THRIVE Autumn 2018 | issue 2

Autumn 2018 | Issue 2

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Our Manifesto for Female Founders Create something the world needs Keep it simple Engage your customers Start lean Dream big Be yourself Get a mentor Be a mentor Set goals Experiment Innovate Be confident Celebrate your successes Be proud of what you achieve Be kind to yourself 2

As a start-up, there is only so much you can do, and we are particularly grateful for those people who have selflessly helped us spread the word about Thrive, either by recommending guest contributors, or by introducing us to potential sponsors. We would like to give a special thanks to Simon Chuter, Robyn Forman, Chloe Peacock, and Chloe Upton.

We would also like to thank our generous sponsors who have made Issue 2 become a reality: Plus Accounting, Sussex Innovation Centre, Enterprise Nation, Printed Easy, and Parkers.

Finally, thank you to all our guest contributors, interview participants, and advisers who have volunteered their time to share their experience and expertise: Ruth Anslow, Susan Bentley, Lana Burgess, Kathy Caton, Jo Cook, Tayler and Daisy Cresswell, Emma Hardwick, Sarah Jones, Molly Masters, Pam Murphy, Sara Osterholzer, Eva Poliszczuk, Danielle Reynolds, MarĂ­a Soler, Rifa Thorpe-Tracey, and Kerry Watkins.

Co-Founder and Editor: Clare Griffiths Co-Founder and Designer: Lau Moracchini Distribution: Xiomara & Co. Front cover illustration by Sarah Jones for Thrive Enquiries and Sponsorship: clare@thrivethemag.co.uk 07952 914 937 www.issuu.com/thrivethemag

Whilst the greatest care is taken to ensure that the information in the magazine is correct, neither the publisher, nor its editorial contributors, can accept liability to any party for loss or damage caused by errors, inaccuracies, or omissions.

Unless otherwise stated, the guest contributors own the copyright of the photographs and images featured in their respective articles. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without the express permission of the Editor.

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Editorial Letter

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Clare Griffiths

started Thrive because I couldn’t relate to any of the business magazines I came across. I wanted to create a magazine that I would read – full of inspirational, down-toearth interviews with female entrepreneurs, creatives, and changemakers, along with practical advice written by industry experts to boost my business knowledge. Since publishing Issue 1, I have discovered that I am not the only woman in business who feels the same as me, and it has been motivating for the Thrive team to receive so much positive feedback, words of encouragement, and support from our growing number of readers.

In every issue, we aspire to celebrate a diverse range of female founders and women in business who are achieving great things either as a start-up, a pioneer within their industry, or as an employee innovating in the workplace. Hopefully, you will find Issue 2 is no exception.

In this issue, we explore the theme of ‘business for good’, and showcase a number of women who are pushing the boundaries within their industries to bring about positive change - whether that be of social, cultural, environmental, or economic value. We believe that business has the potential to be a great catalyst for change, and the women featured in Issue 2 are all playing a vital role in driving forward that change.

We hope you enjoy reading Issue 2 as much as we have enjoyed putting it together.

Happy reading!

Clare Griffiths Co-Founder and Editor of Thrive P.S. Our social purpose is to boost the start-up and survival rates of female-led businesses in Sussex and beyond. Help us achieve our mission by sharing our magazine online, or by giving a print copy to someone with an interest in small business management, creative practice, or social entrepreneurship. Thank you!

Photo by Philip Bedford 4

We help you start and grow a successful business Join us at enterprisenation.com/membership 5

CONTENTS START 08 Diary of a Start-Up: Books That Matter

By Molly Masters 12 Promoting Equestrian Safety Through Fashion With Danielle Reynolds 16 I Want to Set Up a Social Enterprise.

But Where Do I Start?

By Sara Osterholzer 22 How to Make Your Business ‘Good’

By Susan B. Bentley

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26 What is Content Marketing?

How Does it Work?

By Lana Burgess 08

GROW 32 Reinventing the Way Supermarkets Do Business With Ruth Anslow 36 SINC_Hack > 17% at the Sussex Innovation Centre

By Eva Poliszczuk

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40 Taking On the Challenge of Making the World’s Best Gin in the Most Sustainable Way With Kathy Caton

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CONTENTS 46 From Trainee Accountant to Plus Advisory Manager: Growing with Plus Accounting With Emma Hardwick 52 Creating Employment Opportunities for People with Learning Disabilities With Jo Cook 58 Building a Successful Content Marketing Strategy

By Kerry Watkins

REFLECT 62 Building the Network of SheSays Brighton With Rifa Thorpe-Tracey 68 Making (Good) Trouble with Brighton5 With Tayler and Daisy Cresswell 68

DISCOVER 76 Building an Eco-Lodge in the Nicaraguan Rainforest With MarĂ­a Soler

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CREATE 80 Sarah Jones Artist and Illustrator

CONNECT 90 Small Business Resources 7

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Diary of a Start-Up: Books That Matter With Molly Masters, Founder of Books That Matter company whilst I was in my second year of university – studying English Literature, naturally. My interests were firmly rooted in female authors and their progress from the 18th century to the present day, but I was frustrated by the lack of female representation. Research showed me just how difficult it is for women to be published, especially women of colour or women from minority backgrounds.

Additionally, when I talked to friends and family about the content of my seminars and about these fabulous women writers with inspiring backgrounds and stories, it shocked me to learn that people outside higher education and the publishing/ bookish sphere were simply not aware of them. From this the seeds of Books That Matter were sown. I wanted to create something to promote the voices and work of female authors, as well as to provide an exciting way to access these books.

Molly Masters

What is Books That Matter?

Books That Matter is a book subscription box service with a difference. We provide subscribers with a box a month containing one empowering or inspiring read of predominantly female authorship, as well as at least two bookish or feminist-inspired gifts from independent creatives. I founded the company in 2017, and launched preorders for the boxes in July 2018. We sold over 100 boxes on our first day of launch; at one point 50 boxes sold in 20 minutes, I couldn’t believe it!

What is unique about your subscription box service?

Books That Matter is entirely femalefounded and female-operated. Unlike other subscription box services, we offer an interactive platform where our community of book lovers can chat and share their opinions on what they have read, and how it enlightens their experience of the real world. Our interactive blog posts, which are released alongside each month’s readto aid the understanding of the book and help readers learn about the author and

What motivated you to set up Books That Matter?

The company was born out of a love of literature and a faith in its ability to change the way we think and act and, ultimately, how we perceive the world. I started the

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A sample box from Books That Matter

her story, help to educate on why each book we pick to go in the boxes is a book that matters, a book that informs on important world issues, and has the potential to make us think.

with this brand and that we want to work at as a team. Firstly, we want our subscribers and our community to be informed, empowered and inspired each month by the books we provide, whether they learn something new about feminism, a part of the world, a historical moment, or feel they have been able to walk in the shoes of someone with a different life experience through a novel.

The lasting impact on the brain of a good book can change the way we think, and that can be enormously powerful. Our subscribers may then recommend or lend that book to a friend, and create a lasting domino effect of people reading the work of an important female writer and forming new opinions on the world because of it.

What remains really important and integral to the makeup of our brand’s ethos is that we are women supporting women. We work directly not only with female (and non-binary) authors but also with creatives too, so that the gifts provided in each box are not wholesale, manufactured goods, but are items hand-crafted and hand-designed by an independent creative. They are featured on our monthly ‘menu’ in the box, to help support and provide a platform for their work. Collaborating with female creatives is a key aspect of the company, and something we are really proud of.

We also intend to pair with charities for future boxes and support their work and raise awareness for multiple different global causes. Further into the future we want to curate our own events, getting our book lovers together

What social impact do you intend to make through Books That Matter?

There is so much that I want to achieve 10

START What advice do you have for women who aspire to set up their own business?

to discuss important issues like race, sexuality, gender, politics and history. We also intend, one day, to have our own publishing house to publish the books that we want to see in the world! It’s an exciting journey ahead!

It was terrifying setting up Books That Matter, and doing it alone has been a challenge and a half. But with every hurdle and set-back I have had to trust my own instincts, make my own decisions and stick to them. It sounds cheesy but staying true to yourself and being confident in the decisions you make is very important. Don’t let others dampen your confidence. I have had people tell me, ‘It won’t work out’, or that I ‘can’t run a business without a man’. That is all just noise at the end of the day, because I have come out the other side with a successful start-up that I am proud of! Surround yourself with positivity, whether that is people that build you up, or your own positive mindset, and, as my wonderful business mentor Chloe Peacock always tells me, ‘Be kind to yourself!’

What lessons have you learned along your entrepreneurial journey so far?

One of the biggest lessons I have learned is that community amongst female entrepreneurs is everything, and that you should never be afraid to reach out to each other and share experiences. It is so easy to compare yourself to someone with a bazillion followers on Instagram who has the thriving business you want, but it all takes time and a little perspective.

I have met some amazing people on the journey to starting up Books That Matter, and have also had some not-soamazing encounters, but that is all part of learning and growing. Collaborating with other women has been a dream and has helped the brand to grow a lot.

I’m forever grateful to the businesses, bloggers and other wonderful women who supported and advised me in the early days of starting out. They gave me a massive confidence boost in my mission, and I have made some real friends for life – many of whose items will be making appearances in upcoming boxes!

Find out more

Learn more about Books That Matter by visiting booksthatmatter.org.uk, or by following @booksthatmatter (Twitter) and @booksthatmatteruk (Instagram).

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DVR Equestrian Sport Clothing

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Promoting Equestrian Safety Through Fashion With Danielle Reynolds, Founder of DVR Equestrian Sport What is DVR Equestrian Sport?

brand. Some brands offer riding leggings, base-layers, and high-performance wear like we do, but only one other brand does so incorporating visible elements.

Our designs, and the whole personality of the brand, are very different to theirs.

We have also created products that didn’t previously exist in the equestrianwear market, such as our unisex riding track-pants, and sweatshirts with hidden pockets.

DVR Equestrian Sport is an equestrianwear brand like no other. We strive to be innovative, unique, and to challenge the boundaries of equestrian wear by creating products that are appropriate, comfortable, and which go above and beyond in terms of performance.

Our debut award-winning collection concentrated on incorporating fluorescent material with reflective detailing to encourage equestrians (particularly those that avoid wearing hivis) to be more visible when out riding, and consequently, to be safer.

How have you ensured your clothing range reflects your values of ethical fashion and sustainability?

Our technical range is made from a specialist Italian technical fabric which is made up of 78% recycled polyamide and 22% elastane. This fabric is currently used for ten of our designs, and we hope to use even more recycled fabric in the future. I am keen to find suitable fabric that is 100% recycled, but the fabric also needs to work well for the rider.

My motivation for starting the brand came mainly from two business competitions I was placed highly in.

