Every guest on this podcast talks about looking after yourself and your sleep when starting a business so I was keen to speak to someone who has first hand experience in losing it, how to get it back & making a business from it too.

Hayley Dawes spent years designing beautiful, calming homes for other people. She couldn't find a moment of that calm for herself. A mother of four and a long-time entrepreneur, Hayley battled chronic insomnia that began to affect every part of her life. The thing that finally shifted it was broad-spectrum CBD and plant actives, used properly and consistently. That personal discovery became Dreem Distillery, a science-led luxury sleep brand now known for its award-winning Night Drops Sleep Oil and, this year, a new magnesium body butter, Dreem Melt.

This is a story about building a business out of a problem you genuinely couldn't solve any other way, and what happens when your professional skill and your personal life are pulling in completely opposite directions.

Hayley's advice:

• Protect your sleep as fiercely as you protect your business
• Working harder works... until suddenly it doesn't
• Small daily habits ("micro moments") can have a huge impact on your nervous system
• Don't underestimate the power of a daily walk, movement and natural daylight to regulate your nervous system
• Build a business around solving a genuine problem
• Work with experts when you're entering an unfamiliar industry
• Never compromise on quality – from your product to your branding and packaging
• Building a business teaches resilience
• Prioritising yourself allows you to perform better in every area of your life

FF&M enables you to own your own PR & produces podcasts.

Recorded, edited & published by Juliet Fallowfield, MD & Founder of PR & Communications consultancy for startups Fallow, Field & Mason.

Email us at hello@fallowfieldmason.com or DM us on Instagram @fallowfieldmason.

MUSIC CREDIT: Funk Game Loop by Kevin MacLeod.

Text us your questions for future founders. Plus we'd love to get your feedback, text in via Fan Mail

Support the show

Laura Butler-Madden is an award-winning interior designer with 14 years of expertise restoring and transforming period properties. Laura hasn't left her design career. She's simply added a second one.

For anyone starting a business, this may feel like a lot given how many hats you’re already wearing, so I was keen to chat to her about why and how she decided to do this.

Keep listening to hear a practical guide on how to build a second career alongside your first.

Laura's advice:

• Just because you can do something well doesn’t mean you should be doing it
• Go for what makes you happy and contented
• And simultaneously look for a gap in the market
• When you are in control of a business, you can shed the extra processes
• As long as you have the basics - like understanding spreadsheets - you can manage
• You don’t need a big team - but it also means you have no support group
• So you do need to be resilient to do everything yourself
• Patience and resilience are vital - just keep going!
• At first, there may be more lows than highs
• The big plus is the freedom
• Make sure you relax sometimes
• And acknowledge how far you’ve come

FF&M enables you to own your own PR & produces podcasts.
Recorded, edited & published by Juliet Fallowfield, 2024 MD & Founder of PR & Communications consultancy for startups Fallow, Field & Mason. Email us at hello@fallowfieldmason.com or DM us on instagram @fallowfieldmason.

MUSIC CREDIT Funk Game Loop by Kevin MacLeod. Link & Licence

Text us your questions for future founders. Plus we'd love to get your feedback, text in via Fan Mail

Support the show

Most founders start with an idea & go looking for an ingredient. The Taylor sisters started with the ingredient and had to build everything else around it.

Their family has farmed plums in Northern California for four generations. For most of that time, the plum pits were just waste. Le Prunier turned them into the hero ingredient of an organic, luxury skincare line that now sits in goop, Anthropologie, Neiman Marcus & Bloomingdales.

Allison came in from fashion and brand development, having worked at Giorgio Armani and MOTHER Denim. Jacqueline is a UCLA grad with a science background and culinary training. And rounding out the trio is their sister Elaine, who brings experience from two previous CPG brands and heads up finance and operations.

This is a story about vertical integration before it was a trend, about patience in product development, and about what farming actually teaches you that business school doesn't.

Jackie's advice:

FF&M enables you to own your own PR & produces podcasts.
Recorded, edited & published by Juliet Fallowfield, 2024 MD & Founder of PR & Communications consultancy for startups Fallow, Field & Mason. Email us at hello@fallowfieldmason.com or DM us on instagram @fallowfieldmason.

MUSIC CREDIT Funk Game Loop by Kevin MacLeod. Link & Licence

Text us your questions for future founders. Plus we'd love to get your feedback, text in via Fan Mail

Support the show