S2, Ep 08: A Glamping Good Leader!

Speaker A: Welcome to Sales Leader Secrets. Get inside the minds of the most successful sales leaders so that you can apply their secrets to your business and inspire your team to grow their sales. I'm Amanda from uspire and I coach and train commercial leaders to support them to be the best they can be for themselves, their teams, and, uh, most importantly, for their customers, because that's how you grow sales.

Speaker B: Right?

Speaker A: So sit back, enjoy, and hear some words of wisdom from some of the

Speaker C: best in the business. My guest today on Sales Leader Secrets is a farmer. Well, she's a farmer's wife, actually, and she's married to a second generation farmer. He's got a YouTube channel called Farmer Andy and I thoroughly recommend that you go and have a look. But today I'm going to talk to Joanne. And Joanne, um, just a few years ago, decided that there were ways of diversifying on the farm and has set up a very successful glamping business. I'm really, really excited to welcome Joanne Collinge to our sales, uh, Leader Secrets today. And, um, Joanne, welcome.

Speaker B: Oh, thank you, Amanda, for inviting me. It's lovely to be here.

Speaker C: And I'm going to ask you to tell us your story because I've heard a little bit about the story while we've been setting up and it's an amazing story. So, yeah. What got you to where we are now today?

Speaker B: Oh, my goodness. My story started this story anyway, started about seven years ago. I came to a crossroads in my career, uh, as a teacher. I felt like my work life balance was being compromised. So I wanted to, um, come out of teaching. And at the same time, we were tenant farmers and my husband was buying the farm. So it all kind of slotted together really. So I thought, well, I'm going to leave teaching and I'm going to go and try and help him on the farm. Work with him on the farm. So I did that. But I wasn't sure if I'd actually finished teaching my teaching career. So I decided that I'd still do supply.

Speaker C: Okay.

Speaker B: And I'll still keep going and doing supply at schools, but at the same time I'd take over, uh, the calf rearing. And it's calf rearing and teaching children with not really much different, honestly. Calves have characters. There's some quiet ones, there's the boisterous ones, the bull noisy ones. And it's just like being back in the classroom. They were cheeky ones, so it was nice. And I worked alongside, uh, Andy's dad. He's just turned 90, bless him this year, and he was so that was his role. So I was trying to take a little bit of work off him, you know, so he could enjoy retirement. And he's still working, by the way, so he hasn't retired, but within two weeks. Coming from a teaching background. So I had, I had plans. Um, I have action plans. You have timescales, you have deadlines. Bullying, farming, you can throw all that out the window. That's just not going to happen. The hours you don't look at your clock, it can last 24 hours, it can last a day, it can last two hours. So I struggled, I really struggled helping on the farm and I thought, this isn't going to work for me. So how else can I help, you know, bring income to the farm? Because now we bought the farm, we need to make it work and certainly to pass it on to the third generation as well of our, uh, family. So I thought, glamping. What can go wrong with glamping? I've heard about it. It was very new in the north. It was just starting to get going. So I thought, well, you just put a few tents up in a field, nothing can go wrong. Anyway, boy, was I wrong. So I thought, let's go on holiday for a week. And we went glamping. I'd never been glamping. So I bought quite a few different glamping places that I thought, we'll try some with bathrooms inside, bathrooms outside, uh, some just tents, shepherd's hooks. I thought, we'll try the lot and see where. What I like, basically.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: So we had a fun week. It was all in the North Yorkshire, along our border. Uh, we had fun. I think what we took away from. I took a little notepad with me and I was marking on it as well. But I liked what I didn't like. I think the best one was next to a pub, to be honest. But that wasn't especially for farmer Andy. But it wasn't. I'm not next to a pub, very rural. So I came back with the idea. Yeah, I like, um, shepherd's hooks. We're going to go for shepherd's hooks because they feel part of a farm and that's the history of the farm with shepherd's hooks. But I didn't have the money because we just bought the farm and we'd used. We borrowed so much to buy the farm. There was no money left to put in a new business. So from the onset I had no money. So it really, really was a tie. Um, and it was a struggle. But I managed to find two secondhand Yurts. Okay. And these yurts, uh, a tent, a big tent. So I went off and bought these second hand yurts with next to nothing with me, put them up in the field. But it's not just that. Uh, you've got to think about the electric, you've got to think about water, you've got to think about toilets and showers. And to me I was totally naive. I was completely naive to be honest. But we got over that. Uh, we put electric in, we put the sewers in, we put water in, I had my yurts. And then the next problem is, well, where's where they're going to go to use the toilet? There wasn't anything in this field.

Speaker C: Yeah, no.

