Latest / Sukany4: The Walk and Talk Podcast / S2E6 - Anna Douglas - Lancaster Canal - Branding, Website Design and Creative Dinners

Transcript

S2E6 - Anna Douglas - Lancaster Canal - Branding, Website Design and Creative Dinners · Sukany4: The Walk and Talk Podcast

• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to the Canyon of the Podcast.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: There are some places tucked into cities that feel like well-kept secrets, and Fairfield Nature Reserve is one of them.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Just beyond Lancaster's bustle, it offers a calm that lets your thoughts breathe.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's a walk that my podcast guest Anna Douglas, founder of Studio Ado and Creative Dinners, often takes with her partner.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: And this time she invited me to join her.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: As we wandered through tree-lined paths and over canal bridges, Anna and I talked about her journey from fashion design to branding and how redundancy during the pandemic became the catalyst to create a business that feels rooted and true.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: We chatted about building confidence, hosting creative dinners, and why clarity matters more than aesthetics when it comes to branding.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Anna's thoughtful approach to life and work is reflected in everything she does.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: Gentle, purposeful, and very real.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: So lace up your boots or grab a cupper and join us for this inspiring walk and talk through one of Lancaster's hidden gems.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: Hi Anna, how are you?
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm good.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: How are you?
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm good, thanks.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so sorry.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so late.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm always like that as well.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's good to know.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm either really early or really late.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: So where are we going today?
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Where are you taking me, Anna?
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: So we're going to Fairfield Nature Reserve.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Which is really, really nice.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's a really nice walk.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Me and my partner do it quite often.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um your partner do this.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and we I think we found like my parents found it during like lockdown or something.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Oh cool.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: Didn't know it was here.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um but yeah, it's just nice to get out like the city and stuff.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's stunning.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: I love a canal walk.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, I love canals.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: There's something I I've always had this little fantasy of being on a barge and doing a canal holiday and just like pub hopping.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like I would love that, but then it might get a bit bored at the same time.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I would definitely need a boat person.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: It would be really nice actually.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think so.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: Just don't take laptops, don't take like any work.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Just cruise along without.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: I think I think the reality of the locks would really put me off.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: They look quite hard.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Stay in the boat, stationary.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: And also this whole thing of maybe toppling in.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Because you do see people fall between the cracks, don't you?
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's a bit scary.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: So, branding and marketing.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Is that your business?
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, branding and websites.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Branding and I do a little bit of marketing, but I'm not a market at all.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: And how did you get there?
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like, did you so obviously we're in we're in Lancaster at the moment.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: Is this where you grew up?
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I grew up here.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um this is amazing.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I hated living here when I was younger.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like it got to the point where I was like, I just want to leave.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Oh no.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I went travelling and then came back and moved to Manchester.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: And then realised I really miss Lancaster.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow, and it just amazing.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, this is stunning.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: This is like a little Venice of Lancaster.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't even know such a place existed.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's beautiful.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think I've ever heard anyone describe it like that.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: Well just in this building so close to the water.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, once we see a floating market on a boat, then then we've really named it.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's really nice, like the pub over there and um like the one further back when it's funny just sitting out.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: I just feel like I'm gonna go crazy with these photos today.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, so you grew up in Lancaster.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Did you know I went to Lancaster Uni for my masters?
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: Did you?
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: Did you like it?
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: I did.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: What did you study?
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um cybersecurity.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: I did at MSc about um I was gonna say ten years ago, but it was it was actually longer.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm stuck in time.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: I always say that, say the same year, like every year.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: It was more than ten years ago, easily, yeah.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, it was really good.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: I enjoyed it.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: I was living in Kendall, so I was sitting from Kendall, yeah.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: But it was alright, yeah.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: We'll make a nice day for this.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, goodness me.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's so nice to see blue skies.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I feel like we've done our time with this yeah, winter craziness.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like I love it when it gets so light, like in the morning.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I go to the gym like quite early, yeah.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: And it's light now, yeah.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Which is like really, really good.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness, I cannot believe I'm currently in Lancaster.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: No disrespect to Lancaster, but I've just never seen the canal side of it.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's like a whole other place, it's amazing.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, stunning, and a little bridge.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: I love a little bridge.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: Who doesn't love a bridge?
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Canal canal bridge.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Canal bridge, yeah.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: And you see the little road marks, don't you, from the olden days?
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I love that.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry, back to back to you, and I so um studied and grew up in Lancaster?
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I studied in Preston.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: I went to Yuklan.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I did fashion design at UClane.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: Did you really?
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, oh wow, which was really I did really enjoy it.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then I was a fashion designer for like maybe ten years.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: And um just ended up it wasn't creative.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um it got I was doing freelance fashion design um during COVID.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: And what does that look like?
