05 - From Hospital Bed to HR Boss - Emily Gibson’s Story

In this inspiring episode, Rebecca chats with Emily Gibson, founder of The HR Patch, about building a thriving HR consultancy while raising young children. 

Emily shares how an unexpected accident gave her the time and space to properly launch her business, why staying rooted in your why is crucial, and how to avoid getting lost in comparison. 

From her trusty to-do lists to her high-street office move, Emily opens up about the challenges, lessons, and joys of flexible entrepreneurship. 

A must-listen for anyone balancing ambition with everyday life.

Connect with Emily: 

🌐 thehrpatch.co.uk
🔗 LinkedIn

🎙️ Edited with precision by podcast editing master, Mike Roberts of Making Digital Real

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🔗 Connect with Rebecca on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rebeccanewenham
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Transcript

Hello, and welcome to Between the Bells.

Growing a business in school hours. This is a podcast for ambitious entrepreneurs who are building successful businesses within school hours. I'm your host, Rebecca Newenham, founder of outsourcing agency Getahead, franchise consultant, business mentor, and host of LinkedIn Local. 

If you're a parent, carer, or just someone who doesn't want to be tied to the traditional nine to five, then you're absolutely in the right place. This podcast is all about proving that you can build a thriving business while still being there for school drop offs, pickups, and everything in between. I'm delighted today to be joined by Emily Gibson on Between the Bells. 

Emily runs an HR consultancy. And it's really interesting, we've not met before. So it was a real treat to hear her business journey, which I know you're going to resonate with, setting up a business whilst having young children. 

And what I found fascinating were her tips that she shared with us around never forgetting your why. So why you set up on your own business is vital. And it's sometimes so easy, and I think we'll all relate to this, to get carried away looking at everyone else and seeing what they're doing, going down those rabbit holes of thinking you're not good enough. 

And Emily's sort of practical tips around a to do list and creating your own plan really resonated with me. So I know you're going to really enjoy this episode. So I will leave you to enjoy the conversation I had with Emily.

Well, how exciting I have the lovely Emily Gibson on the podcast. Welcome, Emily. Thank you. 

Nice to meet you. I was just saying, it's a treat because everyone I've had as guests so far I've met in person, and we've just simply been pen friends on LinkedIn, haven't we, chatting? Yeah. I'm really excited for this episode because I don't know a huge amount about you. 

So I'm really excited to learn more. So I'd love you, Emily, to share with our audience your business story. Gosh. 

Okay. So I suppose if I start from the very beginning, I was like many people in my industry, in HR consultancy, started out wanting the flexibility because I had children. So I had the opportunity to be made redundant from my role, slapped it up pretty quick, given I was in the final weeks of maternity with my third child and thought, hmm, I've survived on very little for two years, having the last two back-to-back. 

Let's see if we can do this. So we did, really. It seemed like a really sensible move at the time. 

So that was back in 2016. And it was quite nice to have something to, I suppose, occupy my brain that didn't involve milk and blended food. And it was nice to be back in the swing of things in HR.

I actually had a really nasty accident in 2016 and I broke my spine. Now, everyone goes, oh my God, that's awful. And yes, it was. 

It was really painful. It was a horrendous time. But at the same point, I couldn't look after my children properly for about three months because they were both very small and needed... they couldn't walk. 

So actually, my very wonderful partner bought me a new laptop and I sat down and I got a real chunk of dedicated time to do all the basic bits of admin and get all the foundations of my business set up. So it was a very bizarre situation, which I'm very, almost weirdly, weirdly fortunate to have had. It doesn't sound like it should be a fortunate thing, and it wasn't really. 

But what was quite nice is I'd actually already done a sales visit just before I broke my spine. So I signed my first two clients from the hospital bed and managed to do the work without any of them even knowing that I was incapacitated. So it was quite bizarre. 

So yeah, my first two projects all came out working remotely, which back in 2016 was a little bit unheard of as well. Normally, you would be with people and and so it was quite, quite strange. But yeah, and then it's kind of been onwards and upwards from that point. 

I think that was November 2016. And then early in 2017, I started to build my business with retained clients. So I had people on 12-month contracts and people that I'd worked with historically started to see what I was doing and get in touch. 