Speaker B: So it just all linked together like a jig. So I had a next door neighbor who'd moved in, had just retired and he was looking for a project. And as I was talking to him I thought, oh, a project. How would you like, build me a bathroom, A shepherd's hook bathroom suite? How about building two of them? So we said, oh yeah, yeah, let's do that. So he did, he, bless him, he built me two bathroom suites and that was my first bathrooms because I only had the two yurts at the time. Uh, one had the shower and um, one had a roll top bath in it. And the way it's really special because it's on a slope and it overlooks the entire Pendle Hill and the Ribble Valley. So you can go in this roll top bath, open the doors up and you can have a bath in a field with nobody looking at you, looking at Pendle Hill and just wow. So it was really special. And at the end of the first year I'd made enough money to buy two hot tubs. And then at the second year I was able to build myself a shepherd's hook. So every year with the money that I've made, I've reinvested. And now I've got three shepherd sorts and two, two yurts, uh, in each one. Because I had no money to invest at the beginning, I've used and recycled materials off the farm. So if you're a farmer you'll understand that farmers collect a, ah, lot of tat over the years. Farmer Andy will kill me for saying that because it's, it's useful and it'll come in handy one day. But I, I see it as scrap. So I thought, well, I'm going to upcycle it. And that's what's made our um, business now very, very special. Because each hurt, each accommodation tells A story.

Speaker C: Amazing.

Speaker B: And that stories in my guest book so that it's not just bought off the shelf. I've actually reused and repurp most of the stuff in that. So that's what makes it special.

Speaker C: That's amazing. So, and your business is called Joanne,

Speaker B: it's called Little Oakhurst Boutique Glamping. Um, and there's a story behind that as well because yeah, it, it was at the beginning Little Oakhurst Luxury Glamping. But as the time went on, um, there was so many other glamping sites setting up as well. And was I actually luxury? Because people have a definite idea what luxury is. They go to a five star hotel, it's luxury. But when you're in a field, well, what is luxury? And it was confusing people. So I changed the word luxury and I put in boutique. Boutique actually floors everybody because they haven't got a clue what it is. But it's something different in my mind.

Speaker C: So Joanne, I've just heard you say about choosing the name for the business and uh, thinking about what your customers, your guests might think, um, and I can tell that your absolutely loving what you do. It's just bursting out of you. So tell me a bit more about what is it that now that you've got this glampy business, what is it you really love about what you do?

Speaker B: I think the best thing ever. I absolutely adore spending time outside. Outside is just perfect. I don't mind if it's raining, if it's snowing, if it's sunny, I can, I can do it all the bit that does get me though, if the rain keeps going for three months, four months, then I get a little bit fed.

Speaker C: Yeah, that happens.

Speaker B: Other than that, being outside, I've got to remember when I'm doing the changeovers with Lucy, my daughter, she helps me now up on the glamping site. She's joined the business too. When I'm changing over, you can be so busy that I just need to stop and remember to stop and just turn um, around and look at what we've got, uh, on our doorstep. I mean literally, if I can paint a picture, you've got the entire Pendle Hill in front of you and the whole of the Ribble Valley and just to stop and listen to the birds singing and nothing else. It is great, really is good. So I've got to remember to do that. And also what's uh, really good is just being my own boss and being able to come up with my own creative ideas. You know, I don't have to convince anybody to try new, new skills or new ideas, I can just try on myself and it don't really matter if it doesn't work, uh, I can change it. It's great. So I love that part of it.

Speaker C: Oh, that's fantastic. And when you've got the, so when you have the guests with you, which is a lot of the time I hope. Um, what's that like? How, how is, how is that managing, managing customers basically, which you didn't do before, right?

Speaker B: Absolutely not. No, I did not. I love it, to be honest. It's great. When they, the moment they come, we always welcome Gu into our site because we live there, we're around and it's great because we get to meet them. Um, because I think I've been teaching that long, I can suss people out quite well. So I know if they want extra help or I know if they want leaving behind, you know, they don't want to be disturbed. So I can sort that out quite quickly upon arrival. So we give them a little bit of a history about the farm. They, they think they, they love the story about being a family farm.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: So I can tell them and also if they ask, can they look around the farm? That's great because that's where farmer Andy comes in and I can pass them over and he can talk forever with them. But no, they'll go up. I'm always on call as well. I give them the telephone number because my Internet's so shocking on the farm. I mean I'm in a 2 year, 200 year old farmhouse so Internet doesn't, ah, come through the door, the, the walls really. So they'll always text me, text me. I'm on call 24 hours a day.

Speaker C: Amazing.