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's very um this is kind of one of the reasons why I quit.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: It was very much people would come to me and say, I want this t-shirt.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Design it and have it.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Oh okay.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not much creative.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um and yeah, it just got to the point where I would get a client.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um that's right.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, I'd get a client but not be excited about it.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: So then I I was like, well, something's not right.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: I can't like do this forever.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then decided to um yes, swap to branding design.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, okay.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: I tried to do it myself, yeah.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's completely different.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think it was like super, super different, but yeah, it's completely different.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I did an intense like three-month course.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: Which was really fun.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: I wondered what you meant by do it yourself.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: So you were trying to teach yourself, yeah, and I was trying to put like my own branding projects in a portfolio.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, little duckies flying in.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so how how long did that whole process take?
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: So it was the three-month course, yeah.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I did three-month course in 2020 and then got a job um, so that finished uh December 2020, and then I got a job in March 2021 in Manchester.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, yeah.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, which was really fun.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: It was for a packaging company, yeah.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I learned a lot there.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then went I wanted to do more freelance work, but I didn't want to give up like the job because I really liked the like going in and like seeing people, yeah, um, and obviously the money.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I went part-time in like September a year last September.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then got made redundant in the July just gone.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: But um I was kind of like happy about it.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: Was that your opportunity to sort of seize that moment?
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um every like loads of people that say um, like I say, like, oh got made redundant to a um start my business.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: Loads of people like, yeah, me too.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: Oh well yeah.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like started my own business.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's what people did from it really.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's really it's really uh good that you saw it as an opportunity.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and you had this on the back burner, yeah.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: So did you already have the idea of your own business before you got made redundant?
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I did want to, um, but I think it was just that like push.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like I didn't I was like, oh I don't really know if I can do it.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: And then got made redundant and then scary leap, isn't it?
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it is.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so in terms of business support, like did you do a business plan?
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: Did you how did you take that leap?
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so at first I was kind of just because I was getting paid for like three months.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I was kind of just chilling.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, oh well, I'm getting paid.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: And like yeah, it was like doing like the bare minimum to get clients.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: And then it got to like the end, like towards the end of the three months, and I was like, Oh but it's nice to have a break as well, isn't it?
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, a lot of people that got made redundant as well, like one of them went traveling, like just like took like the three months off and went travelling all over Europe and stuff.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um take the opportunity, yeah.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so yeah, then I got a business coach.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Best from Box Box.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, podcasting veteran, yeah.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um who was like really like just helped me so much.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, got a business plan together, yeah.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: Because as well, like before I was working with her, I would sit at my desk and be like working but not doing anything, yeah.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: Because I didn't really know what to work on, yeah.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas now you've got business plans, yeah.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, okay, well, what can I do today?
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's structured, yeah, yeah, that makes sense.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because otherwise you could get quite overwhelmed because you try to think you have to do all the things all at once.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: So, in terms of your business plan then, what did you prioritize?
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: I prioritise networking.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay, yeah, and um building like relationships with people, yeah.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, not necessarily to get work with people, but to have more of like a community, yeah.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not so like lonely.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: That's a good point.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but I th I'm pretty sure I think all of my work has come from networking really.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, that's amazing.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so and um do you want to shout out any networks?
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Pink Link, obviously.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: How we met?
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um I'm also part of a networking group called Flamingo Business, which is based in Libham.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because I wanted to join another networking group, but I didn't.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: I thought, oh, if we could join another Lancaster one, it's like the same people.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: So bait I've joined that one in Lidham, which is really fun.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then I just go to like random.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: And is that a woman's OZ or is that?
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's women's own.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, it was really like before I started networking, I absolutely hated the idea of it.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: It was like my worst nightmare.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because I'm such like an introverted person.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: So I started my own.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: Well that's interesting because I don't feel you come across that way.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: I think it was a bit quiet, yeah, but not so not particularly introverted.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, well that's good.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I started my own.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: Because I was like, well, I don't want to go networking.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: Amazing.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: Check you out.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I started the creative women's dinners.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yes.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: So you had one last week, didn't you?
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I had one last week in um Lancaster, had one the week before in Manchester.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: And they're not like necessarily networking dinners, like people don't come and pitch.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, just like to build connections.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like you don't need to talk about your business at all.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's just like a night off at the time.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: To make friends.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, they're really fun.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, this whole walk is such a vibe.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like really excited.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: I love I love this part of Lancaster.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, it's beautiful.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: I love that we can see into people's garden.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: Mine and uh my partner's dream house is the first one coming up.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: The big, big is it sandstone, do you think?
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: But we were like we've always been like, I'll hope that it doesn't go on the market until like a few years ago.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: You're ready.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it went on the market like last year.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: Well we're gonna have to get a picture of yourself that is absolutely stunning.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: There's something about symmetrical windows that really works for me.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's beautiful.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's and it's got like a drive-in, drive out some way.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna have to have more than one car now.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, stop there a sec.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: Let me get a picture of you in front of it.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: Just looks like it's yours.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like, point.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: Hang on one second, the car went past.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, cool.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: They're probably like looking out the window like, what's happening?
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's stunning.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yes, so networking, Lancaster.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um so how do you get the venues and how do you get the people?