This gave me huge confidence in my idea, as did the positive reactions from the people around me. I always believed in the concept, and, as a rider, I liked the products for myself. However, I wasn’t always confident in the prospect of attempting to run my own fashion label, let alone being able to find start-up funding.

Our clothing range is manufactured in Portugal by a family-run business. I know and trust the family very well. The workers are paid fairly, and the factories are visited often.

How is your equestrian wear different to that of other equestrian brands?

We avoid fabric waste, and our left-over fabric is sent over from the Portuguese factory to the UK so that we can produce small products, such as hat silks. Not

Our STYLE VIS collection is completely different to any other equestrian-wear 13

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DVR Equestrian Sport Clothing

only is this good for the environment, it is also more cost efficient.

your campaign when you launch. Write emails in advance and send them out to everyone you know. Have a strong range of price options and gifts for your backers to choose from. Look at successful campaigns and use their example for ideas of how to lay out your campaign and what information to give.

Last year you were successful in raising over ÂŁ10,000 in crowdfunding via Kickstarter. What crowdfunding tips can you share with our readers?

Crowdfunding is such a great option, I highly recommend going for it! Not only are you showcasing your ideas, you are sourcing your first customers. If people like your product enough, they will purchase from you.

What have been the biggest challenges you have overcome so far along your entrepreneurial journey?

It is difficult to decide what to focus on. Everything costs money and there is always going to be more that you want to do than you can afford. Deciding what to wait on and what to do is one of the things I struggle most with.

Whilst crowdfunding is a fantastic way to raise much needed start-up funds, it is also very tiring, as you are connecting with your customer base, and doing a month of the most intense marketing.

Raising the funds through Kickstarter was definitely the biggest challenge I have overcome, simply because it was a lot of work selling the idea to get support from others, which isn’t my strongest point.

My main tips would be to make sure your video pitch is strong, and share it like crazy! Contact journalists early on so that they are prepared to share 14

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I think overall the biggest challenge is balancing everything, and remembering everything. When you start a business, note-pads, to-do lists, and highlighters become your best friends!

Make sure you know what you are getting into. Fashion brands take a long time to grow, so you need to have total faith in yourself, and be in it for the long run. Get experience in the industry if you don’t have any already. Working for a small brand allows you to see all aspects of the business, such as how their calendar works and what the working day actually consists of. The design part of running a fashion brand is actually only a small part of it. I also recommend you do not look too closely at your competitors, as this can reduce your confidence, influence your designs, and hinder you from designing new and exciting products.

What have been your greatest achievements to date?

It would have to be winning the Graduate Fashion Week Barclays New Business Award, coming second in the Santander University of Brighton Ideas Competition, running a successful Kickstarter campaign, and having British Olympic rider, Gemma Tattersall, wearing one of my tops. I soon have my first pop-up shop at Hickstead, for the Longines Royal International Horse Show, and so I am hoping that will top them all!

Danielle Reynolds

Find out more

Visit dvrequestrian.com and email danielle@dvrequestrian.com for more information. Follow Danielle on Instagram at @dvrequestriansport and on Twitter at @DVR_Equestrian. Find her on Facebook at @DVREquestrian.

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Sara Osterholzer

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I Want to Set Up a Social Enterprise.

But Where Do I Start?

By Sara Osterholzer

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o you have an idea brewing? Have you had a few chats with friends and family who think it’s brilliant? Do you feel like you’ve found something that marries your personal passion to business? That’s fantastic! You must be filled with excitement and anticipation.

But do you have a sense of feeling slightly overwhelmed? You’re not alone. Starting a socially-focused business isn’t simple, but there are some things you can do to get started.

example, depression could also be a cause of the problem of social isolation.

It’s useful to block out time in your diary to sit down with paper, pens and sticky notes to map it all out. It’s also important to invite others who understand the problem to join you and help you think it all through. As you begin mapping out causes and effects, the complexity of the problem will become very clear, and potentially overwhelming. But the exercise will allow you to see where you should focus your attention. Choosing just one or two causes and/or effects of the problem will allow you to begin to develop a thoughtful solution to tackle them.

1. Spend time understanding the problem you’re trying to solve If you’re thinking about setting up a social enterprise, then there will be a social or environmental issue that you’re passionate about improving. But tackling this issue is complex and you’ll need to really get your head around the problem to be sure your solution is making the positive impact you envision.

2. Connect with others focused on solving the same problem You won’t be the first person in the world to be passionate about tackling our global issues. But that’s absolutely fine.

Unfortunately, the complex nature of these issues (as you will have discovered from the mapping exercise mentioned above) means that they can’t be solved overnight and will need a lot more people power to make a change.

A good place to start is by trying to understand what in society may have caused the problem to exist, and what are the ripple effects that problem is having on people and our planet. For example, one cause of social isolation in the elderly community is the loss of a lifelong partner, and one of the effects of being socially isolated is depression. In this

As a potential newbie in this space there’s no reason for you to start from scratch.

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START There are so many people who have been at the same stage as you and have dedicated time and energy to learn about the problem and overcome challenges to set up successful social enterprises. These people will be happy to support someone joining the movement to make a real impact in the sector. Find these people, and reach out to them. You might be surprised how much time you can save, and how much knowledge you can gain, from a 30-minute conversation.

ask them. The worst that can happen is they will be flattered and turn you down.

But they might know others who they can recommend.

3. Build an advisory board to help move your idea forward

4. Find your potential customers/ beneficiaries, and get to really know them

Once you’ve started to get a better picture of your social enterprise solution, you’ll want to move quickly to build a simplified version that you can test.

As a start-up, the biggest barrier is the expectation that one person (you) has to understand and move forward all aspects of the business on their own. This is a lot of pressure, especially if you’re entering a new sector. But there is a cheap alternative.

I’m going to tell you the biggest secret to setting up a successful social enterprise.

Create something that your customers and beneficiaries need and value.

Surprised? Maybe not, but what you might be surprised to hear is just how many people create businesses based on assumptions of what people want, and are then surprised when they struggle to set meetings with potential clients, and have low numbers for the service they’re offering.

When setting up the advisory board, be clear on what you want their role to be, and be prepared to offer something in return for their time. Small gifts, paying for drinks, and offering to cover travel can go a long way to show appreciation for their time and wisdom.

An advisory board is a select group of people who offer advice on setting up and running your social enterprise. They are unofficial, which means there are no legal requirements, and they do not have the authority to vote or control business matters, which means the board can take any shape you want it to.

Assumptions are a great place to start.

Using tools such as the Assumptions Exercise in Talking to Humans (talkingtohumans.com), you can paint a picture of the customers/beneficiaries you’re aiming to focus on. If you’ve connected with others in the sector, you’ll no doubt have gained information (even subconsciously) from your conversations.

Generally, the board consists of business experts in your sector and successful entrepreneurs running social enterprises focused on solving the same problem.

If you don’t already know people who could be on your board, don’t be afraid to reach out to people. If you connect with someone that seems right for the board,

The next step is to get in front of the people you’ve identified as your potential customers/beneficiaries, and to get to know them. By using the right questions you can learn a lot about what their biggest headaches are, what makes them 18

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Photo by Mimi Thian

happy, and how they might interact with your product or service.

Once you have developed a Minimal Viable Product (MVP), start testing it with a small group of potential customers who can be critical and honest about the product or service. Around 50 is good for comparing feedback in a meaningful way. Collect the feedback, and make sure you take the time to reflect. Were there trends in the feedback? Did you notice customer segments forming? This is all vital to making your product or service a hit when you launch.

Once you’ve got a better understanding of the people you’ll focus your attention on, you can go back to your assumptions exercise and update the information.

There will no doubt be some information you hit the nail on the head with, and other bits that were worlds apart. This is OK, and the point of the exercise.

5. Start testing as soon as possible

Test your idea with larger groups of people until you feel ready to launch your start-up. Testing can take many shapes, and it will all depend on your idea. Some testing environments can be set up specifically to ask people to use the service or product for free and give

One of the most impactful moments of your start-up journey will be when you test your idea. I’ve never worked with anyone who has tested their idea and not come out the other side with at least one big takeaway they hadn’t expected.

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START feedback, while other methods could be stocking the product in a shop and seeing what the response is to it. Work out a test plan that works for your idea.

People aren’t engaging with it in the test stage, the feedback isn’t helping you to find alternative solutions to offer your beneficiaries, and experts in the sector have had concerns. It might be hard to do, but letting go could be the best thing for you and the idea. You can very easily get caught up pouring time, energy and money into an idea that only you, and maybe a handful of people, believe in.

Think how that time could otherwise be spent exploring a whole new concept.

For those of you who get high engagement from customers/ beneficiaries, and clear steps to update the product or service from your tests, it might be that the idea takes a very different shape to when you started this journey. That’s all right. In fact, it’s better than all right. It indicates you have listened to what people need and created something they want to use and that they value. This will set you up for the best chance to succeed. On the other hand, it might turn out that the idea you started with is not getting any traction.

There’s no one right way of going about starting up a social enterprise, but if you’re looking to develop a robust idea, test it as soon possible, and get to the point where you feel confident and supported to launch.

Biography

Believing business is a tool for social and environmental change, Sara supports changemakers to develop and test their business ideas to elevate the social enterprises of the future.

Talent-spotted by the Thrive team, this article was first published via Sara’s blog –https://sarasophieosterholzer.wordpress. com/ – on 10 January 2018.

You can contact Sara by email saraosterholzer@gmail.com or via Twitter @SaraSophieOst.

She is a business adviser and coach, and sits on the Board of Directors for RubyMoon, an ethical swimwear brand, as well as the Advisory Board for Rank & File, a digital magazine for the social entrepreneur.

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We take a genuine interest in you and your business info@plusaccounting.co.uk / www.plusaccounting.co.uk 01273 701200 @PlusAccounting 21

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Susan B. Bentley

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How to Make Your Business ‘Good’

By Susan B. Bentley

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orporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has recently become a buzz term for big companies. Being shown to be ethical is good for business – it attracts customers and clients, as well as positive marketing. ‘Good’ businesses benefit as people are increasingly searching for ethical companies. However, how can you demonstrate good CSR when you are a small business, or just starting out?

Here are some areas to start thinking about and acting on.

Money versus time Whether you are a new small business, or an established one, money and your bottom line are key. At a recent Thrive Meetup, we discussed how realistic it would be to be able to give ten per cent of your profits to a good cause. We came to the conclusion that sometimes this is just not possible – at least not when you are first starting out. As a start-up, can you really afford to donate such a significant amount when you have to make sure you can afford your equipment, marketing, rent, tax, as well as have a life at some point!?

