Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You know, people say
don't put all your eggs in one
basket.
I made myself ill.
I was so ill.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
I won't be tricked
into social media making me not
feel good enough.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
When you run a
business and it's good, it's
amazing, but there is nothinglike the lows of when things are
going bad.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
It's mixing work and
life that can make or break me.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Embrace those moments
as learning opportunities.
Oh, that is so cliche, it istrue.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Today's episode is
sponsored by Closer, the app
that helps you discoverexclusive local deals right here
in Sussex.
Whether you're after a pint, ahaircut or a last-minute gift,
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That's C-L-O-S-R.
(00:58):
Save money, support local withCloser.
Hello everyone, and welcomeback to another episode of the
Untold Podcast Again today.
This one's slightly differentbecause I want to talk about
women in business.
Now.
I've got two lovely ladies herewith me today that both have
their own businesses, and verysuccessful at that.
So, without further ado, let'sintroduce you to Kelly from
(01:20):
Belladune Flowers and Danny fromRipple's Bathrooms in Linfield.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Hello.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Morning, morning
Afternoon, whatever time it is
you're listening to this.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Oh yeah.
It's not live.
No, thank God, thank God.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
So welcome to the
Untold Podcast and thanks for
coming on.
I thought it'd be really goodfor other female listeners to
hear what it's really likerunning a business.
So, kelly, what is it you do?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
I am a florist.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
I have two retail
florist high street florist
shops okay, and danny six so Iown a ripples bathroom franchise
in an infield okay, and howlong have you both been doing
that for?
Speaker 1 (02:01):
me, I go first so we
opened our doors november 2023,
so really we're still within ourinfancy, um, but yeah, not that
long really and has it been?
Speaker 3 (02:18):
was it tough?
Was you scared when you firststarted doing it?
Was you worried about it?
How did it about?
How did the idea of opening abathroom showroom come about?
Speaker 1 (02:26):
All right, it's a bit
long, it's fine.
So I got into bathrooms,probably about eight or nine
years ago.
What a thing to get into, yeah.
I'm into bathrooms Bathroomdesign there is no, and kitchen
design there is no qualificationfor it.
You can, like, go to college oruniversity and study just
(02:46):
bathroom and kitchens and a lotof people I know in the industry
just fell into it randomly anda lot of people I know are
self-taught because there is nothing that you can learn um.
So I randomly fell into it allthose years ago and I just
realized it was the only jobthat I was waking up every
morning and I wanted to go anddo it that's so important yeah
(03:10):
it's the only job and I reallystruggle with authority, working
under people, and that's one ofmy bad, that's one of my flaws
entrepreneurs have ended up yeah, business.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Because of that exact
reason.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
I just struggle, you
know, having to uphold people,
other people's morals that don'tmatch with mine or not as good
as mine, and I just knew thatbathrooms, that's what I want to
do.
It's so random, but I was justlike, I love it.
It's just so different, it'screative, so much you can do
(03:46):
with a bathroom, especially now,like the times have really
changed, which you'll knowyourself how much bathrooms are
changing um, and we had covid.
We had a covid baby, babynumber three, and I was also on
uh furlough as well.
So, because I was one of theshielders, so it kind of ended
(04:07):
up that I just we sort of like Imutually kind of just left
where I was, not for any otherreason other than who knows how
long this is going to go on, forI've now got a newborn.
I feel unemployable right now.
Yeah, and um, unfortunately myhusband's dad passed away and um
(04:28):
, which meant there wasinheritance, so, but it wasn't
enough inheritance that we couldbuy a house, like we couldn't
buy a house we, you know itwasn't like enough to do
something like that with, but itwas enough that we didn't want
to.
We did not want to waste it yeahlike we really wanted to do
something for our family with itand we probably could have just
(04:48):
lived off it for a year maybe,yeah, but that's all it would
have.
You know, it wouldn't havelasted very long.
And just, I've wanted to havemy own bathroom showroom for so
many years, specifically aRipples one as well, because
when I was working in Red Hill,they used to have one in Reigate
.
I walked in there as they wereone of my competitors at the
(05:09):
time and I thought I'll justwalk in there and see who's this
Ripples, you know.
And as soon as I walked inthere, I was just like I want
this, this is what I want.
And we forgot about it for along time because we were really
young and didn't have the sortof money you need for a
franchise.
Because we were really youngand didn't have the sort of
money you need for a franchise.
And, um, it was in that momentin covid, when I decided that I
(05:29):
might as well just be at homewith the boy for a little bit,
that Sean said why don't we lookat ripples again?