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: How do you find the people to come?
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: So the first couple of dinners that I did, I it was very much like inviting people to ask if they wanted to come along.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: And then um it just like built this the kind of following up.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um and yeah, it was uh a lot of people come to like quite a few.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so you can see.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes they get like yeah, get quite a lot of repeat people and then maybe like a couple of new people that come to each one.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it's uh it's really good.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: I've got my eye on the 30th of April one.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, yeah, you should come to that one.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: Also, I saw Roz um Wild Walking is happening.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's gonna be on the 15th.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: 15th of May.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna keep an eye on those two and try and come to them.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: That's very exciting.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they're really really good.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: I used to get really worried, like, when I was doing them, that people wouldn't come, but then it was like it's actually quite because there was there's usually maybe like 16 people at each one.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um maybe a bit less.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: But the one that I had on um Tuesday, yeah, there was eight people.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: And it was really nice.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a good one.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: It was just really yeah, really intimate.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: And everyone could talk to everyone.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm like not bothered now if like I don't get many people.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's not about chasing the numbers so much.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because at first, like I think there was like one person booked on for like a while.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: And even that was like, actually, that would be really nice.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like, there'd be me the speaker, and then this other game.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: You just make one person, don't you?
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: To make a party.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: I always say that.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: But it's true, like it's not, it's more about the depth then of the conversation as well.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just trying to get into some gardens.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: See the windows.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's beautiful.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: I do really fantasize and romanticize barge life.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: But I know as soon as it gets windy, I'll be like, oh no, I want to go home now.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's too noisy.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm gonna have to do it one.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever been on one?
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: I haven't.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: I have not been on one.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: I haven't.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: I've been talking about it for 25 years.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: But I am a slow burner, so it might happen.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: You should just do it.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: You could book it on my Airbnb or something.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, that's a good idea.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: That is a good idea.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's just beautiful.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so it doesn't actually matter how many people show up.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's yeah.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, obviously it does from a viability perspective.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: The f the first few dinners I had to rent the place out.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: So that would um cost a lot of money.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, of course.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but the ones that have been doing recently, it's just like a table that you book.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's good.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so even if um just like one person came, yeah, it would like I don't make a lot of money from them, but um I'm like not that bothered about that because I just really like doing it.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: And the connections, yeah.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so I guess that's been a learning curve as well, isn't it?
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: To work out the best way to to host it.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so what kind of venues are we talking about?
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so in Lancaster I've I usually try and do two at at each place.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I've done two at the Herbarium, which is this lovely like vegan um cafe and restaurant.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um that was really good.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: And then um I did what where else did I do?
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: The Merchants, um, which is really, really nice.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's by the castle, and they have um like almost tunnels in it that you go and sit in, like from that go from the castle.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um that's amazing.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a really, really nice place.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: And the toll house, um, which is just a roadmark.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a really yeah, everywhere in Lancaster's really good food that I've been to.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's good.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: And do you mostly are you sort of intentionally targeting vegan or not not specifically?
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, the the vegan, uh the herbarium, the vegan place was really, really good food though.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like it does have good food.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, it sounds good.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm gonna have to.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: I'm mostly vegan, I'm lactose intolerant and gluten-free.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: And um through COVID, yeah, I stopped eating meat.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: And it was really random.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: I basically went to Sainsbury's, forgot to buy chicken, and I thought, oh, I cannot be bothered to do that again.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm just gonna just gonna leave it for a week.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: And actually, what I found was in that week my whole system felt better.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, did it?
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I felt lighter, I felt my energy was better, I felt my mood was better.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um you're welcome.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, so I thought, right, I'm just gonna stick with it.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I did it the next week and the next week.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: So, in that first year, after lockdown lifted, I did have steak.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I thought, God, I really missed steak.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then afterwards I thought, oh actually, I'm not that bothered, and I felt really sluggish and full.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought, oh no, that wasn't the best eating experience in ages, so I'm gonna park that.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's so interesting, isn't it?
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: How it affects different people.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: I went vegetarian for a bit, yeah.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I went to India and did a yoga teacher training and was just vegetarian there, and it was there for a month.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh huh.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: So when I came back home, I was like, oh, I'm just gonna carry on.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I did it for vegan and vegetarian, yeah.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um it is really easy, so yeah, I carried it on for a few months, but I just feel like I lost a lot of hair.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, did you?
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and my iron was really, really low.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, yeah.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um but I couldn't really do like I was trying to get like get up and stuff, but I eat a lot of green things, yeah.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I did a stint with um Lynn Petri, who is a future podcast.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, nice.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, coming coming later this year, and yeah.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so we sort of worked on different food groups and things, and yeah, I do get my blood tested, and it seems to be fine so far.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: But I think I have had the hair loss issues, but I think that's more.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Right than anything else.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, so yeah, but I do get that.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: I do get that.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's difficult to sort of train into your system, and it's a whole re-education.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it is.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: My mum's uh vegetarian, she's been vegetarian for absolutely years, yeah, and it works for her really well.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so yeah, that's interesting, but it is biology, isn't it?