Speaker B: But I do say after 6 o', clock, can I have a little bit of quiet time so I can have my tea?

Speaker C: Oh, bless. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. I, uh, I can really picture what that would be like and I'd be very, very pleased to have you looking after me on, uh, in a glamping site. I would also be very pleased to be in that roll top bath. Have to say, what would you say then your biggest challenges have been and what are they now?

Speaker B: Right, well, challenges, I see challenges as an obstacle and an obstacle that just needs to be moved out the way. So I don't dwell on challenges. Once it's done, once it's dealt with, I push them to the side and I move on to whatever's next. So if we're talking challenges right at this very minute, I would say, and I'm very frustrated about this, is that with maintenance issues. So if you've got little bits, you know, when things break. So if, um, there's a shelf come loose or the toilet seats wonky or something just needs mending, I need to do it myself a bit more because otherwise I'm waiting for somebody to come along to do it. And it could be a day, you know, all skilled workers who come in and help, it could be a week's wait. So it's only recently I bought myself a toolbox. And this toolbox has everything in it and I am learning how to do basics. So I now take this toolbox up and I've made. I've managed to mend the toilet seats, I've managed to screw back things that come loose. And I've also really, really proud at the moment, and you should be too, that I've managed to make two new benches for a fire pit. So these benches I had around the fire pits, uh, because I'm open all winter, I've been out all winter, so they become soft and rotten and I knew they needed replacing. Now, when you look for replacements, they're hundreds of pounds. And, um, they didn't look sturdy enough, especially for my glampers. Um, so I thought, I'm going to make them, I'm going to make them. Never m made a bench in my life, but I am going to make these things. So I looked up on the Internet, I got my ideas. I thought, yeah, I can do that. Dead easy, not a problem. So I kept going to the builders, merchants and just getting four breeze blocks at a time. So after a week, I managed to have all the breeze blocks, but these guys at the merchants.

Speaker C: What are you doing?

Speaker B: Turn this girl. This woman's turning up for four breeze blocks and disappearing with them. So anyway, I showed them what I was going to do. I was going to make this bench and I've reclaimed the wood from a building on the farm and I set two and I made it. And I'm super proud of what I've done because it looks fantastic and you can even put a spirit level on and it's perfectly straight.

Speaker C: Hey. Hey. Fantastic.

Speaker B: I've overcome this challenge, so that's pushed to the side. I'm on the next one. But I do have another challenge as well, and that one is really shouting out about my business. I'm not an extrovert. I really not. I'm one of those that can sink to the bat and just let all this shout out for me. So I gave myself a goal last year that I was going to push myself forward. So I joined um, a networking group really out of my comfort zone. But I've um, been going and it's been so nice because it's a women's networking group, like minded people too. So I feel so much better because I feel like I'm not the only one that's alone trying to make the business. I've got others to ask for help and what ideas and it's been great. So I've joined that and also the social media part of it and the marketing, terrible. But anyway, Lucy, my daughter, she's, she's quite arty so I pushed all that

Speaker C: onto her and she's amazing, great delegate.

Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely great. So I can step back from that. But she is pushing me in front of the camera more which I hate, I cannot stand. And if you go onto my website and look at these reels, you will see me making so much fool of myself. But I am, I'm trying and I'm really trying.

Speaker C: You're probably not, you know, in fact you're definitely not. It's one of those things when we think about um, you know the use of video now is so prevalent and actually that the connect the human connection by having videos. So Farmer Andy, I looked up, you know when you and I were thinking about having a chat and it is just so useful to see, to connect on a human level with the person that you're going to buy something from, you know and you've got guests who are going to pay some money to come, come to the site. Come to the site. So yes, so you've, you've got Lucy doing your marketing now, is that right?

Speaker B: Yes, absolutely. Yeah. I can step back a bit now

Speaker C: because I was going to ask you about how you get your customers and how, how do you go about selling um, and marketing. Tell us a bit about how that's been.

Speaker B: So yeah, that's been a uh, slow progress at the moment but I think I'm there now. We set, I set up our own website and I developed it as well knowing nothing about website design or development. So I've taken that on and then slowly through Facebook, Instagram and then of course we celebrated five years of opening last year. So we went into all the, the um, newspapers and magazines to shout about our business too. So with Lucy, she's great. She posts three times a week. Uh, it can be a mix of videos, ah, reels and then just normal posts and I leave it completely to her. But Otherwise I've just recently won an award for family business as well.

Speaker C: Wow. Tell us a bit about that.

