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Have you ever felt stuck in your own head
when it comes to thinking about your business?

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Do you feel like you're overthinking
every decision?

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And are you wondering if you're the only one
who's finding it hard?

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There's a phrase that I love: you can't read
a label from inside the jar,

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and it's so true
when you're a business owner.

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When you are the one who's living and breathing
a business day in, day out,

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it's really, really difficult for you
to get out of your own head,

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to get out of your own way, and to really
look beyond what's going on for you right now

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and to think about the possibilities
of what could be.

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Now when you're in your own head,
it can magnify your fears,

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it can distort your perspective, and it can make
normal challenges feel like a personal failure.

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This happens all the time to small business owners,
and I'm sure it has happened to you.

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So what's the answer?
How do you get out of your own head?

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It can be really difficult to do, especially
when you are the person running the business,

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either at home all day working
on your online business,

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or even if you are in store or running your team,
it can feel like you are still the one

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trapped in your own head.

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But the good news is there is a way out,

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and one of the quickest ways that I found
to shift perspective

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from your own mental limitations
is to see other people's stories.

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And other people's stories are really powerful
because they help us rewrite the narrative.

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When you are the only person hearing your thoughts,
it can feel like they're the gospel truth,

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whereas when you actually see other people
who've gone out there and done the things

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that you wanna do, or if they've grown
their business in a way

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you may have told yourself isn't possible,

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or they've overcome some kind of challenge
that you yourself are struggling with,

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it's a really quick way for you
to shift your perspective.

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I'm a big believer in the saying,
you need to see it to be it.

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And that is one of the most important reasons
why I started Retail Roar in the first place.

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So, Retail Roar — that's R-O-A-R,
Roar like a tiger.

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It's my free online summit.

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It's coming up on the 26th and the 27th of March,

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and I specifically created it because I was having
so many conversations with people

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who were stuck in their own head, and I wanted
to pull together some really inspiring people

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who had built their businesses
from the same place that you have.

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Many people who'd started in their parents' house
or on their kitchen table,

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they'd started with a stall,
but now they have a whole load of shops.

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Or maybe they started with a pop-up
and now they have bricks and mortar chains.

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There are people who started with an idea
and now they've got huge reach,

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hitting six-figure months or winning awards
for their businesses

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as the fastest growth
and hugely impressive turnovers.

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What I've challenged myself every single year
when I've run Retail Roar —

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this is my third year running it —
and I spend pretty much the whole year doing this,

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looking for people who've got really interesting,
inspiring stories

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that will give you the viewer
an opportunity to really get out of your own head,

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to put to one side what you feel like
you might be capable of doing in your business.

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And to see the stories of people
who have really created something exceptional.

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So everyone that you admire
started with an idea.

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Everybody who you look up to, and I'm sure
if you spent five minutes,

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you could think about the people
that you really admire,

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that you wish to yourself,
"Oh, I wish I had a business like them."

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They all started with an idea.
They all had their wobbly first launch.

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They all had a tiny following
or a lot of self-doubt.

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And what is the difference?
Now you might say, "Oh, well,

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they're just really good at what they do."

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But I'm here to tell you that having
interviewed a lot of people

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who've grown amazing businesses, one of the biggest
differences between the people

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who create something amazing and the people
who don't is that they kept going.

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In this year's Roar, it's absolutely no different
in terms of the brief that I set myself,

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and I wanted to just run you through
some of the examples

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just to give you an idea of the kind of speakers
that you're gonna be hearing from.

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If you haven't signed up already, it's completely
free to sign up. You can go to Retail Roar,

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that's retailroar.co.uk.

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Grab your free spot,
and that's all you need to do.

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You'll then have an opportunity
to join a Facebook group,

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and then the sessions are streamed
into the Facebook group on the 26th and the 27th.

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You'll be able to watch them all there as well as
watch the replays throughout the weekend.

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But just to give you an idea of the kind of people
that we have got coming up,

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I wanna tell you about a few of the inspiring
stories that you're gonna hear.

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One of the people that I really wanted to get
onto Roar, and I was delighted it all worked out,

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was a guy called Luke Ane Cameron.
He runs a business called Yes Clean,

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and I met him for the first time at an event
that TikTok put on,

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which was a press briefing for their Black Friday.
And then they also had some creators.

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It was like a matchmaking event
between brands and creators.

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So I was struck immediately by Luke and
the branding for Yes Clean, which was really fun.

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It's a cleaning brand, in case you hadn't guessed,
and has a huge following on TikTok.

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And what was so incredible about Luke's story —
he took the time, he did the research,

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and then he won the TikTok
Breakthrough Seller of the Year

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for his first year in business,
where he shipped 650,000 orders in year one.

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And what makes his story so interesting

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is that he's extremely open with sharing
the steps that he took,

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the things that really made a difference to him
and how he created this cult brand

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with his incredible community following.

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We also have another amazing entrepreneur,
Catherine Byrne.

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You might recognise her name from The Apprentice,
where she was a finalist.

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She has a brand called My Christmas Pajamas,

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and again, she'll share some really great,
concrete information about how she manages

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with such a seasonal business.

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You can imagine — when your business is built
around Christmas pajamas,

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you have gotta be absolutely spot on
when it comes to your stock management.

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In terms of bricks and mortar, we have got
some incredibly inspiring entrepreneurs

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who are gonna be sharing their stories
with us in Retail Roar.

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We've got Richard Austin, who is the founder
of Vinegar Hill, a chain of stores,

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as well as Priya Aurora,
the founder of Lark London.

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Now, Vinegar Hill has 15 stores.
Lark London has 18,

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and they both started
with a single shop.