The UN’s sustainable development agenda may look overwhelming, but there is key action you can take in your business. Take a look at the UN’s list of goals at un.org/sustainabledevelopment/ sustainable-development-goals/ and their easy actions list at un.org/ sustainabledevelopment/takeaction/.

One part of being a ‘good’ business is examining how you are giving back to the wider community around you. Do you want to donate money to a good cause, or give your time? Do you want to help locally or globally? These may seem like big questions for you to be looking at, especially if you are just starting out, but looking at this now can reap rewards for you in the future – not just in terms of client attraction, but also for future employee engagement, marketing, and that all important sense of feeling good about yourself and your business.

If you are unable to donate cash, why not consider donating your time to a good cause? Can you offer your skills to a local not-for-profit organisation?

These organisations often have neither the time nor expertise to invest in their own business planning. As a business professional, therefore, there are many ways in which you could help them. You could: - Offer a free three-hour consultation to create a fundraising strategy

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START - Create a volunteer management system so the organisation can keep track of their volunteers’ time

volunteering roles (Community Works Taking Account: bhcommunityworks. org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/ FINAL-TAKING-ACCOUNT-3REPORT.compressed.pdf ). Many of these organisations are tiny, operating on shoestring budgets with small teams of paid staff, and in some cases entirely run by volunteers. Despite this they all make a huge contribution to the lives of local people.

- Organise a local business volunteer day - Help with social media marketing These actions could take up a minimal amount of your time, but would be greatly appreciated by the community organisation.

With so many organisations servicing the local area, it can be confusing to figure out who you should help. Ask yourself what the key values of your business are.

These might be economic values, but they might also be environmental and/ or social ones. Once you have mapped out your business values you can start researching for a suitable community organisation to partner with. Here are my tips to help you with this research:

Cause or organisation Is there a particular cause that you have always supported? If so, reach out to them to see how your business can help. For many years I have supported breast cancer awareness campaigns, so I will always support them through my business. Supporting a cause could be as simple as cheering their runners on at a marathon race, amplifying their social media campaigns by retweeting and tagging key contacts, or by getting involved in fundraising activities, such as walking/running at a sports event.

- Look around you. Are there any local community groups or organisations that match your values?

- Talk to your local volunteer centre or third sector members’ group. In Brighton and Hove, Community Works are a great source of information and can help match you to a local organisation: bhcommunityworks.org.uk/business/.

Most causes now have a ‘How to Get Involved’ page on their websites, so read these for inspiration. It could be something as easy as having a cup of tea with friends, or wearing a fancy dress outfit for a day!

- Keep an eye on the local press for innovative new groups. For example, Platform B is a not-for-profit broadcaster that helps young people gain media and life skills (platformb.org.uk).

Nurture through Nature is a community gardening group who help tackle food poverty in Brighton and Hove (nurturethroughnature.org).

Local organisations A lot of people don’t realise just how big the voluntary sector is in their local area.

For example, in Brighton and Hove alone there are approximately 2,300 voluntary sector organisations contributing approximately £73 million per year to the local economy, with nearly 28,000 24

START - Do a postcode search on the national volunteering database. Brighton and Hove have their own database at bhcommunityworks.org.uk/volunteer/ search/. You can also find out about community groups local to you at do-it. org.

To get in contact with Suse, visit her website susanbbentley.com, email her at suse@susanbbentley.com, and tweet her at @susebb.

- Finally, let people know about your work. Add a tab or link to your website, explaining what ‘good’ you are doing, and social media the heck out of it. More publicity for you means more publicity for the organisation or cause you are supporting. That can benefit them hugely – potentially with more funding, marketing, volunteers, infrastructure, and help. There is a lot of giving back you can do simply by making your business ‘good’.

Susan B. Bentley

Biography I’m Suse, and I help women like you.

We all live a thousand lives, and here are some of mine. I’m a writer of short stories and poetry, I’m a geek girl heavily into film, I’m a Riotgrrrl still in my heart, I’m a runner (slowly), I’m a lover of live music, I’m the only viola learner in Brighton (well, it feels like it).

Now that I’m well into my 40s, I have become increasingly frustrated with the lack of representation of women my age in business. Where are all the female leaders? Where are all the female speakers? Where are all the women like me who have the confidence to talk to anyone (about anything!)?

My business experience is wide-ranging, and I am the classic portfolio careerist (or ‘hyphenate’ as we are now called!). I have worked in publishing, film, the NHS, local government, schools, widening participation programmes – all with the theme of talking to people, talking to everyone! I’m partly an introvert, and partly a very, very chatty person!

I’m a qualified Personal and Life Coach (Leeds Centre for Psychological Development) and hold a current Enhanced DBS Check.

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What is Content Marketing and How does it Work?

By Lana Burgess, Writer and Content Strategist

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n this article, my aim is to help small businesses owners, entrepreneurs, and marketing managers alike find straightforward answers to their content marketing questions. Because busy people don’t have time to translate marketing buzzwords.

benefits of a company’s product. In contrast, content marketing is customercentric. It aims to offer content that will be useful to the customers or potential customers of a company.

Put simply, content marketing is a relationship-building exercise that involves providing your audience with content that is useful to them. But why is this kind of relationship-building a good way to market your business? Because if you create content that is audience-led it means that the right people will find your content valuable. As a result, these people will want to return to your site next time they need advice. When you consistently provide value to people in this way, people will start to form a preference for your brand. So the next time they have a need for a product you sell, you will come to mind above other brands - and you’re likely to win their custom.

Content marketing defined Speak to anyone in digital, and they’ll probably mention content marketing and expect you to know what they’re talking about. But you’re not alone if you’re not quite clear what content marketing is, or what it involves. So let’s start with some definitions from those in the know. The Content Marketing Institute defines content marketing as: ‘…A strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience - and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.’

In content marketing, your relationshipbuilding tool is useful content – pure and simple. Useful content is content that meets someone’s informational needs, rather than content which is purely promotional.

Marketing guru, Neil Patel, gives this definition: ‘…Content marketing is a long-term strategy, based on building a strong relationship with your target audience, by giving them high-quality content that is very relevant to them on a consistent basis.’

Not just any informational needs, mind.

Content marketing should focus on topics that make sense for your brand.

Choose topics relevant to your business, industry, and to the products that your audience might be interested in. Your content marketing should focus on topics consumers are searching for.

Content marketing helps you build a relationship with your audience.

Content marketing vs. traditional marketing

Benefits of content marketing So, now you know what content marketing is. Why does your business need it?

Traditional marketing is product-centric.

It tends to focus on selling people the 28

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Lana Burgess

Content marketing is an up-to-date way to reach your customers. In the digital age, people don’t wait for marketing messages to be pushed to them.

According to Marketo, the average buyer guides themselves through up to 90 per cent of the traditional sales funnel before ever contacting a brand or sales person.

And over 80 per cent of people research online before setting foot in a store.

marketing allows your brand to be the source they use.

Content marketing has a number of benefits, including: • Saving you money on ineffective traditional marketing • Making you more visible in search engines • Attracting new visitors to your site • Increasing engagement on your site and social channels • Increasing brand awareness • Increasing brand preference

The modern consumer proactively seeks out information, using whichever sources give them the information they need in the most convenient format. Content 29

START • Allowing you to reach more people at a lower cost • Increasing conversions (from newsletter sign-ups to sales)

start to gain traction in search results.

Over time, this will improve the overall search visibility of your site.

Converting strangers into loyal brand advocates

Content marketing aligns with how consumers behave in the digital age.

To summarise, content marketing is about reaching and engaging people with useful content that’s relevant to them and to your brand’s area of expertise. By meeting people’s needs, you’re able to build a relationship with them so - over time - they prefer your brand, become your customers, and tell their friends.

Content marketing and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) In the long term, content marketing is a great way to increase your visibility in search results. A key principle of content marketing is to create content based on your potential customers’ needs. The best way to understand their needs online is to look at the sorts of things they’re searching for. What do they expect to find from these searches?

By creating content that is aligned with your audience’s search intentions and using keywords in the right way within your content, you’ll get noticed

by Google. Google’s algorithms are designed to show people quality content that’s highly relevant to their searches.

By weaving SEO best practice into your content marketing, your content will

Biography By day, Lana Burgess is a freelance writer and content strategist. She helps brands and publications reach, engage, and convert their audience through accessible written content. Her specialist subjects are health, wellbeing and marketing.

mental health, Lana believes sharing our experiences reduces stigma.

Talent-spotted by the Thrive team, this article was first published via Lana’s blog – lanaburgess.com/blog – on 29 March 2018.

By night, Lana is a director of Brighton Digital Women, a not-for-profit that runs inclusive events to help digital marketers enjoy their work. Outspoken about

You can follow Lana on Twitter at @Lana_Burgess_ and connect with her online at linkedin.com/in/lanaburgess/.

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22 Years of Building Business Confidence We know that starting a business and growing it can be a rollercoaster. Some days it’s the best feeling in the world, and others you’ll feel like just giving up. That’s why, ever since we opened in 1996, the most essential thing we’ve offered our members is confidence.

At the Sussex Innovation Centre you’ll find a supportive environment in the heart of an entrepreneurial community. Our team of dedicated innovation advisors have walked in the same shoes as you. We appreciate that founders sometimes need a sounding board for ideas, and sometimes need someone to share frustrations with.

From providing detailed strategic advice and market insight, to on-demand practical support and modern, flexible office space - everything we do is designed to build confidence - in yourself and your business.

“Sussex Innovation is a great environment for startups. They have the perfect combination of friendly advice, great knowledge and professional services to support any growing business. They are always happy to help, make introductions and talk through any stumbling blocks you may face as an early-stage business.”

Jason Grima, Founder, Deal Zippy

Find out more: call us on 01273 704 400, email info@sinc.co.uk, or visit www.sinc.co.uk 31

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Ruth Anslow, Jack Simmonds and Amy Anslow

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Reinventing the Way Supermarkets Do Business With Ruth Anslow, Co-Founder of HISBE

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uth and Amy Anslow have a bold, applaudable vision to transform the food retail industry. I went along to meet Ruth, to find out more about the Supermarket Rebels who are taking on the likes of Tesco, in pursuit of a fairer, and more sustainable food retail industry.

things that supermarkets do that we don’t think are sustainable. So, we figured the future of food retailing is all about making it as local as possible, and building in values around fair trade and sustainability. We decided the best thing to do was invent our own supermarket, and show people that you can do these things. We have created a model to rival Tesco, and the idea is that over the years, we will make the old way obsolete with the new way.

What motivated you and your sister Amy to set up HISBE? Basically, we got pissed off with Tesco.

How has your professional experience contributed to the skills you require for creating your own supermarket?

