Lydia Bolton 

About this episode

We were honoured to welcome Lydia Bolton into the Club to share her incredible founder story during this very special live episode of the podcast.

From realities of working in the industry as a fresh fashion grad, to the moment she realised she had a responsibility as a founder to create the designs and changes in the industry that she want's to see.

Since this moment Lydia has taken the industry by storm and become a leading force for upcycling movement. Not only creating her own sell out line, but making huge changes by collaborating with major fashion brands (such as as Nike) create real impact at the core of the industry.

This journey really showcases the real and raw realities of growing a business, with the need to balance various roles to make ends meet and the need to learn the business skills to turn your passion into a successful venture.

Included in this episode:

• Lydia's realisation after leaving University that it wasn't going to be easy to secure a job in the industry.
• The reality of taking the first steps in the fashion industry by having to work full time in a pub every evening and all day in an internship in the day.
• The moment she realised she needed to follow her values and make a change in the industry "as a designer it's your responsibility to create what you believe in".
• Leaving her internship to focus on growing her own brand whilst still working full time in the pub. Seeing starting a business a her own internship in business.
• After completing a sustainability in fashion course she discovered exactly what she wanted to you. She focused on giving life to the clothes in charity shops that people didn't want to buy. Contacted Trade and gathered the textiles they knew wouldn't sell, and offered a donation.
• After seeing Lydia's University final year showcase, Lydia was contacted by an Artist who was playing at Glastonbury and asked for Lydia to create a piece for her to wear.
• Learning how to make it into a business. Lydia soon realised she needed to up-skill and learn how to sell if she was going to make it successful.
• Core lesson during lockdown that she needed to create pieces that people wanted, rather than just created lines for her own pleasure.
• She needed to become a brand, rather than be seen as a hobbiest.
• As she worked more on her brand identity she was approach by Nike for a collaboration in store. This snowballed into being approached by many more brands. Lydia puts this down to being clear on her purpose and communicating it clearly.
• Lydia's passion for working with bigger fashion brands as she knows she can reach new audiences of those who are less sustainably minded and make a bigger impact.
• Lydia's thoughts on the future of sustainable fashion: Creative thinking around serious issues and the need to lean towards transparency.

Follow Jenna on Instagram.

Discover Uncommon folk.

In this episode:

• More about Jenna and get journey to become a leading confidence coach, including understanding her own mindset blocks
• Creative motivation and what’s at the core of losing your spark
• Tools and tips to stop being demotivated:
• Tip: Take the emotion and shame out of it. We often make ourselves feel worse as we are in a society where we always need to be productive.
• Tip: Set the bar low. Stop trying to start at the end and do it all (e.g. if you haven't been going to the gym, go once, don't set out to go every day)
• Tip: Understand your body and your productivity (Cyclical productivity). Stop trying to push through.
• Tip: Zoom out - look at the bigger picture. Stop letting the small things stop you. Practice patience.
• Build resilience /confidence. - Learn from failures and don't hide away if you fail.

Follow Daye: https://www.instagram.com/meetdaye/

Want to join live podcast episodes? Explore Uncommon Club.

Included in this episode:

• The purpose behind Daye and why Valentina wanted to make a change in women's health.
• The first steps Valentina took to build the innovative CBD tampons.
• How Valentina built the prototypes on her kitchen table
• How she funded the first prototypes and business at the beginning
• A real look into securing seed funding, including how she built her pitch, who she approached and a behind the scenes.
• The reality of investment of females. Only 1.8% of all funding goes to female founders.
• Securing 4.2 million in seed funding and the next steps in building the brand.
• Putting a team together (including operations, brand, design engineering)
• How Valentina started marketing the brand. Finding what worked (SEO/organic through a value-added blog, influencers) and what didn't (PR). 
• Going against investor opinion and taking on an artists to build the brand and making a change in women's health product branding. 
• Launching with a subscription model.
• The reality of launching a purpose-led brand that hasn't been done so far. Battling the many barriers of women and working so hard (high levels of stress) that Valentina developed quite serious physical health conditions.
• Learning how to manage stress of being a founder.
• Highs, lows, and lessons learnt from the journey.
  