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, everyone's system's so different, yeah.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, very good.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: So going back to these dinners then, yeah, what are the key takeaways from them?
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: So some of you haven't you you mentioned and I saw on your website you have key speakers.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: So what's the format like?
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: So each one, yeah, I have a guest speaker, yeah.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and usually it's well, I say usually all the time, it's um a topic that people can like take away and implement into like their daily life.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: Oh okay.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I've had like a nutritionist, I've had um a fine financial advisor talking about pensions.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: Oh okay.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um just like things like that, like like you can just everyone will find useful.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um so usually at the dinners we um we meet, we might like have a chat about um like we'll introduce ourselves, what what who we are and what we do, and then we might have a chat about like something we're struggling with in business or something we're we're wanting to achieve or something.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: But then usually the conversation just goes into like a different direction.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_00: In my head I always have like a topic to talk about in case everyone's like just like twiddling a little like, oh what do we talk about?
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: But usually the conversation just goes into different yeah, different um different things, so it's really really nice.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, and then the guest speaker talks a bit later on in dinner.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um so if I was to arrive, say we're just arriving at one of your rooms, and I've just walked through the door, yeah, I don't know anyone, what are you gonna do?
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, come and say hi, yeah, introduce you to some other people.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I would probably like um if you if you were nervous and like stay with you quite a bit, like make sure make sure you felt a bit more at ease and yeah, everything.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um but everyone who caught like everyone who comes to the Lancaster ones are so nice, like you just get on with them straight away.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um the Manchester, the Manchester is a completely different vibe, like everyone's so so nice, but it's just it was a completely different vibe.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: I've only done one there.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, um and I guess it's a city as well, isn't it?
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: So that changes the dynamics, I get that.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: But um yeah, everyone's like who came to the last one was super super nice, yeah.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um but haven't grown like the community there, so it's not like oh well yeah, yeah, that's a work in progress a bit more.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: I guess they're always going to be a work in progress, not yeah, definitely.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: I just think the fabulous idea.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, thank you.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, um, I did a creative workshop at my Manchester one, and that went down really, really well.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: And what does that mean?
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: What does that involve?
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: So it can be so we did a creative workshop in Lancaster at in January actually with pottery.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: Oh okay.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um so everyone like did their own like pinch pots, yeah, um, which was really fun, and everyone liked that.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: And then in the Manchester one, because it was in um collaboration with Northern Design Festival, we did a type workshop, which was like handmade type.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: Oh cool.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: And what I loved about it was people it like just uh like didn't think about anything.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like they would just like be putting out like what you do when you're a child, yeah.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like just put out and like don't think about anything.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: I love that because you know we just use our devices too much, yeah, and we um we're not mindful, we don't give ourselves time.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I went to um Dr.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: Rangan Chatterjee's um Manchester Tour for his drive tour, and um I'm like obsessed with his podcast, like everything he says I implement basically.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: I just think he's amazing, yeah.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: And um within that um he was talking about solitude, and we don't give ourselves enough time to be on our own or think about get to know ourselves really.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we're not giving ourselves that space and time.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: So it's really where it gets a bit thick.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay, yeah, that's fine.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: We can go single file.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, yeah, we don't we just don't give ourselves enough time to do that.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: So it's really nice that you're creating a space actually where people, even though you're with other people, you are still getting that mindfulness and solitude.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I like I was thinking like about myself, like I'm a designer, I'm a creative, but I don't ever use like paper or pens.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like if I'm drawing out, I would use my iPad to draw on.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: Just because it's like so much easier.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm like, I actually really loved drawing on paper when like a few years ago.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it's uh I quite fancy myself on one of those holiday save by a canal on my barge.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um easel.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: And a glass of wine.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that sounds absolutely perfect.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: Listening to Dr.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: Rangan's podcast.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, no, I just I just think as I've got older, I do like just slowing things down and pressing the pause button and not chasing everything all at once and exhausting myself from the art of the possible and just picking one thing.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I just want to slow down.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: Just want to do one thing.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so when we're thinking about branding, yeah, and um obviously I stalked your website and it looks lovely, I noticed that your typeface is obviously very deliberately um selected.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so do you want to just explain a bit about that?
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so when when looking at the branding as a whole, the type obviously goes into it.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like so every every design decision I make for every branding is based on like a thought.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just like, oh that looks nice, I'll put that in there.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um so the the person that I met today who I did the branding, yeah, she wanted a very much like a modern, clean look.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, but she always all also wanted to bring that like timeless, luxury, like classic um kind of personality into the brand.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um so that's how I brought it in through the typography for her.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: So it was very much like a modern logo, but then um a luxury type font.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um sorry.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um so for mine, um it's it's the same.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like the contrast like between um yeah, my personality and like things I like with like this classic timeless look.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: So it's all like yeah, based on um brand strategy, really.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: And um do you design the letters yourself?