I had had 15 years in the corporate world working with large sales and marketing companies, negotiating with Tesco and other supermarkets. And Amy had been working in third sector and public sector jobs, making change, and was interested in how you nudge people into positive change. We looked at the way food was being retailed, and decided it needed to be better for the 21st century. It is then that we set about creating a vision for a supermarket of how it should be.

My background being what it is means that I am very commercially minded, and good at business planning, strategic thinking, and brand building. That was really my focus for those 15 years – bringing value to the customer, but monetising it at the same time. I fell out of love with the way we were doing things, and wanted to do it in an authentic way. Amy, on the other hand, is community minded, very good at seeing and empathising with people’s needs, and really interested in behavioural change.

She had worked with Groundwork and the Prince’s Trust, focusing on how, when presented with a better way, you can nudge people into taking that better

At the moment, supermarkets do business in a way that creates problems for local economies and communities.

They suck profit out of the community, and centralise it. They play havoc with the supply chain by trying to maximise profit, whilst underpaying their suppliers and staff in store. The list goes on of 33

GROW way. So, her community insight and behavioural change expertise, combined with my commercial sense, makes us a very strong team.

how many of them are local. Our metrics are really all about people, and about keeping money in the local economy.

Over time, we want to create a chain that keeps millions of pounds circulating locally and supports local people.

Who else has helped you start up and grow HISBE?

What are your tips for social entrepreneurs who may be struggling with how to measure their social impact?

Our other founder, Jack Simmonds, joined us three years in and helped us set up the store, and create a supply chain based on our values. We had the values and rules on how it should be in each category of products, and he matched them against the suppliers, found the people to stock the store, and chose all the product lines. Then, last year, we took on Adam, a sales analyst, who we call our ‘Trading Manager’. He has worked at different retail operations, including Sainsbury’s, and he manages the store for profit and sales, in accordance with our values. Amy, Jack, and I set the framework and the values, and Adam makes the commercial model work within that. Aside from these four people who run the business, we have a team of 12 staff who run the store.

I think this is a tricky area because funders and external consultants always want to push you down a certain way.

Often, they have lots of ideas about how you can measure your impact, and, in my opinion, it never really works. I think it is better to just pick the things that are important to you and count them, rather than trying to come up with all kinds of complex metrics. We like to keep it simple. We just count the number of suppliers that we support, the amount of money that goes to our suppliers, and the amount that we keep in the local economy.

What areas are you currently innovating in?

Do you have any specific tools to measure your social and environmental impact?

We have always been very focused on reducing or minimising packaging. We sell a lot of loose goods using dispensers, and we will continue to innovate in this area. A lot of shops are now catching up with us, which is brilliant, but it does mean that we need to stay ahead, by introducing new things to push the agenda.

Yes. We count things. Basically, it is about where the money goes. So, £0.67 in every £1 goes to the suppliers, and that compares to the supermarket average of £0.09 or £0.10. £0.50 in every £1 is kept in the local economy because we spend most of our money with local service providers and suppliers, as opposed to a supermarket which only keeps £0.05 in every £1 within the local economy. On top of that, we count basket spend, the number of customers through the door, the number of suppliers we support, and

We are really interested in setting up a home delivery system, and that is a whole area of innovation in itself which we will need to start from scratch. We also want to open new stores.

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GROW So, there are different kinds of work streams that we are focusing on to bring new ideas to the business. In order to be able to do all this, we have had to let go of things that we were doing before, and bring in new people to manage our social media marketing and branding. This way, Amy, Jack, and I are freed up to innovate within the business.

it is likely you will find it tricky to put all the building blocks in place.

Also, make sure you are values-led.

We always say we are purpose-led but commercially driven. You have got to keep the purpose-led bit, because not only is that your mission, it is your brand. And if you stop being purposeled, then you have no brand, and you are not doing what you set out to do.

Our hardest challenge has always been to stay true to what we want to do, whilst making money, because we are not going to transform the food retail industry by making a loss every year.

What is your vision for HISBE and your goals for the next year?

Our ultimate vision is to transform the food retail industry by creating innovative solutions, making it fit for the 21st century. We also want to create an army of copycats. Our vision is to open lots of new stores, and inspire other people to do the same. We want to challenge Tesco. In 30 years, we want to have stores all over the country, and be a true alternative to the big supermarket model which is failing.

Ruth Anslow was interviewed by Clare Griffiths.

Looking at the next year, we want to get our store to £2 million in turnover, with 35% gross profit, and open a new store.

What advice do you have for our readers who are purpose-driven, and who want to stay true to their values, but have limited resources?

My first piece of advice would be to get help and find your ‘Jack’. Jack Simmonds made it all click into place for us. Find your Jack because if you are an innovator, Find out more

You can keep up-to-date with all the news of the Supermarket Rebels by visiting www.hisbe.co.uk or following @HISBE_Food. HISBE is located at 20-21 York Place, Brighton, BN1 4GU. 35

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Staff from the Sussex Innovation Centre and Catalyst Team

SINC_HACK > 17% at the Sussex Innovation Centre

By Eva Poliszczuk, Catalyst Team Member

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ender equality is one of the most important topics in the workplace today. As the UK celebrates the achievement of talented women with new £10 notes featuring Jane Austen, and with Millicent Fawcett being commemorated with the first statue of a woman in Parliament Square in 2018, the representation of female achievements seems to be improving. However, when we look at the statistics around diversity in business, it can be a shocking Sponsored Content

revelation. In the UK tech sector, women make up just 17% of employees, and only 17% of start-ups have female founders. Hackathon culture is also traditionally very male, but the Sussex Innovation Centre is hoping to freshen up the concept with their ‘SINC_HACK >17%’ event, held on 6 October 2018.

This hackathon brings together women in a commonly male-dominated industry in an exciting and challenge-fuelled day.

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GROW Sussex Innovation’s first Hackathon is part of the Brighton Digital Festival and held in honour of Ada Lovelace Day. This event highlights the Centre’s growing diversity awareness and its objective of addressing gender inequality in business.

People from all backgrounds and specialities are invited to get involved, especially if they like a challenge and want to learn something new.

quarters more than women. This is not technically in breach of the Equal Pay Act; it occurs because men statistically occupy more of the highly-paid jobs in more senior roles than women do.

Men are also often paid higher bonuses.

These points illustrate an inherent bias in society; female representation is a huge indicator of this problem. If you are a woman whose goal is to reach a senior position, the lack of diversity can make your career aspirations harder to achieve.

That’s why the inaugural SINC_HACK is based around the theme of >17%.

By shedding light on these unfortunate statistics in business, the path can open to change things through innovation.

Ada Lovelace possessed a gift for mathematics and analytics, but due to the patriarchal status-quo that dominated the nineteenth century, her work was not widely considered or respected until after her death. She published an analytical interpretation of the works of Charles Babbage, known as the father of the computer. Babbage created plans for an analytical engine that was designed to handle difficult calculations. Ada was captivated by his work and developed the idea by theorising how codes could be used by the device to handle letters and numbers. She published ‘Sketch of the Analytical Engine, with Notes from the Translator’, considered to be the world’s first computer programming analysis.

Her work was before its time and was only respected after her time. Luckily, we celebrate her achievements today and the SINC_HACK >17% is an exciting and momentous event to celebrate the women who are picking up her legacy by taking up programming themselves.

The number of female-dominated spaces in business is vanishingly small. Recognising a lack of gender balance among its own community of entrepreneurs, start-ups and tech businesses, Sussex Innovation has set out to create a space that nourishes and champions female-led talent.

Lara Williams is the director of Momentum4, a management consultancy specialising in developing leadership skills through emotional intelligence, people performance and business growth. Momentum4 is a member of Sussex Innovation, and has recently commissioned Sussex Innovation to conduct research into the factors affecting women in leadership. A report is set to be published later in the autumn.

The underrepresentation of female entrepreneurs derives from several issues surrounding gender equality. While the Equal Pay Act makes it illegal to pay people different wages for the same job, a gender pay gap still exists across many industries. In the UK, more than 10,000 large firms pay men an average of three-

‘Many of the women who participated in our research told us that they struggled with confidence and assertiveness, and not feeling seen or heard,’ says Lara.

‘One of the underlying reasons for that is certainly the lack of visible role models 37

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Staff from the Sussex Innovation Centre and Catalyst Team

bringing women’s perspectives into the boardroom. As a mother of two girls, I feel a responsibility to help address this, which is why I’m delighted to support the SINC_HACK.’

On 6 October 2018, at SINC_HACK >17%, people of all genders, interests and technical abilities are invited to come together and collaborate on solutions to the issues women in business face.

Attendees will be formed into teams of creatives, developers, freelancers, students and researchers, and work together over an intensive 12-hour period. Reflecting on themes including the gender pay gap and unconscious bias in tech recruitment, the teams will brainstorm innovative solutions and work towards a pitch session at the end of the hack.

Through a series of sprint exercises and bitesize workshops, the teams will work in a vibrant and challenging environment with the finish line being an inspiring idea to take into the world. You don’t

SINC_HACK >17% will feature fun learning exercises and social activities throughout the day, delivered by experts like Lara, fellow members Fat Fish Games, and the Sussex Innovation support team. Ice breakers, exercises and energisers will help keep the creative spirit flowing. There will be a chance to learn the basics of coding from professionals, plus regular breaks for delicious locally-sourced food and drink and great music.

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GROW need to be a coder or even a technical person to participate. Creative thinkers, artists, project managers – and anyone who just wants to try something new – are all equally important.

how you can participate by contacting Sussex Innovation Centre’s Community Manager, Daisy Wood by email at daisy. wood@sinc.co.uk.

And as for Ada Lovelace? Even if the world didn’t recognise her intelligence at the time, Ada certainly did. She is quoted as saying ‘that brain of mine is something more than merely mortal; as time will show’. Sussex Innovation hopes to help foster that same Ada-inspired confidence in women in business today.

As well as great individual prizes to take away, the winning team will receive a free discovery meeting with a member of the Sussex Innovation team to potentially take their idea out into the world. All participants will get to exercise their creative muscles, hopefully leaving with enthusiasm for a great idea, along with a well-stocked goodie bag!

It will be an enlightening day to celebrate diversity in all its forms, based on the conviction that businesses thrive when they celebrate and support diversity. On top of all these positive outcomes on the day, Sussex Innovation have also teamed up with local feminine hygiene charity The Red Box Project, and will be running a collection box for disadvantaged women throughout the day.

Bringing cultural and gender diversity to your business can widen its vision because of the chance to engage with different experiences, opinions and mindsets. The first ever SINC_HACK is putting this theory to test in a frantic timeframe that’s sure to yield exciting results. If your organisation would like to get involved by sponsoring or delivering a session on the day, find out

Find out more

If you want to learn more about or register for this event, go to www.sinc.co.uk/events, or visit the Brighton Digital Festival website.

