Episode 3: Marketing, Motherhood And Making It Work With Caroline Cox

Caroline Cox (00:07)
isn’t always about money. Success for me at the year,

stand

for the business but also being present with the kids. You you might have set the goals and maybe the financial goals haven’t come to fruition yet but don’t sit in that moment and sort of look at the bigger picture of what other successes you’ve had in life and that is a bigger

Victoria (00:29)
Hello and welcome to the Mum Means Business podcast, where we shine a light on inspiring women who have one thing in common. When they’re not managing tantrums, homework, pee-kits and play dates, they are busting their gut to create something from nothing, to turn their passion into a thriving business and build a better life for themselves and their families. We dig into what motivates devoted mothers to pursue entrepreneurship and how they integrate their work and family life.

I’m Victoria, your host, and if you’re an ambitious mum in need of some solidarity whilst navigating the messy middle of making your big dream a reality, then stick around. This is for you.

Victoria (01:06)
My guest today is passionate about helping small businesses grow, not with a one size fits all solution, but with tailored strategies that actually work. and six month old twins at home and two decades of marketing experience under her belt, she decided to take the leap and launch her own agency. And yes, just in time for the global pandemic.

Fast forward six years and Caroline Cox runs a thriving digital marketing agency in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire that combines the high level expertise of a big firm with the personal touch of a boutique service. Now a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Caroline believes great marketing is all about building genuine relationships. She creates bespoke toolkits designed long-term success, helping business owners step away from the day-to-day overwhelm and get back to doing what they do best, running their business.

Caroline, I can’t wait to hear your story. Welcome to the Mummy’s Business Podcast.

Caroline Cox (02:00)
Thank you, that was a really lovely introduction with the emotion. Thank you, I think it’s brilliant what you’re doing with this, the purpose of it, so I’m really delighted to be part of it.

Victoria (02:04)
hahahaha

and I’m really excited to interview you because when I realized that you started your business with baby twins and a little one at home, I was flabbergasted because I had two under two, but that is not the same as twins. And so I want to understand what made you do it.

Caroline Cox (02:26)
you

Well, you know at the time of doing it and when I launched it, I was just totally in the zone of it was meant to be, this is what I’m doing. all of a sudden had a higher purpose, which was those three babies. And I just did it. When I launched it, the amount of people that said, oh, you’re brave, oh, you’re brave. That was almost felt like the only response and I wanted something different. now I look back.

I say, ⁓ I was brave. I don’t think I can be okay. How brave. yeah, I had Joseph and I in a full-time job was in nursery. And I remember getting the invoice one December and…

the invoice was for the full childcare that we’d pay for you, obviously was a whopping bill I’d had loads of time off work because he’d caught a handful of mouth, not the nursery’s fault but they’d catch it from each other was like, right okay so I’ve been paid my salary, yeah I’ve paid it out to the nursery and I’ve had to be at home. the twins weren’t expected obviously that was a shock. Joseph was only like 16 months.

Victoria (03:23)
course yeah.

Hahaha

Caroline Cox (03:34)
when we found out. the pickle was having three babies in nursery, the bill was gonna be horrendous. And then I thought, can’t have, be in my job and fulfill it if then they catch a cold, et cetera, and they can’t be in the nursery. I thought, not gonna work. I thought, well, how am I gonna do it? How am I gonna earn a salary that I’m used to being in?

still be with my babies and keep that flexibility but that there’s anything wrong with it, but I didn’t want to be dropping them off their breakfast and picking them up just before six o’clock and just literally putting them to bed, because I’d experienced that with my first born. So the agency concept an idea that I had in mind for about 10 years, because I worked for a corporate company, but they got took over, so I actually got redundant.

was no worse feeling in the world and at that point I thought, right, can I set up? And I didn’t and I wish that I did do it. I just went for the easy option and went. There was a big corporate company that took me on. So it was a bit of an ego boost. It’s like, right, well don’t need them. This is who I’ve got now. So I did it then. So the idea was planted in my head and then when we found ourselves in this situation, it was, right, okay, well if I set up a company.

I can earn amount more than what I would in salary and I’ve got that flexibility. So it seemed at the time a no brainer to do it. ⁓ But then yeah, looking back in hindsight, I look back at myself, I’m like, wow. But I’m glad I did it when there were babies because you actually do have more time when they’re babies because they’ve got, I was the master at naps. They used to.

Victoria (05:17)
Hahaha ⁓

Caroline Cox (05:18)
you

just have to and you’ve got three, you have to master the naps. go down for solid two hours in the middle of the afternoon and then they’re definitely in bed for seven o’clock. You know, you’re in that routine. now, sometimes, you know, I’m done before like me. I’ll just just don’t know, you’re still sort of like, get a bit more space. yeah, at the time, I just didn’t overthink it.

Victoria (05:21)
Yeah.

Caroline Cox (05:41)
I think that’s the key. didn’t overthink it and I didn’t have anything to lose really because I dropped down to maternity leave pay the person that leaves doors open. So it was well now or never give it a yeah, luckily I’ve never looked back.

Victoria (05:56)
think this is interesting because my children are four and two, so I’m kind of just coming out of the trenches. But I remember it well, obviously, it’s not that long ago. And naturally my thought is I’m flabbergasted by this because you had three and because, I mean.

when I had my second, my first was kind of nonverbal. She could say baby. So it really did feel like two babies and you’ve got almost three babies. And so just communication is hard. You can’t reason like you could now with your children. You’d say, mommy’s got to just go and have 15 minutes in here. You do this and I’m going to come right back and you can go and get your thing done. They are very selfish babies and they want you when they want you. And so I say, I’m flabbergasted. How brave, I didn’t say brave, but I I’m kind of thinking that’s

Caroline Cox (06:20)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Victoria (06:41)
amazing but actually we do we do just do it and having had conversations with different women some people just have this huge priority shift where they’re not interested in work at all

Caroline Cox (06:41)
Yeah.

Yes, yes.

Victoria (06:53)
and they’re just all about their babies and it’s kind of just not on their radar and they also feel very productive in that area of life, it just doesn’t interest them and other people it just sort of seems to heighten their productivity and capability. Do you feel that that necessity actually fuelled you at that time and gave you more energy?

Caroline Cox (07:06)
Yeah.

Yeah,

yeah a hundred percent. Yeah, you’re absolutely right. That is one thing that I have discovered is yeah your productivity because

I know that in the school run, I know I’ve got six hours, six hours to get it done. There is no messing about because you just haven’t got time. You haven’t got time to stay behind an hour because you’ve bumped into somebody and had a quick, you just haven’t got that time, which is overwhelming at the same time. picture is always the babies. But.

think it is the productivity because you’ve got to get stuff done, you’ve got a goal and I

I wish that I could relax a little bit and I’m not promoting like this side But it was almost because you when they’re in the baby stage, you’re almost like a machine, know, and it’s so nice that we’re out of that and we’re so ready to have a bit more freedom with them in a different season. But when we were living in that bubble we did we just smashed it. It was routine It was consistency and like you say, know, they didn’t get it, you know if you had a meeting with the

understand that and nor should they but I think for me to be able to outside doing for something else that felt at that time sounds terrible at that time did have an output but obviously what you’re doing with your babies has a beautiful output as well

Victoria (08:36)
Yeah.