   

Kira's website: https://www.kiramatthews.com/

Kira's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kirathebold/

Future self 90 day journal: https://www.kiramatthews.com/shop/p/the-future-self-guide-book

Episode overview:

Introduction to Kira Matthews and her mission

Confidence as a founder, including:

- How it doesn't have to be something you hold all the time

- Confidence of being yourself - find your unique strengths and don't try and embody someone else's confidence.

- Sometimes confidence doesn't even matter, it's about taking steps in fear and growing.

Why journalling is so important

Three journal prompts that may help you scale, including:

- write 7 wins and acknowledge your part in it

- how can the challenges you are facing now help you in achieving your goal

- how is your product/service the best option for your customer - write down 10 reasons

Women + Waves: https://womenandwavessociety.com/

Women + Waves Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/womenandwaves/

Uncommon Folk: https://uncommon-folk.com/

What to expect in this episode:

• How it all began - defying tradition and following your true passion
• The start of the community - how to build a really engaging community online and off line
• The H&M collaboration - how it happened and what it's like to work with a major brand
• When Covid hit - how they continued the community through a global pandemic
• Dealing with imposter syndrome int eh lifestyle industry
• The challenges as a founder
  Her top tips for other founders

In this episode we are joined by Instagram and overall marketing specialist to understand how we can get the spice back in the platform and get some home her top three tips to nail Instagram for business.

We discuss:

The mindset shift needed. The platform has changed in purpose, we need to start meeting how it can field our business.

Top three tips.

1. Choose your lane - go for A grade content and post a few times a week or C grade and keep it regular.
2. Treat Instagram like a Facebook community. 
3. Treat followers like potential leads.

I would love to hear your thoughts. Drop us a DM @un.common.folk.

From co-founding the company at home with her sister Sophie, you will now see the Squirrel Sisters range in over 2000 leading stores (from Waitrose to Selfridges), but there really has been one hell of a journey to get there. 

In this *live* recording we have an open and honest conversation with Gracie to get a  behind the scenes on what it really takes to go from your kitchen table to the supermarket shelves. 

The episode is jam packed with insights, tips and advice on scaling a purpose-led brand and what it's really like to see your brand on the shelves of major stockists. 

Included in the episode:

• How the company started and why their mission is so important to the sisters
• How they approached their first retailers, and the clever tactic they used to stand out against the crowd
• Tips and advice on branding and what works in the food industry
• Their biggest marketing success that you can use in your own business
• The realities of being stocked in major retailers and the underlying costs.

Does even the thought of gaining PR and putting yourself out there give you an absolute fear fest which makes you avoid it even more?!

We hear you. We’ve all been taught that the media is scary. A place for celebrities to get shamed and outed.

It also seems a little dated, right?

Well, it’s time to change these thoughts.

Traditional marketing methods are still at the forefront of brand awareness and one of the best ways to get in front of your ideal audience.

Just like any other marketing channel, you just have to approach it strategically and confidently. You are interesting and you do have a story to tell, people want to hear about your journey and business purpose.

We first met Charlie (Founder of Seafoam PR) during our COVID lockdown (1.0) support sessions over in The Hangout. Charlie kindly offers 1-2 coaching sessions for group members to open the conversation on communication and traditional media. We quickly found that most, if not all, of the business owners we connected with were not considering traditional media/marketing within their strategy. So we thought it was about time we started the conversation.

This podcast does just that. We hope it sparks those initial thoughts of introducing traditional media methods into your overall marketing strategy.

Fast forward to just a year later and tubs of delicious Banana Scoops can now be seen in the freezer aisle in major retailers such as Ocado, Planet Organic and As Nature Intended.

