Just slow down...

Since January, in life and work, I've been slowing down, trying to live life slower, at a more gentle pace, I have been reminding myself, "Mandy, just slow down".

You see, in life and work, I'm not naturally slow, I move fast, I live life at 100 miles an hour, I want to progress, I have no patience (with the exception of photographing children).  I have been guilty of wanting everything and wanting it now and in business, that's a dangerous place to be.  You cannot, after all, be the same place in a 2-year-old business as you are in a 12-year-old business and it's dangerous to try and do so.  Travelling at the speed of light is counter-intuitive, as Ferris Bueller said "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it"

Business in the slow lane

I suppose it started last November really, I found myself plummeting towards yet another Christmas wanting the tree to be up, the house to be twinkling and life to be better, I'd launched a membership element into my second company and it wasn't working because I took no time to research or find out what it was that my members wanted.  So after several mental health touch points and crises where I would run away to escape the things I couldn't deal with, I cancelled everything.  I told everyone who'd joined that I was stopping their payments, I had let them down but I would make it up to them.

By the time I got to Christmas, I found myself in the slump of depression, Christmas Day was a write-off and by the time I got to the 28th I'd taken my tree down wanting life to just go back to normal.  Something happened though, first I started "Hinching" clearing and cleaning everything in sight, I decluttered so much that it took many weeks of piles of rubbish in my garden which finally, with the help of friends made it to the local tip.

In my work, I started really trying to help people, my mission changed, it was no longer about being successful, it was about being the best I could be, helping as many people, nurturing and finding out what it was that women in business struggle with.  I redesigned the membership with the help of wonderful, positive, intuitive people and when we re-launched, it went better than expected, in fact, today we're approaching 150 members in less than 2 months.  That might seem fast, but it's not really, it was just right, how do I know?  Several of the people I told to stay as members who I felt I'd let down, those wonderful women, joined the new membership package, they didn't need to but they felt nurtured and valued enough to do that.

Living the slow life

With business going well in a mindful and slow way I tackled the same things in my personal life, I can't remember the last time I worried about being single and as you know, if you read regularly, my sole purpose in life has been to transform my garden and my life by spending more time outdoors, amongst nature.  Now, not everything I touch has turned green, the slugs and snails are literally ravaging my potatoes and my mange tout are in crisis after being strangled by a very overzealous Japanese Anemone.  Most things though are growing well and I've already eaten the rocket that I've grown.  My peas are fairing much better than their cousins and I have spinach which is ready for harvest.

Spending time in the garden has taught me the joy of the slow life, business has bumbled along happily without me feeling the need to go and shoot a million photo shoots, it's slowed down so much that now I'm trying to encourage my clients to do the same, to take more time, to see the joy in the quality of photography done slowly, you cannot achieve the same results with 10 back to back 15 minute sessions as you can with one 100 minute family adventure photo shoot.

When you learn to appreciate the life cycles of plants and you enjoy each and every stage, then truly, you are living a more mindful life.  To live a life of purpose is a joy which I have perhaps discovered late in life but I truly appreciate this lesson that life has given me.  For the first time, I have no want to escape because I'm just happy to be where I am.  Don't get me wrong, I still want that caravan retreat by the sea but for the right reasons, I'm not trying to find somewhere to escape from life to, I want somewhere I can go and continue to enjoy that slow pace of life.  Somewhere to sit on a quiet beach, to listen to the waves crash on the shore.  To take in sunsets and occasionally see the sunrise without wondering what we should do for lunch or dinner.

Living  a life with purpose is loving life, stopping to sit and watch the family of starlings who noisily come and feed at my bird feeder, watching the tiny great tits take happy baths in my bird bath, that's the real joy in life as William Henry Davis wrote, in his poem, "Leisure" "What is this life if full of care, we have no time to stop and stare"

Gardening is life changing, here's why...

When I was young, I remember living in a house where the garden faced the wrong way, the sun shone on the front garden and the back was paving stones which I can't remember spending any great time doing anything on.  Then in my teenage years, we moved to a house with a back garden which faced the right way and I think this is where my love of flowers came from, begonias were fashionable and something which grew well in our back garden, it seems a shame I think that they have fallen out of fashion in recent years.

