We'll be right back. Greetings, welcome to what we are, episode five of Visual PR Live. Greetings to everybody watching. Don't forget, you can put your comments, your questions, and we'll be able to put them up on screen, including your photo and your username and everything. So please do get involved. Probably more a little bit later, I'll talk about things. It may conjure up some comments from your own experiences, some questions you may have. good news is it won't be just for me.
I am going to be joined by two wonderful guests very shortly. To start with, I just want to explain what this is all about. This subject is about the power of collaboration, combining strengths of different people and different things. And I'm going to start with the things part because it's much more obvious collaboration people, and my special guest Graham Leefield is going to be touching more in detail on that because I've seen him do this presentation before.
I wanted to just quickly touch on how you can collaborate some of your PR and marketing collateral and effort. People run off and do something. Let me pick one of them as a podcast. Everybody runs off at the moment and creates podcasts. And I do encourage you, definitely do them. But the problem is they then just throw those out there and wonder why they're getting 10 downloads a week if they're lucky or something like that.
The problem is unless you're a celebrity, how are they going to find you? It's the right thing to do it, but to rely purely on that and expect it to just work is a risky tactic. It's not the right way to go. So we are working on collaboration of efforts, collaboration of assets. And one of those, for example, visual PR, we do these live, and this is live now, or as live.
Sometimes we don't put them out live, but they're still just hit record and go because it gives us that authentic, credible, engaging conversation type content that we create and then it's really from that one piece that the client shows up for we're able to then create a whole load more assets and start feeding from one to the other so I'll give you a for instance we create this content here this episode that would go out every month every fortnight every week depending on the client
from that we strip up the audio and we put that as your podcast we put all of the descriptions and your seo content is within that as well your video content's now on youtube and facebook and linkedin but youtube's the big one it's the second biggest search engine in the world So we make sure the description is what people will find when they go looking for particular topics that you and your organization experts out and they find it.
But we then say, do you want to carry on listening while you're walking your dog or you're driving the car or you're working out? Take them to the take. Sorry, my phone's going. That was very unprofessional. It's like.
um yeah listen to it go here to the podcast the podcast then feeds do you want to watch this because within the episode they're listening to it talks about something visual feed them back to the youtube video we then create clips from the full episode that then your social media that goes out The collaboration there is that you turn around and go, do you want to go and watch the full episode? Do you want to listen to the full episode? And it's pointing you to both of those.
It's pointing you back to your social platforms and everything's collaborating. Heck, we can even transcribe the content and we can put that as a blog post. Remember that page that you probably haven't looked at for two years? It hasn't been a new post on for ages. Well, suddenly you're guaranteed every single month There is content that's going to go up there that's going to help the SEO of your website that is going to let you be found.
We embed the YouTube video in it and we get in there what we call link juice. We're allowed to say that? Yeah. One of many terms. Absolutely. Yeah. Link juice. We'll go with that. Link juice from the YouTube video in there. And, of course, you can put the podcast in there as embedded. And it will split you back to the different channels and everything like that.
Heck, we can even do branded dynamic QR codes that you can put either in your printed PR that are going out in journals or papers or whatever. Have a QR code that takes them to the video and gives you stats for how many people have gone from that magazine to watch the video in full. Start getting analytics from it. That pop-up banner that you created a year ago, Could have had a QR code put on it. And yet even today, we redirect it so it'll always point to the latest episode.
It's able to be dynamic. So we're suddenly collaborating. Our marketing with RPR, the different assets from it all are working together. Rather than making a bed and lying in it, just one route we're going and then getting frustrated. We then get involved however much people want us involved. Do we just create, go and break with everything? Or we do it for you so that we make sure everything's going out to the right place. Everything's connecting back from one to the other.
It's just a really fun way to do it because these conversations are just naturally flowing. It's not a script that someone suddenly says, right, you stand there and say that. Okay, I'm going to talk about this now. It's just genuine. It's off the top of their head. And from that one show up, All this asset, all of these assets are created and then linking. So that's where we come out from the power of collaboration.