And it we just grew and grew every year, only, you know, little bit by little bit. And then by the time we got to 2020, when COVID hit us all, knocked us all for six. And bizarrely, of course, that was the point at which a lot of businesses needed HR. 

I saw that a lot, actually, a lot of my connections within HR, it was sort of suddenly you were needed even more, weren't you? It was so complicated. And it was, you know, I remember it was probably one of the down points of my business as much as it was the up because from that March through to June, I think I spent most evenings, like late into the night, reading the employment law updates, understanding furlough, understanding what the government were offering, and translating it into updates for my clients. And I just remember, you know, in these boring updates, another furlough update, yes, another one.

No, but you wanted to keep on top of it, didn't you? And I imagine that was stressful, as well as navigating everything else. It was, it was really tough. And it was probably, and I was on my own at that point as well. 

But it was during that period where the business grew, suddenly, we had a trajectory, you know, of new people wanting our support and our existing clients wanting even more support. And of course, that's the point where I started to bring in a team. So since 2020, we've been appointing associates to work with the HR patch as well. 

And now we're kind of a, how many are we? We're seven now, seven people in our team. And just this month, we launched our office on the high street, you don't often see HR on the high street, but we're on the high street. So what made that come about? So very, not necessarily a sensible business decision, but I kind of was driving down my local high street, and there was an office to rent. 

And I just sort of went, Ooh, that would be nice. Absolutely, that's got my name on it. Knowing you just, I think, as an entrepreneur, or a business owner, no matter what you're doing, and, you know, I know they say women's instinct is everything, but I believe it is, you know, and I've never taken a risk with my business, because I feel like I'm very protected as an HR consultant. 

I'm selling what's in my head, you know, I don't have to buy products, I don't have to rent a warehouse. And I think, you know, I have full respect for people that start those businesses, because it must be really stressful. But I didn't have to do that. 

And I thought, you know what I need now, I've been doing this eight years, I need a little bit of fire in my belly. And there's a change. And now I've got my office, I'm sitting in my office now. 

And it's nice to go to work. I've worked at home for 18 years. So always have worked from, well, the majority of time I've worked from home. 

And so it's actually really refreshing now. And I think it's really good for my mental health. And it's brilliant to have the flexibility of being able to work from home. 

But actually, I think just leaving the house, me time. Yeah, I think, yeah, I can really see how that benefits. And there's a, an accounting franchise, I noticed it's often on the high street. 

And it'll be really interesting to observe if you get client pickup from the fact that you're there. But even if you don't, it's the fact that you've got that contained space for you and the team to, yeah, to meet up. So yeah, yeah, exactly. 

It's a little bit of branding and marketing. I'll have to come and hold a copy one day. So Emily, that's really interesting. 

I love the fact that you've built this HR patch around the children, but now you're launching into, it's almost growing with you, isn't it? Which is interesting. So I'd love you to share your favourite tool or lesson with us this morning. So far away. 

My favourite tool or lesson, I think nothing, and I'm surprised how many people don't do this, but nothing beats a to-do list. And I mean, literal pad, pen, highlighter. There are so many tools out there and I've tried them all. 

I've tried all the project management tools, the, I won't name them or shame them, but some of them are brilliant and some people swear by them, but I cannot move away. Every time I've tried it, I've got a little bit overwhelmed or it's something else to do. But yeah, that's my go-to, to-do list. 

Yeah. And I'm saying, do you have a daily one or do you have a huge one that you sort of break down? I have, yeah, I have, it's not much of my job is day focused. It's normally longer term, so it incorporates everything. 

And I have to be honest, I imagine, I think every week I have to start again because, you know, when you've highlighted when it's done and it's all a bit of a mess. So I then, I find a lot of psychological satisfaction in organising my to-do list at the beginning of the week so that I can prioritise properly and keep on top of things. No, love it. 

Yeah. And actually Erin, who was a guest a couple of podcasts ago, she has what she calls CEO time on the Monday. So that's two hours that she calls for herself. 