During my adult life I have fallen in and out of love with the garden, it became somewhere forboding in my last house but probably due to my ailing mental health, when you're trying to just get through each day, it does not leave much time for anything else.  This garden I have now though has been through so many changes, from moving in with a huge rowan tree which blocked out all of the light.  We had the smallest patch of grass you can imagine but I remember the children having a paddling pool one summer, something I'm reminded of when wearing those rose-tinted glasses which looked to the past. 

Being married to someone who gardened professionally I never questioned once any of the plants which came to live in my garden. From cuttings or kind donations and it's only now when I live on my own and I've transformed it myself, that I've come to realise, half of the plants in my garden are just too big for my garden.  There's one particular one, a Japanese anemone which gets on it amazing pink flowers in the summer but no matter how much I cut it back, it grows like a monstrous triffid, consuming all of the light and smothering anything in its path.

Let's not mention that Juniper which lived in the corner of my garden which I pulled out with such vigour that I fell over and concussed myself against the garden wall!  Gardening is an adventure! As Monty Don says, "Gardens are never finished, they are a journey, not a destination".  I love that sentiment and when I'd laid the path and put the slate down, I stood at the bottom of the garden and reminded myself that this was actually a beginning, not an ending.

Anyone who knows me will attest to the fact that I do not do things by halves, I am either passionate about something or I just do not care for it at all.  This is my worst and best quality all in one, I get bored easily and move onto new things and I only have patience when it comes to photographing small people.

In my garden though, I have found so much of myself which was previously lost.  I have found a haven and I have found my soul.  Within weeks of getting outdoors my agoraphobic tendencies started to recede, my night sweats vanished and my skin looked better than it had in years.  I found myself calmer and more zen than I can ever remember. 

If gardening is good for the soul then the act of just sitting somewhere beautiful is good for your mental health.  I've had more people tell me I've inspired them to get outdoors, to change their gardens or to make their own little haven than I ever have had people tell me that I've inspired them with photography, I may have even been called "Planty Mandy" I don't mind that though, in fact, I quite like it!

I do not know what will happen in my future now, none of us do, we can plan for tomorrow but everything can change in an instant so you may as well enjoy the process, live for each precious moment and appreciate in hindsight that you were making the most special memories on what might seem were the most pedestrian, normal kinds of days.

Since the garden has become a retreat I've noticed that Looby and I are taking more time to sit out in the evenings, the fairy lights twinkle whilst the Chiminea has kept us warm and we've sat under blankets doing nothing special which was actually the most special thing we could have done.  If anything, the garden, the space I have come to call my haven, is the biggest and best thing I have ever done, it has given me time to stop and sit and ruminate, it has offered moments of pure joy and it has fulfilled my ambitions of doing something grand and following a process from beginning to end.

It might be a small urban garden, but to me, it means the whole world and for that, I'll be forever thankful.

How to have free (or really cheap) days out on your next staycation

I'm a great fan of staycations and they can be really cheap or even free if you do it right.  This week both Harriet and I are taking some days off at the same time, our plans to have a staycation and get the most out of the time with the least amount of spending are spectacular.

You see, I'm a joiner, I like schemes and memberships and loyalty cards, currently I am a member of -

English Heritage - Individual member, I can take me and up to 5 children in for free - approx £5 per month

National Trust - Family member, I can take me and the kids free and Abigail's dad also has a card which I pay for so that they always have somewhere to go for days out even if finances are tricky - approximately £10 per month

Royal Horticultural Society - £4.80 per month

Harriet is also in the National Trust so we both walk into hundreds of properties for free, English Heritage is free for me so we just split the cost of the properties and it's usually just a few pounds.  The RHS, I've recently joined so I get in free to lots of places but if we go to the 4 RHS Gardens not only do I get in free, I also get to take one adult guest or 2 children up to the age of 16. You also get in free to hundreds of partner gardens so again it just means a two for one arrangement if we go together.

I also have handy loyalty cards from - 

Wyevale Garden Centres, discounts in the restaurants and at the till

Dobbies Garden Centres £10 per year for free tea and coffee every month, discounts at the till and in the restaurant plus loyalty vouchers

Gardeners World Gardens Card which came free in the May issue and gets 2 for 1 into hundreds of gardens.

