Avsnitt

  • In this weeks episode Chris & Helen talk open and honestly about whether or not bootstrapping their business was the right decision to make? Exploring past decisions and seeing what impact they have had on the business years later.

    Now they’re filming the podcast in the office it makes life easier but they always end up jumping on the pod only half ready each week.

    Did Chris overstep the mark when he made an “investment” as he puts it in some lego for him and his son, Helen seems to think not.

    They discuss Chris & Helens different approaches to money, saving and spending it. Who’s is right? And they look at would they do it differently if they had to do it all over again.

    Chris finally agrees that maybe he should listen to Helen a little more but will he regret saying this as Helen goes onto tell more?

    Chris goes on to say that learning as much as you can means you’re in a much better position to be able to hire and buy in services.

    They end by discussing looking at secondary schools for their son and how they always get a guy feeling when they enter a building, spooky or a sixth sense?

  • This week Helen and Chris touch on mental health, but more specifically mental health for business owners. They discuss the limited support that seems to be available for business owners and mental health and that we all need to make sure we’re taking care of ourselves.

    The podcast studio has moved finally from the garden office and is now at Thread A Pixel HQ with a dedicated podcast studio space as they now threaten to have guests on the show. And Helen is finally stating to keep her audio levels down as she is now conscious she is recording the podcasts at work.

    Chris is suffering from the dreaded man flu, the worst kind as he goes on to tell us, and tells us briefly why podcasts are so important and how you can leverage them for great social media content.

    And finally, the dog Bella is getting in on the action and trying to distract Chris & Helen. Will she ruin the podcast? Will she be allowed on the set again? You’ll have to find out.

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  • It's been a hot minute and Chris is feeling a little bit nervous about starting the podcasts again. However Helen and Chris do both agree they enjoy the podcasts together as they see them as therapy. 
     
    It's been a good few months since their last podcast together. There's a new look to the podcast, a new look to them both with a little bit more timber and there is just a new vibe.
     
    It's only just begun and Chris is telling Helen off for the way she has moved her initial mic position and so it will effect the way her voice sounds on the microphone so she must correct herself. First argument on camera and counting!
     
    Since they released their season one podcasts there were a couple of negative nancy comments from some, but on the most part everyone has been so supportive and very positive and this has really spurred them both on to carry on with their therapy sessions, we mean podcast sessions!
     
    Helen and Chris explain how they've been busy with new team members, completely changing the look of the showroom and have felt really humbled and supported by their customers with many of them becoming from trusted friends.
     
    They're filming in the same location as season one, in the back of their garden in their converted office, where it's a complete mess behind the scenes with Chris' tools and Christmas decorations in the background. 
     
    They’re excited about a potential new business idea that they would love to do with the podcast but that's a secret for now. But we can let you into that secret because it was so long before they filmed the next episode after this one that we can confirm that the new podcast set is now located in their Two Krakens and Thread a Pixel office space now with the podcast area that you can rent for podcasts or video interviews that you wish to carry out. Exciting times!
     
    They share a laugh with the new pouting facial expression they've taken on since watching the apprentice series and have a giggle about how silly they look. You kind of have to see the video for this one. However it's now become habit to them both. They discussed their admiration for the team that run the apprentice and how they both have a crush on Karen Brady!
     
    Helen discusses the different change in her personal circumstances entering perimenopause and how she wants to be open with others going through this as it's such a huge life change to women as they get older and how so many women and men don't know much about it. So she's very passionate about discussing what she learns along the way in order to help others feel a little more at ease going through this huge change in women's lives.
     
    After Helen and Chris briefly explain what they've been up to for the last couple of months along with the new vibe and look to the podcast and how they've managed to create it on a tight budget, Chris shares his passion about how he wants to share on their podcasts how you can create new marketing material for your business and change things in your business that don't need to cost the earth. They want to continue to be open honest and share the good and bad about business and life. It is not always easy and being vulnerable can be really helpful. Chris explains how he feels businesses in America are so much more honest and open and seem more willing to work and support each other more than some businesses in the UK.
     