Caroline Cox (08:36)
needed to feel fulfilled with something at that time. Because obviously your first year in business, I remember almost being in tears. felt like, and you feel like you’re always working because you’re either in mum mode, mode. So you’re always, there was literally no downtime. And I remember within the first at the bank balance and I was like, I’m working all the time.

And I went to a networking meeting and it sticks in my head what Shane said and he was like, how’s it going? You know, he’s a real cheerleader for me and my husband. He’s like, how’s it going? And I was like, I’m one to lie. I know when networking people are a bit like, yeah, it’s fantastic. Yeah, like, if it’s not good, I will say it. And like, oh, it’s, it’s hard. It’s, it’s really hard. And he was like, it is hard. says, and and not everybody can do it.

Victoria (09:11)
You

Caroline Cox (09:25)
He says, because if it was easy, everybody would be doing it. And he says, and you have got it in you. do you know what? I just stood up a bit straight and I said that little prep talk. And I was like, yeah. you just need that kick up the backside, no fluff. is hard, on with it because you can do it. didn’t know.

Victoria (09:32)
Wow.

but also ⁓ faith in ⁓

you needed him to come into your life just at that moment ⁓ just tell it as it is, I mean, it’s a compliment. You know, I’m looking at you and I think that you’ve got what it takes. And that just…

Caroline Cox (09:47)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Victoria (09:56)
gives you energy in itself. And then you can walk out of that networking event and you’re like, right, we go again. Cause it is exhausting, you’re right. And I think we don’t describe it as work, but I just feel like my day is divided into shifts. You know, you’ve got the get up shift, get out of the house, and then you’ve got your work, whatever that might be. And that might be divided into different shifts, how you plan your day. And then the dinner bath bed shift. I mean, in our house, that could go on for like six hours. That’s like solid work.

Caroline Cox (09:58)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Bye!

Victoria (10:27)
that’s a lot. And if you’re trying to grow a new business, it’s all very well when it’s established and you can be like, right, well in this season of life, I’m looking after my children. They’re the priority. I have built this business. I’m just going to keep that going.

Caroline Cox (10:30)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Victoria (10:40)
and serve the clients I’ve got until I feel that I have a bit headspace, a bit more time to push it. But when it’s new, you’ve got to, I mean, what was that like? You’ve got to find clients, you’ve got to spread the word. How was that? Like, how did you find that?

Caroline Cox (10:45)
Yeah. Yeah.

Well, luckily, before launching the business, I worked in corporate and that was UK based. So I was on the road. I’d be away from home.

one, two nights a week. And me and me husband, we’ve been together for years. So everybody was like, when the baby’s coming blah, blah, we’re a bit of a planet. we was like, right, okay, wanna plan a family. So I thought, well, I don’t want this job when we’ve got a family. And I took a risk.

Victoria (11:14)
Yeah.

Caroline Cox (11:23)
the last job that I was in, wasn’t marketing per se, it was working for the local business community that worked for inter-trading, alongside local government lobbying for better business environments and creating for business growth. It was very much about the local area I had a vision and I just thought, I think I can make something of this and if I can make something of this,

might potentially, and again, I think I was with the company about five years before I actually had babies, so it was part of a subconscious decision. thought if I can make something of this company, I’m going to be exposed to the local business community, and if they can see what I do marketing-wise, then potential for the marketing agency. path that I was forcing because of the vision. that was the plan. And then when I launched it,

I had about three scheduled posts going out on LinkedIn on I can’t remember what day it was but let’s say for argument’s sake. So I had two scheduled for the Monday in somebody, in case the first one like just didn’t get any traction. And then another one like on Tuesday and the Wednesday. I launched it, I put an update, few images sorted and everything like that. I mean, this was before Canva and stuff. I launched it with this is what I’m doing, anybody wants to talk.

Victoria (12:36)
Yeah, yeah,

Caroline Cox (12:41)
And so overwhelmed, the amount of comments, the amount of messages, let’s set up a meeting, let’s catch up for a coffee, because obviously I’ve not come back from a turn to leave

the business community was wanted a catch up with me in general, but then launching the business, they wanted to know what I was doing. So luckily I had client up my sleeve anyway, and then when I launched it officially, a couple of the businesses that I worked closely with, then contacted me and then it just, converted to a retainer. So immediately I had my bills paid as it were the,

Victoria (13:17)
That’s brilliant.

Caroline Cox (13:18)
of

the business was the retainer side. So it came thick and fast, still working with those people now. So I was really grateful for that. And then in that time, didn’t know anybody an agency. tools that I use now to run the business, I didn’t have any of that in place. was blagging it really. I knew what marketing was. I was like,

let’s just do it. And, you know, I’ve got different systems and different structures in place, so it is more of a business, but it was literally me launching as a freelancer, I suppose those first couple of years was purely just freelancing. yeah, I was pretty lucky, but I launched in officially.

obviously we all know what happened in 2020, so all that work that year

Victoria (14:04)
Yeah,

we’ll come on to that. I think what’s interesting about that is that you had an inkling that there was work for you to do. And that’s so important. And that’s a testament actually to the relationships that you’d already been building.

Caroline Cox (14:12)
Yes, yes, that’s what it is. Yeah.

Victoria (14:19)
⁓ and that people knew you, liked you and trusted you and they were ready to invest in you. So really there’s a lot of groundwork there that you were probably doing in every interaction that you have with people throughout your career thus far that you knew.

Caroline Cox (14:23)
Yeah.

True, when I’m singing that, yeah.

Victoria (14:34)
Yeah, an interesting lesson in that is like every interaction that you have matters because you don’t know what you’re going to go on to do. You don’t know what they’re going to go on to do. And at some point your worlds might just collide and there’s an opportunity to work together. So.

Caroline Cox (14:38)
Yes. Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I always say that because not immediately after launching the business, one of my main clients was MD of the company that I got made redundant from. So he, was his business, but he sold it out and then he set up again. So Ian was my client then a few years. So yeah, it did, it did go in full circles. I’ve

Victoria (14:59)
Okay.

Caroline Cox (15:09)
what corporate can be like and if you really have had enough, it’s, just don’t know what is on your path. And if keep your doors open, just never know, you never I created is…

relationships that the amount of times I’ve known somebody to pick up the phone to, whether that might bank accountants, like that, it’s just been so nice. So important to just sort of keep that in mind, as

Victoria (15:35)
Yeah, I love that. And I think in my early stages of business, and I think anyone running a kind of online business, you can shy away from that face-to-face or that picking up the phone. first job I ever had.

Caroline Cox (15:44)
Yeah.