I have £33.50 of vouchers for Wyevale from their now defunct points system, I also have a voucher for £5 off in the restaurant at any RHS Garden and our nearest is Harlow Carr in Harrogate.

So, you can see how these discounts all stack up, both garden centres are dog-friendly as are a lot of the gardens although Harlow Carr isn't but Harlow Kennels next to the gardens will look after your dog for you for £4 or I can just leave her with Iain on that day, Holly Bobbins isn't a high maintenance dog.

We could of course also save even more money by taking our own picnic but then you need picnic food and sometimes that can cost just as much if you want a nice picnic, plus who wouldn't want to have tea at Betty's at Harlow Carr, it is legendary after all.

I do always wonder why dogs aren't allowed into gardens, I get that they can't really go into castles but in gardens on a lead, maybe it's a consideration for the future as we become a much more dog-friendly country.

This summer, whether I'm with Harriet or Looby I plan to have the most fun it's possible to have in our wonderful country but you can be sure I'm going to make days out as cheap as I possibly can whilst still having amazing experiences.  Cheap or free days out are easy, finding amazing places in that budget is the tough part, add kids or teens into that mix and then a dog and the challenges become so much greater.

This year however, I plan to smash it and with a camera at my side to record it all, you can be sure I'm going to come back with memory cards full of, well, memories.  I cannot promise not to splurge on things for the garden though, well you've got to have something to spend money on in the gift shop

The Story of How I Began {Ad-Gifted}

*The bag in this article was gifted to me by Billingham, I was not paid to write this article.

In June 2007 I tentatively launched Mandy Charlton Photography, I knew nothing, I'll be honest, I had a camera and friends and family told me kindly that I was good (I wasn't, I was dreadful).  I'd looked around photographers sites, worked out the hourly rate and thought I can do that, erm...

In a way, I'm sort of glad I went into it blindly though it's something I would never recommend!  I joined a photography forum called DWF and I think I read every single thread on that board, I learnt by information, not just any information, the information of some of the best photographers in the world.

Occasionally I joined in, once I even posted a thread after feeling a bit low, I received some of the harshest criticism I've ever had, mostly it was warranted, I was a terrible photographer.

There were things I knew I wanted though, I wanted to be accepted as a good professional photographer, I wanted to not constantly have imposter syndrome (still working on that one daily ;) ) and finally, I wanted a Billingham camera bag, I'd read the threads, I'd perused the website and I'd lusted at the British handmade, beautiful, beyond beautifully skillfully crafted bags.

Billingham is a family company who've been crafting the finest bags for the top professional photographers for many years and each stitch, even on the inserts you don't really see, every single piece is designed and made to the highest standards.

As the years went by I achieved so much in my business, I learnt my craft, I shot hundreds of weddings, thousands of portraits and have lived a life I have loved for over a decade because of professional photography.

I never did get that Billingham bag though...

A few weeks ago, that company, Billingham, who make the camera bags of dreams, asked if they could send me one, I just had to pick!  Clearly, I was like a child in a sweet shop but after much deliberation, I chose the Hadley Small Pro in burgundy canvas with chocolate leather and oh my gosh, it was worth the 12-year wait I can tell you.  

I'm not a handbag type of person, I own 1 and I only use it if I'm going to conferences but this bag, for one, it's perfect for my small kit which I always have on me (I should state that I also have a mountaineering backpack full of kit which Stacey, my assistant looks after at weddings, I'm not just taking 1 camera and 1 lens to a wedding) and when I'm not doing photography I can take out the inner piece and I have a non-girly bag perfect for all of my needs.

Somehow Billingham found me by chance, in the way that the universe always delivers these things because you wanted something and then it happened, yes, sometimes it takes longer than others but in the end, you always get want you want if you work hard enough.

I'm so thankful to Billingham and I've recommended them for years without ever having one because quite simply, everyone who sees it, loves it and it goes with me, it's bright and happy and it makes me feel good in the same way other professional females carry their Mulberry bags as a badge of how hard they've worked.

Thanks also to my wonderful assistant Stacey who shot these images whilst I was shooting portraits of my amazing clients.

Why you should book me to photograph your wedding

This year so far has been a revelation to me, I've shot more weddings over the spring than I had for years.  For a few years now I've been extolling the virtues of my smaller wedding photography package, being a wedding photographer in Newcastle upon Tyne, I've shot over 300 weddings over a decade.  It takes years to develop your craft but then you get to a point where you can start to push your own boundaries and truly strive to do something different.

