world but sadly it isn’t and women are usually faced with a dead end part time job or full time nursery care for their children.  I say live your life as mum and career woman and don’t sacrifice either. Many mums nowadays are setting up their own businesses, known as ‘mumpreneurs’ so they can work flexibly around childcare.

 What advice would you give to somebody who wants to start a business in your industry?

Get experience in paid employment both client and agency side. Going it alone in Marketing and PR can be a lucrative choice but there are so many agencies out there and without experience, credentials and contacts you’ll get overlooked – regardless of how brilliant you are.

What or who inspires you in business and why?

Tricky one! I have so many but I’d have to say the founders of netmums; Sarah Russell, Cathy Court and Siobhan Freegard who have just received OBEs in the New Year’s Honours List. A very simple idea that was born from these three women meeting at a toddler group and spotting a need in the market. It certainly goes to show how ‘mumpreneurs’ can get ahead!

What is your favourite inspirational quote?

Everything is situational and depending on where I am in my life, but I’d have to say my ‘borrowed’ inspirational quote (it’s actually my other half’s) is from Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Christo; Wait and Hope.

I’m normally a very impatient person who wants things done there and then and well I believe ‘Wait and Hope’ has kind of led me to where I am today; mother, partner, successful business woman and all-round nice person (I like to now think!)

Contact Details:

LinkedIn profile - uk.linkedin.com/pub/kelly-ruston/b/63a/a72/

Twitter - @kelliruston

Website – www.lightboxcomms.co.uk

2Inspire Network Business Profile: Michelle Henry, MD of HNS Signs

In this profile interview we meet the founder of HNS Signs, Michelle Henry, who used inspiration from her strong family ties to build a successful business in what has traditionally been seen as a male-driven industry. We were certainly inspired by her story and we're sure you will be too! 

Please tell us what is a typical business day for you?

I’m a big believer in ‘early bird catches the worm’ and I typically get in the office at 7am to catch up on my emails and other admin before the phones start ringing.

After a cup of coffee and light breakfast, I start planning sign installations for the next business week (this involves grouping all installation jobs into geographical locations and estimating time frames and distance between each.)

I then liaise with the team on the status of each project and organise dispatch dates, stock ordering and work force planning to ensure we meet targets.

From 10am onwards, I’m usually customer facing visiting clients and conducting site surveys. It’s not all coffee and biscuits, I’m usually making a note of dimensions, possible installation issues, DDA requirements etc. and then it’s lunch time.

Lunch is usually a networking opportunity to drive new business or at Property/Construction lunches but I always aim to be back in the office by 4pm to work on reporting my findings or work on quotes.

More coffee is needed as I scour through my emails and return calls and catch up with team before the leave.  I also get a little artistic time in before I leave as it’s a great time to get creative and put together artwork.

But as a hands on Managing Director, I always check with the team on the manufacturing side of the business and help them by rolling up my sleeves and fabricating signs myself. Who said it was a ‘man’s world?’

My world doesn’t end at 6pm though, at least once a week I will attend a business networking event usually National Association of Women in Construction, Women Working in Construction, Women in Business, or In the City Talks etc.). So home time is usually about 9pm.

What made you start the business and how did you get started?  It’s a mixture of fate and heritage! My grandfather was a signwriter and I’d make bedroom door signs as a child but still went to university to study Law. However after a brief spell of travelling and working for a sign company (which went into administration in 2010) and speaking to The Birmingham Children’s Hospital (one of their customers) convinced me to set up on my own.

I spent about £10,000 buying up the assets from my former employer (a fantastic bargain) and then did a Prince's Trust course to get a further £4,000 for cash flow. The Prince's Trust fast tracked my application and in August 2010, HNS Signs was up and running.

What would you say has been your greatest accomplishment in the business world to date? Tough question...I guess starting up in a recession and succeeding to grow the business in a typically man’s world. When I started, it was just me. I used to do all the site surveys and fit signs in the day, make the signs in the evening and type up the quotes and produce the artwork from home at night. I was working an average of 70 hours a week. Three years later and I have a team of 6 (includes 3 apprentices) and we expect to be hiring more staff in the New Year. I cannot begin to explain how good it feels to be able to offer people work in the current climate.

What has been your biggest challenge in business so far?

Competing against the big boys! We are only a small company yet we manage to punch above our weight. We have secured contracts with much of the NHS throughout the Midlands, we work with large construction companies and local authorities. We are able to offer services that our competitors cannot (for example traditional signwriting) and so many sign companies have become our clients.

What are your future plans for the business?  To conquer the sign world. I love my job and the challenges that it poses and I will not be satisfied until we are the largest sign company out there. I would love to work with more interior design companies. With a high proportion of sign companies concentrating solely on digital print, I am confident that we can offer interior designers something truly unique.