Victoria (15:47)
was working for an architects practice in Liverpool and they asked me to make a phone call and I honestly wanted to die. They had quite a quiet office and I was like, just leave me alone to like be on my computer and tap away, I don’t want to speak to anybody. And I think that takes confidence and that comes with experience and maturity but actually there’s so much.

Caroline Cox (15:52)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Victoria (16:04)
joy and reward to come from just like knowing what someone looks like, having a chat with them. You you get to know people don’t you and you know their kids, you know what’s going on in their life and they understand that from your perspective as well. So if you’re building relationships with people over years, they’ll know that you’ve got three kids and if you’ve got a project that you’re working on for them and you said you’d send them an update by the end of the day, you can just pick up the phone to them and be like, I’m so sorry, I was going to send you that update but I’ve just had a call from school they will understand. You’ll be like, don’t worry, I’m going

Caroline Cox (16:16)
Yeah. Yeah.

Victoria (16:32)
to get it to you first thing in the morning is the first thing I’m going to do. And there’s grace because we’re connecting as real people without pretending that this whole other area of our lives doesn’t exist, which I think is really important.

Caroline Cox (16:35)
Yes. Yeah.

Yes.

Yeah,

And we’ve never targeted this, but all of our customers that whether we worked on with projects or retainers are family-run businesses. We always tracked family-run businesses and I did a bit of digging in that and I think it’s because

though we just go in just to do the marketing, we really care. We want to know everything. We want to know all of your processes, that works for them. impact do you have? We really do dig into the holistic side of it.

they respond and they work with us and I think what it is because when it’s family run their livelihood it’s their family and that’s the way that we see it’s you are helping me run my family so work together so I think maybe the energy that we give out that that is what we’re after it can be different beast in corporate because people are there for different reasons whereas family they’re in it for the long term there’s no alternative and that’s where our mindset is so they

Victoria (17:39)
Yeah.

Caroline Cox (17:42)
that we’ve attracted and it

know about their children, we know the ins and outs just who I am as a person because I’m interested in them they’re always interested in family updates on our side so relationship that you have going and I think then you understand what they need from us, from the marketing side of things as well yeah you just understand their seasons, needing things from them it’s not the case that they’re going in nice.

They’ve got other hats that they’re doing, so it’s having that flexibility with them as well.

Victoria (18:14)
Yeah, and do you feel that that’s different when you have a more corporate client?

do

you, on one hand, do you enjoy it less? Because there is a kind of, I don’t know, I’ve never worked in corporate, So my dad was a builder, so was a self-employed mentality. Like you’re saying, all those family-run businesses, it’s, know, this works or we don’t eat. So that’s kind of how I’ve always grown up. But there’s no kind of policy.

Caroline Cox (18:36)
Yes.

Victoria (18:41)
There’s no procedure. intuition, it’s relationships. You don’t have big meetings to decide things. You decide things straight away. You get around a table, you decide in two minutes flat, you go. And it’s different in that sense. And so to a certain extent, I understand that I’m quite naive, but do you find that…

Caroline Cox (18:51)
Yes.

Victoria (18:58)
coming at it as you do and you’re presenting very personally, you are a mum of three, you want to build a relationship and really get to know that company holistically, do you find that that’s more difficult when you’re dealing with a corporation?

Caroline Cox (19:11)
Yes, and we’ve had, and they’ve been a brilliant company to work for, they so different. they’ve got a member of staff that you’re with in the marketing department get the sense of, it’s just a job to them. not an end goal for the business. It’s just… ⁓

Victoria (19:27)
Yeah.

Caroline Cox (19:32)
clocked off on a certain time it’s delaying getting back to you with things for no real reason and it’s the frustration of…

created some really good content and it’s not been maximized. So it’s a frustration with that way you don’t get that with Run because again, the investment with Family Run is an investment that they’ve made that like you say, it’s food on the table at the end of the day. So everything’s maximized, everything’s repurposed, yet with corporate, and it shouldn’t matter to us because we still get paid anyway, but.

Victoria (19:46)
Hmm. ⁓

Yeah.

Yeah, of course,

but you want to see the work that you do actually out into the world. You care about it. You’ve put a lot of effort into it, a lot of thought. So if you send them, you know, a few weeks worth of content or some articles that you think they should put out and then like you’re looking and you’re looking and you’re looking and it’s just not there, that’s quite deflating for you. You know.

Caroline Cox (20:10)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yes.

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

so is a massive difference between the corporate and the family run. And I run is sort purpose really. It’s where I like to add value and I like to see that that value is there. So it does fulfill me more dealing with companies like that. And you feel more in the team.

Victoria (20:38)
Yeah.

Caroline Cox (20:42)
it is two completely different worlds.

Victoria (20:45)
what happened in March 2020 for your business.

Caroline Cox (20:50)
So been established for less than a year at that point. So I’d built the business up on retainers. So they purchased so many hours from me and then for that would agree on, you know, an output on marketing. So it was almost like a regular salary that was coming in, but freelance work that I was doing. And the businesses were in, fitting. So construction, as it were, ⁓ retail.

So was like like that that were you know, when Boris did that announcement it was like no short and it’s we’re not operating so everything so immediately overnight nothing coming in was so soul-destroying and then you’re at home just absolutely worried sick and

Luckily, you know, the kids didn’t know any difference at that time.

good thing to come from COVID was needed digital marketing then it immediately loads of projects kicked off. So that was brilliant.

was flexible working. I was trying to, before that, you try and hide that you’re a mum, you try and hide that you’ve got kids in the background, because that wasn’t the norm, and it wasn’t the norm to talk about, you know, family life and things like that, or work you from home. was frowned upon that couldn’t run a business if you had the kids at home. And then all of a sudden,

Victoria (21:47)
Mm-hmm.

Caroline Cox (22:06)
was working from home, you know, we’ve seen it on the news with people, know, babies coming in bursting through the door and it was fantastic. I was all of sudden on the same level as everybody else and immediately gave me a boost

became the norm. I think that actually did help my business. a lot of like marketing tools came out, know, Canva came out, that was more of the norm. like since then, obviously we’ve got the chat, GDP, you know, we’ve got loads of tools, but before the pandemic, we didn’t have any of that. So I think my business would look very, very different, but it really did do my business a favour because we were able to just execute more on projects. The amount of website projects that we got was fantastic.

then people needed their hand holding for a digital strategy then because they just realised that if we go in lockdown again, because to be able to run our business. really that first year was so difficult for it really did come bouncing back. And were you know, it was that normal to say, you know, be kind.

still comes around again. if something is delayed, people are coming on it from a being kind point of view. People have got more on them. You know, it’s not just work that goes on. it’s changed. then anybody that doesn’t operate that is just, they’re not for us. But we work, you people that have that sort of mindset. You know, it’s not life or death with. So there is that element which I,

and that’s the purpose of my business. I need that, I love what I do but I love being a mum as well. I need that flexibility, I

Victoria (23:35)
Yeah.