    They wrap up with some songs with some rude words in that their son had heard and discuss some old school past time songs before signing off until another two weeks time to discuss more business and personal aspects in life.
     
    Hope you liked the new look, the new intro, the few songs, the arguments, the honesty and the new vibe!

  • In this weeks episode we welcome back Helen & Chris from their Christmas break and talk about change in both work and in their personal lives.

    But before they get into change they fumble their way from an intro as Chris struggles to get in podcast mode with awkward silences and lots of deep thinking.

    When is it too late to say to someone “Happy New Year”? Helen thinks it’s already too late where as Chris isn’t quite sure.

    Chris goes onto to discuss change at work and how it’s inevitable that change will come and both try not to burst into song every-time they say change.

    To sum it all up Chris forgets to check the batteries on the mic recorder but doesn’t realise until the recorder switches off just as they start to wrap up the podcast.

    Chris promises to do better next time and be better prepared.

    Enjoy!

  • Today, Helen and Chris are in the festive spirit with their branded Christmas jumpers on for Thread A Pixel and reflecting on the year 2023. Both feeling grateful for various things in life and how we can learn to enjoy the small things in life and pat ourselves on the back for what we have all achieved in the last year. It’s not been easy for anyone, but sometimes we need to all reflect upon what we have all achieved both personally and professionally.

    Chris wants to share about the movie documentary that he watched recently about David Holmes who was the stunt man for Harry Potter Daniel Radcliffe and how his life was turned upside down when he became unable to fulfil his normal role after a tragic accident.

    His positive outlook on life even after this horrendous event was enlightening and truly inspiring and we would highly recommend to watch the program called The Boy Who Lived.

    What a true inspiration he is. A coming-of-age documentary of Harry Potters Daniel Radcliffe and his stunt double David Holmes, whose close friendship endures a life-changing accident.

    We all know life can serve us lemons, but what do we have to do? Make lemonade!

    Whilst it’s certainly not always easy, it’s more than likely something we can all work on.

    Shout out this week from Helen and Chris is to everyone. Well done for everything you’ve achieved this year. Take a few minutes to give yourself a pat on the back and reflect on what you’ve achieved. If things haven’t gone the way you want there’s always something to learn from it and take away from that experience.

    Wishing you all a wonderful Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and we will see you all in the New Year after a nice break and time to plan for the New Year ahead in business. Cheers!

  • In this weeks podcast, Helen and Chris discuss how they have found running more than one business at the same time, and the pros and cons for this.

    Running your own business is an additional rollercoaster in life, and in true Helen and Chris style they naturally jump in with both feet to run more than one business together alongside their family life too.

    They both discuss honestly, the pros and cons they have found through running more than one business. Not only alongside each other but also working very closely with each other for all their businesses.

    For them, they have found that it has worked well in the fact that the two different businesses being personalised gifts goes hand-in-hand with branded clothing and Workwear. Although they are B2C and B2B. They have been able to share resources between the two companies, as well as unit space and even staff which they have found worked beneficially towards both businesses.

    As we know all too well through life, we can only learn from our mistakes and so this is what they have both done along the way in life, generally as well as running businesses from the ground up and have been able to learn from running various businesses what works well for them and what doesn’t and apply these to the new businesses that they have and will set up.

    They both have an exciting chapter ahead with more focused plans for Thread A Pixel’s branded, Workwear services and Krakens media video productions and they are putting in extra ground work over the next few months to really power these businesses ahead.

    Todays shout out is Hayley Windows , Kelly and Laura run a fantastic business there fitting some beautiful windows and doors across all sorts of buildings and Helen and Chris were lucky enough to have the buildings opposite their home renovated by the team at Hayley Windows and the workmanship of their team, completely transformed the buildings and allowed Helen and Chris to have a much more pleasant outlook from their home! So they wanted to thank the team at Hayley Windows for this.

    This weeks challenge for Helen Vs Chris. Is are you a dog or a cat person? Helen used to be a cat person having cats when she grew up however, however since having dogs together for the past over 10 years, Helen is now converted to be the same as Chris, and to be more of a fan of dogs so for the first time ever, they’re on the same page in that they both agree they are now dog people as Helen is a convert but what are you! Are you a dog or a cat person?

