In the fast-paced world of startups, it feels like most stories we hear are overnight successes. But what we love about our Digital Boost community is the variety of entrepreneurs and stories we have! It's why stories like Abi's are so important to spotlight and celebrate. Success doesn't happen overnight, it's a slow burner, but the results are still amazing 🙌

Thanks to our mentoring for startups, Abi was able to get her idea off the ground and build something she's really proud of. She's seen her confidence grow, had great press for her business, and done this all whilst holding down her 9-5 job! This is Abi's story 👇

A passion-fuelled startup

Like all startups, Abi's business began with a passion and a gap in the market! With a background in science and a natural affinity for learning, Abi noticed that there were next to no experiences or events celebrating science. With the rise of 'sip and paint' or similar experiences in the wake of Covid, Abi noticed no one was doing science-based events. She realised that she could transform her passion for science into an immersive experience - and so the idea for the Lit Laboratory was born 🎉

Figuring things out

Although she had experience in corporate businesses, Abi didn't necessarily have all the tools she needed to grow her business. Like any budding entrepreneur, she threw herself into her idea and figured things out as she went along! She recalls her first ever Lit Laboratory fondly where she invited her friends and family to do experiments in her mum's church to work out how to structure her events! With their encouragement, she started seriously working towards building up her startup.

Accessing local startup support

Abi was introduced to Grow London Local, a local support team that helped her to build on her business idea and work out how to make it viable. She received amazing support and was able to sit down with an advisor and get quick, accessible support to understand what her business could look like in 5 years. Abi recalls that the support helped her think about the future of her business which she'd never considered before! Through Grow London Local, Abi was referred to Digital Boost for marketing and business strategy support to build her startup.

Discovering Digital Boost

 "Digital Boost was a game-changer for me [...] having access to experienced mentors who could guide me through the challenges was invaluable"

As much as Abi's family and friends supported her, Abi felt like she'd almost run out of favours. And because her startup was so unique, as much as they tried to help, they didn't always have the answers she needed. That's where Digital Boost came in!

Through Digital Boost, Abi could access thousands of experienced mentors whenever she needed. As someone building a side hustle alongside her 9-5, Abi could meet with mentors at a time that suited her and join Masterclasses around her work schedule.

The role of startup mentoring

Mentoring became Abi's secret weapon as she built her startup! Her mentors helped her understand her business model better, sharpen her marketing strategies, and connect more deeply with her audience.

A turning point was a Masterclass on email marketing, where Abi learned the value of building a community of engaged followers instead of just chasing social media numbers. "The Masterclass on email marketing changed my whole business model," Abi says. "I completely underestimated the importance of building an engaged audience."

One piece of advice from one of her mentor stood out: "Treat each event like a launch." This shifted Abi's approach completely and allowed her to have fun with each event and see it as an experiment that she could tweak and improve with each launch!

Abi reflected on that advice when sharing her story with us: "That still feels very real. Every time I run an event, I'm much clearer now on what I'm trying to achieve."

Navigating challenges with mentoring

As with every startup, things aren't always plain sailing! After spending months building her Instagram following, Abi's business account was suddenly suspended. With no reason or guidance on how to fix it, Abi turned to her mentors for support. Abi's mentor was there to help her stay calm and find alternative ways to keep her business growing. Thinking back to that time, Abi remembers how "having a mentor to turn to in that moment was incredibly reassuring."

When asked what piece of advice she'd give other startups, Abi reflects: "Don't worry about what you don't know. You'll find ways to ask the right questions and people to help you answer them."

Celebrating the wins

Although there were challenges, Abi has seen huge success with her startup! She's steadily built a community of loyal followers and had some amazing press for her business. "The day my Instagram went down, I also got featured in Time Out," Abi recalls. "It was a day of highs and lows, but the support from my community and mentors kept me going."

Since we interviewed Abi, she was also invited to speak on her first panel discussion! As part of our International Women's Day event, Abi joined a panel of female founders to share her story. This was her first speaking event as a founder and she absolutely smashed it! The audience loved hearing Abi's honest account of her first year as a startup and she shared inspiring advice that's stuck with us. You can watch the panel discussion here.