Now, we ironically are doing a lot of work personally collaborating as well, because we don't necessarily have to do as much for you because we work with organizations that do that. for you work and we provide the assets for them to do. And one of them is my first guest that I'm going to, I mean, you're going to see both of them now, but the first one I'm going to speak to, I will introduce both because it will feel weird, is that first of all, Make sure I get this right.
The CEO of Phoenix Enterprises, Claire McDougall. Hi, Claire. I love it. But the first person we're going to speak to, no offence, Claire, is Graham. Yeah, I did, yeah.
Is Graham Leefield, the founder of Gel Studios, who, A, we work collaboratively, easy for me to speak with, but B, my big one is that I saw you do a presentation at a networking breakfast that wasn't only me that was impressed that resonated with a lot of people what was it two three months ago wasn't it yeah I think it's a total uh total boardroom network yeah it was it was um you know competition yeah is the polar opposite of collaboration and I think what made it genuine a really personal
place you know um it's actually my business was a birthday tomorrow and probably about three four years ago it was very much we must go out we must we must get this work we must have everything internal and the realization you know when the pandemic hit we had to pivot diversify explore any new opportunities and We saw a lot of other people's struggle. Some were clients, some were peers. And we had to really lead from the front and change this mindset.
And the mindset really, by my own, to be honest, it was wanted to do really well, but it walked off missing pieces of work, you know, to people, you know, it would be an outward spiral. It's just not a good place to be. So I came up with this idea.
mini paradox so classic oh you may like that I said I didn't do this at one talk it's my old school kings down here nobody knew what a classic mini was Basically, if you're ever on the road and you're going out there and you see two minis pass one another, what do they do? Well, they beep their horn and they do a little park. The VW's the big one as well. The other ones as well, yeah. If you see a classic mini going by, you know if they see another one, they will go mental.
Yeah. Yeah, in a really, really good way.
Another thing, like my struggles as well, I mean, this go they'll tweet and I was the most I used to have a motorhome with my motorsport comp all the time if you pass another motorhome owner yeah that you would it was always a way body would weigh yeah yeah yeah you know all traffic has been slowed down yeah my point is I looked a lot at the same car where you know they're on the same roads they're doing the same thing they enjoy this thing it's just a really pure example of
collaboration and since coming to peace with my history um and what was driving me talking about that little The idea of being, you know, an agency which collaborates with other places, referring work to them, income streams, something I never had when I was starting out. But also working with organisations such as Phoenix Enterprises, you know, we have a responsibility as a sustainable profit to do something more worthwhile and benefit shareholders.
And that's why the B Corp survey for that made complete And that drive peak now is changed, is more to, well, if I can do that with a team of 10, what can bigger organisations do to commit to the cause? You know, local impact and stuff. And that's why I thought I was going to put together that talk. I've done that quite a few times now. It's gone down. It really is great to hear that feedback. But it's also an element of being part of it.
Because sometimes to collaborate, people might not be in the same place. So it's really important to go first and to be brave and to reach out for that one. Maybe just to say, I know that we've spoken before, but I know we're in the same circles. Can we go out for a coffee? And one thing would definitely come away from that being bettering yourself. Or equally, knowing that they're not there yet. That's part of the collaboration journey. You go first, you start. Sparks of thought, inspiration.
The other person in their own realisation. So it's been incredibly rewarding. The benefits in terms of the bottom line, collaborating with other businesses, work goes out, works really, really well. You've got to have some confidence to know that that utopia will happen very well. Well, we can all strive towards working towards a better place, right?
And I think that's certainly what the B Corp movement at its core is, you know, environmental, which people think the B Corp will be, but it's also about community impact and it's also about the wellbeing of the team. There's this three really, really key areas around that and that's them. Up until that point, we've really been like investors in people and that was, you know, around one very, very important thing that we just put which is the people.
But for us going for the B2B certification, that wider way of knowing that we're running a business well, knowing that we operate in policies and pace, actually adjusting our incorporation documents to say, we are here to benefit the community and local places, not just shareholder return and value. I got an element of confidence, certainly as a business owner, to try to do what I perceived as right up to that point.