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_00: Of the fonts.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_00: No, I no.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: No, that's that's uh that's too much.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: I have done one font before, yeah, but it's just it's a lot of work, like that's a separate job in itself, like a typography designer.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm completely ignorant when you're deserved this topic.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's uh yeah, it's it's I would love to do it actually, but I just don't have the time.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I guess there's so many hundreds of thousands of fonts.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: So you you'll always be able to find something that you want.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so it may not be worth the the effort versus what you can just pick up.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: And um when you're designing things, how does copyright work?
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I actually have just had a conversation with a lawyer about this.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, um, because she's redoing my contracts.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I so before I thought as soon as a client pays, it's the design is theirs.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_00: But the lawyer was telling me it should always be mine.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay, yeah.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: And the the client is paying me to use it.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: So you have the intellectual property, yeah, yeah.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um so then that client can't go on and yeah, you know, sell it and things like that.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it does make sense, but yeah, yeah, I I haven't worked like that before.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it's gonna be interesting to it's always learning, isn't it?
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_00: And also things are always changing.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: So we have no choice.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: And what's the most satisfying thing about what you do?
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I was saying this to my client that I met this morning.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, when sometimes when I'm designed, I don't know if like you ever get like in a rut or something like I call it creative rut, and I'm like, I can't think of what to do, like I can't think of a good idea for this, and I'm designing and like drawing the logos for ages, and then all of a sudden it just clicks, and I'm like, yeah, that is it.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: And then like it just like goes off.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: Do you get really excited?
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I absolutely love, yeah, I love it.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_00: I can tell by smile, glowing.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_00: Have you had any clients who've been like I actually I'm really sorry, I don't really like it.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, and that's like it's fine, yeah.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's absolutely fine.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um I actually prefer it when clients are like, oh no, I don't actually like this bit because like you're not just saying like yeah, and you're not just like oh yeah, I love it, and then you don't.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_00: Internalising the feedback.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_00: But I haven't had clients like hating the whole thing, it might just be like one element or something.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um and do you get anyone who comes with a very fixed idea?
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: Every so often they do.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like they might say, Oh, I definitely want this element in in my logo.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: And what if you disagree?
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: I would advise them not to, but if they want it, then yeah, it's up to them.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like I had one um client who had um a tea brand.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_00: And she I was like, when I did the brand strategy, I put pictures of like tea leaves and stuff like that, and she was like, after after the brand strategy, she was like, Oh, can we change images because it's not leaves that we're using?
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's very um very apparently it's not leaves.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I was like, yeah, that's fine.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then I did the logo, and then she was like, Oh, can we have a leaf in the logo?
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, and that's confusing, yeah.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_00: We can, but like I explained why you shouldn't.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because it's like it could confuse customers.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um and she was like, Oh no, I really want a leaf.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm like, well, I can't really say no.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because it is her brand at the end of the day, because it's advisor.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um so yeah.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: We'll get a quick picture by the pond.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for indulging the love of the selfie.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like this part of the walk is really different, isn't it?
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_00: So this is the Fairfield part.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: So the first bit was Lancaster Canals.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then this is uh This is lovely.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_00: I mean it definitely smells a farm.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: But that's kind of affirming.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_00: Well, people's like gardens back onto this, yeah.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: They can just like come in like just into this after the house, which I find.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's nice.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, so ever-changing, ever evolving, and how do you keep up with like other sort of design and um website fashions?
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I tend to when it comes to like trends, I tend to not follow them.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because if you have and if you have a trend in branding, your brand's gonna not look good.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like when the next trend is.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: And what do you think about um tools like Canva and Cap Cut?
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_00: I love Canva.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_00: You do?
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, and Cap Cut, yeah.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I love them.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_00: And there's so many designers that are like, oh no, if you use Canva, you're not a real designer.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah um, but yeah, I I re I think there's so like anything that makes your life easier, yeah, just do that.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_00: Accessible, yeah, and especially for like non-designers, yeah.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's it's a really really handy tool.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I do a lot of my clients' templates in Canva.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, you do?
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, yeah, that's interesting.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_00: And then I do the branckets for them as well.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I set up the brand.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's actually on Canva, it's like a button which you press, and you've just got your logos, your typography, and you can set your typography as well.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're like, oh, I'm gonna create a new post for Instagram, yeah, with like a heading or something.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_00: If you click head and you've already got that, so it's just so much easier, you've got all the colours.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's good to know.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_00: So that's really I yeah, I think savers.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_00: Other brands are available, of course.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_00: We should probably put disclaimer out there.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um and do you um how do you use social social media?
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like, are you a fan?
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, but I I have to use well, I so it's interesting.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_00: Go down there.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_00: This way, yeah.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um when I was a fashion designer, I'd get all of my clients through Link through Instagram.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, would you?
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I wouldn't use LinkedIn at all.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't get any, like it was pretty much every client through Instagram.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_00: So when I changed to branding, I was like, oh, just do the same, like you'll be absolutely fine.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_00: And it's so different.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_00: Is it?