And I was like, really, and hewas like, yeah, like let's look
at it, let's see, see if theywant us for a start, because,
you never know, they're quitepicky about how they want, and
that's how it came about.
We just I don't know, it'sreally difficult to explain.
(05:52):
It just came about that I spoketo Roger Kime, who's the CEO of
Ripples Holdings.
We got on like a house on firestraight away, even with my kids
screaming in the background,for biscuits.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
um, we got on like a
house on fire straight away,
even with my kids screaming inthe background for biscuits,
like, honestly, I had.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Isaac and Toby must
have been about five or six
years old at the time.
This has taken a while to getto this point and it was half
term and they were just like mum, mum, can I have this, can I
have that?
And I'm like I'm really sorry,roger, can I I just?
I just need to give my kids abiscuit shut up for a minute.
um, even with that, he was stilllike, oh no, it's fine, I get
(06:28):
it.
Like we are all family run.
And I was like, oh, I love that, I love that they didn't care
that they could hear my kids inthe background.
And we went there.
We found the property that Iwanted as well, which was a real
long shot as to whether we'deven get it, because it was
right at the beginning of theprocess.
(06:48):
it was in like the January thatI found it, the property that
we're in now yeah and I took itwith me anyway to the meeting
with um Paul and Nicola Crowe,who are the sale director and
managing director of Ripples,and we went all the way to Bath,
managed to get child care fornight.
That is a challenge in itselfand I presented it to them and
(07:09):
said this is the building I want.
And they were like, well, youknow, it's kind of really early
days by the time we get to it.
There's no way you're going tohave that building, you know?
And lo and behold, it was stillthere.
It was still there.
It kept coming on and off themarket, on and off, on and off
constantly.
But, like in my head, all Icould see was me standing
(07:30):
outside that building.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
We looked at another,
manifested it I just that's all
I could see.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
All I could see was
myself standing outside that
building and it came off themarket for a little while.
So like it must have got quiteserious with another company, I
guess.
And I remember we went andlooked at a place in Calfold and
Roger the CEO came down fromBath up down.
(07:55):
He came from Bath to come andlook at it with us and he hadn't
even seen the Linfield one inperson.
So we were pretty convincedthat this Calfoldfold was one
that we'd have to go for.
I just everyone else was likeyeah, it's gonna be great here
this is great.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
This is a really good
spot.
Something wasn't right.
I just, I just couldn't, I justdidn't feel it.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
I didn't feel it in
my gut and I trust my gut so
much.
I really really do trust my gut.
And the Linfield one came backup again.
And by this point it was likeApril and the probate with
Sean's inheritance was.
You know, it was so close tobeing done and I basically
(08:35):
turned into a solicitor for likesix weeks, running around my
kitchen pacing back and forwards.
That poor baby was in the highchair a lot.
I wasn't making phone calls topush this.
You know, push this hat, thisflat sail through so that we can
.
It was a nightmare, to behonest, it was a real nightmare.
And I remember saying to RogerI said I just don't want to do
(08:57):
cowfold like this Linfield waistback up, and that's what I want
.
I really want it and what Inormally, what I normally want.
I will normally get it becauseI'm just laser focused on it.
That's what I want.
I really want it and what Inormally want.
I will normally get it becauseI'm just laser focused on it.
That's what I want.
I said all I can see is mestanding outside that building.
That's what I want.
And he just came back sayingwell, do you know what?
I think?
Alphold's great, but I thinkyou've made your mind up, so
(09:21):
let's just run with it then.
And yeah, it all went throughand in the end and I didn't get
the keys, bearing in mind that Iwanted this building from the
January, I didn't get the keysto the end of September wow,
that's a long time of anxietyand waiting around on it it was
awful, especially with the kidsas well.
Like you know, the kids knewsomething was going on, and but
(09:43):
it's also a long time to havethis dream in the pipeline and
not be able to actually do it.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Yeah, like to be
sitting on an egg like that.
Yeah, so long it was as acreative.
You must have just beendesperate just to get in there,
and it was difficult, get theball rolling.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
It was really
difficult and it was really
difficult to prove to landlordsthat we were the business, that
we were the right business totake that on um, because
obviously every landlord'slooking for longevity, aren't
they?
And it's something that they'vegot in their family portfolio.
So I think they own quite a few, like you know, commercial
premises and it's one that wasreally important to them because
(10:19):
it turns out the landlord had aum like an antique shop, for
about 20 years in the samebuilding, so it obviously means
quite a lot to them as well.
