GillHB & Friends

 Have you ever come across someone you've never actually met but know you are just going to get on?  That's what happened when I found Louise via her Instagram account as she and her husband were, and still are, transforming a paddock into a kitchen garden (with chickens) and knew we'd get on really well. There's no fancy reels or pretending to act out a scene just Lou telling it as it is - defini...

My good friend Jenny (also know as the Queen of Being Seen) and I decided we just wanted to chat on this podcast about nothing in particular or to promote what Jenny does (which is very good at by the way AND she's writing a series of books!) and simply explore where the conversation took us. We started by talking about 'to niche or not to niche' - neither of us have niched as coaches in what we o...

How many of us think about care homes and how to choose one well in advance of when we might need it either for ourselves or a family member? Or we only look when we suddenly find that we're in the situation of needing to find one quickly (which is what happened to us!). Well, it's never too early to start doing your research.  In this episode I chat to Will Hammond, Client liaison manager, at Sil...

I find out from Sophie what made her choose to become a driving instructor. She used to be a personal trainer but was tired of commuting into London from Watford everyday having chunks of the day with no clients plus working weekends so retrained as a driving instructor.  If you thought taking your driving test was scary it's nothing to the training and tests needed to become an instructor. It may...

I met Sarah over 12 years ago when we were both working on the Virgin Flying without Fear courses helping people overcome their fear of flying. We always said the most dangerous part of flying was getting to or from the airport. Turns out crossing the road on a crossing is FAR more dangerous and scary than flying!  Sarah is cabin crew for Virgin and whilst in LA was out getting her new 'lippy' bef...

Following on from my chat with Janet in the preivous epiosode we decided there was a lot more to discuss on the topic of social media. We are keen to point out that we are giving our own viewpoints and experiences as we discuss the ins and outs of social media.  We both use social media and enjoy it but do question to what extent are we being manipulated in ways we're not aware of? Are we addicted...

I last spoke to Janet in episode 25 about her business as a divorce coach specialising in narcisstic abuse and why she has now decided to close her business. She explains that having reached a milestone birthday that she feels she is in the 'departure lounge' of life, but absolutley not ready to board just yet, so wants to make sure she makes the most of it and has the time to do what she wants. ...

Jess tells me her story as to why she left a senior role in corporate banking to follow a little idea she'd had in the backof her mind for a few years.  She retrained and is now a fully qualified coach and mentor. As people are often confused about the difference between a coach, mentor and sponsor Jess uses a great analogy to explain them. We chat about the importance of making sure a client know...

Before recording this episode I was looking at Eleanor's Hunt website https://www.thewoollencwtchcompany.com/ , and thought she must have been honing her skill of weaving beautiful willow and British wool coffins for years. How wrong can you be?! I've just started learning how to weave with willow and like anything new when you try it you discover just what a skill it is to weave anything! So I wa...

I met Michele many years ago, we are both trained coaches and Master Practitioners of NLP, when we were both assistants on Dr Richard Bandler's NLP courses. Since then we have both gone in different directions and Michele is now a highly experienced trauma informed therapist. She is trained by Gabor Maté in Compassionate Inquiry, Dr Richard Schwartz in Internal Family systems as well as a hypnothe...

Did you know that of ALL the global textiles only 1% is wool and of that 1% only 1% is UK wool? Kate Drury is a 4th generation sheep farmer. She lives in Yorkshire and explains why that is the perfect location for her business www.sustainablerope.com  and how she came to make wool rope. She is passionate about keeping the business in the UK so she knows each stage of the process and that in turn m...

Karen was in academia, about to start a Phd, but knew she wanted to be involved in gardening so despite people saying 'you're wasting your qualifications' and takigna paycut she followed her dream and became a gardener on a large estate supporint peole with mental health challenges.  It was whilst working as a gardener she learnt how to weave obelisks and plant supports. The more weaving she did t...