For around 3 years now I've been photographing shorter wedding photography packages and I adore them, I go to weddings for 2, 3 or 4 hours, I sweep in, along with Stacey my amazing friend and longtime assistant, we capture beautiful images and we sweep out again, leaving you to get on with the rest of your beautiful, wonderful day.

I'm shooting more 2-hour weddings than ever before, it's the perfect amount of time if you just want the highlights, it goes from 30 minutes before and captures, the arrival, the wedding, some groups (if you want that) and the portraits.  I am a portrait photographer, kick-ass portraits are the thing that I live for and it's not just me, Stacey also comes up with the most amazing ideas, together we're innovative, we're different and if you tell us you just want an hour of portraits after your wedding then you're going to get the best portraits ever.

This year I'm probably the happiest and most in love with wedding photography that I've ever been, I mean who wouldn't love a job where they get to work with one of their best friends taking photographs of couples who've just declared their love to the world in front of the people who are closest to them.

Wedding photography is a gift to be cherished, it's all you have left after the day and so I always say, don't have 8 hours of bland photography of the back of people's heads, have 2 hours of extraordinary photography you can cherish your whole life through.

I shoot 2-hour wedding photography packages all over the northeast of England and with 4-hour bookings I travel anywhere from Edinburgh right down to York (travel costs may be incurred).

Not everyone wants 12 hours of photography on their wedding day although I do occasionally shoot those spectaculars too and I love them, the benefits of smaller packages are, it's a tiny window in your day, you get those perfect moments and the rest of the day you get to party hard if you want to.

I am booking now for this summer, I have dates available from mid-June right through until Christmas and I'm holding my pricing until June 15th, after which there'll be a small rise to account for the fact that my prices have been the same for over 3 years now whilst the cost of living, equipment, business and insurance has all risen.

If you book me now for 2021 or 2022, you'll get the price you book at so tell all of the single ladies, the ones planning far off adventures or the ones who are getting married this summer and still don't have a photographer, the whirlwind romances, the relaxed affairs, I love and cherish each and every one.

Shorter Wedding Photography Packages

2 hours - £450

3 hours - £600

4 hours - £750

So, you want more information, come email me and tell me all of the details of your wedding today

3 Simple salad recipes perfect for barbeque season

It's officially barbeque season and it's time to move away from the bread buns, it doesn't matter if you're doing the Keto diet, you just want to be a little healthier or maybe you just can't face another finger bun with a sausage in it, well I'm here to tell you about some super simple salad recipes which perfectly accompany the delicious cuts of meat we'll all be cooking in our Chimineas or on our BBQ's this summer.

These salads all have at the most, 4 ingredients in them, they're perfect for using up fridge supplies which means you can get healthier whilst also combating food waste.  

Cucumber and Onion salad, the perfect accompaniment for chops - 

Half a cucumber with the seeds removed, roughly chopped

One red onion, roughly chopped

2 teaspoons of Cider Vinegar 

Himalayan Pink Salt

Freshly ground pepper

Simple cherry tomato salad

1 punnet of cherry tomatoes halved

1 Tablespoon of aged balsamic vinegar

Salt and Pepper to season

Simple Guacamole 

1 Avocado roughly smashed

The juice of half a lime

Salt and Pepper to season

Cucumber and Lime Salad

Half a cucumber peeled, deseeded and roughly chopped

A handful of roughly chopped coriander

Juice of half a lime

Ground Pepper to Season

A good sprinkle of Himalayan Pink Salt

All of these recipes work perfectly with pork or chicken, some of them work with steak and the cucumber and lime salad is the perfect accompaniment with white fish.

I love inventing new and interesting sides to go with the perfect barbequed meat or Halloumi and if you try any of them out I'd love to hear from you, especially if you have some other ideas.  I'm off to buy some fresh lemons to see what I can come up with next.

The iPhone XS Max vs The Huawei P30 Pro

When the Huawei P30 Pro was launched it was everywhere, every ad I seemed to see online extolled the virtues of this new kid on the block with its quad camera and sleek look with the mermaid back.  I got in touch with my friends at Three and they quickly sent one out for me to road test.