Um.
So I had to.
I had to really fight my case,not only with like ripples and
saying I want to work with youand I think I'm going to be an
excellent franchisee, but thenalso to prove myself to
(10:40):
landlords banks, accountantsjust just having to, you know
make jump through hoops yeah,just to just say, I know I can
do this, and once you've jumpedthrough all those hoops and
you're in, then you've got toprove yourself to the customer
base and the village.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Yeah and well
everyone small villages like
that can be quite particularabout what they want on the high
street.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Yeah, very much, I
was really I was really nervous,
actually, about how will thevillage perceive a bathroom shop
turning up.
Because you know, I was lookingat like linfield gossip, you
know all the like facebook pages, and I was constantly scouring
it and looking at it to think,to see where people were
speculating what's going to bethere and none of it was
(11:23):
anything to do with a homerenovation place, nothing at all
.
So I was thinking, gosh, likeyou know, people might not be
happy about this.
Yeah, and is that going to insuch a small community?
Is that going to really goagainst me?
Um, but eventually, when allthe posters went up that we were
coming soon and all that stuff,we started seeing a little bit
(11:44):
more positive talk on thosecommunity pages and things and I
thought, okay, it's gonna beall right, it's gonna be, you've
done really well.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Oh, thanks you have
to and I've.
Obviously I've seen you onlinkedin and stuff winning
awards and stuff winning awardsfor doing it.
So, yeah, it's amazing.
That is really amazing.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
So, kelly, let's move
on to you oh, my story is quite
a lot shorter.
I'm so sorry.
I'm gonna try and work it outfor you we don't edit unless
something really needs editingum, well, how did the shop come
about?
yeah, um, actually I probablywouldn't be in that shop if it
wasn't for my husband, becausewe moved moved to um Hassex,
(12:27):
which is where my first shop is,and I was out we'd only been
there a couple of months and Iwas picking up a takeaway and
when I was in there, thetakeaway guy sort of said, oh,
what do you do?
And I said, oh, I'm a florist,and at the time I was working
for somebody else.
Um, he said, oh, we need aflorist in hassox.
I didn't know hassox, so Ididn't know there wasn't a
florist.
And I was like, oh, that'sinteresting.
He said, actually there's anempty shop down the road.
(12:47):
You should take that and put itas a florist.
And I sort of giggled it off,went back with my takeaway, told
paul, and he didn't giggle itoff so he goes in there the next
day and arranges to take overthe lease.
And he comes back to me and hesays, um, we had a newborn at
this point we were renovating ahouse, planning a wedding.
And he says, oh, I've justagreed the lease.
(13:09):
There was a bit of back andforth and it all fell through at
one point and then it came backto us.
But it was him that sorted itout and I wouldn't have taken
that leap without him.
I was quite happy, sort ofbumbling along on, just as long
as I got to play with flowersand be creative and do my form
of art.
I was quite happy to bumblealong under somebody else's
branding.
(13:29):
But when you finally get thatfreedom of being able to do it
all yourself.
And I walked into this emptyshop and we were like what are
we going to do with it?
What colors are we going to use?
What style are we going to gofor?
And I was no longer undersomebody else's branding and I
had all the creative choice inthe world.
I was like, wow, this is.
I could not step out of thisnow yeah.
(13:50):
I could never work for anybodyelse now it's your own thing, I
found my brand and found what Ilike and how I like to do things
.
Put me under somebody else'sumbrella now and I would shrivel
up and die.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
I don't think I could
do it, I'm unemployable.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
I can't be told what
to do the problem, I think,
isn't it you.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
I think you'd kind of
do become almost unemployable
oh yeah, how do you go from?
Speaker 2 (14:14):
the only reason I got
on well with the florist I was
working with is because she wasso trusting in me and she was an
air hostess.
Later on I took over runningthe florist for her while she
did long haul flights for virginand she was so trusting in me
she was basically said do whatyou think.
And if I ever phoned her upwith a query, if I could get
hold of her, what?
(14:35):
I trust you, kelly, I trust youto do what you think.
And I eventually learned thatshe trusted me.
So I did start running it likeI liked it and it worked and she
was happy with that and I thinkthat's the only reason I was
unemployable.
If she had been like, no, do itmy way, do it like this, do it
like that, I just I wouldn'thave lasted you know, yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
So what happened next
?
Then?
You got the keys got the keyswere you petrified?