Conclusion

We're unbelievably proud of Abi and the journey she's been on with her startup! Abi's story is a testament to determination and figuring things out. It also shows just how important mentoring for startups is. With nearly a million businesses registered in 2023, the UK is leading the way in startups and small businesses. But making sure those startups are properly supported and nurtured is key to them succeeding.

We're delighted to have been even a small part of Abi's journey and we look forward to supporting her and many others as they build their startup businesses 🚀

📸 All images shared courtesy of Lit Laboratory London.

Feeling inspired by Abi's startup story? 😊

We have thousands of mentors in our community, ready to support you on your business journey!

All our mentoring is totally free and unlimited to access - get started here 👇

Finding the right guidance can be transformative when you're a creative entrepreneur. Meet Kate, founder of Kate Walton Collections who's had this exact experience with Digital Boost! through Digital Boost's creative business mentoring, Kate's business is thriving 🚀

Kate is a talented artist who transformed her passion for painting into a flourishing wallpaper & prints business. Thanks to the support of her mentors Kate has been able to grow her business, securing deals with amazing interior brands and outgrowing her studio! You can watch Kate's interview here or read the full interview below 👇

A creative past

At the beginning of her journey, Kate created beautiful hand-painted murals. However, being a mother challenged her to start thinking differently about her business. On-site murals were becoming hard to juggle alongside childcare, so Kate began exploring other avenues for her business. With her love of painting, she found herself drawn to creating hand-painted wallpapers.

Whilst creating wallpaper was a new avenue for Kate, her designs found traction in the interiors space thanks to the beautiful designs that were inspired by Kate's countryside upbringing.

Navigating the challenges of entrepreneurship

Kate admits that those early days were more about 'rediscovering [her] identity as an artist'. She also says that when she first started her business, it didn't feel like a real business! As a creative starting a business, there's so much passion poured into your art sometimes it can be challenging to see the business side of things initially.

Although incredibly talented as an artist, Kate jokes that she wasn't the most organised when she first started her business. She acknowledges that she didn't necessarily have a business plan or marketing on her radar, so knew she needed support to grow her business!

Finding Digital Boost

Knowing that she needed strategic support, Kate found Digital Boost's free mentoring platform. Kate could browse thousands of mentors and filter by topics that she wanted support with to find the perfect mentors to meet her needs.

With Digital Boost, it meant I could really look through and find who was best suited to what I needed

Kate was supported with her business strategy, website and marketing by Digital Boost's mentors, and saw tangible results and a growth in confidence thanks to their mentorship.

The power of personalised support

With creative businesses, a one-size-fits-all approach doesn't always work because the business is so unique! That's why Digital Boost's mentoring was the perfect fit for Kate and her business.

She was able to meet with experts 1:1 and get truly personalised support that addressed the needs of her unique business.

Kate was matched with Ian from the BT team to get help with her marketing! Ian volunteers his time to help small businesses through BT's longstanding partnership with Digital Boost 😊

SEO mentoring

Ian played a crucial role in helping Kate to navigate the challenges of running a creative business. He reviewed Kate's website and helped her to optimise it to increase website conversion. Focusing specifically on SEO optimisation, Ian helped Kate to upskill and learn all about SEO and how to use it to organically grow her business. SEO was totally new to Kate, but through Ian's support, she's now confident using tags and optimising her content to rank for SEO in her industry. Kate noted that her website had a 'complete turnaround' thanks to Ian's SEO support!

Building confidence

As a solopreneur and creative business owner, feedback can be hard to come by. This is why mentoring has been so impactful for Kate; having a mentor means she has access to feedback and can 'bounc[e] energies' and ideas with someone!

As a result of Digital Boost's mentoring, Kate feels less 'stressed' about her business. All her plans 'are laid out in [her] head in a more organised way' now thanks to mentoring!

Additionally, Kate has also seen her belief and self-confidence increase thanks to the support and championship of mentors like Ian!

Celebrating wins as a founder

When we asked Kate what she was most proud of, she had two wins!