Yeah, because it's all, you know, we talk about the competition or collaboration being the important business, but as businesses, it's very easy for any of us to kind of get caught in going, oh, no, they're doing something, and I've got to, you know, there's enough business to go around for business.
and but to take it not only to accept that but also kind of go actually we can collaborate here in some ways it doesn't mean you live in each other's pockets for goodness sake but there are times and places to go I haven't got the uh you know capacity to take any more of this on I uh it's not quite right for whether industry geography type of work maybe who knows such a variety of things, to be able to kind of go, I need to pass that to someone else and not be there kind of going,
I guess it's like the Christmas present or birthday presents you don't give to receive. But you've got to really get yourself into that. And to be completely honest, that mindset shift came from a place of, I can't carry on the way that I am. So when you start running a business in a situation that I did, I had to make sure I had enough money coming in, quite frankly, to pay the bills, pay the mortgage, And then the team grew and grew.
And that mentality about wanting to do anything for clients came from a really genuine help. But when you're managing around seven or eight people, your margins are small. You are getting stressed. It's like these little things that are coming in. You've got to actually realize, what are we actually better than them? So it's quite easy for a full service agency to do anything and everything, you know, and it's perceived that we're going to do it.
And that has been our approach for a very, very long time. But actually understanding that we want to only work with people that are interested in having long-term commitments with us. They see us as a provider, not a, you know, a doer. They want to be involved in the strategy. We want to know their business really, you know, really, really well to ultimately give them a great ROI with us. It's like, well, we've got a lot of clients and a lot of inquiries that just don't fit our mold.
And it's not worth taking those things on, because I can't forecast a business off the back of short term relationships. But also, it's the mindfulness stuff. I get good night's sleep at night worrying about clients that might end because we've done something for them in a specific way they wanted to because they've not adhered to our process.
This is where the collaboration comes in hand, you know, realising that we've got a mission over here which is, you know, great to bring in leads in to other trusted partners, but also to openly and honestly share with other people, regardless of their business history, that there comes a time where it shifts from paying the bills to actually sustainable work that you and your team enjoy.
and that's that's that's where I came from and and I'm sure we'll come back to this again but I want to make sure I go but I've kind of accelerated a straight to all of the the beef and stuff there but gl studios you did call service now make sure everybody's clear what those full services are yeah so ultimately it's you know look if you want to spend a market budget you reach goals we can either help you reach those goals by a various array of services, digital marketing,
website design, graphic design. But it comes from a position of real deep understanding. So we are the agents that love to ask questions. We want to take time to get something right. We want to collaborate in workshops so that we have common understanding and work towards goals which are achievable. We've seen so much in the agency space. It's all about onboarding people.
there's no real cold so what happens when it comes down to renewal we're not getting an roi we're going to leave that not to us we used to be seen as website builders that was very much myself um the team at the time but then realizing that the website has an important part to play in other areas naturally started to expand well we've got graphics which could be on social we've got marketing in all of the various many guises we then use a marketing strategy the website isn't part of
that you know all that all that collaboration of services and um you know look here's a great example we used you for our uh gel studios live um you know old grail you're like well we can get a camera you know anybody we need to have a shot of the back or the equipment it's very costly exercise you're missing out the x you're missing out the expertise you're missing out on the passion you're doing it for the wrong reason to collaborate with a trusted company that makes complete
sense to do that and what does that look like and we've collaborated with um for you know tomorrow yes and a couple other things you know when you introduce people as trusted partners there's an element there and also with lockdown and everything else the the landscape of buying would change knowing that they've obviously contact which build trusted relationships to you know spread the load so to speak people are so okay with that now before lockdown it's very very why we want to treat under one
under one arena it's really a case of just riding that that way right I think that's a way moving forward also just other smaller startups fantastic way to really have a good night's sleep yeah no and i I think there's even a collaboration that kind of expands out of that, where it's, you mentioned workshops, that's something that's fairly recent for you, I'd say fairly probably isn't anymore. It's been 18 months.
I was going to say, it's fun quite, isn't it, when we're having fun, but it's how, you are not just going, no, we've got to do up to everything for them. It's like also empowering them to be able to do some themselves is a big deal. And you've now got this collaboration. They're fully invested. They're fully on board and doing their bits and pieces. But where it gets distinctive, actually, you could do with someone that naturally knows how to do that to work with you. But you're now empowered.