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think because like the graphic does that yeah, and it's like it's so saturated on Instagram that it's harder to get clients, so I just pretty much leave Instagram now, like yeah, I might put I post to keep the account alive, yeah.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I might post like once a week.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_00: Oh okay.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um like schedule them in.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_00: But I just don't know use Instagram at all.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um I use LinkedIn a lot.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_00: LinkedIn I love LinkedIn actually.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah?
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think is um really good about it?
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think I think what it is is it's becoming a lot more authentic.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like when I first I know exactly what you mean, but go on.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, when I first got LinkedIn, like years and years ago, it was businessmen.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, like talk talking about how good they were.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um it was more of a bragging platform.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_00: I have achieved this, this, and this today.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I don't have personality or a life.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_00: But I too these days, you are the brand, aren't you?
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you are the product.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you definitely need like a personal brand.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um and and I think that applies regardless of what you do, because my you know, my main career has been in IT, and for many, many years I didn't use LinkedIn.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because I didn't want my personality out there because I was I kind of fell into that whole thing.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_00: I kind of fell into that whole thing of um just well, A flying under the radar, yeah, and B not really knowing what to talk about.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of the work you couldn't talk about anyway, because it's confidential.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so how do you yeah, how do you do that?
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it's good to see that change.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_00: And you were saying sorry, if you sort of buttered in.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um just about personality.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like showing your personality, um just being yourself, I think that's the main thing.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like sometimes I write a post and I'm like, this isn't me, like it's just me, like just yeah, it wasn't me.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um was that because you were trying to fit what you thought was expected?
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: I think so, yeah.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I think when so I do like personal posts every now and then.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_00: By personal, I mean like posting a picture of my dog or something like that.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, and I used to be like, oh no one cares.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_00: But then that's the post that get like most likes.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't that interesting?
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I think LinkedIn for me is like building those relationships with people.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um like attracts like that.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um but yeah, apart from so yeah, just LinkedIn I use for social media.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_00: Interesting.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_00: I it but I do use Instagram for the dinners.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, you do?
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so that's it's it's very split.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, in terms of the type of interaction.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_00: So there is a place for each that is working out for your brand, which one does it?
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_00: Interesting.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_00: That is cool.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_00: And what do you think about AI?
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I actually really like it.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think if it's yeah, if it's used in the right way, it's it's really, really handy.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and what would you say is the right way?
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think the right way the right way for me is helping kind of um if I have an idea, say say for a a post or something, I would write that post and put into chat GPT and say, Can you help make this sound better?
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, not saying like, oh, can you write me a post on this?
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's when I would put a post on LinkedIn and I was like, This isn't me.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_00: It would be very much like ChatGPT and then I would go and edit it, edit it.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, I think you have to put your voice onto it.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_00: And you can spot, I think once you've used Chat GTP or something for a while, you can spot the post that yeah, you can.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_00: I I always do.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_00: That haven't quite been doctored enough.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_00: I got I get a lot of uh well, I don't get a lot, but I get quite a few um comments that are obviously like Chat GPT.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, yeah, that is interesting.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_00: I because I wrote a post about the create women diminars or something like that.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_00: And a man comment I was writing a comment about like how you need to like have a community as women and like be able to speak up as women and stuff like that.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_00: And a man commented like we definitely do, or something like this, and it was like very obviously like tragic into me, and it's like okay, yes, we should have read the context, yeah.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's funny, yeah.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_00: Oh but what I do think that AI has given is um people a bit more confidence in sharing their thoughts, yeah, because I think there's always been a bit of is this good enough to go on a professional platform?
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_00: Does it sound right?
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_00: And then the to your point, you're you you're almost losing your voice if you go too far with it.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_00: Interesting.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_00: What about AI images?
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I can like post I can tell when it's an AI image.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_00: And obviously with some stuff you can't copyright it because it's not your work.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so with stuff like that, I don't like it, but when it comes to design, it can help in ways that it just like speeds up the process, so it helps with like mock-ups and um brainstorming ideas and stuff like that.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um I don't use it too much when designing, actually.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_00: I probably should.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_00: I probably should learn to like use it a lot more, just to get that initial step up.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I kind of feel like there's a it's not cheating, it's like too making the most of the results.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't see it as a negative thing at all.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_00: And also just be sensible.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know, don't try and pass it off as something it's not.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_00: And quality check.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so one of the things I've been thinking about with my website is um making it greener and more sustainable.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_00: Do you do you get clients asking you about that?
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_00: I haven't.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: But I I used to um read a lot about it.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_00: So it's all about like creating dark mode.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_00: And things like that and not having like images on it.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_00: Oh okay.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um I don't know too much about it to be honest.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, it's um I know dark mode is a good thing because it's not using like loads of light.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_00: Oh okay.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um so overall it's keeping your resources down.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's definitely something I'm moving towards just generally with like banking and interneting and all sorts of things.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_00: And just resources at home, like energy things.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_00: Because no, just a small change.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_00: You don't think like websites or emails have like footprint here, but it has words, and just things like your photos on your phone, and you know, where is that being stored actually?