I think that is the thing about COVID. And actually it’s so interesting that you had almost a year beforehand to experience your business that way. And then the pandemic hit and actually the world afterwards is so changed. If we think about just the past seven years and in a lot of ways, COVID was a great leveler. All those, you know,

Caroline Cox (23:55)
Yes.

Victoria (23:57)
CEOs, CFOs been going into London in their suits as if they’re just a bachelor about town suddenly are having to Yeah. Zoom calls and the kids all rush in

Caroline Cox (24:05)
Yeah.

Victoria (24:11)
And that’s real life and I think that is the the brilliant thing

Caroline Cox (24:12)
Yeah.

Victoria (24:16)
about COVID is it kind of gave people permission to say, well, yes, I do have a family and they are important. And actually I would quite like to pick them up from school one day a week. How about that? You know, for dads to say that even. And yeah, I think that that kind of dispelled this myth and just leveled the playing field. And also I suppose for moms like you who had already been doing it, who were running a business,

Caroline Cox (24:19)
Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yes, exactly.

Victoria (24:43)
freelance or however it was structured at the time and also juggling all of the responsibilities of parenthood, people now understood it. know, all those people, there’s nothing wrong with whatever people choose to do, but the people who were dropping their kids off for breakfast and picking them up in time for bed, you know, they now could see it from your point of view. And that must have been, I don’t know, I’d have been like quite satisfied by that, I think.

Caroline Cox (24:59)
Yeah.

it was

amazing. It was just amazing and it couldn’t have happened at a better time. remember one, I try and get of my work done whilst, we were looking up, we had a lovely nanny.

sounds a bit fancy, but we had a nanny, used to come in, drop her kids off at senior school, so she used to come half eight or half three and then go and pick them up. she flexed with us, so as I was building the business back up, she’d give me the amount of days that I needed, so I didn’t have a massive overhead, which again, with nursery, you would have done, so

Victoria (25:36)
You’ve got three that you’re paying for full-time nursery five days a week. You may as well have a nanny, I think, that can be flexible and also that they’re building that one-to-one relationship.

Caroline Cox (25:47)
brilliant. Well then come Harper’s 3. husband was out at work and I had a meeting scheduled and it was a sales meeting and they wanted a new website and I said to Josie, I mean he’s only did it at the time anyway, I said to Josie, said, you a pound if just keep an eye on the twin. He’s like, yeah, okay, Mummy.

I was on the Zoom call, lucky couldn’t see it with the way that they came in through the door. Joseph came in and he’s like, oh, George, you to, I was like, okay. I couldn’t quite find the mute button. I was like, okay, okay, that’s fine. like, oh, I’ve got his pants. And I was like, what? And he’d come in and he brought his pants with a big dollop of poo in it.

Victoria (26:24)
my

god. Caroline.

I mean, what do you do? ⁓

Caroline Cox (26:32)
⁓

I was like, yeah. And I won the project. I won the project. So I was like, how? And I look back now, I’m like, come on, what they think? But, well, like I said, yeah. Literally, literally.

Victoria (26:45)
That’s real life! That’s real life! That sort of shit literally happens. Literally happens.

god, yeah. I mean, I’m sure that sort of thing happens to lot of people. That’s a good story though. I beg- that’ll stick in your mind.

Caroline Cox (26:57)
I know, I know. it’s stuff like that, look back, you’re like,

how did you even like focus? But again, because you had such tight pockets of time, you just quickly got on and I think now that they’re bit older, because they are, they got, you know, their emotions and things. So, you know, you can’t just dismiss them. You can’t, you know, give them, my favourite one was a pack of Quavers used to make the world a brighter place in our eyes. And they like now, they’re

Victoria (27:21)
There are more complex

emotional reactions required now. Pack of Quavers doesn’t quite cut it.

Caroline Cox (27:24)
That’s it.

It doesn’t cut it. They need

you more. And I remember the lady at the nursery, said, you know, when you’re so sleep deprived, she she’s at this age, they’re physically demanding. But when they get older, they’re more emotionally demanding. And I didn’t understand it at the time. And I get it now. I feel like my time is more limited because it’s important that I’m now. Whereas I suppose when I look back, I got away with not being present, which it sounds terrible, but mind could stay in the work mode more because you

could that pack of quivers, they’re all right, I have a pig, you know that sort of thing. It I’m definitely in that different season now

Victoria (28:02)
But

also it’s more important what you say. When they’re little, just run to you because they fell over and they’ve hurt their knee. You’re just like, they’re there. it looks all right. It’s not bleeding. No, you don’t need a plaster. Are you feeling better now? Have a cuggle. Cuggle in our house. And then they just huddle off again. Whereas if they come to you and say, I tell you something that happened at school today? And they’re all sad. You can’t be thinking about work.

Caroline Cox (28:05)
Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yes. Yeah.

Victoria (28:26)
because it matters what you say. If there’s a

situation you have to concentrate. You can’t just be like, there, there, I’m sure you’ll be all right. Pat them on the head. Does it work? Yeah.

Caroline Cox (28:31)
Yeah.

Exactly.

and I’m very

conscious of not opening my emails during the school run, like as we pull up just to even have a little look, because you just don’t know what’s in there, because I’ve had that happen a couple of times where you’re on deadline for projects or go into operations mode, they stuff to you, which is important, coming from that anxious perspective, and they don’t deserve that neither, so I’m very bad.

Android can wait I don’t need to know about it when I’ve dropped them off

can pick it up then. And again, you know, just before pick up, I my phone out with me. You know, I’m listening and I’m present with them. I feel it’s so important for them to be seen. And then, like what you saying, they do get it now school run, right, well, I’ve just got to get this solid work done in here for one hour. After that one hour, we’ll have tea and you can reason with them and they get it. They do get it. So that’s also nice. So it’s the difference.

Victoria (29:05)
Yeah.

But they can play

together as well. They don’t need you so much. You’ve got three, obviously they’ve got their own relationship fully forming now and they can bounce off each other. Whereas I think when they’re tiny, they still want mom to be playing the game with them, which is a different thing as well. ⁓ But yeah, the boundary issues, I think that was something I’m very much just starting to learn, because my four year old now.

Caroline Cox (29:33)
No. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, exactly, yeah.

get more.

Victoria (29:55)
she really needs emotional attention and she needs physical touch and she needs reassurance and she’s an amazing character, but I’m starting to see that she’ll notice and it’s that…

moment when they turn to you and they’re like, mommy, mommy, you’re not listening and you are just thinking about something for work and it kind of like you couldn’t feel any worse. You’re like, no, you’re right. I’m literally not listening to you because sometimes they talk nonsense and it’s like, how do you distinguish between the nonsense that you can just sort of fub up a little bit like, yeah, yeah, that’s great. Yeah, really good. Really good. Keep going. And then the stuff that matters.

Caroline Cox (30:10)
Yeah, good.

Yeah. Yeah. Hello. Yes.