I plan to take on a few more apprentices and employ those who believe they don’t have a future or haven’t excelled in school. For me sharing my success and giving people hope and a better future is what really makes me happy.

We are currently working with Wolverhampton Homes and the Timkins Centre. The Timkins Centre works with young adults who have no qualifications and works to provide them with the necessary skills to find employment. Currently, I’m offering training in sign writing so they have both a learned skill but also work with their social landlord Wolverhampton Homes and deliver the signage for their homes. I’m also looking to employ 1 or 2 of them in the New Year so fingers crossed they work hard and are eager to work!

In 2014, I’m also hoping to make the sector more female-friendly and be a career options for more girls who have a talent for signwriting and would like to do a little more traditional work. At the moment the signage industry is male dominated and customers believe only men are good at installing signs, but I’m working hard to change that viewpoint with my trusty toolbox and drill.  I love turning up to a building, hard hat on, high visibility vest on and getting my power tools out.  I have a female apprentice too who lives digging holes and installing signs! 

If you had to do it all over again, what would you do differently?

Honestly – I wouldn't change a thing. As the saying goes “If it isn't broke don't fix it” and so far things are working well. Setting up HNS Signs happened so quickly, I didn't have time to think. Had I sat down and thought about it I probably would have talked myself out of it.

Why is it so important to inspire young women in particular to follow their dreams?

Although attitudes are changing, women still get a hard deal. The business world fails to believe that women have ambitions outside of the family home. This really annoys me. Women have so many vital skills to offer – skills which differ to and complement those of our male colleagues. Combined it can offer a well-balanced business environment. Which is why it is so important for women to follow their dreams. How else are we going to show the world what we are made of and what we can achieve if we let our dreams get trampled.

What advice would you give to somebody who wants to start a business in your industry?

Know your industry and know it well. I come from a line of sign writers. Both my great grandfather and my grandfather were signwriters. I made my first sign when I was 4 years old and have worked in the industry in both the UK and Australia. When I established HNS Signs, I knew very little about running a business, but I did know my trade. This really helped. It gave me a competitive edge as I was able to offer a variety of different solutions, and it instilled confidence in my customers. By understanding the trade I was able to learn how to run my business. Too many people start a business on something they know very little about.

I would also advise you to look for funding. Cash is King and you need a decent cash flow if you have any chance of surviving. There are many grants available and funding out there for start-up businesses, so don’t be shy, ask for help.  If you don’t ask, you don’t get.

Finally – if you say that you are going to do something, do it and do it at the time that you say you will. You are only as good as your word and if you let customers down they will go elsewhere.

What or who inspires you in business and why? 

My nan. She gave up teaching in the late 60's to run my granddad’s company for him. He was a fantastic signwriter but not so good at the admin and book keeping, clearly a woman was needed even then to manage a business! She had absolutely no idea about how to run a business – in her day that was something that women generally didn't do. With her natural organisation and numeracy skills, she mastered it. I once asked her how and she replied “by making mistakes and learning from them.”

I have many fond memories of her working and creating little jobs for me so that I could feel useful. She always seemed in control of everything and her staff loved her. The customers absolutely adored her and became her friends. She taught me the importance of building good relationships with your customers.

Both grandparents retired in 2000 and moved to Wales where they ran a Good Turn Scheme which helped the elderly and infirm. They never could relax!

When I phoned my nan to tell her that I was considering setting up on my own, she was fantastic. She gave me all of the motivation and encouragement that I needed. Whenever I had a particularly tough day (and there were many) I would phone her and within minutes I was reassured and feeling 100% better. She guided me through all sorts of problems and strategies. She has since passed on, but whenever I feel overwhelmed I just ask myself what she would have done.

What is your favourite inspirational quote? “Be the change that you want to see in the world” Mahatma Ghandi

Contact Michelle

michelle@hnssigns.co.uk

hnssigns.co.uk

Follow us on twitter @hnssigns

2Inspire Inspirational Women in Business Profile: Shiloh PR

In this inspirational interview we meet Evadney Campbell MBE, co-founder of Shiloh PR and learn about her journey to business success.

Please tell us what is a typical business day for you?

There’s no real ‘typical’ day as I work from home but, once I’ve returned from the Gym at around 12pm, I generally log onto my laptop and go through all the emails. I will then deal with the ones, which I may have seen but, not responded to yet and, check all new correspondences.

I’ll go into the kitchen between 2:00 – 2:30pm and make myself lunch which I will eat while checking our social media sites, Facebook and twitter. I’ll schedule tweets, check connections and respond to any conversations, which have included us as well as identify opportunities for our company to get involved with, like this one.  I’ll do both my personal sites as well as Shiloh PR’s.

I’ll work on proposals for new businesses, schedule meetings with potential clients or networking.  I have no specific time to finish work and will normally be on and off my laptop until I go to bed, which is around 12:00am.  I wouldn’t recommend this way of working but for me it still does not feel like ‘Work’!