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_00: And you've got all these big data farms, yeah, and what's the cost of that?
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's crazy with that, isn't it?
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_00: All you need to do is what I do, because I'm like really, really hate that these cloud-based services try and sell me a monthly package.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, oh well we'll buy more data, and then you can have more photos.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I take screenshots and never look at them again.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, on my phone.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like I don't need more data at that time.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_00: I've got like 20,000 photos about the same at the moment, and I'm like, how?
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I have an external hard drive and I transfer the ones I want to keep, yeah, and then just do a mass delete.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's a good idea, and then I just uh at least I haven't lost them, yeah.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_00: They're still you know, they're still there, yeah.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_00: But actually, guess what?
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing changed in my life.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, saying that, there's this one thing that I've really there's a specific thing that I want to do for for the wedding that we've got coming up.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_00: What my wedding?
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_00: Congratulations! I was like, you said that in such a casual way.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, oh, you must be a guest.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_00: How exciting.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, there's this specific thing, and I screenshotted it a while ago and was like, I'll come back to that.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_00: I can't find it now.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I must have deleted it.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_00: But I've been searching Instagram for it and I can't find it.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_00: But it's imprinted in your mind.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_00: In my mind.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_00: So oh no, yeah, but that's never happened to me before.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I've never been like, oh, we really need that screenshot.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, oh no.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_00: Well, do you want to do a call to action to anyone listening if they hear this before your wedding?
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_00: What was it?
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it was like um Guinness Station.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, but I can't find it.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_00: So we might not do it.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, oh no.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know what you can do as soon as you find it, you just have to have a mid-year anniversary celebration.
• 47:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_00: And then it'll be complete.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even like Guinness.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_00: My partner likes Guinness.
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_00: Oh okay.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's really sweet.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, cute.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_00: And did you say something about yoga?
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_00: So what's that about?
• 47:27
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, we can go through that.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, when I um went travelling, yeah.
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_00: When was that?
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_00: That was 2019.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, went round like Southeast Asia for like four months by which I loved.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's like my favourite part of the world.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's so nice.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_00: I really want to go back.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, I really wanted to go to India.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I wanted to teach yoga.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I didn't want to come back basically.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_00: What else can I do?
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I did yoga teacher training.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_00: But I was like, oh, I could be a yoga teacher.
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I I absolutely loved it, like it was so fun.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it was such a good experience.
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_00: It was in Goa.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_00: Was it difficult?
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_00: No, okay.
• 48:17
  SPEAKER_00: No, it wasn't.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_00: There was um a 13-year-old girl on us who didn't speak any English who came with a grandma, yeah, who I think they thought was oh sorry.
• 48:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_00: Who I think they thought it was a retreat.
• 48:30
  SPEAKER_00: Oh no, but they passed.
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's fantastic.
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, that that was so much fun.
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like it was so grandma.
• 48:42
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um it was just such a good like group.
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 48:47
  SPEAKER_00: And um go up here.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I see what we are.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_00: We're kind of looking back to the beginning.
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um when I came back and moved to Manchester, I was teaching for a bit, like we had random classes, but I just didn't enjoy teaching.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_00: Oh.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_00: I think because it took so much of my energy, like um, I taught a bit when I came back to Lancaster as well.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_00: But I would like for a a weekend class or something, I'll be prepping all week.
• 49:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's a lot of fun.
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_00: So it would take a lot of uh time.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_00: Beautiful.
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so yeah, I just had to.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's a big tax, isn't it?
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_00: But it's good to know that you have that in your back pocket.
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_00: I was thinking the other day, I was like, should I do yoga teacher teaching again?
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_00: You could always do like 10-minute snippets on the Yeah, yeah.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_00: I could.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_00: When it was COVID, actually, I did online classes with uh my mum and my dad and my auntie.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_00: That was really fun actually.
• 50:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_00: How did they like it?
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_00: They loved it.
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, a friend of mine is a yoga instructor, she's called Kalyani, and um, she was doing online yoga and also Yoga Nidra, which is the oh my goodness, doing that on a Sunday late evening.
• 50:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I'm worried about.
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like whenever I did online yoga.
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_00: You're the instructor you fall asleep.
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_00: And then everyone's like so funny.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_00: Just like an hour on sleep at the end.
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_00: You're that good, you work on yourself.
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_00: So that's more of a hobby thing then.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for now.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_00: Is there anything else that you're into?
• 50:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I love pottery.
• 50:54
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, hence the creative thing in the pinch pots, yeah.
• 50:58
  SPEAKER_00: But I I tend to have this thing where I'm like, try something once and love it, and then I buy everything.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I bought a wheel.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_00: I do that, yeah.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_00: But it's like I love it, like I just love like it's kind of meditative, like just doing it, like not having to think about anything else.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you have to be fully concentrated, otherwise you lose the form.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_00: I've never done it, but I'm imagining you would lose the form of the thing.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_00: Have you seen the movie Ghost?