I've used the iPhone ever since the iPhone 3G and I've tried many times to swap to other things, I've tried the Samsung range a couple of times but overall I've never found anything which comes close to my iPhone, whatever generation it was.

I've been using the XS Max since it was first released having upgraded from the X (pronounced 10) and I absolutely love it.  The portrait mode makes many images indecipherable from the ones I shoot for clients with my pro body equipment.  So much so that the only time I use my pro bodies is when I'm being paid for portraits or weddings.  My Instagram is 99% iPhone photos and the only times I've ever felt it could have been better were at night when it's virtually impossible to use portrait mode with good results.

The Huawei P30 does look sleek, it's lighter than the iPhone and overall, it feels shiny, it's maybe too shiny, to the point where I knew I was bound to drop it if I wasn't careful.  I tested it over a period of days and barring one feature, I really wasn't impressed although it is to be noted that it is around £600 cheaper than the latest iPhone.

Instagram stories were a fail for me completely, it either posted them with the voice out of sequence to the photos or the sound was so awful, it felt like I was talking from the inside of a tin.  The portrait mode on the camera was good but it didn't recognise Holly Bobbins face in the same way that the iPhone does.  It does, however, come with a separate aperture mode and for the most part, this makes for better images though it should be noted that the images straight out of the camera are much cooler and have a magenta tinge.

The only mode where it completely outdid the iPhone is night photo mode when it produced an image in the dark which I'll be honest, I was not expecting.  If it had of produced similar astounding images in other modes then I might have considered upgrading although I'm still not a huge fan of the Android operating system although that may be down to personal taste.

It goes without saying that I really wanted to love this phone, a phone with 4 cameras produces immense capabilities if you're a photographer like me who doesn't always want to be attached to a bulky DSLR but for now I'm going to be sticking with my current phone, well at least until the next version of the iPhone is released this autumn.

I was loaned a Huawei P30 Pro from Three, I was not paid to write this article or recompensed in any other way.

Your garden is good for your mental health!

It's mental health week and so this coincides nicely with my mission to get everyone enjoying their garden a little more.  You see, I've always loved my garden, in fact, I grew up in a house that gardened and I always loved sitting in the garden on those perfect English summer days, you know the ones with the blue skies, the white fluffy clouds which pre-empt the bigger storm clouds and a downpour the moment you go to fire up the BBQ?

As well as my love of all things green-fingered, I have, of course, also struggled with my mental health throughout my life, bipolar disorder, chronic anxiety and at times, agoraphobia.  I noticed over the years though that if I could get outdoors my moods were always much better and it's not hard to appreciate why that would be, you cannot beat time spent walking in the countryside or sitting in a sunny cove on the beach listening to the waves lap on the nearby rocks.

The thing is though, there's a revolution afoot, I've come to understand I might have a passion as great as anything I've done before, it's life-changing, maybe not in the life or death sense but I'm on a mission worthy of your favourite superhero to transform people's lives with the power of outdoor living.

So, let's just talk about gardening for a moment, Alan Titchmarsh, Monty Don, Gardeners World, mature sedate ladies cutting roses and deadheading poppies in their white painted cottages in the countryside.  Well, I'm here to tell you that isn't what this mission is about.

Love gardening, hate gardening, I don't care, I just want you to look at your garden as an extension of your living space, somewhere you can entertain, somewhere you can get away from it all, a place you could have a holiday in your own home.  The thought of gardening can seem overwhelming, particularly if you're not akin to the RHS plant manual and all of its botanical names.  You don't have to be Charlie Dimmock to make your own little haven.

My garden is 4.5 metres long by 3.4 metres wide, it's a teeny tiny postage stamp of an urban garden on a housing estate which fringes the edge of the city and where high rises are the only view I have.  I live a few hundred metres from the main east coast train line, it is not a large idyllic house or garden.  When I began the transformation it contained 2 wheelie bins and a compost bin.  The wheelie bins are now at the front of our uninspiring house, where we have zero gardens, not even a patch and where if you placed some pots to upscale the entrance they would either get stolen, vandalised or set on fire.  (or all 3).