Speaker B: Thank you. That's this year. So we entered the Ribble Valley, um, business awards and um, we won an award for family business of the year. So I've got the whole family behind me. There's Nana, who's 87 now, and she makes the homemade cakes for the guests on arrival. There's Jim, that's still working on the farm and he's just turned 90. Of course there's farmer Andy. He loves showing and talking to people to death. There's Lucy, my daughter, who's now part of the business. And there's uh, Harry who helps to try and tidy up the business on the farm. And then there's George, the young George as well. So we really are a family working together. I also must mention, uh, my brother in law because without him he does, he tackles all the big jobs that I can't do on the glamping sites. So he comes, he's always on call for me too.

Speaker C: Brilliant. What's his name?

Speaker B: Roger.

Speaker C: Uh, Roger. Shout out to Roger.

Speaker B: Definitely.

Speaker C: Fantastic. Fantastic. So, yeah, so challenges around sales and marketing. So you sell from the website, is that right? Yeah, they book at the. Yeah. So if we were looking to come to um, Little Hoke, Little Ochres Boutique Camping, you go onto your website and uh. And it starts from there, does it?

Speaker B: Yes, absolutely. Yeah. I can also, you can also link through Facebook and Instagram and I'm also on the uh, platforms as two. There's booking.com and Airbnb. Ah.

Speaker C: Uh, yeah, yeah. So you can book. Right. Got you, got you. Yeah, that's great that it's on booking.com and uh, yeah.

Speaker B: What's the biggest marketing success we've had? I love to hear is going on at uh, Four in a Bed. So we went on Four in a Bed, uh, the television program about four years ago now.

Speaker A: Wow.

Speaker B: It was, it was really, really nerve wracking but exciting at the same time. So I'd only watched a few of the programs to understand what it was all about.

Speaker C: Uh, what is it all about? What is it all about? I don't. Our listeners might not know.

Speaker B: So basically it's a group of um, B and B owners and you come together, a group of four of you, and you stay at each other's accommodation and um, whilst you're staying at each other's accommodation you get to rate them. So the scoring system on how clean it is on uh, facilities. Would you stay there again and of course, at the end it's how much would you pay for that? And then at the end of the week you come together as a group and you get to open up the envelopes to find out how much the people did pay or was thinking it was worth paying. And that's put together as in whoever gets the biggest score percentage wins the show. Sadly, I didn't win. I came a very, very good fourth out of four. But to be honest, ah, to be honest, it's done me a world of good because the repeat shows increase my bookings every single time. And I didn't realize there was such serious for, uh, four in a bed watches. I didn't realize that people watch these programs and actually go and visit these places. So I never know when there's a. Yeah, amazing. Yeah, I know. I never know when there's a repeat on, to be honest. But I do because my bookings just shoot up.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker C: Uh, that's, um, that. What a great story. And the, the, the fact that people, the thing is with um, anywhere where you go and stay, is that what you really want is a recommendation. They call it social proof. And you need to know that somebody's been there who you've seen or you know and uh, or that you've seen on Instagram etc, etc, and you um, need to know that they liked it. So it's perfect for you, isn't it?

Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. So now I really do need to get in front of that camera a bit more because like you said, it's linking a face to that business. It definitely is.

Speaker A: It is.

Speaker C: And m. Yeah. And you, you went, you don't. You can't see me, you can't see us. Listener. But I can see Joanne and she's absolutely beaming from ear to ear about her business. Ah, listen, I'm going to ask you about some leadership questions now. So, you know, as the leader of this glamping business with a team, albeit lots of family, but also some other team members, what would you say your kind of the way that you lead is? Like what, what sort of principles and values would you say that you kind of use and dial up?

Speaker B: Okay. So throughout my career there was one fundamental value that shines through and that's respect.

Speaker C: Wow.

Speaker B: I mean, I've been teaching for such a long time now and I've had some fantastic head teachers and not only the head teachers, the other colleagues I've worked with, they've all respected one another and respected me and gave me the belief and the inspiration that I could actually succeed so when I'm first a teacher, you go in with no confidence and given such a big responsibility of a class at 30, it is nerve wracking. But with all the respect and, um, you know, support from these people have given me such a boost to make it such a success. So I brought that with me into my business and I think if I can inspire people that work with me and give them the respect to try things out, doesn't matter if it doesn't work, we learn from that. So, so I can nurture and support them to grow with confidence and the belief that they can actually succeed and, and do anything they want. I've also worked in, in places which, um, which was toxic. You know, leaderships weren't great.

Speaker C: Okay. Yeah.

Speaker B: But I don't take that as a negative. That's actually taught me to be a stronger person.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: And it's actually giving me life skills to say, well, actually, I don't want to be like that. Uh, I'm not going to be like that. Uh, so they actually taught me something valuable at the end.