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I watched it the other three other months.
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_00: You can have to watch it.
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's just iconic for research generation.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_00: I hope it makes a comeback because that scene is just iconic.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's such a good film.
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't think it liked the film, that's why I haven't.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_00: It sounds really dumb, but it's actually really good.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_00: And the the way Whoopi kind of channels the sky so good.
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I didn't I didn't think it would be a comic, I thought it was just like a love story.
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's why I didn't watch it because it was like that.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, yeah, it's I don't know why I'm taking photos of beer cakes, but we might want to use them.
• 52:10
  SPEAKER_00: You never know.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that sounds awesome.
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it is all kind of intrinsically connected to your creative nature, isn't it?
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you're not like saying, Oh yeah, I secretly enjoy learning about Excel or yeah, yeah.
• 52:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure there will be someone out there somewhat not mocking.
• 52:31
  SPEAKER_00: Just something for everyone, but um, yeah, well that's cool.
• 52:35
  SPEAKER_00: And um when is the wedding?
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's in July.
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_00: So that's lovely.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_00: And where is the wedding?
• 52:42
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 52:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um Wiresdale, which is yeah, it's just further um oh we're gonna switch south.
• 52:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 52:51
  SPEAKER_00: Further south, so it's like near Garstang.
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_00: Oh okay.
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, lovely.
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's really nice.
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_00: And how did you meet the future, Mr.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_00: Anna?
• 53:00
  SPEAKER_00: I met him in Dolan Rooms in a club.
• 53:02
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, did you?
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I know Dalton Rooms.
• 53:04
  SPEAKER_00: Did you how cool?
• 53:05
  SPEAKER_00: You met the old-fashioned way, yeah, exactly.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_00: Did he have a QL colour you could scan for beat his data?
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_00: So his friend and my friend were like chatting, yeah.
• 53:17
  SPEAKER_00: We were just stood there awkwardly, like not talking, and he was like, Do you have Facebook?
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I love that.
• 53:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I love that.
• 53:27
  SPEAKER_00: That's wonderful.
• 53:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, oh well, congratulations again.
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_00: I love a wedding.
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not I'm not pitching for an invite but I'm just like I just really love weddings.
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's just such a lovely sort of celebration, yeah.
• 53:44
  SPEAKER_00: All things for both parties.
• 53:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's so lovely, yeah.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's just like a nice lead up as well.
• 53:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like yeah, and it's not too stressful at the moment.
• 53:53
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's good.
• 53:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you have to enjoy the process.
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_00: I think uh it's too easy to get caught up in the buying and selling side of it.
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_00: And this game, you forget to enjoy why what it is.
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_00: Well then I'm always thinking, like, after the wedding, what am I gonna talk about?
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like now, all I'm all I'm talking about is like the wedding and how I'll get married.
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_00: After that, I'll be like, how I'm married.
• 54:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's it.
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing new to say.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I'm sure you're all you're very interesting to talk about.
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_00: There's plenty going on there besides the wedding.
• 54:33
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you, Anna.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_00: That was amazing.
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_00: I really enjoyed that.
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's really fun.
• 54:38
  SPEAKER_00: Really good choice of walk.
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm definitely coming back.
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_00: Really excited I found the auction mark car park.
• 54:47
  SPEAKER_00: Very handy and yeah, point to note, they don't take coins at the moment and make sure I unblock my credit card.
• 54:55
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, which might have something to do with spending in Manchester this weekend.
• 55:02
  SPEAKER_00: Someone might have, I'm not saying who.
• 55:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, it's really awesome.
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 55:08
  SPEAKER_00: No, thank you.
• 55:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's really fun.
• 55:17
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Anna, so much for your time and for sharing your story from redundancy to entrepreneurship and your creative dinners, which sound amazing, and I definitely need to get booked onto one.
• 55:31
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you also for sharing Fairfield Nature Reserve with us.
• 55:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's beautiful, and I can't believe how close it is to the car park.
• 55:40
  SPEAKER_00: So that was a revelation to me.
• 55:43
  SPEAKER_00: If you'd like to find out more about Anna's work, head to Studio Edo online and keep an eye out for her creative dinners.
• 55:51
  SPEAKER_00: You might just find your people there.
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_00: And thank you as always for walking with us.
• 55:57
  SPEAKER_00: If you enjoyed this episode, there's a whole trail of others to explore.
• 56:01
  SPEAKER_00: Each one a chance to meet someone new and discover another perspective.
• 56:06
  SPEAKER_00: Don't forget to follow or subscribe wherever you listen so you don't miss out on what's coming next.
• 56:12
  SPEAKER_00: And remember to join in the conversation on TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, Substack, and Blue Sky.
• 56:19
  SPEAKER_00: One or all, not necessarily all.
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, take care and keep exploring.