Dare To Be Brave with Joy Foster

We can’t lie. Our maths lessons were spent writing ‘hello’ on our calculators and wondering how useful the phrase ‘SOHCAHTOA’ would be in life! But when you’re running a business – as excruciating as this might be (for some people at least) – you have to make friends with your numbers. You need to cosy up and really get to know them. Thankfully, we’ve got just the woman to help get you a little mo...

*Trigger alert: this week’s episode touches on bullying and suicide. If you're affected by any of the issues raised, head to our website for details of organisations that can offer support. If you prefer, you can also choose to tune in from 09:47 minutes.* Lisa Johnson is proof that you can rewrite your story again and again. She’s proof that you needn’t be defined by the rough hand you were...

"If I do a job in 30 minutes, it’s because I spent 10 years learning how to do that in 30 minutes. You owe me for the years, not the minutes." Too many of us forget that our time is valuable. And it's something we need to remember – especially when it comes to charting a path to financial empowerment. We need to stop swapping time for money and start appreciating the value and years...

Anyone with kids will be familiar with the child-computer-bed conundrum. At bedtime, houses up and down the country ring with the collective chorus of ‘But I’m right in the middle of my game. Can’t I just have five more minutes, pleaaaaasssse?’ 🕹️ But what if you have a child that would love to be pleading for a little more screentime but feels excluded from the world of gaming because of a physic...

You know your career path has gone awry when someone asks you to ‘Hoover more enthusiastically’!!! 😲 While Lisa might not be destined to be the next Mrs Hinch any time soon, there’s no mistaking her talents when it comes to directing our branding here at TechPixies. There isn’t anything that Lisa can’t whip into an animated GIF, and we reckon it won’t be long before she’s giving Monty Don a run f...

If you’ve ever used the phrase ‘life just got in the way’, you need to hear the remarkable story of Mandy Hughes. As a parent carer to a daughter with complex needs, Mandy has been in and out of hospital more times than she cares to remember and had to make the tough decision to give up her hairdressing business to put her daughter first. She’s experienced the struggles of being a single parent, s...

JUST STOP IT, STOP IT! 🛑 Don’t worry, this isn’t a deliberate attention-grabbing ploy on our part (although we’re delighted you’ve stopped what you’re doing to read this!). You’ve just experienced the power of a ‘pattern interrupt’. It’s a nifty little trick Joy, our fab founder, employs whenever she needs to shift her energy or focus, and it’s a tactic she discusses with our guest on this week’s...

Your business is rocking, you’re in your groove, and then bam! 💥 The pandemic hits and one of your main sources of income comes to a halt overnight. What do you do? Well, if you’re Mel Cant –  stuck in a scenario that has become all too familiar to many in this past year –  you take the bull by the horns and you do the mother of all pivots… with a little help from TechPixies, of course. Having pr...

Pop on to Kirsty Raper’s eye-catching Instagram account, and you’ll spy a picture of her in a rather fabulous blue suit (#wardrobewins 💅). In it, Kirsty looks every inch the successful businesswoman she is today. Except this was the first time in ten years that Kirsty had donned a suit and, underneath the broad smile, Kirsty admits she was a bundle of nerves as she headed off to pitch to her firs...

To paraphrase one of our childhood heroes (Hannibal from The A-Team, in case you’re wondering), we love it when a plan comes together. Joy first sat down for a good old chinwag with Gloria Wilkinson last summer, soon after Gloria graduated from our Social Media Magic 90-Day Transformational Programme. And, wowzers, what a transformation she’s had (go and check out her story and tell us you’re not...

Have you got BUGS in your brain? 🐜 That’s the question Hilary DeCesare is asking in this week’s epic episode of the Sparkle and Thrive podcast. She’s got her imaginary BUG catcher to hand and is here to do a spot of gardening of your mind, giving it a little spring clean with her awesome Belief Blasters. Because Hilary knows all too well that when you let your BUGS – Beliefs UnderGround Surfacing...

Yoda. Not your first port of call for sage advice, perhaps, but very wise this Jedi Master is. In The Empire Strikes Back , Yoda tells Luke Skywalker that ‘you must unlearn what you have learned’, and we think this is a pretty nifty life lesson. Because we’re all on #EatSleepRepeat; we’re a sum of our habits and years of subconscious conditioning. Very often, the stories we’re told in childhood ar...

We got the trumpets out for a royal fanfare and prepared ourselves to perform our best curtsy on the Sparkle and Thrive podcast this week. Why? Because we rolled out the red carpet for a guest with a royal connection 👑. Donna White is the senior head of digital marketing at The Prince’s Trust , the charity founded by The Prince of Wales in 1976. And with a career in PR and seven years at the Trus...