Yeah, exactly. I know.

other side of it is they’ve got older…

I don’t mind exposing them to when I am working in the sense of when I’ve got an important phone call. there was one where I was firefighting an issue and I was waiting for the phone call and I was taking my daughter to dance and it was in the car and I couldn’t miss this call. And I just said to her, said, this is so important, Rosa. I said, you cannot breathe a word while I’m on this call. And this call, I needed to be really concise and really clear.

a great outcome. I was really like, bounded, explained, and it was a good outcome. So she could hear the other side, like the client side, and she could hear how everything was articulated and handled and managed. then I put the phone down and I just said, I said, oh, well done for that. I can’t remember what she said back, but I just thought, you know, you think, I think that’s gonna be a cool memory. she can hear mum being…

Victoria (31:26)
Yeah, yeah.

Caroline Cox (31:28)
boss mom, you know, and she’s looking at that and, you know, hopefully I’m inspiring her and we’re constantly explaining the concept of money and how that happens and what you need to allow me to do. I’ll tell you when we’re doing it and then I’ll tell you the result of it’s educating them in that sense. It’s the same way that you were brought up, you know, that entrepreneurial spirit.

know the impact of until they’re older, you know, it might be doing the opposite for for me,

Victoria (31:54)
But they still will remember that experience

Like this isn’t just my mum this is also a business woman And you’re showing especially for your daughter. You’re showing her that

Caroline Cox (32:02)
Yeah.

Victoria (32:07)
Mum’s doing stuff that matters and that’s putting food on the table and must be really fulfilling to kind of actually have them start to understand that cycle, you know, yeah.

Caroline Cox (32:10)
Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, because

my business, there’s a passion behind it. There’s a want and a need there’s pockets of time. Whereas I think if I was in a job, don’t think I’d be articulating what I’m doing quite as passionately because you’ve got your set hours and you just gotta get done in those hours and that’s it. Ooh, work’s done for the day. We don’t have that merit in our house, yeah, I think they’re pick up on things differently.

Hopefully that has a positive impact on him.

Victoria (32:48)
Yeah, definitely. you feel like they fully understand the concept of marketing? Like, do they understand what you do?

Caroline Cox (32:54)
I

think it took a while, it took a while because is an electrician by trade so they see him in his work. It’s to understand and explain, you know, we’ve got the office. Yeah.

Victoria (33:00)
Which is ⁓ yeah. Yeah, yeah. Turn this light on, daddy did that.

Caroline Cox (33:08)
then, you know, they’re seeing that daddy works away sometimes and then he explains, like, what they’re doing. a visual output to it, isn’t there? they just see me tapping away on the laptop, which they can see anybody tapping away at a laptop. I remember Joseph saying a few years ago, was working and he came in and he’s like, with it at night time when he’s coming down when he shouldn’t be coming down. He’s like, no, you’re not.

So I was like, I will. now I feel like doing IT into YouTube and stuff like that Josie’s getting older and I talk about it more and…

sees the marketing, he sees the achievements, like when I did the fellow and gets it now. He’s knows I’ve done it for years and he can be really complimentary. Sometimes like when we go in the car, it’ll be a podcast that I’m playing. so I will swap it over. But for those like few minutes before it gets swapped over, he’ll be like, don’t need that, mummy. He’s like, you already did that. And so sweet. it is,

they’re just like sponges, aren’t they? I think your world is different if you run in your own business as think they’re just exposed to it a bit more because I’ve got the pockets of time rather than the big structured day. Yeah, it’s.

Victoria (34:18)
Yeah. Well, so there’s no real clock off

in the same sense. if you face a challenge earlier that day, that is going to be playing in your mind and you might be putting them to bed and then you might be getting back on the computer because you’ve just got something that is niggling at you, you need to deal with. Whereas I think if it of a traditional corporate role,

Caroline Cox (34:26)
Yes. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Victoria (34:39)
that it is clock off and it’s out of your brain. just all clock in, clock out and go and have fun at the weekend. Whereas you’re always kind of carrying it with you. And I think that’s something that your children, will definitely pick up on But it’s all to do with like, it’s all to do with striving and trying and also having agency over your destiny. Like we used to do.

Caroline Cox (34:43)
Yeah. Yeah. You are.

Yeah

Yeah.

Victoria (34:58)
daft things like our weekends would be spent.

at a property that my dad was trying to sell And my mom and dad would sit there all weekend in case someone came. And this is like in the early 90s when the market was dead. But every weekend, and we just have to figure it out. but we were very much brought into it. And I don’t think that did us any harm because we just felt like, well,

Caroline Cox (35:08)
Yeah.

and

Yes.

Victoria (35:20)
I mean, that was just it. That’s, you didn’t really know any different. But now understanding my parents as adults, I can really appreciate all that effort that they made. And actually that that was all for us. It was all for us. And it’s, it’s about building that family. It’s about building a level of security. And actually there’s something quite primal about it. You know, you’re not, you’re not outsourcing your success or your failure to somebody else. You’re owning it.

Caroline Cox (35:21)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yes.

Victoria (35:48)
you and

Caroline Cox (35:48)
Yeah.

Victoria (35:49)
I love that and I think perhaps that’s why I’ve always like had that niggle to do something like that myself but I think your children will definitely pick up on that absolutely it just can’t help it.

Caroline Cox (35:58)
we

the amount of times that we’ve got going to the office and they come into the office yeah, we bring them along on the journey highs and the lows. And a real low and I normally do hide that, but just thought…

Do you know what? It won’t do them any harm because life isn’t just one straight road and this is one thing that I always say to particularly my son at the moment because he’s the oldest is nobody is perfect. know, if they make a mistake at school, you know, it’s so okay the way that they do it, you know, the detentions and stuff because accidentally spoke when you weren’t supposed to speak it’s like for goodness sake, you know, nobody is perfect and that expectation certainly doesn’t come from our house.

feel it’s important for them to understand and then when they fall you you know the results that they didn’t expect it’s normal and that’s what we’re sort of trying to to create yeah just going back to No it’s not a challenge yeah.

Victoria (36:55)
And it’s not a catastrophe. It’s not the end of the world. You pick yourself up and they’ll watch you

do that, you know.

Caroline Cox (37:01)
Yes, and

yeah, that’s it. particularly when I was starting the business and they were young, it was that seven o’clock bedtime and it was, you know, a book and a song, et cetera. then bedtime is sort of done. And like now it’s different. And that’s the only thing that I am struggling in this season because I’ve set myself up in these chunks of time hard because the business is coming in, you take the business. So then they’re

going to bed later and they’ve got more stories to tell you at that bedtime. like you’re looking and it’s pushing eight o’clock and you’re thinking, I’ve got least an hour and half to get done while you’re you know, alerted to do it. mind is then going into that and you’re almost rushing that. I think you can manage the seasons yourself and it’s what works for you. So I need to manage that season out.

Victoria (37:36)
Yeah.