Everything for me, the screams of collaboration in the whole services you guys have done, which is why I asked you to be the business guest for this particular episode of Visual PR Live. The most recent thing of collaboration which I wrote was we were at the NTT award in Birmingham last week. And at the beginning, well, at the end of last year, we had a fellow from Flow Software reach out and say, look, we've got a client. They want to redo their website.
we haven't got the design scoping capabilities, but we can build it. So obviously spoke to him, he'd seen my stuff, talked about collaboration. We went in, collaboration started from putting a proposal together, you know, getting over to them. We won that deal and beat national agencies with campaigns that were on the television to win that. Part of that was because, you know, they are all about fair qualifications in the engineering industry to build gaps, skills gaps.
one of the unique things collaboration very much why we're here yourself today is that we say openly to a client if you come to work with us here that funds budgets which enable us to do stuff over here in the form of you know hosting sites for charity to discount your rates sponsoring good things doing peter chips um all that kind of stuff but the workshops was amazing around those and while they were distributed to our office in swindon and they were having conversations I've ever met
in person wow ever and we designed it and they built it on time on budget exactly what we said it was and then we got invited to these awards and to see some of the stories of people that had been through that and we've been involved with workshops that we're getting to get into the mindset people that are you know looking for t levels for employers that are looking at things I think um all through solutions that we built together that is the collaboration because we
wouldn't have been able to do that And all that. No, 100 percent. I mean, that's just what delights me about the whole collaboration. And it was even ironic that your speech wasn't just sort of making me go, oh, my God, I need to change. It also confirmed some things that I happened to be doing and hadn't really appreciated how important they were. We just talked about that before we went on air, didn't we? I asked, you know, how's it been going? Is it what you thought it was? Your response was?
Being more distant, absolutely. But no less fun. No less fun. That's, dare I say, what it is about leadership. You've got managers and you've got leaders. And I think that the mindset of, you know, competitor or collaborator, you decide.
it's putting an idea out there and that's our job as leaders right it's to inspire other people and that doesn't necessarily mean people are in our organization it can be other people outside of that as well um I spoke to you many times about climate finance you know find your why leadership fantastic but anybody can be a leader and this is where what I'm trying to do with my organization is that anybody has the ability to uh invoke check do something different to challenge the legal system
or when it comes down to our mission statement building strong you know sustainable long-lasting relationships from a place collaboration partnership with our clients yeah and I and I'm you know well I'm on board with that because obviously I'm very privileged but I get to uh I get paid to travel around europe commentating on my favorite sport motorsport and from that kind of led on the voice over and radio and hosting awards nights, all of those kind of things.
It's really cool, and I love doing that. We're in lockdown. I've got to do Casting Circuit. Tonight, I'm doing episode 83, so they've not let me go. They've not let me go at all.
And I did this show, and what I love i love interviewing people because I love hearing their stories their their knowledge their passions their experiences but also the way that they articulate it I mean we've been doing some wonderful ones with festival tomorrow those science shows I forgot that I used to enjoy science I hadn't done it since secondary school and I'm just glued to these conversations going this is amazing but it was a prime example for me that that
collaboration is that visual pr for me was I want to give a platform for organizations and individuals not to sort of jump in front of a camera and it to be a corporate video with a sales pitch and a script and everybody's uncomfortable doing it everybody's uncomfortable watching but to sit down and just have this kind of conversation that flows and I get those you know those those experiences the knowledge coming out And that's my kind of collaboration that then provides people with the
ability to get those out that they've not really harnessed yet. Whether you love it or hate it, social media is here to stay. We need to get everything out there, don't we? So, I mean, it makes sense. And that was why I desperately wanted to get you on board. I did put up and I'm going to put it up again. So gelstudios.co.uk. Get in touch. And as you've heard, at the very least, is that you may be able to assist or it may actually be that you advise who will. Yeah, exactly.
The collaboration that's on board. But leading us now seamlessly on to our next guest is the one thing I've always, you know, you and I personally get together over calamari and gin.
but is you do you you try to do as much as possible with and I'm going to say with because it's not just for charities but with charities collaborating and what have you and that's something that you're very passionate about yeah I mean I did it the other day and it's now over the quarter of a million so if you were to put in all the websites we've done different we've made um the the you know good old-fashioned money in the bank stuff over 11 years it's been back yeah so um it's it's
It's all about attracting people in terms of talent, wanting people to be able to know they're working for an organization. It's not just about what are the norms now?
I get an Apple Mac, they go home and they can know so yeah working which I started in lockdown collective um we did that there are a whole lot food poverty and everything that's fantastic all their stuff still going around and then evolved into um a website every quarter um now it's going like marketing and supporting um you know great events which benefit you know young people the best tomorrow we have a signal festival coming about the arts and they said magic and it's just grown that
but the commitment that like I said we will take profits and they directly go to other things and the prp company comes in here it's coming over there that's the form of a I mean, ultimately, it's a USP. You know, people say never pitch well. I love pitching first. But the things that make me unique and then compare against everybody else. So, yeah, it's in everybody who's into that. We're even in a... sponsoring a local football game.
I'm one of the members of my team, so it makes me feel proud and filled with pride to see a logo on a mat over there and a little sideboard on the side of a pitch. It's got little brollies and I'll go and wrap them up as I football in the rain, which is probably the rest of this month, I don't know. That's really come down to it, hasn't it? pride that I want everybody that works with me or even clients that are associated with it to feel.
And that's why we love working with organisations like Southland and doing anything we can. And on that note, this is why I've got this section of every month's Visual PR Live is it's called the Charity Spotlight. And it really came to me is that I was working, I was having a conversation with a particular charity and he said, oh, we do this. And in my head, I kind of went, well, I'm not going to go into the details in this one, but I kind of went, well, I don't understand why that's necessary.
And I inadvertently almost dismissed it in my head and I got given a leaflet. I skim read it. I don't mean any disrespect for that, but we're all busy. It's what happens if it's a lot of text to read, we don't necessarily read it. But when I actually did raise the question, I said, I don't understand because of X, Y, and Z. He then went, oh, no, no, no, you've misunderstood. And he went into more detail. And I got it. I got why it existed, what it was doing, why it was doing it.
And he really made me understand something else as well, is that charities aren't just about raising money. In actual fact, the raising money is there to help achieve an objective. And that's the most important thing. What is the objective? And how can people help them achieve that objective? Yes, funding is one of them, but there could be practical exercise. There could be collaboration that we've been talking about, all these things.
And that really lit something in me that made me realise I want to try and shed a spotlight on more of these, you know, Steve Tombson, Charities that we don't understand about and this one, I have to say, I have to admit, is a prime example of one I'm going to now look into that charity spotlight section and you've already met her but we're going to go into detail about this particular charity. Alone, we can do so little, but together we can do so much.
Visual PR's charity spotlight is about shining a light on the amazing work and objectives of charities, as they do not do it for publicity, but it is important that we know about them, what they do, and understand why. Charity is not just about making a donation, it is about making a difference. So there we go. The charity spotlight, I just love that, that we're really making a point. The problem is, I'm a portfolio artist, so you've still got to hear me on that bit as well.
Sorry about that. It's Chris Corso, hello, I know it is. But massive welcome, properly now, to Claire McDougall, CEO of Phoenix Enterprises. Tell us, what is Phoenix Enterprises? So it's a mental health and learning disability charity. And people come in. Outside the day, the party is a warehouse where people have come in and they are working. Instead of other charities where you spend your time, you might play crafts and crafts, here you're doing hand-assembly work.
You come to us for really one of two reasons. Either you want to risk paid work. We're a game changer because we'll give you a real experience, prove your skills, duality, things like hygiene, time management. But we also help and we help job searching, ensure that you find the job. And then the other reason, there are those that don't want paid work, but they want the dignity of work. And so if they go down the path, they go to the Blundstone Island. Another placement.
They're whinging about their path or whatever. They can come in because they're in the workforce. So you meet everybody. They're such a joint, friendly tribe. Everybody's working. Interestingly, the customers, the plastic collaborations, we work with so many partners. Customers pay us. the work our people do. The pairs that are commercial, what we do is we're slower than a business that makes money doing hand assembly. We can only go at the pace of the skills they've got.
But that covers 40% of our overheads. And then the balance, we fund these and grant hundreds of grants, et cetera. So collaborations for us, anybody that either helps us with services, websites, PR, marketing, places, jobs with us, anybody that's got hands to do work. And we actually get jobs in from Harrods, you know, I mean, it goes far afield. It's not just in the hand assembly.
Because presumably, you were talking about how having that... forget the word I'm supposed to use, but you're really trying to get back as an organisation, is that those organisations are going to have it within their mind as they're going, hey, we need the work done anyway. Let's give something back. And we go through that route and we accept it. We don't ask quick. We got less control, whatever. But what a wonderfully rewarding way for them to have that work carried out.
And in terms of collaborations, the more that you can help out, so if somebody's helping you, if you can help out back by giving them some positive PR, by giving them a great case study they can put on their website, social values. so that they can shout about the contribution they're making. I mean, you try to find those sweet spots where people get payback. So we do have loads of corporate teams. There are at least 12 organisations this year will do volunteering days with us.
So they bring in the, you were saying earlier, you have team members that haven't seen each other for months. sitting there doing hand-in-hand, talking to our service users, giving back, being really proud of themselves, the organisation that lives in these volunteering days. And then, lo and behold, they'll go, oh, we've got a charity Christmas raffle. And the opportunities then just... It just spreads, doesn't it? It just naturally spreads. Exactly. You're not forcing that.
A phrase that comes to mind with what you're hearing there was a song, but it was great before the song, is give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, teach a man a fish and he'll eat forever. I said that without singing it as well. That's gone. A bit of arrested development there.
But for me, that's what really, I immediately picked up, we've got an ice cream van in the background now as well, immediately picked up on that, giving them dignity, worth, growing as well in terms of the knowledge, the skills, the CV that they can actually get and look after themselves going forward possibly a little more. The people that just don't even give them a chance, they get that opportunity to go and do it. I just love that it's not just we're a charity that's going to do it for them.
They've got to step up in helping them do that. I think that that's the beautiful way to do it. But the problem, the reason why I do these parallel spotlights, you're on our doorstep. You're in Dalgian industrial today in Swindon that just took us eight minutes, I think, from our office to get here. And it's probably about that to go. Yeah. And I didn't know it existed. And that's the problem that we face in this world of too much information almost, isn't it?
But, so yes, we need to get better at shouting about what we do. But equally, so it's almost like, yes, if you're in Sweden, you know, you'll now have heard about us getting in touch because we can collaborate and do something.
But equally, so anybody who has to be watching this, if you aren't currently working with at least one, but also not a number of charities, really do because you know they are sweet spots they are the givebacks and you know work in a collaborative way so it's not about just building some money you know it might be about time it might be about giving some expertise you know whatever skill you've got you know you will have HR experience even if that isn't your core yeah you know charity
you need this everything so whatever it is there's this contribution that you can make that will be appreciated and they look don't be shy to look for the sweet spots you know don't be shy to say actually it would be great if I got a case study out I'm delighted that's what makes it strong and then you find yourself climbing and being nervous for the damn charity but along with an end and then the mp happens to help you out so it goes on you know No, exactly.
I mean, that was, Graham, it was yourself that suggested that I turn to all the business guests we get on to make it a charity, which I know was the impossible task for you, Graham, with the fact that you're involved with so many. And it was kind of like... with my involvement, tried to select the one. And I think, ironically, even better than you anticipated, because the collaboration that we're discussing here is fully relevant in this particular party. How many people are...
To say the truth, how many people are you looking at? How many people are working here at any one time? So at any one time, about 60 people. And every year, we help just over 100. So the reason is we are aiming to move those who can onto paid work. For the first time ever. but people take a different amount of time to move on. The shortest we've ever succeeded is about 12 weeks. And others might be, and it amazes you that after five years, suddenly the breakthrough moment and somebody moves on.
Also, somebody often moves on to a job and you say, and they come back to you. But it's about building that resilience and bit by bit, they will then move on. Well, I have in one of my other companies where I do public speaking training and things like that, and I've got this analogy that we can even apply to, say, when you learn to drive a car, where when you first start, you're subconsciously incompetent. You don't know what you don't know. Then you become consciously incompetent.
you know what you should be doing but you're probably running at it so you keep practicing you keep getting instructed but you then have to accept you go to the next phase which is consciously competent which means you can do it but you've got to keep reminding yourself you've got to have the point of that before you eventually become sub And the reason why I go through that detail is that people get frustrated forgetting that they need to be that consciously competent.
They think they can jump straight to the subconsciously and go, why can't I remember? Why isn't it second nature? And that will set them back a lot. They'll give up. They'll go, forget it. I can't keep remembering. It's like, you will. It's repetition. You know, if we now think what we're driving, I don't have to think mirror signal manoeuvre.
just all happens now but I went that wouldn't have been the case to start with and so it's about making sure and you guys have provided as I can see safe space that is not just the the packing as a prime example down there I saw that there's some strategic spaces that look like it teaches life lessons and all sorts of things like that is that a right perception absolutely and it's a person-centric approach so whatever you need And sometimes it happens right, but sometimes it happens off right.
So, for example, somebody, you aren't going to fall into it unless you feel some element of passion towards it. You suddenly find a glimmer that somebody's into gardening. It's about them taking you to a garden place or motorbike. Mark was taking somebody down to a motorbike.
wherever they were both equally exciting finding that each person will make them overcome itself the anxiety barrier and if it's disability then it's those other barriers but it's about finding the right place for each individual and you mentioned about the the disabilities or difficulties it's a very wide spectrum that is incorporated within that Very much so. And I've learned so much. Interestingly, I've been here two years and we were saying, is it what I expected?
What I hadn't expected is to like the people so much. And everyone is diverse and people talk about diversity, but I hadn't an idea of what that really means in the real world. And the joy and the different things you gain and benefit from by being open-minded and understanding. I mean, I always think the most obvious examples of that is autism and other associated...
I've even struggled to put it I know that they are challenged, but they're such special people because they're far more intelligent than us. Superpower in many ways. Yes, 100%. Their memory, they're intelligent. It's just phenomenal. I've got some colleagues in the motor racing commentary circuit that are on the spectrum at varying levels. And honestly, their recall is ridiculous. And it's like going, I could never have that.
And so as soon as you understand that whilst some people Behaviours, I don't really know how best to say it. It might be different to our norm. there are things that they can do miles better than we ever can. And it's about understanding and accepting and working with those differences. I'm sure I probably said those things in a disrespectful way,
but it's just... And apologies if we have, because it's really... 100%, but I'm meaning it in the absolute most positive possible way that I can say it, because it is incredible. And I get your comment about being the people. How long has the charity been going? We had our 20th anniversary last year. Wow. So, long time. Going back to how organisations can help charities, I think one of the things that we're probably weakest at is marketing and promotion.
And I think the reason for that is the running of a charity. You'll have somebody in a CEO position who clearly has the financial ability, the management ability. You know that you've got safeguarding absolutely right you really risk and you know the actual governance piece I think most charities are pretty good at The thing that they might be less, you know, effective at is just understanding how to do good PR and marketing. Because that often isn't the skills that you'll have come in with.
And your time is so focused on the running that the promotion probably comes first. So in terms of, you know, if you are somebody out there listening that wants to give back, that is something that they're crying out for. and you're knocking at the door, but they might not know it. So it's about, you know, helping them understand. But Jill already, so, you know, we had a website that was fairly scruffy and two of your guys, and they really sat down with us, understood.
who we were as a charity, what we were of, what was the core message, you know, made us concentrate on who is our key audience, who are we talking to. There was no point in us going on socials that were, you know, not met, that we wanted to, what was it all about? Yeah, it's all about that strategy piece. I'm very much somebody which is like things on my feet. My team will probably kill me for this. But understanding in turn is really, really important.
So getting somebody to come along and do something is fine, but understanding internally is really important. why don't we see if people like yourself who need to understand the strategies and direct, get them into our offices and we'll put a day on. We'll do a strategy day. Let's see if we can get for charity, sort of, you know, people that are in charge of making decisions and direction and we'll put a day on.