She secured a collaboration with Lick, a luxury paint brand, that showcased 3 exclusive Kate Walton wallpaper - you can see the campaign here 😍

At the time of our interview, Kate had outgrown her studio and was building her dream space! ✨ Thanks to all her hard work and the support of her mentors, Kate's business is growing and we couldn't be prouder of how far she's come!

We're looking forward to seeing more gorgeous prints and wallpapers as Kate's business grows and we can't wait to see the new studio too 😍

If you've been inspired by Kate's mentoring story, why not try our mentoring for yourself!

We've got 1000s of volunteers ready to help you reach your business goals 🚀

Meet Nick: A Digital Boost Volunteer Business Mentor

We have a community of volunteer business mentors, all giving their time freely to support small businesses and charities! We're on a mission to share their experiences and hopefully inspire even more people to try their hand at mentoring. Today we'd love you to meet Nick from the NatWest team 😊

Nick is the Enterprise Manager for NatWest and he's passionate about helping small businesses to thrive! With over 28 years of experience, Nick shares his skills and knowledge with founders around the world through Digital Boost. He's dedicated to supporting micro-businesses and charities at every stage of their journey so they don't have to struggle alone.

We were lucky enough to interview Nick and hear about his experience as a volunteer business mentor!

Q: What motivates you to work with small businesses?

A: My passion for small businesses stems from a deep understanding of the challenges they face. Over the years, I've witnessed firsthand the dedication and resilience of micro-business owners, and it's truly inspiring. I believe in the importance of supporting these entrepreneurs; they're the backbone of not only the wider economy but local economies too.

Q: Why did you become a volunteer business mentor

A: Over the years I've been fortunate enough to accumulate a wealth of knowledge and experience. I feel a sense of duty to share this knowledge and give back to the next generation of business owners. Mentoring allows me to share lessons learned from my own journey, and share the experiences I've gained working with other entrepreneurs across my career. For me, it's the fuel and the inspiration I need to go about my day-to-day work. Any time I meet with a mentor I feel inspired and I pour that energy back into what I'm working on!

Q: Can you share a standout experience from your time with Digital Boost?

A: One particularly memorable experience was mentoring a determined founder who had been grappling with various challenges in their business. Over the course of several months, we worked together to address these obstacles and formulate a strategic plan for growth. Seeing the progress and success that this entrepreneur achieved was immensely gratifying. It just goes to show how much of a difference mentoring can make for founders, regardless of where they are in their journeys.

Q: How do you balance mentoring with your other responsibilities?

A: Balancing mentoring with my other responsibilities requires careful time management and flexibility. Fortunately, my role at NatWest provides me with the flexibility to integrate mentoring sessions into my schedule. I love seeing supporting founders, so I prioritise my time to meet regularly with mentees throughout the week.

Q: What have you learned from your experience as a mentor?

A: As a mentor, it's been really interesting seeing just how universal certain challenges are for business owners. Whether that's navigating the world of digital marketing or working out the logistics of running a business, many entrepreneurs face similar obstacles along their journey. As a mentor, I've gained so much insight into what affects founders and how I can tailor my skills and guidance to support them and their unique needs.

Q: How would you describe Digital Boost to potential users and volunteers?

A: For me, I think Digital Boost serves as a lifeline for entrepreneurs seeking guidance and support on their business journey. It provides a platform where individuals can tap into a wealth of expertise and resources, ranging from marketing and legal advice to funding opportunities. Similarly, for volunteers, it presents a chance to make a meaningful impact by sharing their knowledge and experiences with aspiring entrepreneurs.

Conclusion

Nick and all the volunteer business mentors on our platform make the world of difference to founders all around the world! And as Nick says, mentoring doesn't have to be complicated, it really is as a simple as offering founders the space to sound ideas and get clarity to move forward ✨ If you're inspired by Nick's story, we'd love to invite you to join our mentoring community.

Unlike other mentoring programmes our mentoring is flexible to your schedule, has no time commitment, and can be done from the comfort of wherever you are in the world 🌍

If you're ready to make a real difference, join our volunteer community here 👇

Become a volunteer business mentor

The Healthy Hustle Plan is your personalised roadmap to achieving your business goals while prioritising your well-being over the long term.