What’s so outstanding about this achievement is that Jess managed to do all of this on her own. No team, no huge budget, just a lot of hard work and a strong want to create the highest quality product.

We chat to Jess to see just how she has managed to do all this on her own and what it’s like to connect with such major national brands. How she managed the many barriers and lessons thrown her way, and what advice she can offer to anyone looking to grow a start up to such a scale in one year without a team behind them.

Here’s just a snippet of the advice Jess offered during our chat….

Retailers won’t chase you, you have to put yourself out there, grab hold of opportunities (even if it’s slightly terrifying!) and push for your brand to be noticed.

When chasing suppliers, don’t follow up with a “just chasing the previous email” type of email. Always add additional value. Offer new developments, press articles, social engagement and just general good news pieces. You need to grab their attention and offer increased value on every touchpoint.

Don’t let a lack of funds/human resource/skill set stop you. Jess put together a basic brand design herself to get going, she then pulled upon connections to get where she is now. Branding is vital in standing out as a food product, but you can add to your brand with a really quality product, an innovative product, and your passion. You can then pay an expert when you have the funds.

Jess offers SO many more valuable insights as to how she has managed to achieved such a major milestone so early on. It is also so interesting to hear the process that goes behind meeting and getting the go ahead from a major brand.

Even though this episode seems like the perfect start, it’s also a slightly unusual start as we are discussing the very end of a business, and open up on the realities of closing a successful business. More so, when is it right to push through when you feel that niggle to give it up, or do you follow your gut and close when the passion and energy for the business fades.

If you managed to catch the last episode, you would have heard my chat with Lucy Elliott, and how she ditched the London life to grow a large-scale chocolate business, Creighton’s Chocolaterie.

Even though that was only recorded at Christmas last year, things have changed quite dramatically for Lucy. 

I won’t go into the specifics now, as you’ll hear all about it in the episode, but the conversation went beyond the actual aspects of closing a company down. We discuss that horrible niggling feeling when the passion starts to die; when the fun creative elements of a business turn into business realities of balancing the books, paying those massive VAT bills; and the constant pressure to evolve and stay relevant. 

These feelings come and go in all of us, but when do you know when it’s time to make a change?

We also discuss why there is SUCH a huge pressure on the self-employed to keep going. Why is closing a business always seen as negative? It doesn’t always mean the business is failing, it might just mean that you want to change, to pivot, and to explore your options as you move into different stages of your life. 

I am so grateful for Lucy’s honesty during this chat. We cover so many important topics that many, if not all of us face, and really open up on making these big decisions. 

I must add, this is not a negative episode, even if we do have a good rant at times. It’s about listening to your own intuition, really reflecting and making the best decision for you. Also taking away the element that closing a business doesn’t mean your business hasn’t been successful, far from it in Lucy’s case. 

Let me know what you think, I’d love to know if you’ve encountered any of these feelings in your journey.

We were so interested in hearing Lucy’s story and how she’d dragged the chocolate scene into the 21st century at such a rapid pace.

We managed to grab a chat with Lucy just before Christmas last year (how did lockdown manage to make half a year whizz by without us really even knowing). It was obviously a really busy time for Lucy to take a moment out (sorry Lucy!), but what the next few months would bring couldn’t have been predicted by any of us. More on that at the end of this blog (little cliff hanger for you there).

Out of interest of learning more about the art of chocolate (after running a food blog on the side of a retail job), Lucy and her Mum enrolled on a chocolate making course. Little did they know that within 6 months they would be handed the keys to their first shop and they would be at the start of building the Creighton’s brand.

In our chat with Lucy, we discover more about those early days that led to the creations of Creighton’s, and more importantly, how they grew from that single shop in Leighton Buzzard to stocking in over 200 stores across the globe. Alongside product collaborations with huge brands such as TeaPigs.