    And for those listening the email address is [email protected]

  • In this weeks pod Helen and Chris discuss over hot drinks in the morning, how they deal with stress in their lives and how they have supported each other through this.

    Once again, they are chalk and cheese in their approach to this, and what they have as their own levels of stress and dealing with this.

    Helen speaks candidly about how some brief therapy got her through a tough time a few years ago, and they both agree on the fact that when we break our arm, we have medication and things put in place to help us through this tough time yet it still seems there may be a bit of a taboo around when our minds aren’t thinking straight and can’t cope with different levels of stress depression and anxiety. These levels of stress may look very different for different people throughout their lives.

    Is the world we live in today more stressful than 100 years ago? Perhaps it is. Perhaps technology hasn’t helped with this, perhaps it has for some. What are your thoughts?

    They finish the podcast with a shout out to counsellors in general for the hard work they put in and the understated help they offer to so many people through hard times around the world. Maybe technology has helped in supporting people in that therapy sessions are commonly done on video calls now I’m not just in person. But has technology helped with the social media pressures of the false lifestyle that is projected to us all from a young age?

    If you feel you need to speak to someone about the tough times you may be going through there are different ways to try and share your problems, as Helen says she feels a problem shared is a problem halved, whether it’s friends, family or a private therapist. Helen and Chris at least both agree it’s good to talk.

    This weeks Helen versus Chris is “When is it acceptable to get ready for Christmas!?” Helen and their son wanted to watch Christmas movies from this week being the second week of November however Chris thinks no one should be festive until the first weekend of December otherwise it becomes boring! At least they both have come to an agreement that the Christmas tree can go up the 1st of December, although Helen would prefer it sooner Chris would like it later! So when is acceptable to start watching Christmas movies and put the Christmas tree up in your house hold? What are your thoughts, are you a Scrooge or are you a Christmas fairy?!

  • Helen and Chris are back from holiday and would love to say they’re feeling refreshed. However it’s not the case. They’ve both come back with, let’s call it “plane flu”. Whilst it’s been sunny and they’ve been California dreaming on the beach, visiting Disney, Universal and spending quality time with family, the jetlag is playing its toll on them both this week.

    They are filming on a Sunday and perhaps not feeling the best this week. Helen is going to run the show as such and wants to discuss together “are we there yet?”

    This was stemmed from their son asking after 20 minutes into an almost 20 hour journey, “are we there yet?”

    Chris and Helen naïvely forgot just how many times children ask “are we there yet?” “No Son , it’s been 20 minutes!!”

    This repeated question got Helen to reflect on this question in life personally and professionally. Do we find ourselves asking are we there yet?

    What do we class as being there and what does this involve? Helen and Chris discuss this further.

    With a shout out this week to family for putting them up in California and allowing them to take over their home and feel so welcome. Helen and Chris have also taken away some new ways in life from staying with Helen‘s brother and sister-in-law in California with some new recipes and ways of living on the cards.

    They finish this weeks podcast with Chris versus Helen. They discuss does pasta taste different in the different shapes? Helen believes it does being a fan of tagliatelle and the bowl shaped pasta to hold nice chunks of pasta sauce, but Chris thinks this is ridiculous and they are all the same! What are your thoughts? Does pasta taste different in different shapes?

    Are you there yet or are you still on your professional or personal journey!?

  • Today Helen and Chris try a Sunday afternoon podcast.

    Today it’s left to Helen to plan today’s discussions. She generally tends to put a lot of trust into Chris so let’s see how today goes! With the new mic covers removed as per Helen‘s request, do they sound different? Chris thinks it’s better with but Helen prefers the look without. She also feels they give more of a retro look, but is it more of a retro sound?!

    Chris normally takes the lead on the podcasts, but today has decided they will openly discuss “Has being in business together changed their relationship?”

    Chris wasn’t really feeling up to doing the podcast this week, but sometimes you’ve just got to get on with it. Suck it up buttercup, as Helen would say!

    Decision making. Does Helen take longer to make decisions down to her confidence issues? Do they disagree as a couple to be awkward or it is genuinely down to having different opinions!? Chris is certainly more confident making decisions than Helen and is happy to hold himself accountable for the decisions that he makes. They discuss does Helen and other people in life find it hard to make decisions and move on with them because they’re not happy to hold themselves accountable when things go wrong?

    So do they work well in business together? Throughout both of their personal and career experiences they have both had completely different challenges in life, and the way in which they react to them. Whilst showing true ying and yang, chalk and cheese, personalities, experiences and ways of dealing with things it seems to work in business in that they respect each other’s different opinions and can use these to apply to their customers in the most effective way. They both bring totally different skills to the party and appreciate each other for this.

    Along the way they also discuss why farting so funny, well at least until it smells bad! Does anyone else fart in front of each other? Helen knows both couples that do and couples that don’t, but will she share who?! They can’t imagine holding them all in all the time. Do you?

    Over 15 years ago Helen had her own fashion brand where she designed, made and marketed everything herself. Learning so much from it with so many valuable lessons and appreciating the tremendous support she received from Chris the whole of the way. However, she feels on reflection she simply wasn’t ready back then and has since grown and learnt so much from that experience which she has now applied to her career and personal life today.

    Chris continues to experiment with new filming equipment all the time and how this can benefit his clients at Krakens Media. Helen is often a guinea pig so that he can confidently offer these new ideas to clients and know how it’s going to work successfully for them.

    They discuss how your mindset is so important in life. After all it’s your own mind that stops you from doing anything.

    They’ve knocked lots of walls down along the way together and individually, but they’ve got through it. Helen‘s favourite phrase, “Suck it up buttercup” comes back around from time to time! Chris’ tough love is what helps Helen through. Your mind can bring you so much but can destroy people too. It’s so important to look after our mind and keep in touch with your mental health. It’s proven things are never as tough as you think they’re going to be, you can worry about it all day long and we can be used to putting things off, but we all need to face tough things in life. They’re more often than not, not as hard as you think they’re going to be.

    The mind is so powerful and our state of happiness can change in the flick of a switch. Helen refers to her ex partners as an example and how important the mind is, she harshly refers to her break ups that perhaps it’s more the routine you miss than the person, in her experience anyway!

    Helen tries a bit of ASMR with the microphone as she is a fan of this. However, Chris still doesn’t see the fascination in it but offers up his fancy 32-bit audio for the job!

    They finish with a round up saying that to make work life work for them they keep their roles as separate as possible and speak through gritted teeth if need be at work!

    Helen feels running a business together has shown such respect for each other and shares a real beautiful moment, getting deep and meaningful, but spoils it by singing at the end, much to Chris’s disappointment, sorry Chris!

    Can working with friends or family work for everyone? They feel it’s easier to offload as and when, usually at home to nip things in the bud. This allows them to move on from any issues very quickly, which works well for them both.

    Helen finally asks Chris how he personally feels working together and if this has affected their relationship. She quickly covers her ears for the answer! She feels she’s annoying and appreciates Chris’ patience with her. Chris’ response may agree with this, he may not! He reflects that Helen is in fact annoying at times but once they found their stride and got in their own lane it works for them and their different views are a good thing.

    They work differently in that Helen enjoys sharing what’s happening with customers, but Chris likes to focus and knuckle down on a day-to-day basis. Helen will appear like a meerkat from behind her computer, when she wants to ask or share something with Chris and he will ignore her until it becomes too annoying!

    Their advice to anybody going into business together, whether with friends or family is to be cautious and try and understand each other and appreciate each other as much as possible and to go in eyes wide open. Honesty is the best policy too!

    Helen V’s Chris. Chris can’t stand Coffee, but Helen needs it to start the day. What do you prefer coffee or tea?

    This weeks customer shout out is bistro B63 at Halesowen College after Helen had a business meeting there and really enjoyed her sausage patty burger! They also provide the Student and staff uniforms for the College through Thread a Pixel too. They then discussed the amount of courses available at Colleges across the country including Halesowen College. On reflection, they feel they both would’ve done an apprenticeship if they were more readily available back in their day.

    Chris starts to MC, but Helen quickly stops him. Maybe it’s time to finish the podcast!

    Another awkward sign off from Chris and Helen, wishing all a great week and saying goodbye for now.

  • Well this week we are filming the podcast after another crazy week on a Friday night.

    Let’s do this! Helen has had a week of numerous breakfast meetings and a jampacked good week had by Chris. Although Chris is upset that this weeks camera angles are slightly off as this week he didn’t put his markers in place for when he returned the cameras back to film, but does anyone notice or does anyone even care!? Probably just him!

    2023 has been a crazy year for everyone really… This year we have really appreciated the relationships that we’ve grown with our customers and getting through another strange year in business. The aftermath of another summer has allowed us to reflect on yet another rollercoaster year.

    So far it’s nice to share the journey with like-minded customers and be open with each other along the way.

    Chris always said he felt it in his waters at the start of the year that 2023 was going to be a tough one and to get ready to knuckle down. And boy was he right in many ways.

    Yet again we both become a bit silly and giggle about the random jokes shared from shooting stars where the cast would say random words and jokes which we reminisce about together. We must stop digressing and get back to business. Most businesses we speak to have said similar things this year have such as that patterns have changed and it seems harder to earn your money these days.

    Coming back to work in September after the summer break, a lot of people feel refreshed, and it seems as if everyone in business has come back to life. Is it like this for everyone?

    It’s been humbling and genuinely true. We have some special friendships with our customers and appreciate the honesty we can share with them getting back to normal life for business and personal after Covid and Brexit, but what is the new norm and what are the new patterns? How do you plan and forecast your business now? Some businesses totally grew whilst some crashed in Covid but surely that same pattern cannot continue at the rate it did for everyone.

    Marissa from Safty Forward was kind enough to share our podcast a couple of weeks ago about how she resonated with it. This meant so much to us to hear from someone we both respect in business and personally, what an inspiration and lovely person she is. This is why we want to share our honest thoughts along our journey to resonate with those who have been or going through a similar business journey.

    We discuss how we are all ready for Chris’ meals on wheels whether it’s using his new cooking tray for a bbq for his video equipment. It’s not quite clear what his shelving on wheels is for all we do know is that it’s cheaper than an actual video carrying cart so Helen is happy with that.

    Chris gets overexcited about discussing his videography equipment and what they can do. Helen has to bring him back to reality and that he could buy everything he wants to, but does he really tell her everything he buys and how much it really is? Perhaps ignorance is bliss here! Maybe Helen has pulled the wool over Chris‘s eyes from time to time with her fashion purchases, often coming home with more clothing from work that she claims is a sample, but ends up on her back the next day this week!

    Helen and Chris give a shout out to the Taylex group who are a brilliant team of people to work with and who they have worked with for a number of years now. They also filmed with Karl Clark, the owner of the Taylex Group earlier this week. He’s such a great guy. He took all the filming in his stride and was such a natural. We will shortly list the link to the final video we did with him and the team. They also run Expo supplies and Londis stores if you need an exhibition display speak to these guys.

    Chris had office envy when they visited Taylex Groups head office in Halesowen. In contrast to this they speak candidly about some rare feedback from a customer this week where they respectfully advised that they hadn’t heard back from us in a timely manner. Helen addressed this as she was quite mortified by it, but also wanted to completely take this on board and speak to Chris about what processes they could put in place at Thread A Pixel to ensure this kind of behaviour does not happen again. We will always take any feedback on board. If it means we can offer a better service for our customers then we have to learn from our mistakes. We all are human after all and we are pleased to say that our customer felt that they could share this with us and give us the opportunity to put it right. The customer isn’t just a customer to us but a partnership.

    It’s not long before we get back onto sayings and getting them wrong. It’s good to talk. A problem shared is a problem halved.

    Chris discusses why do people call each other mate, he’s not sure it’s for him when it’s someone he doesn’t know but Helen just thinks he’s not very friendly all do time and is being a bit of Victor Meldrew!

  • This week we are trying a Sunday morning podcast, no wine, just hot caffeinated drinks to keep us going! 

     
    Helen introduces the podcast and what its all about in the most long winded way possible but its ok because girls are the best and girls rule!
     
    We may have bickered before going live, but will we carry it on with the cameras rolling!?
     
    Will we need a divorce lawyer?!
     
    They say you spend the most amount of time with people at work and we find that makes it easier to appreciate each others day and feelings towards whats happened. 
     
    Whilst we are very different in many different ways personally and professionally this does allow us to see things in work and our personal lives differently. 
     
     
    We’ve changed up the mics this week but Helen doesn’t like them, do they sound better to you with the covers on?
     
     
    So its been another crazy week in the Butler house hold but we are still going. We’ve had some epiphanies during our roller coaster ride as we’ve been busy planning the future of our businesses with a very well respected business coach. 
     
    We discus how we find it best to plan for day to day life and business. It is through making lists? 
     
    For our business planning for the future we discuss how we’ve made Flight paths as this is something we haven't done for a couple of years and we are back on it. With the thanks to Mike Allen. Chris may have kissed some   frogs and toads but now he’s ready for his princess!!!
     
    It's a hard job finding a good match not only for a wife or husband but also a business coach. You have to trust, respect and admire them, same but different!
     
    Having someone to hold you accountable is what we feel we both need more, we know how to sweet talk each other out of certain deadlines and it needs to stop! 
     
    We’ve gone back to basics to re focus on our marketing plan and our ideal customers and where we want to be in the future. 
     
    Helen shares how she got emotional when meeting with Mike about the businesses future, and is passionate about people expressing emotions as this is something that hasn’t been taken on board in some of her previous roles. 
     
    To get our flight path and future goals listed out we actually took a day off away from work to work on the future of our businesses and personal life goals with thanks to our great team allowing us to as they ran the production for us.  
     
    Is vigour a word for excited? Chris uses it anyway as he’s reducing his swearing! 
    Talking of words, our son a few years ago when he was about 5 was upset after someone at school called him a swear word, “The S word….. “Stupid!"
     
    In our flight plan we looked at what we want for retirement and how to get there. We reflected how we feel old at work when some of the team are nearly half our age.
     
    Why does everyone younger than yourself on TV look 12, not 25, or 18….12!?
     
    Is it too early for us to both make any sense!? We start to sing so maybe!
     
    Helen has another brain fart as its too early to talk business and make sense clearly. Will her singing guide us through her answers sounding more professional saying noooo nooo and yeahhhh yeahhh every time!?
    Will they loose the plot and stop getting the giggles!?
     
    Getting back to business, we discuss how time blocking is great and works really well for Helen on paper, but did she us it? 4th time lucky will Helen answer?!
     
    Chris keeps life simple making lists in priority order each day. 
     
    Our shout out this week isn’t only to Mike Allen from Business Doctors as he’s been heavily involved in our week but also for a footwear company Chris used for the first time randomly online who have 3 stores called Elevate Your Sole. And what a great reason for Helen to buy some new shoes too!
     
    We hope our giggles along this weeks podcast haven't stopped you from taking something useful from todays listen!

  • In this weeks podcast, we discuss work life balance.

    Are you like Chris and can only cut off when on specific holidays or do you watch trash TV like Helen to zone out?

    Do we give ourselves too much of a hard time for cutting off, or for working too long?At the end of the day should we just “do you”?

    Every day is a school day, not only in business. This week we learn from our son what a “Kevin” is. Not only are there “Karens” out there that may moan to you from time to time, but we’ve learnt there are also Kevins as the male versions of those moaning type!

    We wait with baited breath to see if Chris has remembered to change the branded mug in the foreground!? Or does he simply think he’s too cool for school and using words that are too young for him hey “guys and girls”!?

    Will Helen be happy with Chris’ outfit for the podcast!? It’s doubtful, he got the dreaded stare!

