Why there's no such thing as a small business

To all the business owners out there, big and small, this one's for you! Photo Quote from Google Images

I met a wonderful lady in 2015 who said she ran a "small business". This phrase has been percolating in my mind ever since. Well, not all the time but sometimes that phrase "small business" would just pop into my head and irritate the heck outta me. Why? Because, honestly,

when you run a business, however big, nothing you do is small

As a business owner you actually go out into the world and make your own money, precariously providing your own paycheck, and none of the actions you take in order to do this are small. Constant learning and innovation drive your business forward and whole rafts of shiny new skills have to be honed at each stage. Want to send a newsletter? You need to learn how to use Mailchimp. Want to keep data? A CRM System (Customer Relationship Management) or a fricking large dose of Excel spreadsheet should do the trick. Want a shiny new laptop, premises and some sparkly stationary? Hello basic forecasting, book keeping and cash flow. And all the time in the background, foreground and side-to-side, there's brand building: every tweet, each picture posted to Instagram, the wording in your blog posts, that networking interaction and client satisfaction. Learning how to say NO ....and YES so your business, and your goals, advance. Getting outside your comfort zone, time and time again, believing in yourself and finding the people who believe in you when you don't have any more to give. To sum it up business  = persistence. And a frickin boat load of it.

That's why no business is small - you take HUGE actions everyday to make your business succeed and to achieve your goals. And part of being a business owner means celebrating those successes. So here are mine from 2016. The picture above is from my Instagram feed 87 weeks ago, in April 2015. It was part of the awesome Gala Darling's #InspirApril. The word missing from the picture on the bottom left hand side reads RADIO. Despite the political side swipe that 2016 served up for us all, I've loved the majority of this year. I've filmed my first TV show, got a radio show, contributed to a book and now write a column for a national magazine. Those goals took time to manifest but damn were they worth waiting for! That's why I refuse to call The Wardrobe Angel a small business: what I've built is epic.

And I look to other female business owners doing epic things: Frances Day of Bird Board, Cate Wood from Flowers at 180 and Natalie Willingham make-up artist. Women who have all taken their businesses from scratch to success and keep on building day after day after day. It is a pleasure and an honour to know them.

This is my last post of 2016 and I wanted to say a HUGE THANK YOU for stopping by and reading my posts. I hope 2017 serves up something truly amazing for you. 

Til next time ...x

The Wardrobe Angel 

PS - As a business owner it would be remiss of me to mention Wardrobe Angel Gift Vouchers are on sale NOW! Give the gift of an awesome wardrobe this year and never have to hear the words "I have nothing to wear" ever again. Drop me an email info@wardrobeangel.co.uk to buy buy buy!

The Wardrobe Angel and Part 2 of my journey to Hair Health

Big Sur Sunset

For the most part I wore my hair up on honeymoon (hiking and windy city breaks didn't bring out the best in Brian) but disaster struck: my hair and the sulphate and paraben free shampoo and conditioner from Kind Natured fell out BIG TIME. Rich and I had arrived in Bodega Bay. I headed out to the hot tub and watched the sun sink slowly in the distance. After an hour stewing in human soup, I donned my big fluffy robe and headed back to our room for a shower. Naturally, I washed my hair. We ordered room service and when I went to dry my hair it had turned into a matted mess, much like an oil slick taking up residence in my barnet - just gross. Ah Kind Natured, I had such high hopes for this shampoo and conditioner. I used them for a couple of days before Rich and I jetted off to America for our honeymoon and to be honest, the frizz seemed worse after I'd used them but I packed them nevertheless: I wanted to give them a fair try. Three weeks of use, one disgusting oil slick of a hair disaster later and they were gone; I ditched the Kind Natured shampoo in the cabin in Big Sur and at the next CVS Pharmacy I bought some TIGI Moisture Maniac.

The cabin in Big Sur was the "lucky" recipient of some really dodgy shampoo..

We got back from honeymoon in May so what have I done since? I have changed my hair brush, worked out that washing my hair at night is a frizz inducing fest BUT come morning, the frizz has (nearly) abated and it kinda looks ok! I've resisted getting a fringe trim for the last few weeks and it has grown out to hit my eyebrows, plus my hair has gotten past my shoulders and has started to wave - gotta say I am LOVING the new relaxed vibe atop my head, even if there are still some frizzy mountains to climb. A chance conversation with my friend Cate also drew my attention to the fact the the frizzy  hairs are a lot shorter than the rest of my hair. She reckoned the pesky frizz hairs are re-growth of hair lost after a period of stress and will eventually settle down BUT they ain't gonna grow if they kept getting broken by being swept up in to a topknot every day.

San Fran and a Whistles Bardot Top. Oh yeah, and I LOVE riding the tram cars

I have broken and used my GHD's on a couple of occasions (insert guilt trip here) BUT I had no end of compliments on those days. Rich came home from work one day and said

"Your hair is all nice and straight and lovely. What have you done to it?"

I've had some cracking suggestions via Facebook to help my hair health - try the Kerastright Smoothing hair treatment, Olaplex (although I thought this was just for coloured hair?) and some other shampoo and conditioner ideas. If you have any tips please let me know! I finally dug out some photos of my mane back in my late 20's and there was some frizz there! In the mists of my mind I thought my hair was wavy and frizz free but nope! So maybe I'm just going after this unreachable hair ideal....

My journey to hair health continues...

Til next time...The Wardrobe Angel x

Things I'm looking forward to in #June!

Dial up your workwear game with a Cecily dress

So we are nearly half way through 2016!! Crikey - how time flies. This month sees the manifestation of a couple of long held dreams when it comes to my business, The Wardrobe Angel.

1. First up we have me landing a radio show! I did student radio when I was a first year at Nottingham University and loved it. Since then I've been invited to talk about all things wardrobes on BBC Radio Leeds, Manchester and Humberside. Now I have my own show on a Tuesday morning from 9-12 noon on Phoenix FM, talking to awesome people who are doing awesome things in awesome businesses. You can listen online, text in for shout outs and request songs. See you there - I'll be live every Tuesday from 7th June!
2. Secondly I've been asked to contribute to a book about wardrobes. Erm, hello? How perfect is that?! The book's purpose is to investigate the space of the wardrobe: