Quarantalks

Today I’m catching up with psychotherapist Gin Lalli. We talked about the stress and conflicting emotions of coming out of lockdown and the easing of restriction, and Gin had lots of useful advice. You can find Gin on LinkedIn and on her website. Gin’s blog post on post-lockdown anxiety is here: ginlalli.com/post/post-lockdown-anxiety

Today I’m catching up with Stacey Macdonald, of The Modern Storyteller. Stacey shares with us some of the roller coaster she’s been on in the last year, and has advice for others who, like her, are looking to swing from failed launches to sustained success. You can find us both on Instagram at @the.modern.storyteller @thewhinco

Today I’m catching up with Abi Cornwall, to hear about how she’s rebuilt her business from scratch in the last year. Sea Change Creative Content has transformed more than once over the last year, and it was great to hear how Abi has anchored herself around the exact clients she wants to work with and finding the right way to serve them. You can find us both on Instagram at @seachangecreativecontent @thewhinco

Today I’m catching up with Allison Harrison, owner of Hot Yoga Edinburgh. It’s been a very disruptive time for her and the studio, and it was interesting to hear the impact of that on Allison and how she coped with the challenges. You can find us both on Instagram at @hotyogaedinburgh @thewhinco

Today I’m catching up with Keith Easton, of Woosh Entertainments and The WEL Podcast Studio. After a whole year of remote recording and online events, Keith shared how he and his business partner have been affected and how they’re thinking of changing up their business and brand in the next few months. You can find us both on Instagram at @keithwoosh @thewhinco

Today on Quarantalks I’m chatting with Abi Cornwall, who is a creative copywriter with a background in marketing. We talked about how lockdown impacted Abi’s clients, but also the impact that had for her on helping her get on and do the type of projects she’d always wanted to do, but had put off in the past, whether that’s creating training content, learning WordPress, or making the mindset switch from ‘Freelancer’ to ‘Business Owner’. You can find us both on Instagram at @seachangecreativecontent @thewhinco

Today on Quarantalks I’m chatting with Amy Buchanan, founder of the Edinburgh Craft Club. Normally Amy’s workshops are very hands on, in person, with lots of materials, so it’s been quite a transition to at-home, online versions. Amy and I also talked about her future plans and how she’s planning to focus more on the “Club” side of things going forward. You can find us both on Instagram @theedinburghcraftclub @thewhinco

Today on Quarantalks I’m chatting with Teresa Jackson, who owns Collabor8te, a co-working space in Glasgow. We talked about how they’ve continued to support their community during the lockdown, and the preparations they’re making in advance of eventually opening their doors once more. 

Today on Quarantalks, Flora Collingwood-Norris had a chat with me about how her knitwear business has changed under lockdown. There have been wide-ranging disruptions to supply chains, and an upcoming trip to Japan is on hold. We talked about how Flora has been able to explore different creative avenues and elements of her business now that production has slowed down, and how that might affect her choices going forward as well. You can find us both on Instagram @collingwoodnorris @thewhinco

Today on Quarantalks, I’m chatting with Allison Harrison, owner of Hot Yoga Edinburgh. We chatted about how their class teachers and students responded to the move to live-streamed yoga classes, including the impact it had on their Yoga Teacher Training programme. It was also wonderful to talk about the beginnings of Allison’s reopening plan – all very tentative and hypothetical at the moment, but it was nice to have a glimpse of a light at the end of the tunnel. You can find us both on Instagram @hotyogaedinburgh @thewhinco

Today on Quarantalks, I’m sharing some insight into how things have changed here at The Whin over the last few weeks. I also take you through some simple exercises you can follow to help you review your 2020 goals and create new and updated ones so you can refocus your efforts over the next 8 months. If you’d like you can download The Wee Plan worksheets mentioned in the episode.

Today on Quarantalks my guest is Laura Ogilvie-Jones, who is a life and career coach here in Edinburgh. We talked about how she’s introduced daily videos to her marketing, and also how she’s been able to take up some new opportunities in her network that she wouldn’t have otherwise had. You can get in touch with Laura on LinkedIn – she’s still offering some free coaching sessions if you’d like to try one out.

Today on Quarantalks I spoke with Beth Connon, who runs Sweat With Beth. Although she’s primarily a personal trainer, Beth explained how she helps her clients, including pregnant women and new mums, to also support their mental health, and see the connection between mind and body. You can find us both on Instagram @sweatwithbethpt @thewhinco

This episode of Quarantalks features Hollie Ellis, founder of Hollie Ellis Design. She shared three things all business owners can do to work on their brand, if they have a bit of down time. We also talked about how her business has been adapting, and her upcoming podcast. You can find us both on Instagram @hollieellisdesign @thewhinco

In today’s episode of Quarantalks, I’m chatting with Mike McGrail about the difficult decisions he’s been forced to make for his business in recent weeks. We talked about the new projects he’s investing his time in, and how his honesty and openness has helped him find new opportunities. Mike can be found in Episode 20 of the Whin Big podcast, and also on LinkedIn.

