Founder@ Interview
Interview with Shona Chambers
“Start building your network with the people who care, and have been around from the start. Then go wider..” – Shona Chambers
Today we feature Shona Chambers, the founder at Shona Chambers Marketing. We hear their story in their own words, their successes, their challenges and their insights.
Let’s start by getting to know you. Can you please tell us a little bit about you and what you do?
Hello. I am Shona. I am a self employed marketing consultant. I’ve worked in Marketing for 20 years now, starting off in corporate marketing for companies like Clear Channel, EMAP, CBS and AXA and moving on to working for myself in 2011.
My background was in the customer insight area of marketing, and it has perfectly positioned me for working with small business owners, and helping them put the customer at the heart of everything they do.
A great introduction and start to this interview. Can you please tell us, how did you start, from what age, and what made you decide to change direction and start?
For me getting started was all about making connections beyond the corporate world that I had worked in. I made the time to go to lots of different networking events and quickly found others who were open to collaboration. You learn very fast that with your own business, you can go further by working together with others.
Thank you for that insight. So can you tell us…What does your business do and where is your company based?
My business helps small business owners with their marketing. From marketing planning, getting organised and forming a strategy that will grow and develop sales and custom for a business, to working on marketing materials. Websites, social media, email marketing and other areas like branding and PR.
What’s the story behind your success? What led to your aha moment? how did you get to where you are now?
I’d like to think the secret of my success is being good at what I do, helping other small business owners along the way. I get quite a lot of my work via referrals, which comes from nurturing good relationships with others who do similar but non-competing work.
Thank you for sharing that. What’s been your life’s biggest lesson so far?
Until March 2020 I did a lot of my work in person. Leading networking groups and marketing training workshops for small business owners. When the first lockdown occurred I was unsure of how to proceed, so I took some time out from consultancy and wrote a book instead. 100 Marketing Tips for Small Business Owners came out in September of this year.
By focusing on one big goal this year, it enabled me to come out ready to see how others were doing it, and join back in with online workshops and classes. I think sometimes it is good to hang back a bit and see where the market is going before jumping in. It has also taught me not to put all my eggs into one basket business-wise.
That most things turn out ok in the end. Whatever it is you are building up in your head as major and important will soon be done and over with.
If you were to go back in time, what piece of advice would you give to your younger self?
I would say to my younger self that every bit of life experience you achieve before working for yourself is valuable. Skills you learn in a corporation will help you further down the line. However, I think there is no reason not to start young and begin growing your entrepreneurial skills by thinking of ways to make money for yourself.
We’re nearly halfway through our interview so it’s a great time to ask how does your business run. What three tools make your business run better?
I use a lot of the usual online apps that other small businesses do. The biggest one this year would have to be video calling technology, of which I’ve tried several. Zoom, Google Meet, Jitsi. I am also a huge fan of Canva for the range of tools available from writing presentations to creating excellent graphics.
What do you know now that you wished you had known before?
That most things turn out ok in the end. Whatever it is you are building up in your head as major and important will soon be done and over with.
What has been your greatest or proudest achievement or moment?
Writing my book 100 Marketing Tips for Small Business Owners
What future life goals do you want to achieve and why?
I want to continue building up my self-employed business owner business, Self Employed Club. So many people need training and networking online now and I love working with anyone with their own business.
To finish our inspire questions…”We believe that sharing inspiring words can inspire others.” If there was one positive thing you would say to someone to inspire and empower them what would it be and why?
I would say do not feel like to build a network you should start with other business owners. Begin with the people around you. Your family, your partner, your sports team. These are all people with contacts that can help you, and they care about you and want to see you succeed. So start building your network with the people who care, and have been around from the start. Then go wider.
“Thank you it has been great learning more about your founder story and Shona Chambers Marketing”
To learn more about Shona Chambers Marketing Visit https://www.shonachambersmarketing.co.uk/
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