Set aside some time to think about what you'll do differently to get on the right side of the hustle. Capture specific actions, receive nudges to complete tasks, and track your progress over time. Share your plan with mentors to drive accountability and gain valuable feedback and support.  

Creating your plan

To get started with your Healthy Hustle plan, create an account on the Digital Boost platform, then follow these three steps:

What kinds of tasks should I add?

Your plan will be personalised to you - and may evolve over time.

Review our Healthy Hustle resources for ideas - and connect with mentors, events and our community for support!

We're a community of small business mentors, all here volunteering our time and skills to support founders in need 🥰

We're a friendly bunch! So we'd love to introduce you to some of the mentors in our community today so you can see who you're volunteering alongside 😊

Ian D., Programme Manager @ BT

Meet Ian, one of the digital marketing and strategy mentors in our community! Ian splits his time between programme management at BT and supporting small businesses with their marketing here at Digital Boost 💪

Ian is known for his no-nonsense mentoring (which his mentees love!). If something isn't working, he'll tell you because he wants you to improve!

Ian offers ongoing mentoring through the platform and meets regularly with his mentees so that he can see their progress. He's had the pleasure of long-term mentoring Gary and seeing his sales increase by 1400% which is amazing!

Sarisha N., Founder of Navigate Life Coaching

Say hi to Sarisha, founder of Navigate Life Coaching 👋

She's a life coach who volunteers her time to help founders navigate their emotions and business journeys!

With her holistic approach to mentoring, Sarisha helps her mentees build confidence and find clarity! Sarisha's mentees love Sarisha's compassionate approach to mentoring sessions and she works closely with mentees to ensure they're supported every step of their journey ✨

Nick H., Regional Enterprise Manager @ NatWest

Up next, we'd love you to meet Nick from the NatWest team 🥰 Nick juggles mentoring alongside his full-time role at NatWest and his mentees absolutely love him!

Nick is best known for his inspiring Masterclasses and his confidence-building mentoring sessions. If you need a nurturing mentoring session, Nick is your man!

With his business banking background, Nick supports our mentees with fundraising and strategy sessions, helping his mentees get on track for success 💪

Allexia G., Founder of Soash Media

Last but not least, meet Allexia, the founder of Soash Media! Allexia is on a mission to demystify social media and make it easier than ever to achieve your goals on social platforms 🎯

Allexia supports our community with social media marketing, and she's our go-to for all things Instagram and Facebook! She even wrote a guest blog here busting 10 social media myths which we loved 🩵

She's beloved by her mentees for her relatable and easy-to-understand mentoring sessions and we're very lucky to have her in our community!

Interested in becoming one of our small business mentors and making a real difference to the lives of founders around the world? 🌍 Find out more about our community and get involved here 👇

Meet Sue, the visionary behind National Forest Ebike Holidays! Sue runs a sustainable tourism business that offers electric bike and walking holidays in the National Forest. Sue's passion for nature led her to start her business, but she soon realised that she had a knowledge gap when it came to the digital world.

Sue describes herself as the ‘pre-computer’ generation, and she’s not alone! Digital Boost supports many entrepreneurs from all stages of life, and one of the main challenges is moving into the digital world. Thanks to the support of her mentors, Sue’s business is thriving and she’s seen organic traffic and bookings in her business thanks to her new digital skills.

Sue's Vision

Sue's journey began with a vision to offer unique, sustainable tourism experiences in an area of the UK often overlooked by traditional tourism. After exploring some off-the-beaten-track holidays in Germany, Sue saw an opportunity to showcase the hidden gems of the National Forest. With this vision, 

National Forest E-bike Holidays was born!

📸 images from Diane Jarvis via National Forest Ebike Holidays

A passion-led business

National Forest Ebike Holidays, is more than just a business! It's a reflection of Sue’s deep-rooted love for nature and her desire to share its beauty with others. The National Forest has undergone a remarkable transformation over the last century. With the transition from coal mines to incredible greenery, the landscape has gone from ‘black to green’ thanks to the hard work of local conservationists. Inspired by this transformation, Sue is passionate about continuing this regeneration and educating guests through her sustainable tourism business.