Today on Quarantalks, Laura Williams, founder of The Modern Nursery, shared with me some insight into how their business has changed in the last few weeks. Although some elements are the same – they still sell kid-focused Scandi furniture from an online shop – lots of other things are different. There’s new ranges of products, a change in demand and delivery time scales, and a lot of Laura’s back office team are parents working from home and balancing childcare with work. She shared a little bit of how she’s stayed a kind and compassionate leader for her team through a difficult time. You can find us on Instagram @themodernnursery @thewhinco

Today’s guests on Quarantalks are Will and John from Athlete Training Systems, an Edinburgh-based gym. We talked about how they’ve had to change most aspects of the service they normally deliver, with different programmes and free online sessions, more one-to-one communication and individual support. They also shared some suggestions for working out at home, if you don’t want to take up running! You can join their home workouts for free on the website at athletetrainingsystems.co.uk

Today’s guest on Quarantalks is Jacky Clarke, founder of Clarke Learning. Jacky’s day-to-day work used to involve training clients in business strategy, face-to-face. Over the last month she’s had to apply her skills and expertise to her own business and come up with a new strategy for delivering that training through an online mentorship programme. It’s not just a case of doing exactly what you did before but delivering it online; Jacky walks us through her 7 step process for creating a new or updated strategy for your business. You can find Jacky on her website clarkelearning.co.uk

Today on Quarantalks I’ve been chatting with Petra Henderson, who runs a wellbeing business called Balanced By Nature with her husband in Sweden. We talked about her first forays into online delivery, and the different impact of the different social distancing rules they have there. Petra shared some tips on mindful walking to help those of us who’re restricted to one short outdoor walk per day.

Today on Quarantalks I’m chatting with Larah Bross, founder of Bross Bagels in Edinburgh. We talked about how the business has transitioned from a small chain of bagel shops, into a city-wide deli delivery service within a matter of days! This has included setting up an online store, and using Instagram and Facebook to funnel people to order through that. You can find us both on Instagram @bross_bagels @thewhinco

In this episode of Quarantalks I had a chat with Gordon Kedslie, one of the team at Cobry. They’re specialists in G-Suite products so we talked a little about those, particularly Google Meet, for anyone looking at their video conferencing options. We also talked about best practise for remote work as a team and an individual.

Today’s guest on Quarantalks is Laura Vanderkam, an author and expert in time management, and host of the podcasts Before Breakfast and The New Corner Office. Laura shared with us her advice for business owners who lack structure now they’re working from home all the time, and for those who have limited time because of childcare and other new responsibilities. We also talked about how to handle your time if you’re suddenly much busier than usual, and lastly Laura shared her tips on how to balance helpful routines against making days memorable.

Today on Quarantalks I spoke with Alice Allum, who’s a women’s coach and runs an online spiritual membership. We had a very inspirational chat about the challenge and opportunity presented by the current crisis, and how Alice is facing it with a mindset of gratitude and abundance. You can find us both on Instagram @aliceallum @thewhinco

Today on Quarantalks I’m chatting with Steph Douglas, founder of Don’t Buy Her Flowers, about how her business has adapted to new restrictions and an increase in demand. We talked through the change in how she manages her team, how they’ve changed their marketing, and how she’s managed to get things done with her kids at home all the time as well. You can find us on Instagram @steph_dontbuyherflowers @thewhinco

Today on Quarantalks, I caught up with Lucinda Bray, founder of FUTRSMPL, the world’s first online marketing strategy builder. We talked about the opportunity presented by a digital tool during this current crisis, and how that conflicts with the tough reality of trying to run a business whilst looking after a young child in a family with two working parents. There’s no Answer that will make it all easy again, but we talked through some of Lucinda’s ideas, challenges and tough decisions, in the hope that others will see they’re not alone in all this. You can find the online strategy builder at www.futrsm.pl

In this episode of Quarantalks, I’m talking to Susan Harkins, head of Business Gateway Edinburgh, about how they are adapting their services to support new and established businesses to survive the current crisis. We talk about the range of new webinars and training options that are offered, and how their advisers can help. Find all the details on the website at bgateway.com

In today’s episode of Quarantalks, I spoke with Stacey Macdonald about how we can adapt the stories we tell in our marketing. It’s more important than ever to show some humanity and connect with your customers, and Stacey’s got some great tips on that. You can find us on Instagram at @the.modern.storyteller @thewhinco

In this episode of Quarantalks, I spoke with Keith Jeffrey about how he has been working with his team to transform their in-person workshops to online webinars. We talked through some tips for using Zoom Webinars, and for how to present on video in general. You can find the details of the webinar programme at bgateway.com

In today’s episode of Quarantalks, I had a chat with Gin Lalli, a psychotherapist who helps people handle stress and anxiety. We talked about how her business has adapted to the crisis, and the most important thing we can do to help ourselves stay sane – get more sleep. Gin shared her best advice on sleep hygiene and napping and making the most of the sleep you have. Find us both on LinkedIn: Gin Lalli and Katie Goudie

On today’s episode of Quarantalks I spoke to Richard Ellis and Jo Davidson from the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce. We talked about how the Chamber have expanded their informational activities and adapted their networking ones. We also talked about the government support available for sole traders and limited company directors. You can see details of that support on the Chamber website Covid-19 support page

In the next episode of Quarantalks, I had a chat with Lisa Bean, a business coach and inspirational speaker. We discussed how you can stay focused on your long-term vision whilst making smart short-term decisions to change and adapt. Find us on Instagram at @thewhinco @daretogrowuk

In the first episode of our new special series, Quaran-talks, I had a chat with Keith Easton, owner of The WEL Podcast studio. We discussed how businesses are adapting the way they make podcasts, and why it’s important to stay connected. Find us on Instagram at @thewhinco @thewelpodcaststudio @keithwoosh