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Blog

I am a “Successful” Business Warrior! Are you?

Following on from my previous blog titled “The perception of a successful business”, I thought I’d elaborate more into my own perception of “success”. I set up Forest Traders in 2012 after having my 2^nd child because I felt lonely. I felt like I had lost my identity, I no longer had a name to people…..i was now “X & Y’s mum”. I spent my days lost in a sea of nappies, cleaning a house and frequenting baby clinics. My husband worked full time and I felt like I never had an adult conversation any more. I loved (still do!) my children but I felt lost, I needed something for me.

Fast forward 12 years and Forest Traders has given me an identity again. You know me as Jo, my customers know me as Jo, people who come to my networking sessions know me as Jo. When I walk through the door into my home, I am “mum” again but when I’m in the office, at a meeting or on the phone, I am Jo. I personally measure my success on that. I have built a business from an idea, I’ve evolved it over 12 years, survived a recession and a lockdown and it’s still here. I’ve got customers that I’ve had since day 1 and I’ve made some good friends along the way.

The Perception of A Successful Business – 03/10/2024

You know that feeling when someone says something and it resonates with you? It makes you pause for a moment and think about how that simple comment actually has set off a lightbulb in your head? I had one of those recently. The comment was simply that people perceive successful businesses as an upward trend. Imagine a graph where the first column is small but each column gets bigger than the last – that’s a successful business right? A successful business will make more sales month after month, profit will increase and productivity will raise – an upward trend that never falters. We think of them hiring more staff, moving into bigger premises and outsourcing work because the “to do” list is getting bigger with all of this success. The growth of a successful business could be slow or super quick, either way as long as it’s doing better than last month, it’s winning. If this is the case; mine and I’m sure many others businesses must be “failing”.

Your Marketing Strategy Vs Your Sat Nav – 10/02/2023

After a minor car bump just after Christmas, we were without a car for almost 3 weeks. In that time, there was a lot of adjustment of routines as suddenly, we had to walk everywhere and that of course takes much longer than hopping in a car. It was a nightmare logistically but we had no choice and had to get on with the daily tasks as best we could with a new plan. Our hands were forced as the car couldn’t move off the drive and life continues on regardless, it was new plan or sink!

As I walked the mile to collect my son from his nursery, complete with headphones in my ears and my favourite playlist on, my mind started to wander. I watched all of the cars driving past me, thinking about how lucky they were to be carrying on their daily lives with a car to drive. I looked at all of the new cars going past with their built in Sat Navs and fancy technology and how easy it has become for us to get from A to B. With that ease of use comes laziness and printing Google Map directions off before you start your journey has now become a thing of the past (remember when we all did that?!) Now you just get in the car, tell it where you want to go and you follow their lead. It even tells you what the speed limit is, what congestion lays ahead and notifies you to cameras.

Facebook albums for Business pages – yes or no? 29/09/2022

The easy and quick answer for you; yes! It is vital for business pages to be using the Facebook album function and far too many are not. Whether this is because they’re not aware of it, you can’t do it from a mobile and lots of people are using their mobile devices to update their pages or they’re thinking it’s not necessary, I don’t know but I can tell you it really is a great bit of kit! Here I’ll explain to you why………..

Light bulb moment…….turn it on its head! 08/09/2022

This blog starts a little gloomy………..bear with me, it brightens massively!

It’s hard times at the moment for a lot of businesses………..it’s no joke. The rise in cost of everything, the scary thought that it is about to get a lot worse and with no changes to our wages, it’s no wonder the majority of us are having to sit on every penny we have. However, this creates a knock on effect up the chain and results in businesses not making the sales or having the volume of customers they usually would have. That means they can’t invest in their business and they too begin to spiral downwards, unable to make ends meet. It’s a vicious cycle that is just going round and round and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to change soon.

It’s natural for us to feel doomed and like there is no way forward in our businesses right now, myself included, however, I had a ‘light bulb’ moment today and thought about how I can turn my marketing on its head.

The Impossible Is Possible; With The Right People Beside You – 29/06/2021

I sat down one night recently and started reminiscing about my life 18 years ago. I hadn’t had the best teenage years having been badly bullied and very poorly with glandular fever (not once, but twice). I never really experienced the highs of being a teenager, the shopping trips, the parties or the sleepovers so when I met my first boyfriend (my now husband), I was very shy and timid with no real life experience to help me to adjust. Sitting back and thinking about the change in me in just a couple of months has made me realise that actually even the impossible is possible, as long as you have the right person or team by your side.

I’m Too Old To Learn New Things – 07/06/2021

No you’re not! I’m 34 with a 12 year old daughter, I thought that I would be a “cool and hip young mum” – how wrong was I? Whilst I sit there watching her learn the new “Fortnite” emotes, I realise that I in fact, know nothing about this world they’re growing up in. For a moment, it made me feel old, like I was too old to now learn about their lives and how different it will be to my teenage years. It got me thinking about how actually, that’s an excuse and it’s very easy for us to all use that excuse in our work and home life.

My Facebook Pet Peeve – 23/10/2020

Missing information – there, I said it without even an introduction! Missing information on a Facebook page is as frustrating as going to a restaurant and there being no menu, or going to a car dealership but they have no keys to the cars. People want accurate, quick and easy information, if you don’t give it to them, they get frustrated.

It‘s All About Perspective – 31/01/2020

I was in a supermarket the other day queuing with my shopping to pay and the gentleman in front of me said to the staff member “wow, what’s going on, it‘s so busy in here today!” She looked up, smiled and said “is it, or is it a case of there are less staff working today?” Both of us looked at each other, looked around the shop and shrugged thinking “actually, that‘s probably more the case”. It got me thinking, sometimes it isn‘t what we think, it‘s actually all about our perspective of the situation…… different perspectives bring different thoughts.

Choosing Advertising Is Like Choosing A Meal – 01/08/2019

When you go out for a meal, do you or do you not sit and stare at the menu for a while before choosing? What makes that final decision for you on what to order? We usually look at the price of it, we tend to have our meal budget in our mind. No one wants to pay £30 for a salad! We look at what might be filling and stave off hunger for a bit longer, particularly if we know it has to last us a while. We look at nutritional value (if we‘re being good!) – what vitamins is it going to give us, how is it going to help our body? Ultimately we‘re looking for taste; something yummy, delicious and meets our own personal taste buds, we‘re all different after all.