08 - From Corporate Escapee to Riverfront Entrepreneur - With Emma Tarring

In this episode of Between the Bells, I’m joined by the brilliant Emma Tarring – marketing strategist, corporate escapee, and co-founder of The Corporate Escape Club. 

Emma shares her inspiring journey from corporate life to running a flexible, purpose-led business that fits around family and real life. We talk about the power of keeping your offer simple, choosing clients who make you smile, and building a business that grows with you. 

Emma also shares top tips on tools she swears by, and her advice for anyone just starting out. This one’s packed with calm wisdom and practical gold.

🎧 Tune in and let us know what resonates!

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

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Transcript

I'm delighted in today's episode of Between the Bells to be joined by the wonderful Emma Tarring. Emma runs a business with her business partner in Neve and I often see Emma out and about at networking. She's helped me with various issues I've had setting up at exhibitions in the past. 

I'm really fond of her and it was lovely to have 15 minutes just with her on my own. We navigated a little bit of Wi-Fi issues so I'm sure my lovely mic producer will sort us out on that. But no, you're going to learn some really wonderful tips from Emma.

She's so real and authentic and I guess the overriding message of this episode is that you need to keep your business idea simple and not get carried away by looking at what everyone else is doing. Keeping it simple from the beginning and adapting over time is the crucial thing in Emma's book. So yes, I hope you really enjoy this episode and do feel free to share it with anyone you think would find it of value. 

So Emma Tarring, welcome to Between the Bells. Thank you very much for having me. It's a joy to be here. 

It's a treat for me Emma because we meet, so we seem to meet quite often but as I said before we started recording, I often have to share you with other people so it's rather nice to have you one-to-one with me and our audience. So welcome. So what's I'm loving about this podcast Emma is it's just a lovely opportunity for you to share your business story and which will naturally inspire other people and then we'll talk about our sort of quickfire questions and things after that. 

So over to you. Brilliant, thank you very much. Well I'm a corporate escapee of over two decades now. 

So I came out of corporate when I was pregnant with number two. Thought, always planned I'd have a few years out and then go back to corporate but life didn't quite turn out like that because it turned out my youngest had autism. So I realised I needed a more flexible way of working than being on the corporate ladder.

So I freelanced for a good few years as a communications consultant having been led the PR function and then at a networking meeting, women's networking meeting, I met the lovely Aneve Hutchinson and we thought we might be competitors. We were both sort of vaguely in the marketing space and we had the world's longest coffee. We realised that, you know, we have the bones of being able to make a business together. 

We've both got leads that we could partly service ourselves but we needed someone else to do other elements. She's digital marketing supremo, I was the sort of words messaging side of things. So yeah, we started up our marketing consultancy, the marketing matrix back then and then a few years later along came Covid and we realised that it was just, you know, the sort of joy had gone out of networking, hadn't it, when we were all stuck in little Zoom rooms and a lot of them weren't done terribly well. 

People hadn't really planned on how to take something online because it had all been thrown on us. So we kept going to these networking meetings online and thinking we're not enjoying this and we're not meeting the right people that we can help. So we set up the corporate escape club and it seemed to gain traction and it seemed to resonate with people who'd got a similar journey, come out of corporate, had set up, you know, small partnerships or solo businesses and were looking for that, the professionalism that you would have had with corporate but with, you know, with other small businesses and it really took off from there.

Well I love it Emma and I love the fact that you and Anib work so beautifully together because I've said to my franchisees, operators of the partnership, I think it's very brave because I personally don't think I could do it but with the two of you, you're a beautiful combination, aren't you? I don't feel one of you steals the other's thunder, you work beautifully together. Yes absolutely and I think, you know, the secret is absolutely shared values but very different personalities and overlapping skill sets really. So we've got an area in the middle we can both do but we have our own specialisms and expertise as well.

Yeah so that gives you the freedom doesn't it then and I guess it's clarity and boundaries which we all need, yeah? Yes absolutely, absolutely. How's it been with juggling family life? I suppose it's a totally different ballgame than if you've been in a corporate environment. Oh absolutely, yes. 

No it's given me the flexibility because anyone who's got, you know, a child with special needs knows that, you know, that you go through periods during the journey when you have to put a lot of time and effort in. I was actually talking funnily enough at a big corporate yesterday about how difficult it is to get, you know, to get that flexibility when you have to go to appointments and nobody says, you know, could you do Thursday or Friday? They just go, you know, your annual review will be at this time on this date and that you have to go with that and if you, you know, you have to go through battles as many people do when they've got special needs kids, you know, we had tribunal and that kind of thing. You have to devote a lot of time and you need that flexibility of work and to be able to do that. 

Yes, no absolutely and I totally get that because in the corporate environment where it's so rigid you must constantly be feeling you've got to ask for permission while where you're in charge it gives that place and that calmness doesn't it then to everything? Exactly, exactly. I mean it's not always ideal obviously but, you know, you can make it work a lot better and if you've built the right client base and you've got lovely clients who are understanding and they know that you've got this, you know, slight extra complication in your life then, you know, they tend to be very accommodating because, you know, those are the people you've chosen to work with. Absolutely and tell us about your beautiful office set up because I think lots of people will be envious of your river view. 

Yes, our office is in a 150-year-old boathouse right on the River Thames so we have the Thames in front of us and Walton Marina behind us full of lovely boats bobbing around and waters, you know, sun sparkling on the water and it was something, bizarrely, it was something I dreamt when Niamh and I first started working together and I said I've had this dream and we had this white riverside office, it was very white and we laughed because we had home offices and we said why do we need that and then we realised when we wanted to start doing group training and we wanted to do our networking group we needed our own space, you know, just renting spaces here and there wasn't working for us and Niamh saw this mossy little sign as she was cycling along the saying space to let and the rest is history, we've been there eight years now. That's beautiful and I love it, Emma, when you often will hold your events and then I see on LinkedIn lots of people and it's just such a beautiful view to share isn't it, not often people say this is where I've been today and it's, yeah, just looks idyllic and I've obviously been and seen you there, I know firsthand how lovely it is but it's an interesting concept isn't it, getting that balance. Yeah and a great cafe. 

Yeah, no exactly but getting that balance between being able to do some work at home but having that connection with Niamh and then your sort of wider attendees of the meetings and everything. I love how you pivoted and that's a wonderful example of reacting isn't it but also having that gut feeling of this is what's going to be right for our business but also is needed by the local business community. I think we describe it more as quite a slow seesaw than a pivot so, you know, we still have consultancy, marketing consultancy clients but the main focus of our business over the past sort of two years has become on the corporate escape club and growing that but it's been a very, very gradual and say like a slow seesaw really rather than a quick turn. 

That's going to be the theme of this of this chat I think. Thank you. Oh that's lovely Emma, thank you for sharing that. 

So, if we move on to my sort of quick fire question. So, I love it when guests can share a favourite tool or a lesson and I'm sure you've got a nice juicy one for us. Lessons, wouldn't it be lovely if we could stop learning lessons every day, you know, after all these years in business there's always lessons to learn.

So, tools, I'm a Google fanatic, you know, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Slides, everything just that that sort of shareability. We run our calendar in it, we run our tasks in it, you know, on G Suite I just think in it for a small business it's the value is absolutely stonky. So, we've done that right from the word go. 

And then another of my favourites is we do websites for clients, we either build them or we maintain them for them and we do sort of support them with very simple on-page SEO to just get them to that first level. If they need to go further then we recommend specialists. But good old Yoast in WordPress is just it's such an intuitive thing to use, good traffic-like system of, you know, working out your keywords, using some other tools to work out and then experimenting and fine-tuning, fine-tuning. 

I get a bit addicted to it, it's like if I haven't got a sea of green, of little green dots on my blog, I get obsessing. I'm such a visual person so then when you go in the back end and can see those green lights it's like, yes, you're right, there's so many tools that can over-complicate things. Yeah, no, really nice. 