What I'm trying to tell you, is that it doesn't matter about the size of your garden or where you live, from the tiniest flat with a small balcony to the standard townhouse near the city with a postage stamp sized garden, you can still create your own personal oasis.  It doesn't matter if you just add some garden furniture, some trellis with fake leaves and a pile of plastic plants and fake hanging baskets, the point is, create a space you love, a safe space and if you can't do it alone, ask family or friends to help, if you're broke you can do this on a budget, plants are cheap, second-hand garden furniture or repurposed furniture from your home, you can build something amazing from not very much at all.

The more I live outdoors, the more I cook outside, the more moments of stillness I can find the better I feel and it's not just living outdoors, I even feel calmer when I'm working on my laptop in the garden, my mind is clearer, my anxiety levels fall and I'm more zen than I've ever been.

I actually have loved the act of gardening, the joy of transformation, the fact that I designed something in my mind (and on Pinterest) and it was the first ever project which now looks the same in reality as it did in my head when I designed it with my mind.  For me, I think there's something healthy, something wonderful about growing plants,  planting seeds and small plants and watching them blossom into something extraordinary.

I want to encourage people to love the space they have in the same way that Mrs Hinch has transformed our attitude to cleaning the house.  And yes, I realise Mrs Hinch has 2.4 million followers on Instagram and I have just over 10k but you have to start somewhere don't you and if I start a revolution to inspire others, well when they join in, perhaps, we, yes, you and me, we could start a movement which ends with us collectively having millions who transform their lives, their mental health and their outdoor living areas.  Of course, I'll have to come and visit for a nosey and a cup of tea but I'll guarantee you this, you'll find me smilier and happier, calmer and less anxious than I have been for a very long time.

we accidentally manifested a cat...

This week we had a surprise new arrival in our family, I'd been manifesting, Looby and Iain kept telling me they wanted a kitten and I think the mutual power between us (Looby is amazing at manifesting given that she's done it since she was about 5 years old when I first discovered the power of the universe, I used to tell her, be happy, be hopeful, be grateful) just kind of happened at the same time the universe was listening.  Iain went downstairs, opened the gate and there, sitting quite politely next to the gate was a ginger cat, he followed him into the garden and just sat next to him, they sat together in the arbour with the warmth of logs burning in the arbour until 6am when Iain went to bed (he has sleep issues because of ASD).  When I went out in the garden in the morning, who should be waiting for me but the little ginger cat, I say little because he's still a kitten but he's definitely going to be a big cat.

After that he started just coming in our house exploring, he met Poppy and Pyracantha cats and Holly Bobbins too and then he just sort of stayed, adopted us and moved in.  We checked all of the local lost pets sites but there wasn't a cat that could be him and so I assume, that cats, in the way they do, just appear like angels and adopt their own family.

We left the backdoor open so he had the option to go off if he wanted to but no, he stayed and I'm not one to turn down an adorable animal.

After some discussion we decided to call him "Jasper Rockafella 17th" because you should always name your pets the most fabulous things, although I do believe it's probably us that are the pet's and the animals are the owners.

He's incredibly inquisitive, doesn't speak like Pyracantha does and he doesn't drink water like a normal cat, he likes to drink out of a big bowl and puts it on his paw to drink, he's adorable.  The kids had been asking for another cat for so long and I kept putting it off because I didn't know if I wanted another cat or if I wanted to adopt another beagle to be brother or sister to Holly Bobbins.  The universe clearly had different ideas, it's always right and leads you in the way it knows is best.  

I do have one thing to say though, when you're manifesting...

Just be careful what you wish for, because it might just come true.

National Stationary Week

I don't know about you but I find, even as an adult, or actually especially as an adult I have a weird addiction to stationery, let's call it a penchant for pens, a love of luminous highlighters, a romance with rubbers... oh, yeah, I'll stop now before this gets out of hand.

When Stabilo asked me to be one of their ambassadors it took about 0.2 seconds to accept, I mean who would refuse regular surprise delivery of pen and pencil heaven.

I'm particularly partial to the pretty highlighters which always make me smile and I adore the writing felt pens, if you've seen my other post about being organised you will know that felt tips are the thing I use to fill in my planner every single week, so much so it gets out of hand and none of the pages end up without a plethora of stickers and bright colours, does it help me to achieve my goals, heck yes!!