We’re joiners here at TechPixies. Whether it’s Olympic archery or Orange Club biscuits (because, yes, we do like a lot of chocolate on our biscuits, thanks), we rally to the call to ‘Join our Club’. And we’re not alone. It’s human nature to want to belong, to feel part of something – it’s the intrinsic motivation behind the success of Facebook, Clubhouse, and pretty much any other club you’ll have...

We’re crying into our cornflakes here at TechPixies HQ! We’re experiencing major FOMO after looking at the scroll-stopping images of The Bull Shed and remembering that we’re never going to get the chance to stay at this gorgeous getaway. Because its owners, Amanda and Lee Jay Burningham, decided to hang up their hospitality hats and close the doors to their luxury B&B in 2019. But, lucky for u...

Sun, sea, sangria! ☀️ 🌊  🍹 Remember that? Lying back on a sunlounger (at least one that isn’t in your back garden!!!) and enjoying the sun warming your skin and the soothing sounds of waves lapping at the shore seems like a lifetime ago, doesn’t it?! But with a chink of light on the horizon, it may not be too much longer before we’re all able to enjoy a change of scenery away from our own four w...

Pants, briefs, smalls, drawers, undies, knickers, undercrackers (for any men out there!). Whatever you want to call them, chances are you don’t stop to think about your pants (ours are brave, naturally) as you rifle through your underwear drawer to pull on a fresh pair each morning. But imagine not having any pants to pull on at all! 😲 This is the reality Sarah Jordan discovered thousands of peop...

“When good people make good money, they do great things!” Chris Harder When Jill Stanton’s husband asked her, ‘Are you playing to win? Or are you playing to not lose?’ it was a classic lightbulb moment 💡. It was an invitation for Jill to dream big instead of preparing for the worse, and it’s a mindset Jill believes we should all adopt, especially when it comes to money. Because women have a tonne...

Heads up, peeps! You’ll need a box of tissues for this episode of the Sparkle and Thrive podcast. Our guest this week is a woman who runs an award-winning clothing brand that Joy, our chief TechPixie, loves so much it’s become her go-to loungewear. Joy often sports the brand’s hoodies (in a star print, naturally), which feature a tactile lightning bolt on the sleeve  – aka the ‘Superpower Button’...

While many of us were trying not to get caught reading our favourite book by torchlight under our duvet, Joy Foster, our tech-savvy founder, was busy taking computers apart and putting them back together. Yep, it’s safe to say that Joy’s love of tech goes way back, and anyone who’s spent more than a second in her company will know her passion is infectious. But, there’s one bit of software that Jo...

It feels like only yesterday that we were getting the lowdown on Pinterest from our CPE (chief pinner extraordinaire), Pip Iles (if you haven’t checked out our episode with her , you should!). But, with Pinterest moving at the speed of Usain Bolt going for gold (and, yes, we do want to see a pic of you ‘Bolting’ in your best lightning bolt pose), we couldn’t wait to get Pip back on to the Sparkle...

While we’ve all been distracted attempting to bust out some Reel-ly good moves and grooves on Insta or trying to nab ourselves an invite to Clubhouse, Twitter has been busying itself with the launch of a whole heap of new features. So many in fact that there’s a high chance you’ve missed the memo. But, don’t panic! You can put your FOMO back in its box, because we’ve called in the troops and are a...

LinkedIn. It’s a bit like Marmite, right? Some people love it, while others run a mile from it 🏃. Why? Because, until you get your head around it, LinkedIn is the one network guaranteed to give you the jitters. You hop from profile to profile, and before you know it, you’ve got a nasty case of imposter syndrome and an army of ANTs marching through your mind. But, there’s one woman here at TechPix...

If you’re a TechPixie, you’ll be familiar with Angie Hiscott’s awesomeness (Angie has a mug that says ‘Awesome Angie’ gifted to her by Joy, our founder. So it’s official: she’s awesome). Not only is she the community manager for our Facebook Groups here at TechPixies – answering queries, dishing out tips and advice, and generally being an agony aunt to our students – she’s also our Facebook coach....

Woo-hoo! It’s a new year, and that means a fresh new start and a whole new set of goals and objectives, right?! Ok, so confession time: we might have broken a few New Year’s resolutions already (don’t tell!), but we’re raring to go here at TechPixies HQ. Bring on 2021!  First things first, though. If you’ve just joined our tribe, hey there! You’re so very welcome and we’re so glad you’re here. And...