Were you because obviously youdidn't Paul kind of forced you
to take that late and I didn'tknow this story?
Yeah, I didn't know this story,that was just like, um, do it.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Like, let's do it.
You've got a talent, you've gota skill.
You can make some money out ofthis.
Let's, let's do it.
And I was a bit like, okay,paul takes more risks than me.
Yeah, he definitely takes morerisks than me, which you
wouldn't expect if you met us,like because I'm the chilled out
, laid back one and he's quitelike everything's got a
spreadsheet, and so in life I'mquite free and quite chilled and
(15:32):
quite hippie, but with takingbig risks like that I'm not, so
I'm a bit, a bit more careful.
So, yeah, I was terrified, I was, I was scared, but I 100%
trusted what, that I was good atwhat I was doing.
There was no doubt in my mindthat I couldn't do it and I
couldn't do it well.
There were things that scaredme where I didn't know Haseks
and I couldn't do it and Icouldn't do it well.
There were things that scaredme where I didn't know Haseks
and I didn't have friends andfamily in that village that
(15:54):
would support by from me.
So I was relying on coming intoa high street where I didn't
know anyone.
I didn't know all the schoolmums.
My kids didn't go to schoolthere.
I didn't have neighbours andfriends that I knew had just
moved there and we weren't faraway from where we lived.
But, um, I didn't have thatcommunity support.
But I didn't think I did.
But it turns out I did.
I opened the doors and peoplecoming in and were like, wow, I
(16:15):
was so pleased to have a floriston the high street.
I think for me, I'm luckybecause I think every high
street needs a florist, abutchers, a bakers.
There are staple shops that youneed in village high street.
Yeah so, and I think I'm one ofthem, so I I think yeah, even
more, so now even more so now.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Now I've bought
flowers from you obviously a
hell of a lot, um, and I'vebought it before that.
I was buying stuff, and younever know what's going to turn
up yeah you spend this moneyonline and you never know what's
going to come.
I remember I bought like 24roses for Valentine's Day and
when I got there, I said did youget your flowers?
Yeah, they're shit.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Not from me Not from
you, not from roses, are we?
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Not from you, not
from you, but it's yeah.
So now you look back on thatand it felt like a risk at the
time.
Now you look back, what's itbeen now?
Seven, eight years?
Speaker 2 (17:06):
I've been in hassocks
eight, eight years now.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Yeah was it even a
risk, really, obviously, now you
look back, do you think aboutlike you must have had sleepless
nights.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
You must, oh yeah, I
mean a year after we opened,
covid hit oh, yeah, it was Ithink six months after we opened
we were flooded.
They have big flooding issueswhere we are there.
Um, we, we were flooded andanything that was on the floor
was ruined, all the floor wasruined.
And then covid hit and weflooded again.
Um, so, because all the shops,everything seemed to time out
(17:37):
right there, all the shops wereshut during covid, obviously,
and my neighbors, thosehairdressers, and they were
obviously shut and I said, wouldyou mind if I emptied my shop
into your shop so I can pull upthe floor and see what damage is
been done by this flood?
And they're like, absolutely so.
We literally emptied my entireshop into the hairdressers next
door during covid and my husband, paul, was in.
(17:59):
Well, he was in building, so hepulled up all the floor and it
stank.
It like the wet, it's like deadbodies, like it's.
It was just it stank.
It was so damp, everything waswet and he was like this has got
to be filled in.
So we've concreted the floor.
We actually raised it by a fewinches to where the flood line
(18:19):
was to make sure that if ithappened again it wouldn't ruin
everything on the floor.
We lost lots of stock andfurniture and during that time I
thought I don't know if it'sworth it.
Is it worth spending all thismoney on somebody else's shop?
Speaker 3 (18:33):
because we were
leasing at that time.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Yeah.
So I was like is it worth melike flood proofing this shop
for somebody else, for thelandlord, if I'm only going to
be here for a couple of years?
And it doesn't go through?
And like, we didn't know howlong COVID was going to last.
We didn't even know if we wererenovating that shop to ever
even open it again.
We didn't know if we were goingto open those doors again.
And you were seeing smallbusinesses just closing during
(18:57):
covid.
When their leases came to anend, they were going well, we're
not going to continue the lease, we'll go online.
Um, so that was really scary,covid and the flooding and stuff
.
But after covid it all justpicked straight back up again.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Yeah, so I don't know
if we were lucky or I don't
know what it was.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
I don't think it's
luck, kelly, because obviously
I'm also a customer of kelly'sas well and I think, like you
said, you're branding you as aperson as well.