Caroline Cox (37:49)
differently because I know they might not tell you anything when they pick you up from school and know tea time still they’ll tell you but it’s that bedtime they’ll tell you a story and I just want to be a bit more present at that time rather than having you know a couple of hours that I know I’ve got to get done so yeah that’s that’s another season but my god I’m embracing it because I sort of it

Victoria (37:58)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Caroline Cox (38:09)
down and I’ve always like a five-year plan and I plan it how old I’m gonna be, old the kids are gonna be, sad as that sounds.

Victoria (38:16)
Yeah.

Caroline Cox (38:17)
The twins are going to go up to the junior school. It’s still on the same side, but it is a different transition. And so I was like, right, okay, well, I’ve only got four years left at the school run. Okay, so it. Make this while we’re in this season alive. We need to keep this as it is because still want our world to be school run. I’m the first person that they see. And again, it’s no shame when anybody needs the breakfast clubs and things like that. They’re brilliant and they’re much needed.

Victoria (38:37)
Yeah.

Caroline Cox (38:45)
I tipped our world upside down, inside out in order for us to do this and I need to be able to fulfil that. So that is my drive at the moment. you can steer off track and you can want to build on bigger and better things, I know if I did this and etc. But you have to just, you don’t keep an eye on that goal,

lose sight of your vision. And I’ve always had a vision. yeah, it’s important to keep on that because there’s so many external factors that can make you wobble. can have your down days, you just got to be able to just have that certainty in yourself, what you’ve done, just keep on track the bigger picture, know,

like with the COVID side of things I could have easily been it now I I would have missed out on all of for the school runs and being there for that moment in time and it’s just a moment in time

Victoria (39:35)
goes so quickly though. I can’t, my elder starts school in September and I can’t believe it. I’m like, still call her baby. I’m like, come on baby. But she’s starting school and in my mind, that’s the end of her babyhood. And we’re about to go into this new stage, which is all brilliant. She’s ready for it. It’s all good. and it is about seasons.

Caroline Cox (39:36)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Victoria (39:53)
And so you have to remember, I think it’s hard, especially when you feel like in your business you’re gaining traction and you feel like you’ve got to keep going and ride the wave. It’s very easy to be like, I’m just gonna work through this bedtime.

because

I’ve got stuff, I’m just gonna, can you get the kids? And like, of course there’s a bit of tag teaming and it’s all ebbs and flows,

Caroline Cox (40:10)
Yeah.

Victoria (40:14)
You’ve got to watch that balance because that is a key reason why you went to all the trouble to turn your life upside down in the first place so that you could do those things and you could be the first face they see, even if they don’t tell you a damn thing until 8 p.m. about their day and you just feel like you’re talking to a wall and they’re eating their dinner and watching, I mean, my eldest is just like a zombie watching TV

Caroline Cox (40:24)
Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah.

Yeah.

Victoria (40:35)
I don’t know about you, like when I was younger, it was just that my mom was there. I just felt safe because she was there. I don’t remember like meaning for heart to hearts. I just remember that she was always there and that consistency, reliability, you know, and you can, it is lovely, she’s a good mom.

Caroline Cox (40:41)
Yes.

That’s love.

It’s nice, yeah.

Victoria (40:55)
But yeah, it’s just that feeling of being safe and that you were a priority. And I think it is easy to just start skipping a few of those interactions in favor of work. And It sounds like you’re on it anyway. It sounds like you’ve got it down.

Caroline Cox (40:58)
Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, we have had

elements of that where it has got really busy and then we did do the after school thing. We’ve done the tag teaming then just what I was finding with the after school things, it just made my day that little bit longer in a way because you’re just starting settling routine two hours later at home, you know. it just didn’t work for us. And then again, and then we just had to press the reset button.

Victoria (41:26)
Yeah.

Caroline Cox (41:31)
know, and it was like, okay, what are we doing? yeah, it is, but it is so easy to get carried if you could just allocate that time to sort of just look at your goals again and look at your vision and just remember it’s a moment in time and you’ll feel it very different being in the school schedule, you know, the dropping off, the picking up and then the holidays, you know, everything revolving around them. And that is, it’s lovely. And it’s so different to when they are toddlers and you go on holiday work.

ever. it’s so lovely, but you’ll find your feet with it. But yeah, and as soon as you find your feet with that, it’s something else. like I say, I’ve got four years left of the school run. It’s like, wow, where did that last six years go? You know, so yeah, I’m just sort of embracing the easiest option. It definitely isn’t the easiest option. yeah, it’s working for us at the moment.

Victoria (42:08)
Hahaha

But if you hadn’t done it, you might not ever pick them up from school.

But it is all about seasons. I don’t think that’s really valuable advice to just kind of assess it regularly. Like, is this working? And if it’s not, what should we do? Rather than just kind of struggle, you know.

Caroline Cox (42:36)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

You can get lost in the moment and think that that is forever. I think the more, more you just get your head around it and just embrace it, you know, I say that to myself even over the washbasket and moving around. Just embrace

Victoria (42:55)
embrace the washing. It is what it is.

So tell me specifically about the gap that you saw in the market that you feel that your business fills. I suppose it’s in your local area, do you find most of your clients are local to you?

Caroline Cox (43:11)
And again, when COVID happened, we did get some clients that were London based and they were fantastic. just honed in really on working with local businesses. And obviously when we do get any inquiries coming through that we’re not familiar with, we will ask that question of, you know, how did you come across us? just say, we want to work with a local person because if we want a half an hour meeting, we do want it face to face. there is companies.

that do want that face-to-face. again, that’s just been our niche that we’ve sort of leaned into. They want to see.

I want to see the value in it and do get as much as Zoom is good and

get a bit more of a general chitchat before you know why the coffee is making that sort of thing. got long term relationship with all of our local clients. where we’ve leaned into it. When I was working previously, there was we would do is showcase businesses that were doing fantastic things, but knew about it. Nobody knew that they were doing it. It’s like, oh my goodness, they’re based here and they’re doing that and they’re exporting here and nobody knew about it.

So were the voice promote what they were doing. So that’s where I sort of thought, a niche here. There’s lots of marketing companies, lots of big marketing agencies. I think if your family run business, that seems quite an overwhelming factor to bring a big agency in, to do stuff that they don’t really need to do because they’re already successful in their sector. it was providing.

might not need it to bring in additional sales, but you do need it to bring in to raise your brand awareness and your brand awareness isn’t always to bring in sales. You know, when you can’t find tradespeople that you need or expertise, if they don’t know about you, you’re not going to bring in the next generation to continue the success of your business. So it’s sort of got many different to it of what we do. And there wasn’t anybody around that was particularly doing that to

it was storytelling is is what we lean into so it’s a lot of case studies and they’re churning over work so quickly that they don’t appreciate they outsider that you need to sell that success story because you need to sell and make our local environment look fantastic to be

know, an inspiration to the next generation to know that they don’t need to go and get their education from here and fly their wings somewhere else. There’s many different sides to why you need to raise your brand awareness locally and if it’s a national story, we’ll work on the national story as well. So it was a lot of that and that’s where the passion…

from and I’m still passionate about that in terms of you business environment whether that be awareness of any grants you know I get a lot of solarpreneurs that’s setting up and they’ve got fantastic ideas and they’re not aware of the support that’s out there so it might be grant funding free training that sort of thing

will signpost them and it’s like, didn’t know any of that was available, you know, no, you can get two and a half grand if you’re setting up to do your marketing. idea. So that’s where the passion has come from and that’s where the niche of my business stems is just being the eyes and ears for businesses and just being that storyteller for them. And that’s what I identified when I was in my previous role.

and that’s what we continued to lean in.