    We discuss further, how we both individually and as a family like to cut off, and how we use our ying and yang ways to help each other with the house and work through sharing our completely different strengths.

    Why is it a thing that everyone seems to clean their house before you go on holiday? Surely it’s not just us!?

    When Helen has a brain fart, will Chris be there to support her? Or will he kick back, relax and enjoy the embarrassment!?

    Is it normal to work on a Friday night at 10:30pm? It may be to some and maybe not to others. At the end of the day, you do you.

    We end the podcast with another fantastic local business shout out that we are a huge fan of, My Coffee Station.

  • What do you see as success? 🤔

    Can either of us remember how to open a podcast after a 4/5 month break!? 😅

    It’s been a few months since we last filmed our first podcast. That’s because quite honestly after filming the first and second episodes we found we just weren’t agreeing how to go about producing it and decided to knock the whole idea on the head rather than argue about it and negatively effect our personal relationship. 🙃

    However after further chats over many cups of teas and coffee we knew we both ultimately wanted to do a podcast together! We agreed we would be both willing to compromise that little bit further in trying to meet a happy medium for us both ⚖️

    So here we are 😅

    In this weeks episode we each discuss how we personally feel we define success and what being successful means to us. Has our opinion of this changed over the years or remained the same?

    Whilst we may be a Ying and Yang team, ultimately our morals and goals align some how! 🫶🏻

    For some money is the only way to measure their happiness, but do we agree? 🤷🏼‍♀️ Can money buy happiness? 💰

    Helen thinks not and instead focusses on the smaller things in life that can be priceless but without being toooo soppy!! 😂

    During our chat we have one of many disagreements about a few things including how we both look, what is perfect, how much should work, should we become “Fat Fellows” to make some extra cash!? 🤣

    When would be an ideal time to retire and could we realistically just stop working all together!? 🤷🏻

    We finish our discussion with a business shoutout where we want to share our positive thoughts as we appreciate the long journey Rhys has taken to build his inspiring Empire and community at Emp1re Gym, what a great guy! 💪🏻

  • How to start a Podcast? Well we’re not totally sure but we’ve finally done it anyway.

    We are Chris and Helen Butler, husband and wife who not only live together with our son and fur baby Labrador, but also run multiple businesses together too.

    Talking candidly about life, business, family and the highs, and lows along the way. We feel naked and vulnerable being so honest but want to share our real thoughts of our journey. It’s not easy and plane sailing but there are some rants and bants we’d also like to share on our journey.

    Through our first episode Helen gets a saying right for the first time. Chris exposes himself, not naked thankfully, as we share the rollercoaster ride with anyone who wants to listen.

    Producing a podcast is something we both have wanted to do for a few years and we have finally bitten the bullet. We discuss how failing is a way of learning. You don’t fail, instead you learn. A few side eyes later we agreed to move on with our chats with some waffling in between. Sharing our different personalities, past experiences from our mid 20s when we first met whilst dancing away on the dance floor strutting our moves to now doing the Mum and Dad shuffle in our 40s! Can we say our experience in 60 seconds~? Well one of can!

    Does everything happen for a reason? We discuss how we do and don’t love working with each other with a sprinkle of love and hate along our journey. Is it easy to argue at work? Should you work with family? Can you leave things at the front door? Can Helen get a saying right about that too!? Probably not! Whilst we are ying and yang, chalk and cheese, so far, it works for us. In our own way!

    After experiencing it ourselves this week, we also discuss the importance, or lack of it, of getting a nice photo done for a new passport. Is it important to like your passport photo? Helen thinks so however Chris doesn’t agree. What are your thoughts?

    We want to paint an honest picture of our journey. If anyone other than our Mums want to listen, support or subscribe we hope we can help some of you with something. Whether you’re a business owner, a parent, have an annoying spouse or work colleague or fancy a light hearted listen, we are still learning on our journey and talk candidly about the highs and lows along the way and we hope some may even learn something from our discussions and hopefully laugh with us, not always at us, during our waffling.