You know, people can't help,but really like you and buy into
you.
But do you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
That's such an
important thing.
If a client really likes you,they will naturally be loyal and
supportive.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
I agree.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
And you know, even if
you close Linfield High Street
shop, I'd still be using you.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Do you?
Speaker 3 (19:47):
know what I mean.
Yeah, thank you, if anotherflorist could go in there and I
wouldn't use them.
Yeah, thanks, it's a yeah it's,and that's the thing.
I think you sort of weconsistency pays off, oh yeah
consistency pays.
It's easy when you've got abusiness to have.
Like we've said before, westarted recording.
When you run a business andit's good, it's amazing, you
(20:08):
feel on top of world.
But there is nothing like thelows of when things are going
bad, like when it flooded, whenyou had to rip all the floors up
, spend money that you didn'treally probably didn't want to
spend at the time becausenothing was coming in.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Didn't have the money
to spend, it was luckily I got
the COVID grant.
That's how I did it, so thetiming just worked out for me
that I spent that grant thatthey were giving out to small
businesses on flood proof in theshop, um, and just surviving
like those, what year orwhatever it was that we
practically didn't trade,because it was a lot of events
(20:41):
as well our weddings gotcancelled and stuff yeah, yeah,
very true yeah so, but yeah,those were the moments where I
was like, oh, I don't know if Ican continue with the risk
taking and the what if it'sscary times when it's low, like
you said, the lows are reallylow.
They're really low and they'rereally lonely because you
(21:04):
haven't got a boss to go to toask for help or to get advice
from.
You're on your own, you've gotno one to look to and they, the
lows are low, they're really low, and in the moment you forget
all the highs we were sayingthis earlier, weren't we danny?
In the moment of those lows,you forget that actually, for
that one low moment, there was10 successes and 10 wins, but
(21:24):
you forget those when you'refeeling the pressure when you're
under it.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
When you're under it,
it's so easy to forget how good
things have been and you like,you wake up in the morning.
I can't do this anymore.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
I've not got it in me
anymore just can't do it that's
like when I have moments andwe're still in our infancy.
So I suppose we're in thebiggest risk area now, timeline
wise, you know and there's beenmornings or evenings when I've
said to Sean because my husbandworks in the business with me so
he gets the pleasure of seeingme literally like 24 hours a day
(21:58):
.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
I don't know if me
and Paul could do that like well
, do what though?
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Sean is so laid back,
he might as well just be laying
down like it's just so chill,honestly, um.
But you know, there's timeslike that where I've just been
like I just don't know why haveI opened myself up to having all
this responsibility on myshoulders, like you know,
because you can't get away fromit.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
It is on you.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
And then you know,
sean turns around and he's like
but think of those awards thatyou've won, like you've only won
those because of you.
Like nobody else has done thatyou just have to keep thinking.
That's what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
You've got to remind
yourself constantly of the highs
.
You are good at what you do.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
And a bad day is a
bad day as long as you have more
good days in a week than youhave bad days then you're doing
something right, and if it was abad day, like I've completely
flipped the way I think ofthings.
Don't look at it as a problem.
Look as you need to find asolution what happened?
Oh, that didn't turn out.
Okay, let's just get through itlet's make it work and you've
learnt for next time, yeahembrace those moments as
(22:59):
learning opportunities.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Oh, that is so cliche
it is true, though, isn't it?
It is one of the hardest thingsto do to genuinely learn from
your mistakes.
Yeah, own it and admit to itand build on it.
I've got to a point now,throughout life anyway, where I
don't.
If I have to say that I've madea mistake, I'll just be like do
(23:21):
you know what that's on me?
But I'm going to fix it.
And I think it's all about howyou're going to fix it, isn't it
?
Speaker 2 (23:34):
And sometimes fixing.
I did a reel actually a littlewhile ago that was really
popular.
Sometimes, as a business owner,fixing a mistake gains you a
new customer, gains you a loyalcustomer, because every we're
human and humans make mistakesand these things happen, and I
work with fresh produce.
I sometimes flowers don't lastas long as I hope they would
last, and it's not always myfault.
Sometimes they've put them on aradiator or in a sunny window,
but I'll go.
Those flowers should havelasted longer.
Here's another one and they'relike oh, thank you so much,
(23:54):
dealt with that so well.
And it's about how you dealwith these things, yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
I think the biggest
thing is to hold your hands up.
Yeah, and internally for you.
You can duck and you can pushthe problem down the road.