I think the to-do list fits nicely into that, doesn't it? So, yeah, I am a to-do list girl too. So I hear you. And then what's about your bell ringer moment then, Emily, what's your single most important takeaway or piece of advice? I think it's, as in advice that I would give or advice I've taken, I think. 

Oh, well, it's up to you. Well, I think two things, probably. First thing is come up with your own plan. 

I think when you start your own business, there's a lot of pressure to have a business plan, have a goal that doesn't actually work for everyone. And if you're doing, if you've started your own business to be flexible, you can shoot yourself in the foot a little bit. If you, if you are, if you set yourself expectations when actually your expectation was to be flexible and your expectation would be there for your children. 

No, no, no. Absolutely. Yeah. 

Why overcomplicate it? Yeah, exactly. And I think that's, that's, there's, there's a lot of advice on social media, a lot of, you know, other people are doing this and you can get competitive. And what about that tool and what about that software and what about that new fandangle way of doing things, but actually stick with what you know.

And I think my other thought as well as picking up the phone, I think we're so tech savvy nowadays with emails, WhatsApp, you know, and actually nothing gets you a better relationship than having a conversation with someone. I've, I've never won a sales pitch on email ever. I've never, ever emailed someone with a business proposal or a suggestion to talk and got anywhere with it. 

But if I've picked up the phone and spoken to someone, if I have that conversation, we win the business always. And I, and I think that's something I look at generations, you know, my girls are 19 onwards. The thought for them and picking up the phone is like, all right, you've asked me to do the worst thing in the world. 

And I think you're absolutely, we're missing a trick, aren't you? Because I will often pick up the phone and I think sometimes it throws people a bit. Oh, she, the phone's ringing. It's someone on the end of it, but, but you, you get the information you need and you build that report, don't you? And I think it's almost makes you memorable because it's more unusual.

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Otherwise you're just a list and I don't know about you, but most of my, the first job I normally do in the morning is open my emails and delete anything that I'm not familiar with. 

It's just gone because it's probably spam. It's probably someone trying to sell me something. Um, but you don't do that on the telephone, you know? Yes. 

Sometimes you don't pick up numbers. You, you don't know, but you know, if you do great, you know, you've probably got a son. No, no, no. 

I really like, I like that tactic. And then in terms of school drop-off shout outs and have you got a shout out to say your favorite routine or are you doing drop-off, I guess with your kids being the age they are, you're probably still involved in it. Are you? I, so I've actually, yeah, I was for a long time doing all of it over the years COVID helped my partner's company become more flexible. 

So actually and dad does all the drop-offs and I do all the pickups. So I don't think I have any shout outs necessarily, but I do think it's a really good habit to be in as a mom as well is to be doing like, you know, I've always make a point. I take my kids to the school gate. 

I don't just drive up and drop them off. Yes. Take them out of the car. 

Yes. Yeah. At least take them out of the car, walk them to the school gate, have those. 

And actually what we've started to do more is take the opportunities to walk as much as possible. Not only for my health, because as a business owner, you can, you, you want to utilize every minute that you can, but it's very easy to to forget that the few minutes, even 10 minutes or 15 minutes walking with your children is extremely valuable for your brain as well, because it sets you, sets you up with a bit of exercise. It sets your children up with a bit of exercise for school and it just lets everything balance out before you then go into work, work zone. 

Yeah. No, I like that idea of balance. And I would imagine as well, it's little snippets of conversation that you're having with them that perhaps is a bit spontaneous or you can talk things through and it, that's quite therapeutic as well, isn't it? Yeah. 

Just to have a few minutes of idle conversation about what the, what they've done at school or what, what the name of that tree is or something random, you know, otherwise you're driving, you're driving to and from school, thinking about what you've done all day and thinking about an email you've got to write when you get home. And it's quite a nice little, it's a really mini detox, but I think it's really valuable for your children and for you. You know, everyone parents their own way. 

What works for you works for you and no judgment on it. But I've found that to be just really, really nice. Oh really? Yeah. 

And a lovely form of connection, is it? Because I imagine they share things with you that they might not have done. And I'm a bit like that with dog walks, I don't put my headphones in. I like just to sort of let those thoughts happen. 

