Period Features

Alstonefield Manor Set In The Beautiful Peak District National Park

Alstonefield Manor is located in the picturesque village of Alstonefield, at the southern end of the spectacular and beautiful Peak District National Park. The Manor dates back to the 16th Century and has fine Georgian features and Regency additions. With an acre of walled gardens and lawns the property provides a secluded setting in the centre of village life. Alstonefield Manor is located in the picturesque village of Alstonefield, at the southern end of the spectacular and beautiful Peak District National Park. The Manor dates back to the 16th Century and has fine Georgian features and Regency additions. With an acre of walled gardens and lawns the property provides a secluded setting in the centre of village life. www.alstonefieldmanor.com

Listed in the 50 Best British Bed & Breakfast, The Independent 2007

Featured in Food & Travel magazine,
January 2008

How To Get Your Business In The Press!

Regular readers will know how passionate I am about the power of PR to help create a really successful small business. And there's simply no better way of getting press coverage than to follow the advice of Paula Gardner of www.doyourownpr.com. That's all I did!

Paula is now launching her Do Your Own PR Success Club. It starts with your very own copy of Get Noticed, the PR Workbook, and then takes the format of a monthly one hour teleclass where you can discover hints, tips and tricks on boosting your business from different PR, marketing and business experts. But there will also be interviews with real business owners who have successfully done their own PR – getting their warts and all view of what worked, what didn’t, what they found particularly painful and what they enjoyed. I'm pleased to say that I am the first person in the hot seat, at 10 am on Monday 25 September. Why not join us and learn how to really get results?

"A past coaching client of Do Your Own PR, Lucie has since been in almost every publication known to man! No… seriously, publicity features include a three page spread in Eve Magazine, and coverage in The Daily Telegraph, Period Living, The English Home, The Times, Country Living, BBC Homes & Antiques, Grand Designs, World Of Interiors, the Evening Standard, She and many more.

Lucie has gone from a one woman business to running a very busy shop and website with six members of staff. Lucie talks about how she did her own PR – the highs and the lows - and her plans for the future. This is a teleclass packed with practical advice from someone who has already done their own PR with fantastic results."

Click here to read more: The Do Your Own PR Success Club.

Inspirational Business Coaching

My very inspirational friend and business coach Judith Morgan has recently launched a year-long coaching programme for small business owners. I am on the pilot scheme and am finding it extremely useful - why not take a look at the website and see what you think? www.abusinesstolove.com. This is what Judith says in her own words:

Welcome to all solopreneurs, self-employed people, small businesses and entrepreneurs – this is THE place for you.

We are dedicated to your success. What does success look like to you? Being able to give up the day job? Or not having to go back to it - ever? Climbing out of debt? Creating a full-time living from working part-time? Finding a much easier way to earn a significantly better living doing what you love?

Well, in our year-long ABC coaching gym, we show you how to do all of that and more. In small coaching groups limited to 15 people only, we work with you to help you create a Big Hairy Audacious Goal for your business, and get you to a sustainable and stable foundation within a year. We show you how to create a business plan, a marketing plan, and cope with admin, finances, delegation and marketing, marketing, marketing.

Creating A Successful Small Business

Last week, Period Features had a half-page of editorial in the business section of the Sunday Times, which had two effects: 1. it was great for business and 2. it brought in quite a few requests for advice, from people whose small business wasn't going quite as well as they had hoped! I have reproduced one such letter below, together with my response, and I hope that my advice may prove useful.

"I hope you don’t mind me writing to you. Perhaps you will be receiving lots of unwanted emails like this one, after the Sunday Times article. I write this email hoping that you could help me. I think that you will understand just what I am going through and maybe you could possible give me some pointers on what to do with my business.

I know what is wrong with my business, basically lack of customers! I have had so many days and weeks when I can count the customers coming to my shop with one hand! 18 months ago I opened a shop selling sports clothes for women. It is a boutique-style shop, selling good quality, performance clothing. I have many customers who come back time and time again, so I must be doing something right.

The shop is based in a small village, little passing trade! Therefore when I first launched I did lots of leaflet drops, ads in local magazines, local papers, I have attended lots of school fetes, sponsored many sporting events, handed out leaflets, etc. Therefore I spent money in marketing and advertising. The leaflets were a good marketing tool, but ever so expensive, so I had to stop half way.

I am the only one in the shop, which I open everyday apart from Sundays, I am becoming so disillusioned by the whole thing. It is soul destroying to be in the shop with no one there and the phone calls of suppliers demanding payment. It is difficult to find any way out for me. People I talk to tell me to do this, that and the other all advice given in good faith, but I am finding it difficult to act. Did you feel this way? Please could you tell me how did you make things change? Specially how did you motivate yourself to make things improve?"

The 7 Deadly Sins Of Running A Small Business

This is the speech I gave at the Women In Rural Enterprise Conference a few days ago - I hope it's useful! It is pretty much writen as it was spoken... For those of you who don't know me, my name is Lucie Storrs, I'm 38. Five years ago I was working as a freelance translator, a job which I had grown to dislike and which made me ill as I developed repetitive strain injury. I was also three stone heavier than I am now! I was becoming increasingly unhappy, and decided to look for something else to do with my life. I had always liked Victorian houses, in fact I live in one myself, and could see a gap in the market in my home town, so I set up the shop and mail order company Period Features (www.periodfeatures.net). From a tiny little rented shop, and with no previous experience of retail whatsoever, I now own my own shop premises, employ five staff and have increased turnover dramatically. I was hopelessly naïve when I started, I made loads of mistakes along the way and I'm here to tell you some of the things I've learned, so you don't have to make the same mistakes. You'll probably make mistakes of your own, but that's another matter!

5 Top Tips For Running A Small Business

1. Don't waste money on advertising. I must have spent thousands of pounds over the years on adverts which NEVER paid for themselves. Don't make the same mistake! Instead, concentrate on getting editorial and having products featured on shopping pages of magazines and newspapers. This kind of publicity is seen as a form of recommendation and is far more effective than advertising. It's also cheaper and a lot more fun! Recommendation (or perceived recommendation) is what you need to make your business stand out from the crowd. After all, anyone can put together an advert - it doesn't mean that you are actually any good. I really recommend the PR advice of Paula Gardner at www.doyourownpr.com. These days, I never pay for advertising; I put all my efforts into PR and am having far more success as a result.