Embracing Sustainability

Sue encourages guests to travel to the area in eco-friendly ways, taking the train or carpooling to create as little environmental impact as possible. Her tours are all focused on ‘leaving no trace’ and ensuring that her guests can enjoy the area of natural beauty whilst not damaging the landscape. Sue also donates money from each booking for tree planting so that she can positively impact her area! Every aspect of Sue’s business is beautifully thought out and a testament to her dedication to preserving her local area.

Impact of Digital Boost’s Mentoring

Coming from the ‘pre-computer era’, Sue says that she was looking for support to increase her online presence. With a 25-year background in marketing, Sue had all the "practical" marketing skills to build her business. But she didn't have the digital skills to confidently grow her business online. Sue needed support to reach a larger audience online, so she was introduced to Digital Boost through Leicestershire's Business Gateway programme.

Initially, Sue was looking for support with pay-per-click (PPC) advertising to reach a new audience.  But she admits that she didn’t really know much about digital marketing so thought mentoring could be the answer!

Digital Boost connected her with Jonny, a seasoned volunteer mentor who supported Sue as she moved into the digital marketing world.  

Saving time and money

After meeting with Jonny, Sue soon realised that her business wasn’t ready for pay-per-click marketing. In her own words, she acknowledged that she had the website, the social media and the SEO. But there was more that she could do that wouldn’t cost her money before she needed to move into PPC. 

Sue describes how Jonny helped her to look at her business as a whole. Rather than seeing her marketing as individual pieces, he helped her to see the bigger picture of her marketing strategy. He asked questions to get her thinking strategically so that she could understand how to align her marketing efforts with her goals.

By helping Sue step back and see the bigger picture, Jonny saved her an enormous amount of money and time! Sue says that rather than wasting time setting up PPC ads and ‘frittering’ away money without a strategy, Jonny’s guidance allowed Sue to take stock and double down on the organic marketing that she could do that wouldn’t cost her a penny!

Building confidence

Sue was blown away by the ‘quality of the mentoring’ and described her experience with Jonny as ‘incredible’. She noted that Jonny was an excellent listener and, not only was he really experienced, he was also an amazing teacher too! Jonny always ensured that Sue understood the topics they covered together in their mentoring sessions. As a result of Jonny’s mentorship, Sue saw her confidence grow! She left her mentoring session armed with new confidence and knowledge to take the digital world by storm.

Measurable Success

With the support of her mentors, Sue’s digital efforts have started to pay off! She’s increased traffic to her website and secured bookings which is an amazing achievement. We’re so proud of the progress that Sue has made with both her business and her confidence and we can't wait for more people to discover her incredible business!

We also loved hearing that we’re not the only ones celebrating Sue! National eBike Forest Holidays was awarded the Silver Award for sustainable tourism by Visit England in 2023! This is a huge milestone in Sue’s journey and a testament to her commitment, vision and hard work as she grows National Forest Ebike Holidays.

Conclusion

Sue had the vision and drive to grow her business, but needed the support of an expert to guide her as she ventured into the world of digital marketing.  The advice of a mentor can make all the difference to small businesses as they navigate new territories like this. 

Small businesses don’t have time and money to waste, and by having the support of her mentors, Sue was able to save money and still grow her business! And not only that, but as we’ve seen time and again here at Digital Boost, mentoring has unlocked new confidence for Sue.  She now knows that whatever lies ahead in the Digital world, she can tackle it.  And she’ll always have the support of Digital Boost’s mentors at her fingertips. 

Whatever stage of business or life you’re at, our mentors can help! So if you’re a founder who needs to build their confidence and skills online, why not connect with our mentors and access free support?

It won’t come as any surprise to you but here at Digital Boost, we’re really passionate about both volunteering and mentoring. If you're thinking of becoming a volunteer mentor, you've come to the right place!