Victoria (46:33)
Did you grow up where you work now? Did you grow up in Mansfield?

Caroline Cox (46:37)
did, I did. I grew up in and dad are Irish, so we had our summers in Ireland.

a more of a farming And yeah, grew up here off to Union and Mark and he lived here. So I actually I came back and yeah, and I bring my kids up here So I don’t want people sort of talking the town down. we could talk about the positive side of things, which is what marketing does, ⁓ you know the better and more inspiring

my children will feel and that’s sort of the passion and the purpose of behind what I do and that’s really why I do prefer to focus more on local businesses. know and it’s nice you the kids recognise what you do because they’re one of women’s customers and you know they’re like oh really oh wow so it’s sort of it builds a bigger picture for them.

Victoria (47:23)
Yeah, I love that.

I think it’s such important work to kind of celebrate the good work that is being done in your local community. And it sounds like you’re really trying to embed yourself in that. You know, I imagine that you’re kind of, you might be at the supermarket and you see somebody and you just did a big campaign for them. And you are completely right that people who are running their own businesses, you’re so in it, especially

Caroline Cox (47:30)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Victoria (47:44)
if

you’re busy, you often don’t see the value in what you do from a PR perspective, or you see how that could inspire people around you, because there are really extraordinary things happening in complete backwaters. And unless you tell the story, no one would know.

Caroline Cox (47:45)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Victoria (48:00)
And that’s quite an important message for you to send to your children as well, like you say. And I love, I love that.

Caroline Cox (48:00)
Yeah.

Yeah.

that there’s opportunities here and that’s sort of, yeah, that’s been embedded in what I’ve done for the last 15 years or so with the marketing. it is a passion of mine. And like I say, yeah, if you’ve got family here, you want to make them feel proud. You don’t want to think, I can’t wait to get out of here. You know, and that’s part of the bigger picture of what we want to do with it, with the business community, because the business community thrives, everybody

Victoria (48:20)
Yeah.

Yeah, but it’s one of those unquantifiable things, isn’t it? You know, obviously you market your own bread and butter, you know, that you can provide these digital marketing service for people. can go into their business. You can see the story that they can’t see and you could do all of those things, but it’s the ripples in the pond. It’s, know, they might take you, but we’ve got loads of work. Why do we need to do that? And there are so many reasons, but it’s hard for an accountant to pinpoint the value on those, like you say, to inspire future generations within your local community.

Caroline Cox (48:31)
It is.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Victoria (48:56)
And those people probably do care about that because they’re

raising children, And it’s not nice to think they’ll all inevitably leave. You know, you want to think, well, I want to show them that they can leave if they want to, like everyone’s free will, people do what they want, or go and kick the gong around somewhere in a big city for a while. But then if they do want to start a business, this is a perfectly good place to do it. You know, you can make that work.

Caroline Cox (49:03)
exactly.

exactly. Yeah.

Victoria (49:18)
And you

don’t have to abandon your roots and your community and your family because so many people do feel that they’ve got to travel and go to a big city to make their way in life. But actually then you have just all these disjointed families know, grandparents that aren’t seeing their grandkids or they just waved to them on Zoom once a week. And it’s quite sad for society that it is like that. So there are so many repercussions of that work that you’re doing.

Caroline Cox (49:39)
Yeah. ⁓

yeah, yeah, thank you.

Victoria (49:45)
I think it’s brilliant.

So with all the experience that you have and as a mother and all the lessons you’ve learned through your journey in parenthood, what would you now tell your eight-year-old self?

Caroline Cox (49:59)
oh God. Wow, what did I tell my aerial? I would tell her, without being emotional with this one, that’s a hard one. would tell her just to believe in herself. really would. I was brought up was a little bit unsettled and…

quite opposite you in terms of need to get a job, you need to do as you’re told and that is it.

So I really have wrote the mould sister says. She’s a nurse by trade and mum was always employed and dad was absent. So yeah, it where her circumstances came from is you need that security. So I haven’t had that support in terms of that cheerleader within the family. You know, I’ve been the black sheep of, what is she doing that for? So think probably where my courage has come from is

Victoria (50:32)
Yeah.

Caroline Cox (50:56)
entrepreneurial but his side of the family is entrepreneurial. His stepdad has only just retired and he’s absolutely beside himself. did building as well, as well as running a business. He built houses as you do. He’s just been super busy and very different mindset. So I think it helps with who is in your circle. You hear that all the time. in your circle and who gives you that sort of courage.

yeah, would just be to believe in yourself and that anything is possible.

is just a moment in time. I can’t really say this because the minute that I learned about marketing at school, that was it. I was like, I’m sold. So I have done marketing my entire life and I’ve not ever had that itch to deviate from that. So I’ve always, always loved it, but it’s a moment in time, you know, can retrain as anything. it’s sort of not to overthink things and things change, you when I was in my twenties,

climbing that ladder. was like, no way, I’m going to be marketing director. I’m going to be working all hours. I’m going to, power suits, you know, it’s really thought that that was the vision. I’ve got a very different goal things change and you don’t realize that change until you’re older. But I think

a friend of mine, she’s been so successful, she’s in her 80s now. And I I wish I could just sit down and her to give me the nuggets of information. it does all change. You can get that overwhelmed, you get swept away with everything. success is different, success isn’t always about money. Success for me at the year,

stand

for the business but also being present with the kids. You you might have set the goals and maybe the financial goals haven’t come to fruition yet but don’t sit in that moment and sort of look at the bigger picture of what other successes you’ve had in life and that is a bigger

that Theresa has said to me the plan not the emotion.

with it, why are you doing it? going to be bumps in the road, you’ll get there it’s important just to try and keep that network of people around you, the right people around you. like what I said at the beginning is, of having people that you can pick up the phone to is absolutely unreal and

about young people working from home because there’s nuggets of information that you get from being with other people. So I do worry about that side. So I think the flexibility is great. I think for young people, there’s around older that have got that bigger vision is just so invaluable. time to be wasted if you sit in the moment. Whereas if you can just talk through it with somebody, have that network.

Victoria (53:29)
Yeah.

Caroline Cox (53:30)
mentors and coaches. they make you see the water for the trees. It’s brilliant.

