I’ve had the past 3 days as a ‘mini’ holiday, spending the second part of the half term break with the Mini-Martinsens.  Mr Breckland was away for a long weekend skiing in his native Norway, so it’s been just me and the mini’s for four whole days!  They’re at a magical age – SOOOO much [...]

I’m very proud to be a Sage Business Expert and was recently asked for my top business tip.  It’s hard to hone things down to one, but the Tip I wanted to share was about sharing plans with suppliers.  That’s always been my way of working at Breckland Orchard – I want to share all [...]

And the answer is certainly not a ‘general handyman’. This was some great advice I was given a while back.  It proves the point that trying to satisfy everyone is not always the answer.  And in the desperate attempt to be all things to all men, it can be hard to truly satisfy anyone! The [...]

I love December and all that build up to Christmas.  My children have just turned 5 and 7, and are VERY excited about the whole thing.  The tree is up, decorations all through the house, letters to Father Christmas written……..this year we also have an ‘elf’ who has moved in with us [aka Elf on [...]

I loved this Blogpost from Karen Skidmore about Website development.  SOOOO true what she says…..websites are never complete. My own website history is just as chequered! I launched in March 2009 at Feast East – the Food and Drink show organised by Tastes of Anglia.  Now the great thing about having to launch on a [...]

I resigned my corporate job in October 2008, and my first Breckland Orchard bottles came off the production line in February 2009, so I had a four month period when I was a ‘pre-start up’.  I was doing ‘stuff’ behind the scenes, but for most of that time I didn’t have a business name, let [...]

I was at Norfolk Showground last night for a Barclays Business Seminar.  The ‘shed’ that has been used for the Food Hall at the Norfolk Show for many years has undergone a makeover, and is now an all-singing-all-dancing venue [and pretty swanky it has to be said].  Last night it was tranformed in a fabulous [...]

‘Pass it on’ is the theme of this years Global Entrepreneurship Week – all about small business owners sharing tips and advice.  So I wanted to end the week by passing on my single biggest tip! Just get going! Yeap – that’s it….nothing more complicated than that.  On Wednesday I shared tips about what things [...]

  When you start up in business there are just SO many things to buy……..combined with lots of people wanting to sell to you.  From experience here’s my top 10 list of things to invest in when you are just starting out! Great Design/Logo When you start up, no one knows you from an adam. [...]

When you start up a business you can set up on your own, or go into partnership with one or more others.  It’s a decision that I guess is very personal as well as being dependent on the circumstances that you find yourself in. I’ve flown solo since the start – albeit with an amazing [...]

The Mini-Martinsens are learning to swim….so every Friday we troop off to the swimming pool where they have their half hour lesson.  It’s a great skill to have, and I am really happy that they are improving and learning to swim the various strokes properly. And to that end I think being an entrepreneur is [...]

I’m a hoarder of information – I love reading ‘stuff’, reading websites, reading books – you name it if I can read it and I’m interested in it, I love it! I love reading about marketing, brands, new stuff of any kind! I’m always amazed when I read how small start ups have worked with [...]

I was asked to talk at the  2012 Norfolk IoD Economic Conference a few weeks back.  I was there to give the viewpoint of a new business – what impact has the current economic climate had on Breckland Orchard? I set up Breckland Orchard in Spring 2009 – right in the midst of the economic [...]

It’s completely different running your own business to being a salaried employee – one of the big differences is that you have no paid holidays [or bank holidays!].  There’s no HR department asking you to book your holidays, no boss ensuring that you have a break in your diary………..and that could lead to a temptation [...]

I’m the product of a corporate background………that makes me run my business in a certain way…….I’m semi-conditioned……I know no other way. Having worked in sales/marketing for both Coats Viyella and Mars, setting an annual plan and then tracking and monitoring against them was a discipline that was just second nature.  So when I started Breckland [...]

If you really want to know what being an entrepreneur is like, then there was no better lesson than the first episode of ‘Bank of Dave’ on Channel 4 last week. Dave Fishwick, Burnley business owner decided to take on the Banks and set up his own ‘bank’ to help and support the folk of [...]

I’ve just finished my third year of business [really can't believe its been that long, its flown by!] and I must say I am only just learning the rules of print and photography.  That has to be  ‘little and often’. Take photography – I can have some brilliant product shots taken, but a few months [...]

  My best marketing investment ever in terms of Return on Investment [ROI]?  There is only one answer! My 99p Topps Tile which I used at Food shows to try out my new strapline of ‘Posh Pop’ before I committed more spend and resource to it.  Armed with my trusty tile and a piece of [...]

I love listening to Podcasts of Radio 4′s Bottom Line when I get a minute.  There’s some great little pithy videos on the BBC site called ‘Watch my Bottom line’, where the guests record a minute’s worth of business advice, which I love!  Its a little goldmine of great business learnings – go check it [...]

I started Breckland Orchard last year in the midst of the credit crunch, and perhaps that’s not thought by most folk to be the most austipicious time to start a business. For me I’ve loved the discipline of starting a business when times are tight……it forces you to think differently, to be creative and to [...]