We’re so incredibly grateful to all of our volunteer mentors for giving up their time to share their skills with small businesses to help them grow and thrive! 🚀

But it’s not just the small businesses that benefit. There are so many benefits to being a volunteer mentor - here are our top 5 ⬇️

Develop your personal and professional skills

There is so much that you as a mentor can gain from mentoring and sharing your expertise with others. You’ll get to apply the things you’ve learned throughout your career to new situations and businesses, solve new problems, and learn about new industries.

It’s also a great opportunity to develop personal skills, such as active listening, asking open-ended questions, and giving actionable and constructive feedback.

Our volunteer mentors also tell us that they’ve become better hosts and presenters after hosting Masterclasses for our community!

Improve your confidence

Through 1:1 mentoring, people gain more confidence in their skills and their ability to share advice with others. Through Masterclasses, people gain confidence in presenting to a group and answering questions. 

This is something we’ve heard this from so many mentors and it makes us so happy every time! So many of us underestimate the skills we have because we think of them as ‘things we do’ rather than skills. But in each mentoring session, when you see a mentee learn from you and overcome the challenges they’ve been struggling with, it becomes much easier to believe in yourself and your skills.

Gain new perspectives

Mentoring is a two-way street. While you share your expertise, you can benefit from seeing a fresh perspective from someone who’s had entirely different experiences to you. It’s a wonderful opportunity to step away from your work bubble and social circle and see things from a different perspective. 

Grow your network

Through mentoring, you can meet and get inspired by people you’d never have crossed paths with otherwise from industries you may never have even thought of! 

We have an incredibly diverse community of mentees who have unique businesses, from niche products to innovative services, and our mentors love meeting with them! And you never know, it could create opportunities for collaboration too. 

Support small businesses

Small business owners put everything into their businesses - they spend every minute learning and developing their skills to turn their passion into a successful business.

By becoming a volunteer mentor, you can help a small business grow and thrive, and in doing so, help someone achieve their dream. 

Become a volunteer mentor today!

It’s so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day of our jobs and let time pass by without realising it. By becoming a volunteer mentor, you get to take some time out and give back. 

At Digital Boost, we’ve made it easier than ever to get involved and mentor small businesses. Mentoring sessions last just one hour and are all online. There’s also no minimum commitment - you decide how much or how little to mentor and can schedule meetings at times that suit you!

Starting a business is a journey filled with highs, lows, and countless learning experiences. At our International Women’s Day event in March, we heard from four inspiring female founders in our panel who shared their insights, challenges, and successes. Watch the video or keep scrolling to read what they shared ⬇️

Meet our panel of female founders

🧪 Abi, founder of LitLabLondon, which holds Science & Sip pop-up events in London.

🍫 Amarachi, founder of Lucocoa, London's first bean-to-bar chocolate company.

💡 Thalia, founder of Sparkle Lighting, an online store offering pretty decorative lights for your home and garden.

❄️ Keri, founder of Snow Windows, which creates bespoke art pieces for clients using snow spray at Christmas.

Abi's Female Founder Journey: Embracing the challenges of solopreneurship 🙌

Abi is the earliest in her business having just completed her first year. She highlighted the unique experience of being a solopreneur, where every aspect of the business falls on her shoulders. Despite the challenges, she finds fulfilment in owning both the victories and setbacks. As she aptly put it, "All of the wins are yours, but all of the challenges are yours too". Abi emphasised the importance of celebrating small wins, and for her, that includes press coverage she’s received, including Time Out and Secret London. 

Whilst running her own business, Abi also works full time. When asked if she’s aiming to turn LitLabLondon into her full-time job, she said "I'm not sure yet. I don't think it has to be one or the other. My business is currently a pop-up, so I've kind of built-in that flexibility for it to work around me in some ways”. While Abi wants to continue with both, she has built flexibility in both to be able to manage them. “I say don't quit your day job if that's not what you're wanting to do. It's not an absolute requirement and a lot of the skills you learn will support you [in your business] and vice versa. And of course, the funding comes from somewhere. So I think if you are in a position where you can do both, and it feels okay to you, then I'd encourage that.”