For sure if I start every week with a page full of bright coloured writing and motivational stickers you know I'm going to work faster, harder and better to achieve everything I've written down, it might sound weird but it works.

From April 29th to May 5th is national stationery week, a week to celebrate, the pens, the pencils, the erasers, the paperclips.  If your desk has too many pens for the pen pot then you'll definitely know what I'm talking about.

I guess some people might think I'm crazy to get excited about this stuff, and indeed some people think I'm a little crazy and that's even without the pen addiction but I have no fear of declaring my love of stationery to you and certainly no fear of thanking Stabilo for choosing me to send copious amounts of colouring pencils to and don't worry, if I'm a little too old for them, (they do offer a full range from 2-102) they find a good home with some of the smaller people I have in my life.

So thank you Stabilo and thank you stationery for making my world a brighter, happier, lovelier place.

I am an ambassador for Stabilo. I do not get paid to post but I do get occasionally lovely parcels full of pens and pencils.

What I've learnt from my first year as CEO of The Inspire Network

Today is a good day, today marks the first anniversary of me being CEO of The Inspire Network, it's been quite a year, I've loved it, I've hated it, at one point it made me really poorly and I nearly gave up but then something changed and by gosh, we've become the most brilliant, beyond brilliant organisation which makes me happy in my heart every single day, here's what I've learnt from my first year as a CEO of The Inspire Network.

Hand on heart, if you had told me last summer that I would be in the position I am today, I wouldn't have believed you, I was having the most awful time and I thought I would end up having to sell my company because I just didn't feel I could shoulder the responsibility, I thought I was truly beaten.

Something amazing happened though, in around November of last year there was a total paradigm shift, a powerful positive vibe which seemed to spread throughout the network.  I came up with further ways that we could truly help our ladies to win in business.

I've troubleshot, I've listened, I've mentored and I've been truly humbled by the amazing work our team of volunteer admin do, I could in no way run Inspire and all that it is without the daily love, inspiration and sheer hard work from people like Robyn, Pauline, Harriet, Amy and Gillian, at times they've just been there for me, they've supported and helped and they're always present working away, answering queries, managing members wanting to join us and at times they are the peace-keepers, the mediators.  With eleven and half passionate ladies, things can get to that point where someone has to step in but thankfully now, it's a really rare occurrence.

What we have now is a movement, an army of amazing entrepreneurs, all looking out for each other, cheering each other on, celebrating wins and giving advice and ideas in times of trouble.  I try and set up advice and troubleshooting threads whenever I can be present because I know if I can't come up with ideas or support, our great hive mind will come along and help.  I truly believe that our whole population of incredible, talented female entrepreneurs always want the best for each other.

Now I can't claim to be perfect, I have made mistakes and I probably will again in the future but that's how we learn and let me tell you, I am always learning and looking for extra ways where we can use our power to reach our goals.

My proudest achievement, or actually, my teams proudest achievement for it was a group project, our paid membership project.  We launched paid memberships last year but it was too early and they just weren't working, my mental health had a huge knock back and so there was a lot of going back to the drawing board, re-writing things and working out what we wanted to do in the future.  We became a social enterprise meaning that our profits go straight back into the future of the network and our future plans include -

The Inspire Retreat, a beautiful haven on the Durham coastline where ladies and their families will be able to escape work and life for low cost, get away from it all, long weekends.

Our own workspace with hot desks, advice and coffee always freely available and in person.

Our own small grants program offering grants of up to £500 for business emergencies or to grow a business or fund an entirely new business idea.

All of these things will be available to all paying members whether they're paying £1 a month or £20 a month.

We've also launched free meetings for members of Inspire Success, that's those joining at gold level or above and we'll be holding regular training events and ideas summits in there. 

The future is truly bright and I'm in a position now where for the first time I can truly see the future of a blossoming organisation, we are achieving more and more every day and with some income behind us we can continue to push the boundaries in supporting female entrepreneurs (or those identifying as such ) everywhere.

The Inspire Network isn't a feminist organisation as such but I am myself a feminist who believes in inclusiveness and equality, I believe we still have many glass ceilings to break and I believe that's so much easier if you have a movement of many than trying to do it all on your own.

Quite simply, I am Inspire, you are Inspire, together, we are Inspire.

For more information about The Inspire Network or to join us as a member please click here