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Taking On the Challenge of Making the World’s Best Gin in the Most Sustainable Way With Kathy Caton, Founder and Managing Director, Brighton Gin

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or those of you who have been fortunate enough to meet Kathy Caton, you will know her to be an extremely positive, inspiring entrepreneur, with a contagious energy about her. With her team of 12, Kathy has successfully crafted an award-winning gin (17 major awards and counting), and a brand which you can’t help but fall in love with. I recently met up with Kathy to find out more about the story behind Brighton Gin, the drivers behind her impressive sales growth, and her personal lessons from her entrepreneurial journey so far.

this, or is there a better way?’ We are continually asking ourselves that, as I’m not precious about how we have done things in the past. If someone says to me, ‘You’ve been doing these things for all these years, I’ve got a better idea,’ then I say, ‘Great! Let’s try it.’

In what ways are you are looking to reduce your impact on the environment?

We have taken a hard, long look in the mirror to explore what we can do to reduce our impact. My current bugbare is the corks we use for our bottles.

The reason we use natural cork is that by using them, we are preserving the cork forests that they come from. So, we have found this fantastic place where we source our corks, but they come with a bit of plastic on the top. So, I can either get a natural cork with a plastic top, or a wooden stopper with a plastic cork.

When I first discovered this, my head wanted to explode! I thought, ‘Brilliant!

We have found a solution! Oh no, we haven’t!’ But on the balance of things, is a natural cork better? Probably. So, we are going with that in the meantime, whilst we try and find another solution.

What are your core values, and how does your business reflect these?

I have one ambitious goal which is to become a globally known, locally identified brand, but I also want to do this in the most sustainable, ethical, and ideally, enjoyable way possible.

One of the things I get asked an awful lot of times is, ‘Why is your gin £40, when I can get a bottle of Gordon’s for £17?’ It is a really good question, and a bottle of Gordon’s does a really good job, absolutely, but the reason ours costs more than twice as much is because we use people to do everything. Everything is made by hand.

Our bottles come from one of the last UK-based glass manufacturers in Leeds.

We have always tried to source things as locally as possible. For some things, that means getting them from down the road, and for other things, ‘local’ is Leeds. Our bottle is UK-manufactured, and the glass is 40% recycled.

Ecologically, the industry I work in is an incredibly wasteful one. And it is also a frippery. Making booze is not one of life’s essentials! Traditionally, it is incredibly wasteful in lots of ways, with the raw materials, resources, and litres of drinking water that are used to make a single glass of gin. So, we try to look at every single step in the gin-making process, and ask ourselves, ‘Is there just one way of doing

For the last three years, your sales have grown by 30% year-on-year. What do you think has contributed to this growth?

I have to praise the sterling efforts of my 42

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Kathy Caton

GROW ‘gin peddling team’, as I describe them.

(Neither of them want to have the word ‘sales’ in their job titles). Ellie is Chief Gin Peddler, and she is just amazing at making relationships with people, and has the real kind of terrier tenacity to keep going, and to take knockbacks as a challenge to try harder. I am so impressed with her for doing that. She is assisted by the equally brilliant Rachel, who joined us on an internship. She has been fantastic, and again, has got that skill of being great at talking to people. They are both really good at communicating with people, making connections, and sharing the story of our brand.

eye and saying, ‘Why are you doing that?

I know you have always been doing that, but why?’ So, they have been essential in helping boost our productivity, and increase our happiness, because at the end of the day you can see you are achieving much more with your time.

In terms of distribution, we use multiple channels; so it might be someone is off on a bike delivering, or there is a pallet of gin going off to Marks and Spencer’s.

We are currently exploring having a single distributor that can cover the entire country, so that we can concentrate on making brilliant gin, supplying it to them, and increase our exports.

We have also benefited from the fortune of good timing. We are involved in craft gin, and craft products in general are having a fantastic moment in the sun, and long may that continue. We caught the wave at the right time, and actually, we were up and producing our gin well before the wave reached its peak. At the moment, there is endless talk about when the gin bubble is going to burst. I think it will contract, but I don’t think we’re facing a ‘dot.com’ gin meltdown. But if we are, I have got plenty of gin to drink myself into wilful obscurity!

In terms of your growth strategy, which route are you going down (for example, product innovation, process innovation, or exports)?

At the moment, 60% of British gin is exported. It is a market that is worth over £1 billion now. In terms of British gin, we have a food and drink product that we can actually stand up and say, ‘This is the world’s best,’ and we would love to be a part of that. We are currently exporting to two countries – Germany and Denmark.

Spain is the biggest gin market in Europe, however, there are literally thousands of gins available. It is very much about competing on price and volume, and that is not our thing. We are about quality. So, we have deliberately decided not to export there, and go to places like Germany and Denmark, where there is real interest in genuinely handcrafted food and drink products.

In an extremely typical ‘Kathy Caton’ way, which must be horrible for my wonderful colleagues, all of that at the same time!

So, one of the key appointments that we have recruited for, is our fantastic Operations Manager, Charly. They joined at the end of last year, and they have been absolutely instrumental in being a critical

One of my shocking discoveries over the last couple of years is the number of producers that say, ‘We’re small batch producers,’ and then you discover that they all come out of one massive production plant. I have had people say to me, ‘Perhaps you could get your gin made in Scotland,’ and I think, ‘What?! No! 44

GROW We’re Brighton Gin!’ Our gin costs twice as much as others, because it is organic, and made by hand with beautifully sourced ingredients. We are trying to live up to our values, share our story, and make ourselves heard.

also leave you to be potentially ripped off, or taken advantage of.

2. Don’t make any business decisions when you’re full of cheap lager.

3. Don’t ever put anything in an email that you wouldn’t be prepared to stand up in a crowded pub and shout from a table.

You always seem extremely energetic.

What do you draw on when you are absolutely exhausted?

Would it be inappropriate to say gin?!

I have always taken for granted having the most energy of anyone I know, but now I think I need to change my tactics, as I am getting a bit older. I am extremely fortunate to have an amazing gang of mates – my urban family. They are absolutely brilliant. They do a lot of propping and mopping, and also come and give a hand. It helps that I am a really, really social person too. I love talking to people, and to my community.

I think that helps, as does having one night a week when I don’t do anything, or talk to anyone. That is essential. I just read a book, or listen to the Archers.

4. Eat more green vegetables.

5. Bearing in mind lessons 1 and 2, collaborate with people, look to support others as well as being supported, celebrate your successes with the people around you, and try and laugh about, or at least learn from, the things that go pear-shaped!

Kathy Caton was interviewed by Clare Griffiths.

Finally, what are the five key lessons you have learnt during your entrepreneurial journey?

1. Be careful who you get into bed with work-wise. And also probably in life as well. I love collaborating. I am the definition of a team person. It is my natural inclination to say, ‘Come and get involved!’ This can be brilliant, but it can Find out more

For online purchases and tasty cocktail recipes, visit brightongin.com. You can also follow @BrightonGin and @kathycaton for the latest news and competitions.

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From Trainee Accountant to Plus Advisory Manager: Growing with Plus Accounting With Emma Hardwick, Plus Accounting 47

GROW the firm dealing with a range of clients from small businesses and entrepreneurs to larger businesses, offering audit services and strategic planning, we hope to be an accountancy firm on the front foot. Brighton and Hove is a great place for so many different categories of businesses, and being out there delivering workshops and events allows us to definitely appreciate the people we meet in this line of business.

When did you start working for Plus Accounting, and how has your role changed over time?

Emma Hardwick

I started working for Plus Accounting back in June 2008, and I have just recently reached my ten-year milestone!

I started as a trainee accounting technician, and over the past ten years I have qualified both with the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). My role within the firm has expanded quickly. In April 2015, I became an assistant manager, and subsequently a client manager in April 2017. In April 2018, my role developed even more when I became manager of my very own department – the ‘Plus Advisory’ department.

Can you describe Plus Accounting in one sentence?

Plus Accounting doesn’t just deal with your company’s compliance accounting needs, we provide a forward-thinking business development service that understands businesses and growth.

How is Plus Accounting different to other accountancy firms in Brighton and Hove?

These days compliance is something which everyone has to deal with, so an accountancy firm needs to offer something much beyond simple compliance services. With the exponential increase of all things digital, it will be the value-added services that enable accountancy firms to stand out in the crowd.

How has Plus Accounting facilitated your professional development?

Over the years, Plus Accounting has supported me throughout my studies.

I chose the option to self-study for my ACCA accreditation, which I started in 2011. It took me a little longer as a result, but my career is not my only passion in life. I wanted to get married, buy a house, and have a child. Guess what? During that time, between 2011

Here at Plus Accounting, we now have a dedicated ‘Plus Advisory’ department that can help drill further into your company systems to help you make efficiencies, save time, and hopefully save money too! With experienced partners in Sponsored Content

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Plus Accounting office

How does Plus Accounting encourage innovation in the workplace?

and 2015, I did all that, and managed to pass my ACCA! Without the support from Plus Accounting – both financially and mentally – I would not have got to where I am now, in all aspects of my goals. I always say ‘Life is about what you put into it’ in order to get the results that you need. But a great employer with excellent career progression opportunities has certainly helped me along the way!

Plus Accounting has a great variety of team members, specialising in different skills. We are always keen to find new ways of being efficient, and to find new areas of development. Our most recent change is the creation of a new department, with a dedicated team, to deal with VAT, making tax digital, cloud accounting, system reviews, and apps to help in all these areas.

The workplace training scheme worked wonders for me and my career progression, and there is already a team of students following suit.

On-the-job training is perfect for accountancy trainees, and I would personally recommend this over university studies. Plus Accounting doesn’t just offer learning opportunities to enable trainee accountants to gain qualifications, the firm also supports staff to develop professionally, and gain more responsibilities over time.

What innovations have you been responsible for introducing and developing during your time at Plus Accounting?

I have been at Plus Accounting for ten years, and those ten years of client experience have left me with so much that I would like to share with my colleagues.

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GROW What advice can you give to other female employees of small firms who want to implement their ideas in the workplace?

I have been personally responsible for driving the growth of cloud accounting.

For an accountancy firm the traditional habits of working can be difficult to change. After years of working with the Xero accounting system for our clients, we moved to using a cloud accounting system in April 2016. This move has led to many efficiencies in reporting and debtor-chasing which weren’t easy with our old accounting system.

Stay strong, and don’t give up. Simply being female should make no difference to your career progression. If you have passion, make sure your voice is heard.

Voicing your ideas, and finding support in others, will enable you to push your ideas further than ever before. Also, my favourite saying is, ‘If you don’t ask, you don’t get’.

My passion for numbers, systems, and getting to know a business has driven me to play a key role in the ‘Plus Advisory’ department, and to lead the development of IT systems within the company.

