If you haven't heard about The National Equine Show, you are in for a treat! Today I am joined by event director, Liz Ormesher, to talk all about this new show. From amazing guests to skills, shopping and sustainability, Liz talks us through the plans for this shiny new event that will be hitting the NEC in March 2023.

Although The National Equine Show is new in our space, we also talk about Raccoon Media Group, the company responsible for the show, and their heritage in creating incredible events in the outdoor and wellbeing space.

And one last thing, if you hurry up, you can bag yourself a ticket FOR FREE! The show has allocated a certain number of tickets to give away, and although they are fast approaching that number (a lot more have been allocated since recording), you can still grab yourself one!

The media is full of negative news- there's no denying that- but even with all that's going on, today, I want to urge you to not skimp on investing in yourself. More than that, I want to encourage you to invest in yourself more than ever. Don't worry- I haven't completely lost my mind, there are LOADS of ways you can invest in yourself for free, and there are loads of them in this podcast! Enjoy.

What do liver lacerations, curtains and waxed cotton have in common? Yes, it's Odette Insoll, the founder, creator and superstar behind Nouvelle Habit!

Odette's business started due to a need she'd identified as a rider who didn't like the cold and suffered with chilblains. Via many prototypes (made from curtains!), the amazing Moorland Riding Skirt that we know and love was born.

But now, Odette has launched additional skirts including a walking/shooting skirt that is simply perfect for dog walkers and those who love the great outdoors too!

Odette talks to us about the journey she went on from near death experience to creating stunning bespoke riding and walking skirts for so many people. There were a lot of twists, turns, and a global pandemic along the way!

Tune in, enjoy, and definitely go and check out Odette's website for lots of ideas and inspiration too.

The news has been full of doom and gloom of late- from the challenging costs of diesel and petrol alongside rising costs of food and more of now, to increased pressure, price rises and even scarcity of fuel, food and lots more to come. But is it all doom and gloom? No... I don't think it is.

I'm not here to tell you that things aren't going to change, but hopefully this podcast will provide you with some steps you can take to help your business over the next few months. I also look at the evidence around how some businesses grow and thrive during recessions- so while sweeping generalisations about doom and gloom are dramatic and create good headlines, the evidence doesn't support this... and it's worth having a look at that too. 

I hope you find this one useful... I think you will.

The second Summer of Safety podcast with the British Equestrian Trade Association is here, and today we're chatting all about safety (obviously!), standards, fitting and lots more too.

On this episode, I caught up with Claire Williams, Executive Director of BETA, to chat all about the standards that apply to riding hats and body protectors. We also chat about the importance of a good fit and why buying online can make hat and body protector fitting a challenge.

The British Equestrian Trade Association's second Summer of Safety is in full swing. With lots of fabulous lives, content, competitions and information, I took the chance to catch up with Claire Williams, Executive Director of BETA, to chat about the campaign in its second year, new information, and the Accident & Equipment Reporting Form. This brilliant form launched late last year and has been catching incredible data for the equestrian trade ever since. By reporting injuries and accidents, we as equestrians have the chance to help influence safety decisions and design of the future, just by sharing what happens to us when we're with our horses!

Find out more about BETA's passion for safety, the form, and so much more on this episode of the podcast.

Reels have been in the social media news a lot of late, and whilst many people like watching them, creating them can be a bit of a time consuming chore.

And yet, if you try and shun these short-form video snippets, the chances are that you'll be losing out on reach and getting your message and content out to the people you really want to see it.

So what can you do? On today's podcast, I talk you through some really simple, fast Reels ideas that anyone can do in moments. I promise.

Are they going to be as good as the incredibly timed masterpieces we see on the accounts of influencers whose job it is to create content? They'll be different to these, and that's fine too. But through using the tools inside the app and changing your thoughts from 'no, I don't want to' to 'how can I make this work for me?', you have a much (much) greater chance of Reel success and Instagram growth.

Oh, this is one of the most requested podcasts, so I am delighted to be able to bring you a podcast all about labelling your sponsored/gifted/affiliate linked content. 

I do understand that it can be really confusing, but I always refer people to the guide available on the ASA's (Advertising Standards Authority) website that helps talk people through it all. So I reached out to the people over at the ASA and I'm really thrilled to say that they have listened to this podcast and have said they're happy with the content. Why did I do this? Because it's so important to me that everything is as accurate as it can be. I want you to listen, learn, check out all the free resources and no longer be confused about what to label your content (when you need to, of course).

This is a podcast for influencers- yes- but it's a podcast for anyone who has ambitions to be an influencer, who receives free products or payments (but maybe doesn't see themselves as an influencer), and also brands. Yes, brands, I'm talking to you. It's really important you know how this works too. 

We need to be doing a better job of labelling content correctly. I see so, so many examples of incorrect and misleading ads. We need to do better. 

You might know Ruth Chappell as the lady behind Dressage Anywhere, but she is a lady of many talents, and her previous life in publishing has helped me a HUGE amount over the last few months. As promised on last week's episode, she's on the podcast talking all about it!

Ruth used to work in publishing full time and has brought all her skills to the project of getting my book into the world! In this episode, we take a deeper dive into the book process- really useful if you're thinking of writing your own book, because as I said last week, the writing might be the easy bit for you too!

In addition to Ruth and the part she played in the book's 'birth', we also talk about Emily Cole's designer wizardry and wonky spines, and Jane Badger's amazing knowledge and very kind hand-holding with the end bit of the process! 

Small & Supercharged: Small steps to supercharge your brand on a budget THE BOOK, is available now. And I'm going to tell you all about how it came to be.

No, this isn't a story of writing in quiet, tranquil surroundings, it's rather more real than that! Writing the book was the easy bit (although most of it was written on evenings and weekends around work!), but getting the book from Word document to printed book... not easy at all!

I've had people ask me how the book came into existence, and I wanted to share a bit of it from my side. On the day the book should have been released (but the Amazon fairies released it a few days early... more about that next week!), I wanted to talk to you about the process.

I also wanted to and do want to thank all of you for all your support. Your kind comments on social media, your pictures of the book in your hands, screenshots of your orders- they're everything. And all your support has meant that the book made it to the no 1 spot in public relations. Which I am beyond delighted about!