When wandering around a garden centre have you ever thought about all those plastic pots we buy our plants in and what happens to them? What do you do with yours? Bin them? hide them in the shed never to use again? Give them to a friend who grows things from seed or divides plants?  Well apart from hiding in someone's shed or being re-used by growers over 500million of them get sent to landfill! T...

This quote came to mind as I was chatting to Mitty -  "People who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it", George Bernard Shaw. My 'friend' on this podcast is defintiely the person doing it!  Meet Mitty who, not only decided to start her business  www.bridieandbert.com 3 years ago in covid, but also turned 60 this year which she celebrated by going to India  - not just...

In this episode it's all about 'sustainable fashion' Gill chats to Sarah Franken a young entrepreneur about how she came to set up the online magazine 'Lumera'. The focus of the magazine is to highlight sustainable brands and Gill finds out what is sustainable fashion and how complicated it can get!  Sarah explains that at university she wasn't particularly passionate about sustainability but how,...

I don't know many entrepreneurs, let alone someone of Holly's age, who does literally everything in their new business - from building the website, to making the bespoke items to taking the photographs of her products. She explains how rêvedesalpes.com came about from an idea / dream her Mum and Aunt had many years ago. On gaining her Masters and realising she didn't want to remain in marketing sh...

Clare and Catherine met at the school gates when their children were young and started  running an after school club together for many years before deciding it was time to do something new. Gill finds out what made them decide to star a new environmentally friendly business. What were the driving forces behind it? How do they decide what to stock and how much to stock when starting a new business?...

How would you cope for 13+ yrs on 4 hours sleep a night normally, let alone whilst raising a family of 3 children one of whom has non verbal autism plus additional sensory processing needs?  Katrina shares her very practical approach to, what she describes, as the very contented family life they now all have. She tells of the challenges they have had to face with Clayton, now 16yrs old, along the...

Have you heard of breast implant illness? Serena hadn't and put her symptoms of not feeling 'quite right' then 'very ill' down to the peri-menopause / menopause. She went for tests and was told all was well but she certainly didn't feel it was. One day she came across another woman's story and realised that the symptoms she was experiencing were those of breast implant illness.  Serena shares the...

As a means of paying his tuition fees for his horticulture course Andy started selling herbs at farmer's markets. Little did he know that it would lead to him not finishing the course but running his own company and writing a book as well as starting a new experiment of growing food in his front garden.  Andy's story shows how we never know where a decision will take us, how to overcome the ups an...

Jenny is now an award-winning mentor, high impact coach and business owning CEO, She has regularly appeared on the BBC throughout the UK and speaks on the topic of professional visibility nationally and internationally. Jenny chats to Gill about leaving corporate life to a start a new business and a family. In the first half of the podcast she shares how her mindset helped her navigate her way thr...

Following on from the previous podcast I chat to Alex Manos, also from Exhale coffee, to find out all about the 'science bit' behind coffee. I learn a lot about chlorogenic acid which is a polyphenol. I have no idea what are they and exactly what is so important about them as well as a lot of other things I've never heard of! Alex explains how they impact on our health and debunks several myths ar...

If you're a coffee lover then this episode is for you!  Having experienced his own health issues Alex, previously an accountant, had a passion for good coffee, had heard about the health benefits and wanted to find out more about what makes coffee healthy. Not only did he find out but then he and his wife started their own company, Exhale coffee just as lockdown began! Gill wants to know more abou...

Gill was assisting on a Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) course when she met Sarah who was an attendee and discovered they both lived in the same town. From leading a sales team Sarah has now become a self-employed consultant who works with leaders and teams in the luxury goods market. She and Gill discuss the reasons it's important to have a cohesive team and what it takes to be a good leader.

Continuing on the French theme Gill chats to former Yorkshire language teacher Kylee Milner who now designs and makes jewellery. As Kylee says, if someone had told her back in her teaching days that she would be living in France working with 'energy' to design and make jewellery she would have laughed! Kylee tells Gill her 'back story' as to how she and her husband came to change their whole lives...