And I think we do spend so much of our time absorbing information, don't we? And actually we, our own thoughts are often the most peaceful and you can sort of get things sorted out in your head, can't you then? Yeah. Well, I think a lot of us as well, you know, I don't know if you're, are you speaking to a broad range of people, if it's just women, but generally speaking, you ask most women why they've gone self-employed and why they've set up their business. It's normally to have a better work-life balance and to, to spend more time with the family or to have that flexibility to do those things. 

So I think it's always really valuable to keep reminding yourself of that in order that you, you know, you can, and it just helps you de-stress your brain as well, because it's always, it's really difficult to say no to business and no to clients. Oh, and that's a really big thing, and I'm often saying to my franchisees, you know, not everyone's our client, not everyone's suitable for us. And we have to stick to that, don't we? You're so right. 

And I think certainly in those early stages of business, there's that, not desperation, but you want to prove a point. So you want to sort of say, yes, I can help everyone, but that's such a valid point in there, I totally agree. And I think most, most clients respect that as well. 

I think most people will understand why you're doing the business that you're doing. And if you said, I can't do that today, but I can get it for you next week, then nine times out of ten, they just go, fine. No, it's that matching expectation, isn't it? I think, and also as well as managing expectation, working with the people you want to work with, again, is a big thing, I think, rather than feeling, that's why we're doing it right. 

So they're really interesting. And then our final part, Emily, then your homework assignment. I'm loving these homework assignments. 

So I'm getting little nuggets of things I need to do with every conversation. So I'm keen to know yours. Well, I think they're probably touching it already in terms of never forget your why, never forget why you're doing what you're doing and reflect on it constantly and never feel guilty either. 

Certainly as mums, I spend many, many years feeling really torn between, am I spending enough time on the business? And am I contributing enough to the household finances? Am I spending enough time with my children? And I think you just need to challenge yourself on that and not feel bad about it. You're doing everything you can do. You need to take breaks. 

I think that's something I hear every business owner struggles with for years, is taking a holiday. You're a better person when you're refreshed. You're a better, productive, nicer person to be around. 

You've had a holiday. You've got something to say, new happening because you've had that break. Yeah. 

Yeah, absolutely. And I think surround yourself with the right people. So networking was a really, really massive support to me when I first started my business. 

I didn't have a team. I was working on my own. And you don't need to sign up to every networking group.

You don't need to market yourself everywhere. You need to find your tribe, I suppose, is the right way to put it. Find the right tribe and have people that lift you up and not people that want to compete with you or stamp on you to get ahead of you. 

Just finding the right networking group as well that will look out for you. Yes. No, I couldn't agree more. 

I think with my networking hat on, there are so many, you're so right, so many communities out there, aren't there? And you need to spend time and navigate the one that works for you. And I think that horrible feeling of people being competitive, to me, goes back to school and that feeling of having to sort of prove yourself. And you'll know that doesn't have to be that way. 

No, of course not. Absolutely. I think networking, people often go into networking feeling like they've got to suddenly sell and achieve business within the group. 

And actually, it shouldn't be about that. It should be about finding a space where you feel safe and actually everything else flows naturally from there. So true. 

Because I think as a host of a number of networkings over the years, I've seen people, you know, certainly visitors coming with the business card and it being rammed and then looking a bit disappointed by the end of the session when they think, well, I haven't got that one juicy client I was hoping for. And actually, exactly that, you go with an attitude and a mindset. And I always think, well, who am I going to meet today? What new friend am I going to make? And it's having that outlook, isn't it? Yeah. 

Yeah, absolutely. Just enjoying the moment. Yes. 

So never forget your why. So I'm going to add that to my homework list, then, Emily. No, it's so important. 

And you've covered so much. And I think the big takeaway for me is don't forget your why, because it's very easy to get lost. And you might say, compare ourselves to other people. 

And actually, this is our journey. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. 

Brilliant. Well, thank you for your time, Emily. You've been a perfect guest, as I knew you would be. 

And I'm sharing your website and all your social links in our show notes. So I look forward to meeting you face to face very soon. Thank you. 

Fantastic. Thank you, Rebecca.