Yeah, and you're going to makethe same mistake again and again
and again like you allunderstand deliveries.
A delivery's not turned up, butyou'll probably have it.
Delivery's not turned up.
It's valentine's day and theflowers didn't turn up till
eight o'clock, when you neededto be in there at five prepping
(24:19):
them to get the bouquets out topeople.
How do you deal with it?
It's a problem, find a solutionand move on yeah um, so then
you decided to open another one,so you loved it that much yeah,
so that one paul wasn't sopushy about it was actually my
idea.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Yeah, I was the one I
kept saying to danny so danny
was a customer of mine before Iwas in linfield and I kept
saying, if you ever see ashopcom available in linfield, I
want it.
I really love linfield.
I like the vibe on the highstreet.
I felt like I had a bit of acustomer-based building in the
Hayward Seaf, linfield area,ardingly, all of that.
I sort of had this littlecustomer-based building and I
(24:58):
just thought I need a plot there, I need a space there,
something.
Just like you, I follow my gut.
Something was telling me that Ineeded my brand over there.
It naturally ended up thereanyway.
So I kept walking.
Those shops come available inLinfield.
How you found that one you'vegot so organically, I have no
idea.
I had to walk up and down thehigh street every every few
(25:20):
months.
I'd walk up and down the highstreet over a period of about
eight, nine months, um, and walkinto the shops and keep asking
the shopkeepers if they'releaving or if they're retiring.
And could you let me know ifyou, if you're, if your shop
comes up or if you know of ashopkeeper that's coming up.
And eventually this oneshopkeeper was retiring and said
, yeah, I'm going take it.
(25:40):
And there, there it was, and itall went through really quick
yeah, it was well.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
I didn't have time to
think about it.
I didn't even know you wasdoing it until I saw something
on Instagram saying Bella DrewFlowers opening Linfield.
I was like what, when?
When did that happen?
Speaker 2 (25:54):
see the fear wasn't
really there for Linfield.
I was excited, I was absolutelybuzzing yeah, I was so excited
for it.
There was not really a coupleof times, obviously.
I sat there and gone we don'tmake enough money in that first
month.
I can't pay my landlord thefirst month, what's he gonna
think if I can't pay him?
What if I can't pay my staff?
What if I can't pay mysuppliers?
(26:14):
Like I started thinking I hadno capital like back up.
There was nothing in a pot toget me through the first few
months.
So we got the keys and weturned it around in two weeks.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
You turned it around
so quick two weeks.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
We got the keys and I
got in there.
We got the keys on the 2nd ofJanuary and we were open like
soft opening on the 16th of.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
January.
That's nuts, because that's areally bad time for people to
spend money as well.
It is a really bad time.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Not so much for a
florist, though, because four
weeks after opening we hadValentine's Day which is a
really great way of gettingpeople's feet through the doors,
like just en masse, to showthem what we could do, um, and
the quality of our stuff.
And that paid off, because offthe back of that then they come
back for mother's day and thenthey just remain as customers.
Yeah, so it kind of hit theground running Linfield, but
(27:03):
something in me told me it wasgoing to.
Yeah, so I wasn't.
I I wasn't worried because Iwas worried, but there's
something about that high street, though it's just so unique.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
It's a beautiful
place.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
It's always lovely,
independently owned.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Yes got a lot of
female business owners yeah, it
has.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
We were talking about
this before.
It's lots of lots of femalebusiness.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
It's leaders on the
high street.
It's cool.
The community itself.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Yeah.
Everyone's like really lovelyand people want to shop small
and shop local in Linfield.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
And this is I think
people should be doing that more
in more places.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Yeah, supermarkets
and stuff.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
It's so important
they're just pulling our pants
down for they really are theproduce is terrible, the for?
Yeah, they really are.
The produce is terrible, themeat's terrible.
You buy a chicken breast andit's that big and then it
shrinks when you cook it.
The flowers are terrible yeah,do you know what I mean?
And you pay over the odds forthem, what you would pay going
into someone like you.
But I think it's we're more andmore lazy as human beings.
It's convenience isn't it?
Speaker 1 (28:02):
yeah, I'm going to
get some milk.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
I'll pick some
flowers up on the way yeah,
exactly um, I just yeah, and Ithink it's uh, what you've both
done is amazing.
Now, obviously, when you tookyour place on, I know that you
had a lot of work to do in thereto get it to where it is today.
How was that?
Speaker 1 (28:21):
I made myself ill.
I was so ill.