Amarachi's Insights: How a clear purpose can help overcome challenges 💪

When Amarachi first started Lucocoa nine years ago, she started like many founders do - in her bedroom. “When you talk about bootstrapping, this is the ultimate bootstrapping. I taught myself how to make chocolate. I converted my second bedroom in our two-bedroom flat into a chocolate factory”. She first launched at a chocolate show in Islington and sold out! Amarachi spent the next 2 years at Brick Lane Market, getting feedback and tweaking her product range. Her business is now a global brand with a factory in the UK and another in South Africa!

People think of businesses being an overnight success but more often than not, ‘overnight’ is actually years of hard work behind the scenes. 

When talking about what keeps her going when she faces challenges or setbacks, Amarachi said having a strong sense of purpose is important.“If you haven't got that purpose, it's really easy to let the lows really stick with you. So the fact that we're talking about child and slave labour, the fact that we're talking about building a proper supply chain, and all those sorts of things, it kind of makes those lows kind of a wash because you're like I'm doing this for a bigger purpose”.

Thalia's Perspective: Leveraging mentorship and digital skills for growth 📈

Thalia, is four years into her business journey and says one of her biggest challenges is stepping out of the day-to-day of the business. Founders are in the unique position of being responsible for the strategy and for executing every single part of it. Being able to take a step back and evaluate the business can be difficult. “To start with, there's a lot of excitement and energy about growing your Instagram and getting people to the site, but as you get a little bit bigger, you have to really work out how it's working”. Thalia has worked with mentors from Digital Boost, including our Financial Director, Gemma, who’s been helping her with her projections. 

Thalia saw a lot of press coverage and an opportunity came up as her products were used in TV shows, including The Only Way Is Essex, Made In Chelsea, Married at First Sight, and the new Star Wars (we’ll be keeping our eyes peeled for that!). She’s also received commercial orders from bars and restaurants, which she says came from her Google Ads, which her Digital Boost mentor, Tom, has been helping her with.  

“When I get stuck now, I think about who I need to talk to and discuss that with someone who's really experienced in that area. When you talk about getting stuck and feeling low, you start to realise maybe I need to get some help. I think mentoring has been really amazing.”

Keri's Founder Experience: Turning a hobby into a global sensation 🤩

Also on our panel of female founders was Keri, who is in the 9th year of the business she started with her husband Tom. She spoke about how compliments from friends and family on her husband’s designs on their windows at home led to her thinking this could be a business. It shows that a business idea really can come from anywhere! Keri asked on her Facebook if anyone would be interested and came back a few hours later to over 800 comments!

In their first year, they had enquiries from the Empire State Building (yes, really!) and a double-page spread in the Daily Mail. The business has continued to grow and has had over 250 million impressions on Facebook alone! Keri saw all the attention and people interested in the business and thought ‘What do I do with that? How do I sell to these people, how do I grow the business, how do I build Tom as the number one snow spray artist in the world?’. That’s where Digital Boost came in! As well as getting support with her digital marketing strategy, Keri found the community she’d be longing for. 

“The hardest thing about being a female entrepreneur is the loneliness. I don't have anyone to talk to, and there's no community. And for me, that's what Digital Boost has created - that community of really diverse, interesting people.”

Conclusion

We're so grateful to these four female founders for taking part in our panel discussion! Even though they all have unique businesses, they also have common experiences. They all talked about the importance of celebrating your wins, the need for community and guidance, and how their passion keeps them going.

At Digital Boost, we’re here to support entrepreneurs with every aspect of starting, growing, and running a business. Whether you need help with something specific, want to bounce ideas off someone, or want to connect with other founders for peer support - we’ve got you covered! Find out more about how our small business mentoring can support you 🤩

For small businesses, goal setting can feel like navigating a balancing act. Ambition is vital, but finding the sweet spot between reaching for the stars and staying grounded is key to sustainable success. Here are our favourite tips and techniques to help founders set ambitious goals that inspire progress without overwhelming you and your business.

Keep your goals attainable

Setting goals that are both ambitious and realistic is essential for driving progress in your business. While ambition is commendable, overly ambitious goals can backfire and demoralise you and / or team. Objectives should stretch your capabilities without setting you up for failure.

If you have a team, engage them in the goal-setting process to ensure alignment and motivation. They’ll be more empowered, engaged and active. 