We are obsessed with the brand that Lucy has developed through pure creative innovation. She utilised her small business status to move fast in the industry and stand out against the huge competitors.

So, I mentioned that there was a twist. Well, it’s a big one.

With the impact of COVID-19 and a few other reasons, Lucy has decided to close Creighton’s Chocolaterie. This isn’t a negative, far from it. Lucy is closing the business to pivot her focus (we know you’ll all love it!). We’ll be revealing all very soon!

In the meantime, we really hope you love this journey. Lucy is FULL of business wisdom from almost 10 years of growing Creighton’s to the huge success it has seen today (all whilst becoming a Mother, closing shops, opening factories, the list goes on!).

For more creative entrepreneurial success stories, check out https://www.create-collective.com.

Initially she went to work part-time for renowned food blogger, Madeleine Shaw and added to her already established digital skill set whilst building the foundations of her own venture, Sassy Digital.

Lucy set out to shake the negative connotations of a digital agency and completely flip it on its head. Creating a completely personal, quality, and unique digital marketing service that became an extension of her clients team. At its core, Lucy wanted to ensure everyone had the chance to access the digital marketing services they needed, from a bespoke package, to free guidance on her blog “Sassy Bites”. She would keep her internal team small, and then outsource work to hand-selected freelancers that would perfectly match the services her clients need.

Lucy soon attracted clients, from personal branding projects to social media management. But, as Lucy is very open to admit, it wasn’t all smooth sailing. There were hard times when start-up cash-flow was tight, retainer clients (long-term clients that offer a regular payment) were lost, and Lucy considered on many occasions to give up in those early and go back to a stable career that would be “easier” (and would bring in a lot more money in those early days!).

But, Lucy (and her family) had said she would stick it out for 5 years to see where it could go. AND THANK GOD SHE DID. Lucy turned a massive corner as she onboarded some huge clients, that has lead to Lucy leading the way in the marketing of emerging fashion brands. She is the go-to person for stand out fashion branding and e-commerce that has combined Lucy’s two loves and carved her dream career path. Of course, Sassy Digital works across other various sectors, but surely it seemed so fitting that a sassy businesses ended up in fashion!

What does she put this success down to? Well, people. Lucy lets us in on why face-to-face human connection, friends (special shoutout to her best mate & fellow Founder Natalie of Stay Wild Swim), and moving close to those networks has been the ultimate game changer for her. Proving that although she specialises in digital marketing, growing a business is ALL about human connection.

Lucy is SO open about the ups and downs of starting and successfully growing a business, and my god, it’s so refreshing. We will all have those days where we want an easier ride, but with determination, a strong work ethic, and hangouts in Soho House* (*this may not apply to all) you’ll power through and eventually carve a dream career.

Oh, and if you’ve seen Lucy’s work with brands such as Stay Wild Swim, but haven’t quite got the budget for the full Sassy service yet - well Lucy has your back. She’s launched the ultimate range of guides, templates and bespoke logos so everyone can access a bit of the Sassy magic.

**Please note - we recorded this episode in a quiet meeting room in London. But, we didn’t counter in that it would be the home of the world’s largest and noisiest aircon machine. What ever we tried to quiet the beast it just got angrier! SO please acceot our apologies for the hum in the background.

This certainly was not the case for this week’s podcast guest. After a very brief stint with a travel and fashion magazine, Angelica knew she needed to follow her desire for creative freedom and pursue a career as an entrepreneur.

Quickly spotting a gap in the market, in March 2014, Angelica took the leap and launched About Time Magazine. That digital site that offered everything it was “about time” you did in London. Personal, well-curated, and to the point the site soon took off as Angelica and her team of writers offered the very best unique options for Londoners and tourists alike.

As Angelica details in the podcast, it was not easy feet. She navigated her way through the challenges many businesses owners face, such as; building a team, making some initial mistakes when approaching brands, and finding her place as a Founder.

