August Adventures: Striking the Perfect Balance between work and play
I love doing my monthly round up. It’s an opportunity for me to take a moment to reflect back on what we’ve been up to and celebrate my accomplishments. As an overachiever this is something I would rarely do. I’m usually pushing onto the next thing and I’m my own worst critic!
August has really been about balancing work and play. Having lots of fun during the summer holidays with Alfie and my family, enjoying travel, and new experiences. This is one of the main reasons I set up business to have flexibility. The time that I have been working has been about planning and putting processes in place for when we get busy during the Autumn and Winter season. Here’s our highlights
New experiences and travel
This month we’ve had lots of adventures exploring the South of France in Wally
Experiencing the Bristol Balloon Festival with my folks. From watching the balloons go up at dawn to the most beautiful evening glow show to music. It’s a wonder not to be missed.
A magical date weekend exploring Venice to celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary. It’s one of the prettiest cities I’ve ever visited. I loved being by the water, no cars, bicycles or traffic (other than boats!).
The summer has been packed with adventures and I’m going to be honest I really don’t want it to end. If you ever want any recommendations on where to visit & stay with a motorhome drop me a message. We are getting braver every trip that we do. I’m more than happy to share experiences!
#SmallBusiness100
Back in June I submitted an application to be part of #SmallBusiness100. I’m delighted to say I’ve been selected to be one of the Small Business Saturday #SmallBiz100 2024. This campaign is a celebration of inspirational small businesses around the UK, and they’ll highlight one a day for 100 days leading up to Small Business Saturday on 7th December. I’ll be officially featured on 1st December .
I’m looking forward to connecting with the other #SmallBiz100 There’s a whole tour involved over the next couple of months you can check out where they will be here.
“Practicing what I preach”
We had our first weekend at home this bank holiday. I’m terrible at relaxing at home and always looking for things to do. One of the many projects on my invisible list was giving our much used dining chairs an update.
I’d put it off as I can remember how long they took me to paint the first time 10 yrs ago. However things have changed, new paints exist and the way that you apply them have improved. I invested in a new gadget – a paint sprayer. Perfect for water based paints, easy to use and clean. I sprayed all 10 chairs in two afternoons, even sprucing up the old cushions. Giving ten old chairs a new lease of life, helping the environment by not sending furniture to landfill and reducing the need for new furniture production.
Celebrating success
On 28th August Ros and I swapped roles for a few hours. We were celebrating and experienced a creative team workshop instead of running them! Jo from JDA plants visited the chapel and we learned everything about Terrariums!
We were in our element, enjoying the peaceful process of creating. Whilst enjoying the experience of seeing each other’s designs coming to life.
It was lovely to be able to be a participant for once, and it reminded me how much I need creativity in everyday life. More importantly to celebrate the milestone and progress we’ve made together over the past six months. We’ve been working on some really hard and technical stuff. So no matter how big or small your team ….remember to take some time out, stop and celebrate together.
What’s coming up
September sees a super busy month coming up. I’m a lifelong learner and relish an opportunity to learn new skills. On 9th September I’ll be starting a 6 week CPD Accredited Sustainability for Small Business Programme. Along with speaker training at Phenomenal Women with Catherine Sandland at the end of the month as I’ve got loads of important messages to share! Later in the month I am heading to Oxford on the 10th – 11th September to the B-Corp UK Louder than Words conference!
Will be back with more adventures at the end of September.
If you are looking to plan a festive activity for your and friends we’ve launched our Christmas Wreath Workshop with afternoon tea on Friday 29th November, Thursday 5th December, 7th December at 10.30am-1.30pm & 2.30pm-5.30pm. Book here.
Or for some festive fun with the team email us at hello@shupholstery.co.uk to organise a bespoke event.