I’m also in the process of completing a ‘paperless’ project, to make more of our processes paperless, with the end goal of becoming a greener office. Watch this space!

Find out more

To find out more about Plus Accounting and their accountancy services, email info@plusaccounting.co.uk, visit www.plusaccounting.co.uk, or ring 01273 701200. You can follow Plus Accounting on Twitter at @ PlusAccounting, and Emma Hardwick at @CloudGuruGirl.

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Thr!ve Advertise with us! clare@thrivethemag.co.uk 07952 914937

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Creating Employment Opportunities for People with Learning Disabilities With Jo Cook, Executive Director, Team Domenica What are the core activities you carry out in order to fulfil your mission?

choice of local employers.

In our Supported Internships Programme (SIP), our Employment Centre establishes relationships with local companies to provide six-month internships. Placements are supported by a job coach and combined with ongoing education and training from the candidate’s training leader, with the intention to secure paid employment.

We are pioneering a new approach that leads to real change in the lives of people with learning disabilities and the way they are perceived by employers and society as a whole.

Based in central Brighton, we operate through a unique three-tier set-up of Training Centre, Training Café (Café Domenica), and Employment Centre.

Through this, we provide new and innovative employment programmes to young adults with a wide range of abilities. We call them our candidates to more accurately reflect and emphasise their role as people ready for employment.

Our Wrap Around Programme (WAP) provides ongoing support for candidates and employers as they transition into paid work. Candidates and employers report back to training leaders who help with any ongoing training needs.

We have a very strong track record.

In our first year, we achieved a 20%+ employment rate, more than three times higher than the national statistic (6%) for people with learning disabilities. We are now operating at a 40% employment rate, an outstanding 1 in 3 success rate, against just 1 in 17 in the UK overall.

We have secured over 25 local employer partnerships, including the Co-op, Bill’s, Holiday Inn and The Grand Hotel.

We run a Supported Employment Programme (SEP). This is a structured study and training programme where each candidate has a training leader to develop their individual work plan. Educational units complement in-house work placements at Café Domenica. Candidates also access enrichment activities to develop their communication, social skills and confidence. They progress to supported external work experience with a wide

Can you give us an example of one of your candidates who has recently found 52

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Staff at Café Domenica

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Café Domenica

meaningful employment as a result of your work?

anxiety and difficult situations greatly improved. Our supported employment programme offered him high levels of social interaction and continued to develop his communication skills, confidence and independence.

Zac ‘I am very happy as I love working. I’m a baker so I’m so pleased that Team Domenica helped me to get a job making cakes for the afternoon teas at The Grand Hotel.’

Based on his career aspirations, our Employment Centre matched Zac to a supported internship with partnered employer The Grand Hotel. With ongoing support to Zac and the employer, a permanent position of paid employment was eventually offered.

When Zac first joined Team Domenica he had high levels of anxiety and found it hard to be in group situations. Lacking in confidence, he found social interaction very difficult, often isolating himself from others and choosing not to take part in activities.

‘What an eye-opener, a journey I thought I’d never take, but so very glad I did.

Working with Zac has taught me so much about myself and he has been an inspiration – his dedication, commitment and confidence has grown to unbelievable heights, for which I applaud him. It is an absolute pleasure to offer Zac a position

We quickly recognised Zac’s potential as a natural and talented baker. Through inhouse work experience at Café Domenica and taking part in our enrichment programme, Zac’s ability to manage his 54

GROW at The Grand Hotel.’ Alan White, Executive Chef, The Grand Hotel.

fruit – an ongoing investment of time, experience, energy and money – but it is an essential part of growing support for the charity. If targeting grants, target those with shared interests and try for multi-year grants. This gives you added financial security and scope to plan ahead. Build and maintain strong relationships with trusts and foundations for continued opportunities of ongoing support.

You operate as a social enterprise charity.

How do you fund your core activities?

Roughly what percentage is funded by voluntary sector funding, donations, and income from profits from other sources, such as from Café Domenica?

Team Domenica generates revenue from a range of income streams. To secure future funding and the financial stability of Team Domenica’s services and programmes, we protect our charitable objectives through the following strategies:

You have exciting and ambitious plans to open other centres along the south coast, London, and then nationally. What is your strategy for achieving this growth?

Our aspirational model is to help even more people with learning disabilities.

Due to the known high demand within our catchment area, Team Domenica is already expanding to Hove in September 2018.

- Our charity reserves are set at a level equivalent to 12 months’ expenditure.

This is to ensure continuity of our academic year programme in the event of large variation in income.

- We always aim to diversify our charitable income, to avoid reliance on any one income source (current raised voluntary income is 57%, statutory income is 36%).

Our growth strategy is to continue to grow and diversify our income streams so that we may in time, as you say, open other cafés/centres along the south coast, in London, and then nationally.

Our vision is for people with learning disabilities to be valued in the workplace, to reach their full potential, and to feel included as members of society.

- As our reputation grows, we are working hard to gradually increase our earned income through café sales, sold goods, catering to businesses, cake wholesale and pop-ups (current earned income is 7%).

Do you have any specific funding advice for our readers who are aspiring social entrepreneurs?

Almost 94% of people with learning disabilities are unemployed. In what ways can the local business community support Team Domenica to create more employment opportunities for people with learning disabilities?

Always aim to diversify your charitable income for better financial stability, and to avoid reliance on any one income source. Fundraising takes time to bear

The vast majority of young adults with learning disabilities have little or no work experience. When employers partner with us, they can offer four types of support: 55

GROW 1. Work-experience placements 2. In-house training 3. Supported internships 4. Paid employment

- The right job – we will use our knowledge of a candidate’s skills and an employer’s needs to carve out and customise individual jobs

We provide ongoing support and bespoke specialist training to all employers:

Alternatively, businesses can get involved in helping us to raise vital funds. We have a range of events and personal challenges for employees to get involved in! To find out more, employers can buy tickets to our charity business lunch: teamdomenicathegrand.eventbrite.co.uk

- Dedicated contact for queries and for any reasonable adjustments that may be required - Onsite support of a skilled job coach until both employer and candidate feel confident

Staff at Café Domenica

Find out more

Follow us on social media @TeamDomenica Donate via teamdomenica.com/donate/ Get involved teamdomenica.com/get-involved/ 56

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www.parkerpartnership.co.uk | reception@parkerpartnership.co.uk

www.parkerpartnership.co.uk | reception@parkerpartnership.co.uk

www.parkerpartnership.co.uk | reception@parkerpartnership.co.uk

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Building a Successful Content Marketing Strategy

By Kerry Watkins, Founder of Social Brighton to showcase what their business does and demonstrate their skill and USP, in a way that is useful to people and keeps them coming back. Over the years, I’ve been accused by my peers of giving away too much for free in terms of skill and expertise. I’m a trainer and consultant, and I love helping people, so it’s hard not to!

I read something many years ago that really stuck with me and stopped me worrying about giving too much information or advice away. It said that some of the people that take everything you give for free would never have paid for your services anyway, so you haven’t lost any business there. But for those that are prepared to pay for your services, content is a great way to help them decide to work with you. It gives them a sense of what it might be like to work with you, or purchase from you, and if you don’t do that through content, you can be sure your competitors will.

Kerry Watkins

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verybody’s talking about content marketing – the new way to market your business. It’s all about building relationships with your customers – not simply selling to them, but instead adding real value. And thank goodness!

I’ve never been overly comfortable with sales per se, at least not in the traditional sense of the word. I’m actually very happy that in a digital and connected world we can promote our businesses, not by interrupting people or cold calling, but by being helpful and putting time and effort into adding value and creating content that is useful to people and makes a lasting impression.

I’m a big fan of modern marketing and, in the world of social media, it’s all about great content! So, here is our five-step process to building a content strategy.

1. Use customer personas to understand how to engage your audience

We spend a lot of time helping clients to strategise how they can use content

Customer personas are a key element of every social media strategy, but they’re 58

GROW not just for fun; they can really help you to identify some brilliant content themes.

Specifically, ask: What is your target audience interested in? What problems can you solve for them? What challenges do they face? What do they want from you and what don’t they want?

around us, particularly when it comes to content that works well on social media.

Think about documenting the day-today, rather than purely creating polished assets. It’s often during a brainstorming session that new ideas appear that can then be developed into a blog theme, or weekly video, or something that becomes a key part of your content strategy. It’s worth getting out of the office and doing this exercise with someone outside of the business to challenge you and help you see all the content around you. You’ll go from worrying about what to write about and post online to having more ideas than you could have imagined, I promise!

Understanding your audience’s pain points and challenges means you can create content that seeks to solve their problems and helps them overcome their challenges or, at the very least, gives them a taster of a solution and shows them that you might be able to help them if they engage further with you.

2. Map your customer journey and plan relevant content types for each stage

Once you’ve got loads of fresh ideas about what will engage your target audience and also what’s going on in your business, visualise a Venn diagram: in one circle, what you want to say and in the other, what your target customers want to hear. Where those circles cross over – that’s valuable content; the sweet spot of engagement. I think this is a really helpful way to visualise content marketing as it helps to keep the balance right.

We need to think about the journey that our customers take, starting from being someone who is unaware of our business and what we do, through to initially engaging, considering working with us, to becoming a customer or client and finally a brand advocate. Mapping out this journey and understanding the customer’s mindset at each point is a really useful exercise that allows you to match content to each stage. For example, light-hearted content with lots of personality and no strong call to action can be useful to engage people initially, whereas real added-value content providing some useful information can be perfect for the evaluation stage of their journey.

4. Decide on your format and channels Now you’re full of ideas, think about what this content will look like and where it will work best. Which formats will best optimise each idea? Consider photos, videos, written blogs, articles and guides, newsletters and audio. A variety of content is the goal because it will appeal to a broader audience across multiple channels.

3. Brainstorm ideas A lot more that goes on behind the scenes in a business makes for great content than most business owners or marketers realise. Quality content is all

We have very many channels at our disposal now that are all easily accessible to any size business. Learn about each 59

GROW social network you’ll use to share your content and make sure you know how to optimise content for that particular channel. For example, what dimensions should a video be on Twitter? What keywords should you optimise your blog so that your blog will come up at the top of a search? How do you advertise key content on Instagram or Facebook?

Think about optimising the customer experience on each network, as well as maximising reach. Consider ideas such as putting captions on video so people can enjoy with the sound off, or summarising blogs into the key takeaways for a newsletter or series of tweets.

amongst your team. This will act as a useful reference guide and will help you stick to your plan when you develop monthly content calendars.

As with any strategy, it’s important that this remains fluid and can be revised and adapted over time as you measure social media success. Which content types are helping to achieve your objectives?