Well, overcoming those challenges paid off. About Time magazine has built a loyal audience and has a monthly readership of 85,000, alongside over 100,000 followers on social media. Taking the decision work out of what to do in your free time, it has become the go to site for time-poor Londoners.

By March 2019, as About Time Magazine grew in followers and writers (with over 90 now contributing), Angelica looked to other projects. After witnessing the demand for more offline interactions, Angelica launched the About Time Academy. The Academy would be a curation of live panel events, masterclasses and talks by leading experts, entrepreneurs and leaders.

After a successful series of events, Angelica has now evolved the Academy to include her passion for supporting fellow female entrepreneurs. September 2019 saw the first #shestarteditlive festival which was a one-day festival dedicated to the future of women in work.

Angelica’s incredible work has not gone unnoticed, as she’s featured in major publications such as Forbes, Elle Magazine and Real Business to name a few.

We obviously HAD to chat with Angelica and not only find out how she managed to become such a multi-business powerhouse, but also discover the realities behind starting a business fresh from University. Angelica offers incredible insight into the lessons she has learnt along the way (including how to be a Manager when you really just want to be mates with everyone!) and gives an insight on more incredible business ventures she has planned for the future.

**Please note, we recorded this in March knowing that the episode would go out after the March She Started It Live Festival. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Angelica had to postpone the festival for the safety of everyone involved. So, there is some talk about the upcoming festivals. I hope you can understand that we have kept it in as there will be many more festivals in the future, and we are very much behind this innovative concept!*

We first got in contact with Sophie to see if she’d be keen to design the artwork for this podcast. Thankfully, she agreed! She was the ultimate dream to work with, and by scrolling through her work and seeing all the massive brands Sophie is now linked to, we knew we had to find out how she did it.

Again, we were pretty thankful when Sophie agreed again! But, she made it pretty clear that she wanted to share the reality behind where she is now. Although she has over 28k follower on IG, she has only just taken the leap to be completely full-time as an illustrator.

Sophie’s story is SO inspiration, and one that so many people can benefit from. With many creatives supporting their growth with part-time roles, Sophie describes how having part-time work is nothing to be embarrassed of, it’s essential to keep your creative career going, and can actually be beneficial to keeping you on track. A secure, stable income from creative business can take time, and in order to make it, you have to support it.

From her degree in Fashion (taken from people pushing her towards more “career-focused industries at the time), Sophie always had a passion for promoting feminism and breaking many taboos. Little did she know, that those early University projects would be what defined her design style in years to come and see her build a career from a creative passion that, in those early days, she thought was massively out of sight.

Fast-forward to now, and Sophie has worked with huge companies such as SkinnyDip London, Misguided and Durex, to name just a few. Her style is now well and truly cemented in the modern feminist movement, with her designs defining a new generation of thinking. Sophie is now being snapped up by major brands for live event illustrations, so we’re excited to see who she works with next as she evolves her business in this direction.

We had an awesome time catching up with Sophie to find out how she has gone from a fashion degree to taking the leap to move to London to follow her passion for design; and how she supported the growth of her business in those early days.

Sophie shares some real insights as to what she’s learnt from being self-employed; from the need to make friends in the industry, to learning how to price her work.

Thanks again Sophie, we’ll be hitting you up soon for some more design work!

There is nothing better than grazing all day. But, usually the options on offer are pretty unhealthy unnatural junk food; or not really hitting that crave.

Well, let’s all hail Sara and Maria as they have changed all of this. They too would grab a bag of crisps on a Sunday evening and find themselves working their way through the packet before even realising. Gaining that satisfying comfort from enjoying a snack you know and love; followed rather quickly by the ever so slight guilt that it’s not really doing your body any good. They realised there must be another option. Why should you have to change the way you snack completely and miss out of that comforting feeling, when you could surely just make the current choices a little healthier.

You guessed it, that's when Well & Truly was born. Sara and her now sister-in-law, Maria, got to work on evolving the humble crisp. Create something delicious that wasn’t naughty, but, well, “naughtyish”.