What made you start the business and how did you get started? 

My business partner and I have both worked in the broadcast industry, for BBC for decades.  I presented a music programme with specialism in black music, while she worked as a producer on specialist music shows for BBC Radio 1 & BBC 1Xtra.  For several years, we were being constantly asked to help music event promoters with getting media coverage for their events. 

In 2004 we were asked, by Authentic Real Music whether we would carry out public relations for a music tour he was planning in Europe with some major reggae artists from the UK and Jamaica. We enjoyed the process so much that we decided that we would like to do more.  Over the coming years, we did several similar projects culminating in our most major project, - acting as the European Public Relations company for the relaunch of one of Jamaica’s largest music festival, Reggae Sunsplash.

Finally, in 2010 we decided to take things much more seriously so, after indulging in our ‘hobby’ we formerly launched Shiloh PR.  In December, I decided to fully commit to building Shiloh PR into the major entity we believe it can be, by giving up my job with the BBC to work full-time running the company.

We’ve been fortunate to date, to have been able to finance the company from our own personal finances and through the work it generates itself.

What would you say has been your greatest accomplishment in the business world to date?

Shiloh PR has achieved a level of success many more established companies would be thrilled to experience.  This is mainly due to the professionalism of the founders.  To date, all our work has been awarded through repeat businesses, word of mouth and recommendations. 

We are however particularly proud of our work with the One Love Peace Festival:

Shiloh PR was responsible for specialist media publicity in addition to media accreditation for the One Love Peace Festival.

The sold-out event, held at Wembley Arena, featured performances from Busta Rhymes, Shaggy, Sean Paul, John Holt, Levi Roots and many more.

Shiloh PR scheduled over 70 interviews, organized press accreditation for over 100 media personnel, wrote artist biographies for the official website, and provided editorial features for international magazines, newspapers and online sites.

Although we are proud of all the work we’ve done, the most impressive was being chosen to carry out European PR for Reggae Sunsplash, which was one of the biggest music festivals in Jamaica.  This was awarded to us primarily as a result of recommendation of a Artist’s manager with whom we had worked in the UK the previous year.  He thought we were the most professional PR outfit he had worked with and recommended us to the organisers of Sunsplash.

Re-launching the company as Shiloh PR and Media Training Agency in June this year at the Jamaican Embassy was also something we could not have foreseen when we decided to start our own company.

What has been your biggest challenge in business so far?

 We’ve been very fortunate to have, secured work solely from recommendations during the period we ran the company on a part-time basis. Our biggest challenge now, is securing new business and introducing additional areas to our portfolio.

There is an increase in the number of companies who are now offering similar products to Shiloh and targeting the BME communities.  Shiloh PR however recognises that keeping up to date with the media and in particular social media will keep them constantly ahead of the competition. 

What are your future plans for the business?

We’ve set ourselves a major challenge – “Shiloh PR will be the No. 1 Black owned specialist PR company in the UK within five years”.  To achieve this, our key strategy is developing strong brand awareness and building trust in the Shiloh PR brand to achieve results. We would like to be the go-to PR company for those wishing to reach BME audiences through the media.

The company also recognises that working in partnership with others is also desirable for long-term success.  To this end, we are developing a group of affiliates with whom we can work.  This will enable us to pitch for major projects, which would otherwise be too large for Shiloh PR.

If you had to do it all over again, what would you do differently?

Start the business years ago.  I would ensure we were better financially secured for the initial period whilst the business is getting established.  I would also have thought broader about my target group perhaps concentrating on potential corporate clients from the outset.

Why is it so important to inspire young women in particular to follow their dreams?

It is important to encourage people, particularly women to follow their dreams because, many of us get caught up in our daily lives and, stay in jobs which do not make us happy but, which we believe we need so we can live.  Following ones dreams allows you to do something you are passionate about and as someone once said, means “you no longer have to work a another day in your life”.

What advice would you give to somebody who wants to start a business in your industry?

Go for it.  It is fulfilling and rewarding when you make a living from your passion and the thing you love doing the most.

There are lots and lots of Public Relations companies operating in this country so, you have to find your own USP and whilst it’s important you’re aware of your competitors, try to find your own niche.

Go for it but do your research.  Try to have some finances available for some months and be aware that clients do not always pay on time.  It’s all about your contacts database and relationship with the media. 

What or who inspires you in business and why?

Oprah Winfrey. I’m inspired by the fact that she is self-made and has become this phenomenal person despite her difficult beginnings.  I’m also impressed with her philanthropic ethics.

What is your favourite inspirational quote?

“Feel the fear and do it anyway”.

To contact Shiloh PR:

Email: contact@shilohpr.com

Tweet: @Shilohpr

Facebook/shilohpr

www.shilohpr.com

Evadney Campbell, MBE, 07716 289 171

Karen Campbell, 07811 472 007