We obviously so a bit likeKelly, we didn't, we didn't have
a pot like everything we putinto it, that was it.
That's all we had.
You know, um, it was really.
You know.
People say don't put all youreggs in one basket.
Yeah you did um but like, likeyou were saying, I knew I know I
(28:45):
can, I know I'm good at it, I'mgood at bathrooms, I'm good at
design.
So I'm good at bathrooms, I'mgood at design.
So I just kept reminding myselfthat this is going to be great
when it's done.
But it took us about sevenweeks to turn it around.
But because it's grade twolisted as well, we had a bit of
planning permission to getthrough.
Yeah, you know, there's certainwalls that we couldn't affix
(29:06):
anything to.
We had to build out from, likebare brick walls and things like
that.
So it there was.
There's a lot.
There's still a lot to do.
I mean, we've got an upstairsyou're building bathrooms in
there.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
I mean, all I was
really doing was painting the
walls and putting up shelves, soit's still our shop fit out,
isn't it, at the end of the day?
Speaker 1 (29:23):
and it's hard work.
I mean, I designed every bay inthe showroom myself, which it
was a new.
Ripples was, uh, a new productbase.
Some of the products and brandsthat ripples have access to.
There's a lot of shows thatdon't have access to that, so I
(29:43):
wasn't privy to a lot of thesebefore and I had to.
I had to.
Back to back in linfield coffeeworks actually great coffee shop
um, back to back.
For about two weeks I had repsof every single brand come out
and see me and I sat in thatcoffee shop literally two weeks
solid, just waiting for the repscoming and talk to me so that I
(30:03):
could learn as much as I couldabout the brands I didn't know
as much of, so when I come todesign it, I knew what I should
be putting in there, what'sgoing to work, what's new stuff
that maybe other showroomshaven't put in yet, and things
like that.
Just try to get ahead of thegame.
Get ahead, yeah, get ahead ofit, and also make it appealing
to Linfield, because Linfield issuch a specific place.
(30:27):
It's very picture postcard,it's very.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
Christmas you have to
have the Christmas display.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
Linfield Village Week
you have to have the Linfield
display 100% and, um, it wasmaking sure I'm lucky, like
we've lived on the outskirts ofLinfield forever, my kids go to
school in Linfield, so, whichwas also kind of worrying,
though, because all those schoolmums that it's mixing work and
life, that can.
That can make or break me,because I only need to
(30:55):
accidentally upset one personand that could be a whole bunch
of people.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
Yeah, don't upset
anyone on the PTA.
Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (31:02):
though, like it could
make or break me, like I have
to be so careful and my childrenhave to be careful too.
I'm constantly having to coachthem when we're out and about.
Living where you work is quitehard, because when we're out and
about, I'm like you do not knowwhat clients we might see.
So I need you to be.
You know, just don't run aroundlike loonies, don't scream,
(31:23):
don't like touch everything in ashop, just chill.
You know, I'm like you've seenme with my boys, and my boys are
nuts.
Don't have to preach to me yeah, you know it's like.
So that was also something.
But yeah, it was.
It was hard work getting fitout, but we were fit out within
seven weeks and that was justpurely.
I know that they were alsotrying to fit out Tunbridge
(31:45):
Wells ripples as well.
Um, and I just made itabundantly clear to the guy who
owns uh ripples in TunbridgeWells, who is a friend, but I
made sure I was like justletting you know I'm going first
.
You know, if there's a choicebetween me and you, it's gonna
be me um so we fit out likereally quickly by a showroom,
(32:07):
fit out standards.
You know it was just like oneteam doing it.
One team with that was it.
And you also know as well.
Actually, like in the bathroomindustry, tile industry, all
that kind of industry is a bitrenowned for deliveries not
turning up on time, wrong thingsbeing delivered.
So I had to really factor in ifI've got to open my doors.
(32:28):
I had to pay rent from day dot.
I had no rent period, nothing.
So if I need to open my doors,I need to be making sure that
everything's delivered on time.
I had to really schedule myselfto make sure I can open my
doors.
I need to be making sure thateverything's delivered on time
like it was a real.
I had to really schedule myselfto make sure I can open those
doors when I need to.
It was really hard because wehad to wait for planning
permission as well I want tochange the usage to not to
(32:51):
change.
Um no, we didn't have to dochange of usage.
It was for the fact that we'veobviously had to build quite a
lot of like walls and stuff.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
So we had to get oh,
it's listed.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
It's a listed
building.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
So we had to get.