Fast forward to today and you will find packets of Well & Truly crisps in leading retailers across the UK, and beyond. Including hge names such as Ocado, Sainsburys and Wholefoods.

Of course, designing, developing, and bringing a product to market is not in the slightest bit the easy task, let alone disrupting a saturated market with an innovative product. In this episode, Sara takes us behind the scenes of what it was really like to get to where they are now. Letting us on on the massive amount they both had to learn, and still do, and the lessons they learnt along the way.

We would like to say a massive thank you to Sara from joining us at the London studio (Maria, we will meet you next time!) and a bigger thank you for allowing the snacks to continue to flow in the office, without the guilt!

Updates include: 

News on The Hangout support group, a place for creatives to unite, support and find positivity in the time of need.

We will continue to share new episodes of Creator Journals to offer a place of escapism and optimism. We may, or may not, talk about the outbreak in future intros, to ensure you have a place to come and escape from the outside world.

Please be assured all future episodes were pre-recorded. All special episodes within the outbreak will be recorded remotely.

Fast-forward to now, and Anna and Nicola have completely transformed the office cake culture. They have created the solution that, inhindsight, was screaming out. These incredible artisan bakeries needed to become convenient, easy and accessible to fast-paced offices. Cue, Cake Drop London.

Cake Drop London is everything we love about a creative business solution, with it’s conscious ability to not only solve the initial problem, but also ensure every part of the business is creating value. Designing a business that is of ultimate value, not just for profit. Not only is Cake Drop London an eco-friendly alternative (you must check out the incredible cake bikes!), it also supports and allows other independent ventures (the bakeries and cake shops) to thrive and compete against the bigger corporation offering cut-prices cakes.

In this Journal, Anna + Nicola talk us through how they got the Cake Drop London to where it is today. Including the realities of running a crowdfunding campaign; how patience has been one of the biggest skills they have learnt along the way as they have grown the business; and how working as sisters has been really easy for them (I am sure there are many sisters out there who can’t quite believe this).

I cannot explain how incredible it was to meet these ladies. They have the most infectious good vibe, which in turn made everyone “behind the scenes” laugh a bit too much during the recording - luckily it didn’t pick up on the mics!

We are extremely excited to see where Anna + Nicola take Cake Drop London, with their combined skill set we know they will make the world a tastier place for us all! I hear the rejoice from everyone based outside London who can’t wait to push aside the supermarket cakes

After Kat got engaged back in 2008 she started to plan her wedding, but after a very short amount of time became jaded by what was out there. Kat quickly realised that the wedding industry at the time focused on a particular type of bride and only really seem to offer more “traditional” inspiration. She saw the massive gap in the market for couples looking for alternative options, inspiration and advice. So, she ran with it, and Rock n Roll Bride was born.

Kat has gone from balancing a full-time job whilst launching and growing the Rock n Roll bride blog; to taking the leap and now working full-time from home running a hugely successful global company with her Husband. A company that has grown from its origins of a globally successful wedding blog to a hugely popular alternative wedding magazine; an Amazon list-topping book; and now an innovative live wedding event.

Kat has not only grown a company but a strong community of brides seeking more from their wedding day. As of February 2020 Kat has grown a community of….

97.4k Instagram followers

241,363 Facebook followers

14,805 Facebook group members

Not bad, huh.

We chat to Kat and find out just how she went from sharing her own alternative wedding plans to running a global company with her husband (and, of course, her cats!).

Kat gives valuable insight into her success, putting it down to a number of factors, including, but not limited to; growing her ideas and business in a slow, steady and consistent manner; finding your business niche and being very specific about your message and who you are talking to; and listening to your gut when outside influence tries to take your business in a slight different way to what you feel is right, even if it means taking a huge gamble. Oh, and having a business partner as your Husband, who can not only bring another element to the business, but also offer that important personal support.