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So it's so interesting to hear their journey
in terms of starting with one shop.

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What made them decide it was the time to expand,
and how they went about doing that

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while still delighting their customer.

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And then we're gonna hear from
Todd and Jenny Cassidy.

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They have built a chain
of 41 bridal boutiques.

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But again, the really interesting thing
about their story is

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how they recognised a gap in the market,
how they recognised that they could create

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something that the customer really wanted,
how they really leaned into that

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and used that as their springboard for growth.

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And then we have another fantastic,
very inspiring TikTok Shop seller, Don Bogle.

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She runs a business called Hair Anatomy,

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and she's gonna be sharing how she went
from selling at her kitchen table

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to hitting six-figure months by building
a community of women suffering from alopecia

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or undergoing cancer treatment, who maybe were
making their first ever purchase of a wig,

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and how her sensitivity and her ability
to connect with people

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during this very emotional time for them
has really helped her build her community.

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What I love about all of these stories is,
again, as I mentioned,

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these are people who started
exactly where you are now.

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They are not shy about sharing
not only their story,

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but also some of the setbacks
along the way.

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I know for a fact, from speaking to
a lot of people over the years,

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that hearing these kinds of stories,
understanding a little bit more depth

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behind the trajectory
that these businesses have gone through,

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makes such a big difference.

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And that was always my intention
with Retail Roar.

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I wanted it to be inspiring.
I wanted it to be uplifting.

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I wanted it to be really super feel good —
a great opportunity for you

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to hear from people that you maybe
have never heard from before.

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Maybe you are familiar with their brands,
maybe you're not so familiar,

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but these are people who are gonna be sharing
not just the highlight reel,

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but also some of the challenges
that they had to overcome.

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These are people who are gonna be sharing
how they chose products,

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how they marketed,
how they built communities.

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I'm always really keen to hone in
on the questions,

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because you often hear people say,
"Make that connection with your customer."

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Well, what does that actually
mean in practice?

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How do you survive tough seasons?
What do you do when things aren't going right?

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Because nobody's story is linear.
It helps to normalise your own journey,

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and it can really be sometimes the only thing
that can get you out of a little bit of a rut,

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for want of a better word.
This is always so that you can get inspired,

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get that information, that inspiration,
and just hear from people who are just like you,

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who have done amazing things with their businesses
and some of the decisions they made along the way.

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Inspiration — it's not just about feeling good,
although it does feel good to be inspired,

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but it's really, really important
to expand what you believe is possible,

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especially if you are often bombarded
by negative messaging.

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Sometimes we can get stuck in our own corner
of social media where everyone's talking about

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all of these businesses that are closing down,
or people who decided to shut their doors,

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or maybe you are hearing about people
who've just decided to go do something else.

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And it can feel very much like the reality is,
"Oh, well, everything's really difficult

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and it's just not possible
to do what I want to do."

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But when you actually hear from people
who are doing the things that you wanna do,

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or maybe it's not exactly what you wanna do,
but it's what they wanted to do

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and they've been able to build the business
for them.

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And that to me is the really important thing
about hearing inspirational stories —

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to really help you look forward
and see things in a different way.

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Three concrete business reasons
to listen to inspirational stories.

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Number one: you think bigger.
You stop playing small.

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You start to take your business more seriously,
and you also just get really clear

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on some of the other things
that have worked for other people.

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Secondly, it can help you feel
more confident showing up,

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get re-energised with your marketing.

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We know that often you can get stuck
in that cycle of doom,

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where maybe sales slow down and you feel like,
"Oh, this is all really difficult,"

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so you are not as inspired to show up.

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And then if you don't show up as much,
then sales slow down,

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and round and round we go
in the cycle of doom.

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Getting inspired, listening to these stories,
can help lift you up,

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give you that boost
and get you back out there.

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And thirdly, it can help you
make braver decisions.

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Just hearing about what's possible,
the kind of decisions

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that you might not even have thought
were an option.

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It can be really inspiring and help you
look at things differently,

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because as I said, you can't be it
if you can't see it.

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So definitely come along to Retail Roar.

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Completely free to sign up
and get your dose of inspiration.

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So Retail Roar — it's not just about fluffy stories
that sound really good from the headlines.

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This is me sitting down with these incredible
founders and delving into the details.

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If you've listened to this podcast for a while,
you'll know I love straight talking,

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straight to the point.
What's practical? What can we use as a takeaway?

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The talks are short —
they're typically 25 to 30 minutes long.

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You can dip in and out.
It's completely free to join,

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so there's no reason not to sign up.
I wanted it to be accessible,

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and I wanted it to be open to everybody.

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And if you sign up, you'll be able to get
the replays inside the group

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for a few days after the event.

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So even if you're not available
on the 26th and the 27th,

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you can come along and have a listen.

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So Retail Roar — it's about showing you
what's possible,

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about giving you real, practical insight
and helping you see the bigger picture

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for your own business.

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So if you've been feeling stuck
in your own head,

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this is your chance to have a reset.

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If you've been feeling flat,
feeling isolated, wondering if it's just you,

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then this is your reminder:
it's not just you.

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Everybody has these moments.

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There's also another reason that I put it
in the first part of the year —

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because I knew that February and March
can be really tricky, slow months

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for a lot of people,

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so I wanted there to be something
really uplifting during that time

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so you don't have to figure it all out alone.

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You can get inspired.
You can hear from incredible people

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who have grown their businesses
and learn from them.

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How did they get through?
How did they keep going?

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How did they keep that forward momentum?

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Go to retailroar.co.uk,
get your free ticket,

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come and see what's possible,

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and then let's get you out of your own head
and back into action.