Note the content that helps to drive engagement, website traffic and enquiries and/or sales and adapt your strategy accordingly.

I believe it’s about playing the long game with content and building relationships over time, but if you do this well and pay attention to the data at your disposal you’ll also see short-term wins and regular business growth too.

5. Map out a content strategy document Now get all of this down into a document you can use to keep you on track. Build a content strategy outlining content themes and each channel you’ll use and make sure it coordinates with all of your marketing activity and includes publishing frequency and responsibilities

Find out more

Kerry launched Social Brighton with the mission of helping businesses learn to manage social media successfully in-house. She designs and delivers tailored social media training solutions for clients and runs Strategy, Content, Facebook Ads and LinkedIn training courses. She works with a number of clients throughout the UK, Europe and the developing world, and is passionate about how social networking can benefit organisations of all sizes in unique ways. socialbrighton.com, facebook.com/socialbrightontraining, twitter.com/social_brighton, instagram.com/socialbrighton

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Calling all female entrepreneurs, creatives, and changemakers!

Would you like to grow your business and your professional network, but are tired of the more traditional business networking events? If so, then join our group! meetup.com/Thrive-Brightons-Small-Business-Meetupfor-Female-Founders/

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Rifa Thorpe-Tracey (Photo by Rosie Powell)

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Building the Network of SheSays Brighton With Rifa Thorpe-Tracey What is SheSays?

didn’t feel the more technical groups in Brighton catered for me. I realised I needed to start the group that I’d want to join: fun, creatively inspiring, inclusive; with a focus on people telling their stories. I felt that my friends in art and music should meet my contacts in digital and business.

SheSays is an award-winning organisation running free mentorship and events for women in the creative industry. There are chapters in New York, San Francisco, Vancouver, Melbourne and all over the world. It was started by creative directors Alessandra Lariu and Laura Jordan Bambach to help women designers reach director level in digital agencies.

There is a lot of crossover in talent and skills – but those connections need to happen in a relaxed environment.

When I launched the Brighton chapter I went to New York to speak with Alessandra and asked if I could stretch the remit to welcome women from other roles and disciplines, such as developers, project managers and business owners, as well as designers. We share the same goal; to instigate network building that helps women propel themselves to higher positions.

Since then, I’ve grown the Brighton group from 50 to currently 1,500 on the mailing list. Our larger events are for about 300 women, they’re always free entry, and we’re almost always fully booked well ahead of time.

SheSays is predominantly targeted at women working in the creative, design, and tech industries. Do the SheSays Brighton members have any common experiences across these industries?

Six years on, SheSays Brighton is the most successful chapter in the world; we have the largest scale events and the biggest mailing list.

Obviously all women in every industry have common experiences that the maledominated mainstream is only beginning to come to terms with. That includes Brighton, even though it’s a progressive, liberal hub.

What motivated you to set up the Brighton chapter? How many members does SheSays Brighton currently have?

In 2011 there was hardly anything out there for women in digital in Brighton; local groups had fizzled out and I

For a start, our members know that it’s harder to get hired for jobs in the first 63

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Image by Wavvves

place, simply because these industries are still getting used to having women around – and getting over themselves that they are no longer boys’ clubs! A very commonly shared experience for our members is to be a minority in an office – maybe the sole woman in a predominantly male environment. Or, for example, a woman may be the only designer in a company where any other women are in administrative support roles. Even when a company’s intent is very positive, this imbalance can lead to a lack of support and a feeling of alienation, especially in smaller companies without an HR department.

because within established workplaces they are under-valued. They want to create their own working culture instead of trying to conform to a masculine agenda of what success looks like.

What kind of events do the SheSays Brighton members seek? How do you decide what kind of events to host, and which particular speakers to invite?

I follow the tech and creative industries quite closely, locally and globally, to keep in touch with hot topics and the prevailing conversations. Sometimes the theme or structure of the next SheSays event will actually emerge during the networking at SheSays.

Our more senior women members, who have an absolute wealth of experience and long CVs, will share that they are simply not adequately listened to within their companies or not given the flexibility they want and need.

For a long time we were very limited by budget for speakers. We’re still only able to pay costs, but we’ve had some high profile speakers, like Imri Morgan of Shout Out Network, former Green Party co-leader Caroline Lucas MP, and Natalie Kane who is now at the V&A.

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Rifa with speakers from The Future Female 2018

Our event on 14th September 2018 for Brighton Digital Festival had Gen Ashley of Women Who Code and Ada’s List.

How can educational institutions encourage more women into the creative, design, and tech industries?

I’m a passionate networker anyway; I attend a lot of events and conferences, always on the hunt for interesting people, not necessarily onstage. I follow lots of women in tech and the arts on Twitter. Often a speaker will just leap out. Sometimes it’s clients or friends-offriends, sometimes I’ll chase a big name.

But they always need an interesting, unique angle for their talk, or a challenging, impactful scenario. It’s never just someone coming with a sales pitch, we run a mile from that kind of speaker.

Institutions need to continually improve representation across the board. If a business course has regular speakers come in from industry, regardless of what the topics are, they should ensure that a decent proportion of those speakers are women – and, for that matter, people of colour and LGBTQ. And not just have one ‘lovely lady’ show up to talk about being a working mum or ‘being a woman in the industry’.

We’re lucky that here in Brighton we have a big student population and a huge talent pool within quite a few educational institutions – and on the whole they are very supportive. We’ve collaborated with Helen Kennedy at the University of Brighton’s School of Media for a few years, she’s been a big factor in the success of some of the larger SheSays Brighton events, and we encourage students to

SheSays Brighton can be a magical experience for a speaker too, because our members are such a fantastic, encouraging, open-hearted audience.

Many speakers have not stood up in front of a group of almost all women before – that alone can be a revelatory, fresh experience.

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REFLECT How can our readers find out more about SheSays Brighton?

come along. We’ve had speakers from the University of Brighton and the University of Sussex.

We’re @shesaysbrighton on Twitter and you can also find us on LinkedIn ‘SheSays Brighton chapter’ and Facebook.

I’ve gone in to speak and inspire students at the universities and colleges as well as in schools.

When you’re not working on SheSays Brighton, what other projects do you manage?

Separate to my involvement in SheSays Brighton, this year I was Festival Director for Talent2018, the South East’s major festival of recruitment, for Wired Sussex.

This has given me some fascinating insights into the mutual needs of academia and business. The local business community urgently wants to recruit and retain more talent and keep young people here after they graduate. With that as a key goal, one of the best solutions is to make sure their working practices welcome everyone. When it’s done right, it’s a win-win.

I run Refigure.co.uk, a mentoring, events and consultancy business to support women who are already at senior level.

I blend meditation techniques with transformative coaching and storytelling methods. I sit on the Board of Trustees at The Lighthouse and The Marlborough Theatre. I’m Festival Director for Spring Forward Festival, which is a month-long festival running through March each year, aimed at women in digital culture.

And I used to have a weekly indie music radio show but I had to give that up because I needed the time!

Biography

Rifa is a mentor, meditation teacher and women in tech advocate, organiser of successful women’s networking group SheSays Brighton and Festival Director of Spring Forward. She worked for 20 years as a digital project manager in the tech and creative industries, building largescale websites and working at a senior level with clients such as Microsoft, Channel 4 and Action for Children as well as many agencies such as Clearleft, Brilliant Noise and Ribot. She is one of Sussex Life magazine’s Top 50

inspiring women of 2018. Rifa trained as a Sivananda yoga teacher in Kerala in 2003 and is a Transcendental Meditation (TM) meditator. She is only one of three Oneness Meditators in the UK. She trained with Tibetan Buddhist monks in Nepal in 2000, and regularly returns to her meditation school in South India.

You can contact Rifa by email rifa@rifa. co.uk, online rifa.co.uk, or via Twitter and Instagram at @rifa.

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Become a sponsor and raise the profile of your brand among female founders and women in business in Sussex. clare@thrivethemag.co.uk 07952 914937

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Making (Good) Trouble with Brighton5 With Tayler and Daisy Cresswell 69

REFLECT What is Brighton5? Who are the founders?

What inspired you to set this up?

Brighton5 is a reaction to the growing problems young people are facing with social media, device addiction and pressures at school and college – there is a mental health crisis that is showing no sign of going away. This crisis is particularly affecting girls – one in four has depression before they are 14, and hospital admissions for girls who selfharm have almost doubled in the last 20 years.

We decided that we couldn’t just sit by – we wanted to do something to change the situation. As parents of teen girls (Daisy has two teenage daughters, Tayler has one, plus a son who has come out the other side of the teen years), we have direct experience of the issues facing teenagers and, importantly, worried parents. The whole project came about through five girls sitting around Daisy’s kitchen table last summer during their GCSE revision. These teens were so inspiring. They shared their problems and their feelings of disenfranchisement in their future about issues such as housing and job insecurity. They were hugely eloquent, and we saw that they needed somewhere to channel their ideas, to have a voice and a say in their future.

And so Brighton5 was born. In essence we are setting up a brand new production company for teens. The company is called Make (Good) Trouble, and Brighton5 is our inaugural broadcast media project.

For the past decade we have run our own social media company, Liberty842, creating content for TV and radio, including BBC One’s Holby City, BBC Radio 4’s The Archers, and Channel 4’s The Last Leg. Working in the world of social media, we wanted to make sure we were part of the solution, not the problem!

We have the opportunity to teach our teens the techniques and skills that we have learnt over the past decades through our experience working in branding, advertising and social media – everything from storytelling and production to budgeting skills. We will channel teens’ often misplaced and misinterpreted 70

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Tayler Cresswell, Daisy Cresswell and Jane Keating

energy to create something new – to put the ‘good’ into trouble-making.

Why do you think the timing is right for starting Brighton5 now?

We have been busy creating partnerships with local businesses, schools and colleges – the MET (Greater Brighton Metropolitan College) has been amazing, and we are talking to them about providing work placements for their students – as well as to Sussex Police and the NHS.

We have spent a lot of time over the last year talking to parents as well as schools, colleges and local businesses about how we can make Brighton5 work. Frontline staff and parents tell us they are struggling. Even when they know a teen needs help, the wait for referrals can be anything up to six months in East Sussex, by which time problems can be exacerbated massively.

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The system is failing so many of our young people. Help often comes in the form of hand-outs, a piece of paper with checklists, and written advice. Many apps and online help are also offered, but not necessarily any follow-up about how that is working. By creating content made by teens themselves, working alongside the schools and colleges, we think we can make a big difference. Where they won’t listen to adults, they are likely to listen to, and relate to, their peers.

in a radio programme and podcast where they can talk about the issues. We are making the show with partner Radio Reverb.

What kind of activities do you intend to co-create with the project participants?