Break it down

To make goals feel achievable, we prefer to break down objectives into manageable chunks for better traction and momentum. So instead of setting a one year goal, set a quarterly goal. This also helps you ensure that your goals are realistic and achievable within the resources and time available. 

Keep it personal

Avoid getting swayed by competitor activities or achievements and instead focus on what truly matters to you and your business growth. Set goals that align with your vision and address genuine needs within your team and operations.

Set metrics

How will you know if you’re achieving your goals? From the start, establish clear metrics to measure your progress towards each goal, and a system for tracking it regularly. You don't need a lot of metrics - a few key ones will be manageable and achievable. Make sure your tracking system is something you can keep up with.

Finding the balance between ambition and attainability is key to sustained growth and success. By keeping your goals realistic, involving your team in the process, and aligning with your personal ambitions, you can set your business on a path of focused progress, guiding you towards a thriving and balanced entrepreneurial journey.

To get some help setting goals, talk to a Digital Boost business mentor - they can share their experience, help you evaluate potential objectives and define how to measure them. .

We've never spoke to a small business owner who wasn't incredibly busy - it unfortunately comes with the territory. Your to-do list is a mile long and there are never enough hours in the day. But small changes can make a big difference. We asked our community of small businesses for some tips and techniques for how they manage their time and become more productive. Here are some examples of what works for them.

Time management techniques

How do you prioritise tasks, minimise distractions, and make every minute count? Different things work for different people. We recommend trying out a few different things and see what works for you. Here are a few to try!

• Pomodoro technique: Break your work into intervals, typically 25 minutes each, separated by short breaks. This helps maintain focus and prevent burnout.
• Time blocking: Allocate specific time blocks for different tasks or categories of work. This creates structure and prevents task overlap, increasing efficiency. For example, block off every Tuesday morning for social media content development, so it's not following you around all week.
• Eat the frog: Start your day by tackling your most challenging or important task—the "frog." By prioritising difficult tasks early, you set a productive tone for the rest of the day. For example, let's say you hate financial management, do this first thing in the morning so you get it out of the way.

Project management tools

For some of us, pen and paper (or Post-its!) is the way to go when managing projects and tasks. But when you have complex, longer-term initiatives in play, or need to collaborate and communicate with others, digital project management tools can be a game changer. A good place to start is the Action Plan tool on Digital Boost. This allows you to capture tasks, track progress, and share actions with your mentors. Check it out on your dashboard.

If you have more complex needs, there are also lots of online tools available - most with free versions. Again, we'd recommend you try some out and see what works for you. Some popular options include:

• Trello: A visual collaboration tool that uses boards, lists, and cards to organise projects and tasks. Offers a lot of flexibility and is very user friendly.
• Asana: A versatile project management tool that allows you to create tasks, set deadlines, assign responsibilities, and track progress—all in one place.
• Monday.com: A centralised project tracking system to enables tracking, communication, and collaboration. Good for slightly larger teams or more complex projects

Automation tools

Think about those tasks that you need to do all the time - they're often boring and time consuming. Could digital tools help you to automate them and save time? This might sound daunting but most of these systems are actually easy to use, and can be cost effective, given the time you'll save. Here at Digital Boost, we use automation to help us with many repetitive tasks including:

• Financial management: Accounting software like Sage or Xero can help you save time on invoice generation, payment reminders, cash flows, and financial reporting.
• Email marketing: Platforms like Mailchimp or Constant Contact can help you more efficiently manage lists, run campaigns and personalise communications.
• Social media management: Social media may feel like it never ends - you're always having to create content and post. Social media tools can make this easier by allowing you to schedule posts, track engagement, and analyse performance across multiple platforms.

Small changes can make a big difference

It might sound counter-intuitive, but often the best thing you can do when you're feeling overwhelmed and out of time, is to stop. Take a pause and think about how you could work better. That's where productivity techniques and tools can help.

If you're not sure where to start, talk to a Digital Boost business mentor - they can share their experience, help you weigh up different options, and give you tips for implementing systems and software that could save you time, hassle and money.

What are your favourite productivity tips? We'd love to know.