Speaker C: Amazing. So you are a. Yeah, you, you created your own prototype, your own role model of what you want to be like. Yeah, well, that respect is one of my core values as well, Joanne. So I respect that. I absolutely. And, um, that you talked about that actually, you know, allow people to get on with things and to make the mistakes, knowing that it's okay to make a mistake. Which is such a brilliant leadership skill, actually. Such a brilliant skill.

Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker C: You got, you got, you got a team of like eight, nine people on board, right?

Speaker B: Yeah. Sometimes it's tricky though, working with family.

Speaker C: Yeah, it is.

Speaker A: Actually.

Speaker C: I'm where. I have interviewed some other family, um, business owners actually. Yeah. How do you, how do you, how do you navigate that without giving away too much?

Speaker B: Oh, that's a big skill you've got. You've got to know their strengths and weaknesses and you play towards the strengths. Really like, like Lucy, she's really artistic. Then I play towards that. So she comes up with the ideas and how to design a new shepherd's hook, which is great because we're building them on the farm with recycled materials. We don't have to copy anybody else. We can have our own imagination. So she can run with that. And also, you know, with the social media marketing, she can run with that. Um, I don't interfere. She's great.

Speaker C: Amazing. And having looked, having looked at the, um, the shepherd huts on your website, they are beautiful. So, you know, congratulations to Lucy to the way that You've, the way that you've led and managed her to uh, to that which you know is, um. They are absolutely beautiful. They really are. Now, in terms of your development, you've had a lot of different roles actually. I mean, development as a teacher and then sort of coming through to what you do now as leading the glamping business. What would you say your biggest influence on, on how you are leading this business has been?

Speaker B: Well, I've got to give this one to my dad. He's, he's no longer with us unfortunately. But he would be so proud of what I've achieved. So he was an ex teacher himself. Uh, but he was woodwork. He was so skilled at making things, at uh, building things. He built his own children's nursery way back.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: So he could turn his hand to absolutely anything. And he was such a good carpenter. I mean, you know, his thing you measure twice and cut once has stayed in my head.

Speaker C: I've heard that. Yeah.

Speaker B: But unfortunately my tape measure never measures the same thing twice. So there's something wrong. He also used to say when things went wrong, what's done is done, you must learn and move on, um, from it. So that's what I apply to myself now. You don't dwell on what's gone wrong perhaps, okay, it's happened, but how are you going to move forward? And that's what I kind of keep to myself. You know, it's the stumbling block. It's not, it's not going to prevent you from moving on. Um, so if you can change.

Speaker C: Wow. Changed. Hey, how proud would would he have been of those benches?

Speaker B: I know that's what I said when I put the spirit level on. I was like, hey, just look at this.

Speaker C: Yeah, that's amazing. Thank you for sharing that. That's fantastic. Now listen, I'm. We're coming towards the end of our, our podcast and I've absolutely loved listening to you as a business owner, as a t, as an ex teacher, as the leader of a family business, and also as an amazing human being, Joanne. I mean, and you've also pivoted from one career to the next, which is not an easy thing to do and takes a lot of courage, right?

Speaker B: Mhm.

Speaker C: What would your what? Your what? Your one piece of what would your top sort of secret leader secret be? Piece of advice to people who are might be listening to our ah, podcast.

Speaker B: Oh. I believe the secret to leadership is inspiration. When people start to act on my vision without even asking them, I think I've become a leader.

Speaker A: Wow.

Speaker C: That's fantastic. And it sounds like they are. They actually are doing that.

Speaker B: Oh, fingers crossed.

Speaker C: They are.

Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker C: So. So, um, shout out to little, little Oakhurst Boutique. Glamping. You've got four accommodations now, right?

Speaker B: Is that right?

Speaker C: Four?

Speaker B: Or did you.

Speaker C: You got five? And what are you aiming for in the next few years?

Speaker B: Well, I'd like to replace my yurts, uh, and build two more shepherd's huts. And I'd also like to continue my journey and ethical sustainable tourism. Build on that.

Speaker C: Uh. Ah, fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. So, Joanna, it's been an absolute pleasure to speak to you and have this conversation on Sales leader. And we wish you all the very best with your business.

Speaker B: Thank you so much for having me on today.

Speaker A: Thank you for listening to Sales Leader Secrets and giving us your time today. If you found any of the secrets useful, please do subscribe and follow us. And if you'd like to hear more about how we work with sales leaders, then go to www.theuspiregroup.com and get in touch. We'd love to hear from you.

Speaker B: Bye.

Speaker A: Bye.