This is not just one for those in the wedding industry. Far from it. Kat’s journey and insights can be reflected across many creative industries, with valuable advice for anyone looking to grow their creative concept from an initial passion idea.

We adore Kat. Her honesty about running a business, her hard-working ethos (but without the need to tell everyone), and her passion for building a business that really helps people.

A huge thanks to Kat for joining us - we’re so excited to see Kat’s future plans. Everything she puts her name to always ends up to be epic!

[P.s. You can find more info and grab tickets to Rock n Roll Live here. If you’re reading this before the Rock n Roll Bride Live event - be sure to check our Instagram for a special Create Co. discount code!]

In this podcast we hear about how Angela left this job in 2012 to carve her own path, and hasn’t looked back since. Well, as you’ll hear, a massive lesson learnt very early on could have ended the dream for most people. But, as you’ll soon learn, Angela has this exceptional inner strength, self proclaimed stubbornness, and we think, natural ability to succeed which meant she overcame a hurdle that would have crumbled most, and offers valuable advice to those starting out so they can avoid it!

Angela has seen huge success with her designs - if you check them out, you’ll see why. You’ll see her designs stocked across the globe in cool independent shops, high end retailers (such as Selfridges(!)), and licensed designs on huge online retailers such as Moonpig and Scribbler. With significant growth seen year on year since leaving her job just 7 years ago, not bad at all ay. As you can imagine, there was quite a lot for us to chat about!

Beyond the success, we mostly adore the reason and purpose behind all of Angela’s hard work. To make people happy. Providing illustrations that hopefully help bring a smile in all the situations that life throws at us.

In the episode go beyond customer happiness and touch on the extremely important topic of managing mental health as a small business owner. Something that Angela is an advocate of, and has transformed Angela’s approach to life and her business. Angela opens up on how, in 2016, she took some massive steps to manage her depression, with the help of routine, exercise and quitting alcohol. This led to Angela setting, and reaching, huge goals in 2017, and most importantly being happier, healthier and more focused. The advice Angela offers will not only help with those looking to better manage their mental health, but how assessing and making small (or sometimes big) lifestyle changes can have a huge affect on everyone’s success in business.

I would just like to add that Angela is bloody cool. I hate that word, but she really is. This was the first time I had met her, and I genuinely felt like I was leaving a pal when we finished up for the day. You all need to check out Angela and you’ll probably see a little more happiness in your life.

Enjoy guys!

It’s not to say to this “proper job” can’t be fulfilling in its own right, but, sometimes your original destined creative path has a way of happening in ways you couldn’t have even dreamed of.

Meet the incredible Paul, who goes under the moniker My Dog Sighs. From an early age Paul discovered his talent and love for art, but, as with most of us put that aside as a hobby to follow a pretty sensible career, in his case, teaching.

The story of his success all really started from his own morals of wanting to share his street art (that he was working on outside of work from his spare room) but not wanting to illegally paint on others peoples property (it’s not always a good look for teachers!). When leaving canvas paintings around the city became slightly expensive and really a form of littering, Paul had quite possibly the most genius idea. He realised that he reverse litter and turn discarded “trash” lying on the street into his canvas.

Drink cans that would usually be ignored on the street were now to become pieces of art. Art that stood for much more that was on the can and what was to become a movement of free art (yup, we’re talking about the infamous, Free Art Fridays).

Skip a few years and a feature by some rather tiny publications (super tiny like the BBC and Huffington Post) and Paul has now progressed into a hugely respected, internationally-known street artist. Working full-time in his studio in Southsea and putting on shows across the globe.

Paul now works on “slightly” larger and more conventional canvases with a backlog of commissions for his infamous “eye” pieces (after listening to these podcasts we’re pretty certain you’ll see these in a new light).

In this podcast, we chat about this journey and the clever steps that got Paul to where he is today. We also cover the much debated topic of knowing your worth as an artist, with Paul sharing his tips for any new artist who are starting out.