We are getting teens to express themselves, to share their thoughts and emotions through video, and we have already made some proof-of-concept videos that have gone down really well.

After a day’s filming, one participant told us, ‘I was happy all day today’, which is brilliant.

We also know that parents are struggling to understand their children. Our childhoods look nothing like those of our kids, so it is hard to give advice and know the best ways to cope. Parents have understandable fears: that children are harmed by constantly being on their devices, about online bullying, and unattainable body image pressures. We want to help by getting parents involved

We really want to challenge existing ways of doing things, and to properly connect with teens on their own terms.

We see Make (Good) Trouble as an alternative school for life, harnessing 72

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from parents who were finding it hard to get proper support for their teens.

We used the talk to ask the audience if they were feeling the same pressures as parents. The audience is made up of local businesses, organisations, entrepreneurs, and self-employed people – but they are also mums, dads, uncles, brothers, godparents, carers, and guardians. You get the picture!

We plan to get them making, doing, creating, and thinking! They will be looking into the issues that really concern them, bringing their unique perspective to the problems they face today. We want this to be a positive, rewarding and fun experience.

And we want to use tech for good! Teens are excellent editors and content creators.

We want to make tech positive and dynamic, to enable teens to use it to help them understand and tackle issues early on, before problems with mental health arise.

We met many of these people afterwards over many coffees. We had a lot in common. We are all worried about our teens and don’t know where to turn for help. Daisy also went to sessions through her daughter’s school, including an ‘Anxiety in Teens’ parents’ group.

The reaction was the same there. It was clear that parents needed a new way of tackling these issues.

Why do you believe it is important to make the project gender-specific, focusing specifically on teenage girls?

It was then that we knew that Brighton5 wasn’t just a good idea, it was a necessity!

Our long-term plan is to create a platform for all teen voices. When we looked at where to start, we researched the statistics around girls’ mental health and felt that it was really important to give them a voice. And we know that the playing field still isn’t level for girls.

There is a huge pressure on them to look a certain way, and to have the ‘perfect’ body image to project on to their social media. So we are initially focusing on the problems teen girls face, and how they can find a way to overcome them.

What is your vision for Brighton5?

Our goal is to create an alternative source of employment for young people – a place where they can earn money, and have a place to dream and have ambitions. We want to give teens real on-the-job training that is not temporary, and to pay them a decent wage.

What reaction and interaction have you experienced so far from other parents of teenage children? What are their common challenges and concerns?

With help from mentors, teens will create content – from short videos and animation to a TV show – and do everything from building sets to lighting, camera, design and running the social media.

Daisy was keynote speaker at last year’s Brighton Summit, and we were inundated with offers of help – many

Over the next 12 months we are going to make poignant videos and test them through local schools and colleges, so 73

REFLECT that we build our knowledge of what really works for our teen audience. We want to empower them to find the solutions themselves.

We already have some brilliant local businesses helping us, giving us sponsorship in kind. Barclays Eagle Labs have offered us space, as well as access to their 3D printer and technology. Even if you can’t offer financial backing, we are looking for people who could lend us kit, space, and printing facilities. We are open to offers!

Brighton5 is just the start. We are looking to roll this project out nationally, and use it as a template to tackle other issues that all teens face.

How can the local business community get involved with Brighton5?

This project is working because of the amazing collaboration of everyone involved – from parents and teens to businesses. As a parent or teen, that is an incredibly strong proposition – knowing that you are not alone, and that there is a whole team of people ready to make good trouble. For the first time in a while, we are excited about the future.

We are fundraising at the moment, and part of that is a crowdfunder which is launching in October, so we will be looking for donations, as well as help with getting the project talked about in the press and on social media.

Find out more

For updates, subscribe to our blog at brighton5.com. You can also follow us on Twitter and Instagram @theBrighton5 and find us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheBrighton5.

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Building an Eco-Lodge in the Nicaraguan Rainforest With María Soler, Co-Founder of Guácimo Lodge 77

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Guácimo Lodge

What is Guácimo Lodge, and when did you start up? Who is in your founding team?

In what ways does Guácimo Lodge reflect your values of eco-tourism and sustainability?

Guácimo Lodge is an eco-lodge located in 40 hectares of primary rainforest off the shores of the San Juan River, at the Indio Maíz Biological Reserve buffer zone in Nicaragua. My partner and I are the founders of the hotel, and we opened the lodge in January 2018.

Through reforestation and sustainable plantations, Guácimo Lodge contributes to the preservation of the ecosystem. A total of 14,000 trees have been planted in previously deforested areas within the property.

What motivated you to set up Guácimo Lodge?

Our bungalows and common areas are powered by photovoltaic panels.

Architectural design adopts natural ventilation through window screens and ceiling openings. And the construction impact in soil and terrain is minimal. We offer limited accommodation in order to improve interaction with nature and the river and avoid the adverse effects of mass tourism.

I have always been very interested in environmental protection. After 18 years working in international development, mainly in gender and women’s rights, I wanted to make a change but keep contributing to local development.

Guácimo Lodge has allowed me to do that.

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DISCOVER Building an eco-lodge in the middle of the jungle must have had its challenges! What have been the main problems you have overcome so far?

be to be patient and have lots of energy, because you will need it for sure!

If you are not an adventurous man or woman, don’t do it!

Building Guácimo Lodge was a huge challenge but at the same time an amazing experience. The main problems have been related to the logistics of building the hotel. The lodge is located in a remote area in the middle of the jungle which you can only access by river. Although the construction has been done by local masons and carpenters, many of the materials were transported from Managua and other cities. To build a swimming pool by the lodge was a complete nightmare!

What is it like being a female founder in Nicaragua?

Nicaragua is a very sexist/machista country, and there are not many female founders. Gaining the respect of the male workers that were involved in the construction of the lodge was a big challenge.

In general terms, I think that a female entrepreneur has to make twice as much effort as a man to be taken seriously.

What advice do you have for our readers who are considering setting up a business in a developing country?

If you are planning to set up a business in a developing country, my advice would María Soler

Find out more

If you are interested in staying at Guácimo Lodge, and of course, meeting María, visit guacimolodge.com for more details.

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CREATE

Sarah Jones Artist and Illustrator, Brighton and Hove

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very quarter, in the Create section, we feature an artist or illustrator who has caught our eye. Why? Because we could all do with more creativity in our lives!

Sarah Jones is an artist and illustrator for whom Brighton has become core to everything she does. Having grown up in Yorkshire and south London, Sarah came to Brighton to do a degree in Graphic Design, and like so many, never left the city.

She has raised three children here, taught at the Universities of Brighton and Kingston, owned a beach shop, and has been part of the Brighton Open House Festival for over ten years, this year winning a ‘Highly Commended’ Prize for Best Artist.

‘When I came to Brighton longer ago than I care to admit, it wasn’t quite the place it is now, but there was still a sense of excitement about the possibilities of being here.’

Her talent was spotted early on by a London illustration agent who still represents her and she continues to illustrate for clients including The New Scientist, John Lewis, Marks and Spencer, British Airways, the Radio Times, The Telegraph, Financial Times, and Tesco.

‘I like having the two strands to my work – being commissioned and art directed by design companies and magazines, and then having the freedom to work on pieces to please myself and hang on walls. Both present different challenges.’

Sarah’s images are made from a combination of hand-drawn and printed elements, brought together using a computer. The result is a vibrant and contemporary style.

Sarah is opening her home this Christmas as a part of the Artists Open Houses (AOH).

She has just moved Milton House to Clyde Road (by the Duke of York’s Cinema). It is well worth a visit and has been on the top ten best house list for the last seven years.

The AOH festival weekends are 24 and 25 November, 1 and 2 December, 8 and 9 December, from 11:00 to 18:00.

She is currently accepting commissions.

To view more of Sarah’s portfolio, visit www.sarahjonesprints.co.uk and follow her on Instagram @sarahjones_illustration.

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Motel 81

Urban Child 82

42nd Street 83

Croydon 84

The North Laine Brighton 85

Hove at Dusk 86

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Piccadilly Circus 88

Thr!ve Call for contributions!

Artists, illustrators, and photographers are invited to submit their artwork for a chance to feature in the next issue. clare@thrivethemag.co.uk 07952 914937

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CONNECT

Small Business Resources There are a range of Sussex-based organisations, as well as national ones, which offer business support – online and at events – for aspiring entrepreneurs and founders of established businesses. Below, we have listed some of our favourite resources. We have also included a range of valuable community resources which may be of interest to you, or someone you know.

Business Support for Small Businesses

Support for Green Businesses

businessinbrighton.org.uk crunch.co.uk/crunch-chorus/ c2cbusiness.org.uk enterpriseexchange.org.uk enterprisenation.com entrepreneurhandbook.co.uk fsb.org.uk ioee.uk/affiliate-membership ipse.co.uk letsdobusinessgroup.co.uk mdhub.co.uk mentorsme.co.uk mymas.org princes-trust.org.uk prowess.org.uk smarta.com startacus.net startupdonut.co.uk virginstartup.org

brighton.ac.uk/business-services/greengrowth-platform/index.aspx

Support for Creatives artscouncil.org.uk businessinbrighton.org.uk/events/creativehub craftscouncil.org.uk designcouncil.org.uk fabrica.org.uk soldesigncollective.com

Support for Women in Technology brightondigitalwomen.co.uk SheSaysBrighton wiredsussex.com

Support for Social Entrepreneurs

Accelerator Programmes

socialenterprise.org.uk unltd.org.uk

business.natwest.com/business/services/ accelerator.html 90

CONNECT Brighton Women’s Centre

Legal Information and Advice companieshouse.gov.uk gov.uk/browse/business hmrc.gov.uk ipo.gov.uk

womenscentre.org.uk

Mental Health Support mindcharity.co.uk samaritans.org/branches/brighton-hoveand-district-samaritans synergycreative.org.uk

Co-Working Spaces labs.uk.barclays/locations/brighton onegirlband.co.uk platf9rm.com spacesworks.com/brighton/trafalgar-place werksgroup.org.uk

Support for People Affected by Domestic Abuse and Violence galop.org.uk riseuk.org.uk

Grants and Loans

Services for Families and Children

fredericksfoundation.org fundingcentral.org.uk fundingcircle.com fundingoptions.com gov.uk/new-enterprise-allowance innovateuk.org nesta.org.uk startuploans.co.uk

allsortsyouth.org.uk brighton-hove.gov.uk/ frontdoorforfamilies rainbowfamilies.org.uk

Crowdfunding and Investment angelsden.com crowdcube.com crowdfunder.co.uk indiegogo.com kickstarter.com seedrs.com syndicateroom.com 91

Notes & Reflections

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Become a sponsor and raise the profile of your brand among female founders and women in business in Sussex. clare@thrivethemag.co.uk 07952 914937

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