We also at one point, me and mydad my dad was a massive
support, he was there with me alot we were trying to open up
one of these doorways and westarted getting into it and we
realised there's this old oakbeam in it and we were like we
(33:22):
can't open that up because itwas not on.
It was on no plans, nothing.
No one even knew it was there.
So we were like we'll have tocover that back up and change
the whole design of that bay andtry and make it work.
So that was like a big changethat we had to do.
It's difficult, isn't it, butwe did it yeah and we got there
(33:43):
in the end booming all right.
Speaker 3 (33:46):
What have you both
had to sacrifice in your life to
be able to run these businessesthe way you've run them?
Speaker 2 (33:52):
that's a big sleep,
food time, I think, time with
children, yeah, the kids.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
It is always going to
come down to that, as cliche as
that is, as women in business.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
Look, I think that
there's loads of different types
of women.
There's these women that arejust born mothers and having a
job or a career, and that isjust not for them.
They just want to bake and bewith their children all the time
and just be home and be mothers, and I think that in itself is
a full time job and hats off tothem because I actually couldn't
do that.
No, I genuinely couldn't do that.
(34:27):
And then there's the women thataren't interested in a family
and are like career driven andthey're quite happy to be this
independent boss woman.
And there's lots of other women.
But then there's these likein-betweenies like us that want
to do, do it all, maybe not tothe full, like I draw the line
at baking bread.
It's not happening and I alsowouldn't be able to just have a
(34:49):
career and nothing else.
But I'm somewhere in that grayarea in the middle that wants to
be a really good mum.
But I also have to survive andto function.
I have to have something for me, and it's not the gym and it's
not horse riding, it's.
I don't have a hobby.
I actually genuinely lovepottering around in my shop and
doing stuff with flowers and, um, I think I'm an artist by like
(35:12):
it's in me to be artistic and Ijust chose flowers as my medium.
That is my therapy.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
That is my time?
Yeah, it is flowers.
Is your sanity?
Speaker 2 (35:20):
I have sacrificed a
lot of time with my children.
I know I have for work, butI've also sacrificed a lot of my
time, which is work for mychildren, and I think the
balance is all right.
It's okay.
I would definitely spend moretime with my kids if I could.
Yeah, like if I could take aday off from the shop, I would
to be that full-time mum, school, drop-off, school, pick up
(35:41):
homework and do it from six inthe morning till 10 at night.
I would.
But financially I just it's notthere for me at the moment to
be able to do that.
But it doesn't bother me likeloads because I really do enjoy
working.
I I actually, I genuinely lovemy job.
I wouldn't not want to do it,no.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
I remember when I
think Isaac was two, I should
have been.
Toby would have been about one,so the youngest one didn't
exist yet and I just remembergetting to, yeah, isaac being
about two, and I rememberlooking at Sean and just going I
need to go back to work.
Like I can't do this all thetime, like I feel like I've
(36:21):
completely lost myself.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
Some women just
aren't made to be.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
I know you shouldn't
feel guilty for it?
Speaker 2 (36:27):
no, instagram,
instagram.
Instagram does a great job atmaking working mums.
I think feel a little bitguilty for not having making all
those special memories.
But we were saying earlier,there's other stuff in there too
.
It's not always rainbows andsunshine and kids can be
arseholes yeah they can be utterarseholes sometimes and we need
to get away from it.
(36:47):
Yeah, some women just aren'tbuilt to be around those little
arseholes all the time.
No, no, I completely agree, Ireally do.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
I think if I wasn't
working, I think my mental
health would really suffer.
I agree because when Isaac was,you know when he was that age,
when I was just saying he youknow, I was starting to feel
myself mentally slipping, yeahinto this, I'm just a mum now.
Yeah, like, oh my god, I thinkI was like maybe 23.
I was like at 23, like, yeah.
(37:16):
I'm just I'm now mum like, whatlike?
How has this happened?
Speaker 2 (37:19):
I've never actually
been a stay.
I've never done the mummingthing full time.
All my kids were born.
Maternity leave was maximum ofa few weeks and I was back at
work again.
Yeah, I wouldn't have been ableto put myself through it.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
I think we tried it
because we didn't have enough
money to put them into care alsothat's another thing though,
isn't it Also?
Speaker 2 (37:38):
you're kind of
expected, when you have a baby,
to be a stay-at-home mum for alittle while and try it.
I just, I was just like not forme.
I knew it wasn't for me fromday dot.
It was never going to be for me.
I don't think I even everwanted children.
Wow.