You might tell from the episode that if was SO easy to be around Paul (apologies for all my agreeing noises - I just way into his story). So friendly and so down-to-earth yet, so much to learn from his hard-working approach that he has taken from his many years as a teacher. It’s very easy to see why Paul has gone so far.

Please go check out the My Dog Sighs website to see more of his work if you haven’t come across it before. After this podcast I hope, like me, you see his work in a different light and really understand the story behind it.

As ever, if you enjoy this episode please drop us a review, it really helps us bring more stories to you.

Thanks for listening guys!

Links:

My Dog Sighs Website: http://mydogsighs.co.uk/

My Dog Sighs Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mydogsighs/

Paul's Reccomendations:

Herakut: http://www.herakut.de

The London Police: http://www.thelondonpolice.com/NewTLP/News.html

Create Co. is all about lifestyle-led creators who are developing innovative brands and products. Claudia completely embodies this value and turned her own passion for outdoor adventure into a completely innovative and conscious brand.

From it's early days of festival feathers, Claudia knew where she wanted to Island Feather to be in the future. From trading at festivals with jewellery and feathers, Claudia embraced an opportunity for voluntary redundancy, sought business mentorship, and took the leap to evolve Island Feather to the vision she had always had for the brand.

Island Feather, and the Find Your Freedom tour, is now seen at festivals and major adventure experiences across the UK, and worn by leading athletes in the water sports industry. You may have also spotted Island Feather on Love Island this year, if you paid attention to surfer Lucy (don't worry we wont make you admit that you watched it).

It was such a pleasure to meet Claudia. She's SUCH a massive inspiration, in how to launch and run a business. Her entire business is experience-led, with the customer completely at it's core. With an epic mission to ensure customers are introduced to Island Feather via unique experiences, rather than from a sale-led direction.

If you get a chance, make sure you head to one of the Find Your Freedom events in your area. It's such a good way to try out a new sport and meet like-minded individuals in the process (whilst laughing at each other wobbling on paddle-boards).

Side Note: With all of the Creator Journals, we begin by finding out the brand journey from idea to today. Then we get some little insider business advice from these epic individuals who have carved their own path and experienced the highs (and some lows).

Note 2: I had a MASSIVE cold during the recording of this episode, so please bear with the very chilled vibes (there was a lot of tea and caramel digestives involved)!

Island Feather Website

Island Feather Instagram

Well, I managed to speak to someone who is doing just that. I squeezed in a chat with Samantha, the leading force behind ethical skincare brand Southsea Bathing Hut. She kindly took a break from weighing, mixing & blending indulgent ingredients in her workshop, and opened up on how she grew all of this from the ground up.

From its humble beginnings on Samantha’s kitchen table just three years ago, Southsea Bathing Hut has grown to a brand with over 30 products, a well-established workshop and newly launched beauty retreat. All whilst maintaining its strong value-driven core to create ethical, conscious and sustainable products. Core values that define every decision Samantha makes, from the individual ingredients used, through to the packaging chosen.

Her journey and approach to business is really is something to admire. Especially once you find out that Samantha had no previous experience within the skincare industry before launch. Being very happy in another creative career, Samantha had a niggle that there could be more out there, so she used her personal savings and followed that intuition.

I make that sound easy. It took a lot (!) of hard work, a strong passion for the industry, research, determination and very clear strategic direction to make it happen. Her approach offers so many valuable insights into growing a product-based company, including the need to make every decision value-drive, and really understand the direction you want the business to go in (despite what people say).

I had an epic time hanging out in Samantha’s incredible product-making workshop, and came away with such value in my own approach to business growth, but also a need to ditch all my old skincare products for the consciously sourced Southsea Bathing Hut range!

Links from the episode

Southsea Bathing Hut
Angela Chick Illustrations
Strong Island
Love Southsea