Victoria (53:35)
And you get so much value, I think, at that stage of life from the in-between moments. You know, it’s not necessarily the nugget of wisdom that you need to get you over the next hurdle. It’s not necessarily going to happen in the Zoom call. It might happen just as someone’s passing your desk. You know, just like you said at that networking meeting where you just happen to bump into somebody who happens to tell you that you’ve got what it takes and you can’t plan for those moments. They just happen quite sporadically and quite organically. And I do think, I mean, I’m a huge

Caroline Cox (53:46)
Yeah. No.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Victoria (54:05)
huge fan of flexible working in general, but I think it really helps that it works when you’re a parent. I think when you’re in your twenties, you should be in amongst it. mean, whatever works, everyone’s got different ways of thinking, different personality types, but when I was in my twenties, I think I would have felt quite isolated. I think it’s supposed to be all about your friends, all about your colleagues. You’ve got…

Caroline Cox (54:12)
that.

Victoria (54:30)
to absorb all the information around you from everyone that’s done what you want to do and has been where you want to be. And I agree with you completely. I think it can be quite isolating. thinking back to what you said about believing in yourself.

Caroline Cox (54:37)
Yeah.

Victoria (54:45)
I mean, it seems like perhaps your parents weren’t equipped and didn’t have the experience to tell you and they couldn’t emulate to you what was possible in terms of an entrepreneurial lifestyle. ⁓ And that’s not their fault. their reality was that they were looking for the steady job you your mom was worried about you and wanted you to be okay and wanted you to take the safe route.

Caroline Cox (54:49)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Victoria (55:11)
because that’s what she understood brought security

and so that’s the advice that you got but it does make it and I’m definitely not going to use the word brave it does make it more remarkable that when the time came you’d done all of the things that she’d recommended you do and school recommended you do you’d got your degree you’d gone and you’ve attacked that corporate ladder you were you were going to rise to the top and you got all that marketing experience and you absorbed it all like a sponge and then you get to a stage

Caroline Cox (55:28)
Yeah.

Victoria (55:40)
where you reflect, think, okay, well, I ticked all those boxes and now I’m a mum and it doesn’t work and I need to do something radical.

Caroline Cox (55:46)
it’s not for me.

exactly. And as you use the word there, it’s safe. A ⁓ lot of people do the employment side of things as safe. You know when you’re your hoes, you know when you’re getting paid, but I’m going to flip that and maybe it’s because I have experience or don’t.

not safe. That wasn’t a huge redundancy package that I could put my feet up for six months. That’s not safe neither. So I sort of had my feet in both camps in a way, never in control because running something like this or your clients are your bosses. You’ve got an output to fulfill. it’s not the safest route. It’s not the easiest route.

Well then you have to flip it and I look on LinkedIn now and it breaks my heart when I see all these fantastic marketing professionals being made redundant left, right and center. And that just reiterates me that that is not the safe option. I said to one person when I seen it, another redundancy coming up, I was like, do you not think it’s time for you to go to Lodge? And he’s like, ooh. again, it’s just that belief and that I wouldn’t say.

Victoria (56:37)
Yeah.

Caroline Cox (56:50)
believe in myself loads, but I don’t overthink it. And I think if I were overthinking it from the beginning, I would never do it. And I think if I stopped now to overthink anything, wouldn’t do it. because I’m so limited on time with everything and I know that I’ve got a goal, I can’t overthink it. I’ve just got to do it. got to do all the outreach and get sales in and stuff. just got to do it. Whereas…

Victoria (57:04)
Yeah.

But

it is self-belief though, because you know.

that if the shit hits the fan, know, say it’s COVID, say it’s the market, know, marketing is one of those things. that have like a low elasticity of demand.

So those things are not necessarily safe, but you know if the shit hits the fan that you are a sort of personality that is not gonna go and hide in a dark room, that you are gonna be like, right.

you’re gonna tackle the problem head-on you’re gonna roll your sleeves up and this is what my my dad always said, you know, you roll your sleeves up you get to work because you are in charge of your own destiny and that is a massive responsibility and it’s not one that everyone feels inclined to take on for all sorts of reasons, but that’s where the self-belief comes in. It’s like well I have a skill and people need it. So if there’s a challenge then I roll

Caroline Cox (57:43)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Victoria (58:06)
sleeves up and I get to work and I can fix it and I’ll sort it out

Caroline Cox (58:08)
Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. And I

think that’s probably the mentality from childhood was the work hard. it is that. it’s that can be debilitating as well when you’ve not mindset of, know, rest is wrong. You because it is nonstop, the mentality maybe that I’ve taken from.

Victoria (58:23)
Yeah, yeah.

Caroline Cox (58:29)
working side of things. Yeah.

Victoria (58:30)
Same, same, that’s another discussion.

But the work ethic is there and the resilience is there. Whether it’s go and find another job or roll your sleeves up and make your business work or stop what you’re doing and change direction, do something different. But it’s that resilience, that self belief that you can figure it out. And I think that’s it. That’s what you tell your eight year old self.

Caroline Cox (58:34)
Yes. Yes.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah,

it is. Yeah.

Yeah. It is. It’s the resilience and

an element of control there. you say, you have got a skill set and you can change direction at any time, but as long as that direction is getting to for your own purpose, otherwise you’re never going to be happy. is too short to do the should or would have could least I can say, all goes wrong in the morning, at least I can say I tried, at least I can say I’d made something work for our season of life

no shame on anything. I think the shame comes from not trying moaning. I could have. You know, there would be more shame if I were to sit there in 10 years’ time.

be exhausted from a different avenue that I didn’t try. yeah, it’s been the break through the barriers, surround yourself with good people that help you with that mindset. yeah, you can do it.

Victoria (59:48)
Amazing. Love it. Okay, tell everybody where they can find you if they would like to connect with you online.

Caroline Cox (59:50)
Yeah.

sure I’m on ⁓ Instagram, I’m on LinkedIn, Cox Marketing as well.

Victoria (1:00:04)
Awesome. Thank you so much, Caroline.

Caroline Cox (1:00:06)
Yeah,

no, thank you. really enjoyed it and I wish you all success with the podcast.

Victoria (1:00:16)
That was such an inspiring conversation. Caroline has successfully crafted a business and a life that works for her family in this season. And while she’ll admit it’s an ever evolving picture, she has proved that it is possible, even with three babies to take care of at home. So if you have an idea weighing on your mind for a business of your own, I hope you found this conversation valuable and can take the advice that Caroline offered to her eight year old self. Believe in yourself. Anything is possible.

Victoria (1:00:45)
Thank you so much for being here. I know your time is precious and I appreciate every single one of you for tuning in today. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate and review the podcast because we want as many moms as possible to find us and join in the conversation.

If you have thoughts, questions, love letters, or even hate mail, please send them my way. I read every single message. For more resources and episode show notes, please visit our website at mummeansbusinesspodcast.com and find us on Instagram at mummeansbusinesspodcast for behind the scenes content and updates. Until next time, I’m wishing you only good things in life and business, and I will speak to you soon.