And you can come by and we can... probably collaborate there you go all the different issues which all of you individually have with a view that you can come out of that with some sort of individual marketing plan and then at least you know a direction yeah yeah and that's calling on story I think you know it is then it comes back to the phrase I used earlier about teaching how to fish um and and they'll be forever and I think that that's a key thing and that's what I love about it
where does your personal involvement come from where what brought you here yeah Well, isn't life like that? It's one of those funny things where all your skills then suddenly line up in a row. It was actually one of the previous trustees rang me up and said, you don't happen to be free, do you? We have a CEO vacancy. And, you know, the timing was just right for me. But I've got a grandmother who set up a physical disability charity way back in South Africa.
So, you know, these things just come together, don't they, in one explosion. There you are. Is this now take all of your focus or you do another thing as well? I've got another random job. Yes. No, I know that. I think we always get that one. You know, earlier you were like, oh, I don't know how to frame this. I don't know how to work this.
This is where me and my team learn from collaborating with organisations like yourself, because there's a piece out there in terms of the value that you could consult to smaller, larger companies, them aware of opportunities, things in the workplace. So, you know, we recently moved into my new office. We had somebody come round there, obviously audited for suitable disability access. That was like a nationwide organisation that did that.
Surely that work, like yourself or others, where there's education, seminars, just another way of naming the charity, but also then delivering that knowledge that you want in your droves here, back to small, like myself or maybe other people or whatever in local places, to give them that education. Well, this is it.
So anybody who wants to genuinely address inclusion, actually have a bunch of you know with real lived experience you know we can absolutely chat about what it's like if you wanted to make employability accessible if you're amazon with warehouse and you genuinely want just come talk to some of our people you know that's what it's not theory being brave is and you you are brave that one of the career and saying you were being brave then we are a society where we don't know
we don't know whether we cause disability or a condition, we worry about how that proceeds. That was brave to address that and to say you weren't aware of doing it. There are quite a few people that have HR incidents because they've just handled something wrong because they've not known how to do something. And that is a cornerstone of inclusivity. It does go both ways.
As long as it comes from a place wanting to do things right and as long as they've got the right we brave colleagues we can't say things in a way which might be technically wrong but we understand where we're coming from that's where the reassurance from organizations like education police can really bolster that I feel really proud No, I do, and it genuinely has been wonderful to hear all about the charity here. I have put up on the screen phoenixenterprises.co.uk, all one word.
You can go and find out more a little bit about that and get in touch with the team. And I think it's fair to say that this conversation has been very decently taken by Claire to more than not just Phoenix, but to the wider community. both charitable world and with the various challenges that have been looked after, that there are other places that we can be supporting all of this. And I love the description about various different ways that we can be doing with it.
And that's what the spotlight was all about. Yes, there's still funding required and I'm not trying away from that. There is most definitely funding is required. However, the spotlight is trying to make people realise there are multiple ways to support a charity to achieve its objective and its wonderful objectives. We walked in here and we were instantly greeted with just such lovely smiles and brought up, let me go and find out, yep, you can come upstairs. And they're just, it was so helpful.
um it was wonderful and I i love that whole feeling that it's it's given in that sense of purpose back sense of of helping them to go and achieve it's not just doing everything for that that really resonated with me a lot so phoenixenterprises.co.uk Do you have any final other words that you'd like to share, Claire, or have we covered it all? You've covered it all, but if anyone's interested in anything more, please get in touch. Please, definitely, definitely.
And your website will have all your contact details, doesn't it? Graham from GEL, thank you for the collaboration piece in particular, and obviously all the great work that you and your team do over at GEL. Lovely to talk to people like yourself about issues which not very many people are talking about. No, exactly. And I've got that on the screen again. I know Graham won't mind. It's been wonderful to speak to you both. Thank you so much for being wonderful guests on Prism PR Live.
Thank you for those that have watched.
been an absolute joy to share this conversation with you you can see that this is why we do it is it the conversation just flows and we could sit here probably another half an hour at least very easily talking about this but we'll leave you in peace now I'll be back next month keep your eye out to see what episode six will be all about it'll be the same it'll be a business guest and a charity spotlight but from gel studios and of course in extent of us myself chris doors from
video pr see you next time cheers Bye.