And any others? We use Acuity for bookings, which I know a lot of the sort of coaches and consultants we work with stick to Calendly. But when we were setting ours up, we wanted to be able to take our booking deposit payment at the same time as actually making the booking all in the same platform. And that's what Acuity offered us, which Calendly doesn't. 

So, it's again, it has like all these things that you use day in, day out. It's sort of a love-hate of like, why does it do that and this kind of thing. But overall, it's a very good tool, but not all of it is completely intuitive. 

So, we did have, certainly had help in the early days with additional resources until we got set up and running. No, perfect. It's funny, I find it quite odd now if someone doesn't have a way of booking into a calendar. 

I think it's become quite an accepted thing, hasn't it? I got lots of different ones and I do love it. And I love that excitement when someone's booked in, which is a bit childish, but I said, oh, good, someone's booked in, that means we're having to share loads of dates. That's right, yeah.

Oh, brilliant. They sound great and they're ones we haven't shared yet. So, that's really refreshing. 

Thank you. So, in terms of your bell ringer moment, and this is often an important takeaway or a piece of advice, and I can imagine you've got lots of these, but what would you say would be your overriding one? Yes, well, I mean, my dad was my great business mentor, really. He'd sort of grown and listed on the stock market a very big business, but he was so proud that we'd started this micro business from absolutely nothing. 

And his message to me was always stick to your guns. And I think, you know, I do remember that because it's so easy to get buffeted when you've got a very small business, because there's always interesting conversations, interesting opportunities, and perhaps I should learn a bit more about this and a bit more about that. But actually, you know, sticking to what you know you're good at and you're world-class at and you excel at, and then finding really good partners, associates to do the other bits that you're just not so great at. 

And we, you know, we built a network of trusted associates that we work with, including an excellent bookkeeper, because that's what I need, you know, what we both need. So, it's just knowing your strengths. Oh, no, I loved daddy's advice, and it's that whole thing of just keeping it simple. 

And I think we're in a world, aren't we, where you can get so distracted by what other people are doing and those rabbit holes, and sometimes it's, you know, it's obviously good to have a sense of what else is going on, but I think the real value, like you say, is sticking, I would say, sticking to your own lane of the motorway and feeling comfortable and, yeah, what's true to yourself. So, that's lovely. Yeah, exactly, exactly. 

But, you know, as you say, keeping your antennae out for what else is going on, don't get so focused that you don't see things moving. So, it's a balance. Yes, yeah, but don't waste time. 

And I think it's just having that sense of calmness, isn't it? And that goes into, I guess you'd agree with me, that you're the people we surround ourselves with, which is where various networking things play a role, don't they, but it's building up your cheerleaders and your, yeah, the people that you get energy from is really valuable. I was just saying, somebody said to me, they said, oh, you know, you don't just have members of the corporate skate club, you have reigning fans, which I thought was such a lonely description. I feel you really do, Emma, because I hear that a lot. 

And it's testament to what you and Ani have created, isn't it? And you're clearly doing the right thing and people are wanting it. And I think that plays a huge part in, yeah, your success. Oh, no, brilliant. 

And in terms of school drop-off, obviously, like me, you don't do a drop-off anymore, but I'm just interested in perhaps you sharing something. Yes, absolutely. Well, certainly when, you know, back in the, when we started the business, I was deep in school drop-off land and because my son was at a specialist school, I had a 50-mile round trip school drop-off because I had my daughter locally. 

And then he was, he was sort of right down the other end of Surrey. So I would always go down there, walk the dog down there. And then by the time I came back, the traffic had all cleared and I would get back very quickly. 

So it was like I was given back that, that sort of dog walking time. And I also felt like that was the time when I could, I could part my mummy brain, you know, and stop thinking about that and get, you know, turn on my business brain in that period in the morning, that hour or so with the dog. Yeah, no, really interesting. 

And I, I'm the same. I think it's finding those little transition pieces are really important, aren't they? And I imagine your dog must have loved that being somewhere different and yeah, having time with you. Absolutely.

Yeah, but 50 miles, that's a big thing and it would be easy to sort of be irritated by that, wouldn't it? But I think it goes into that whole mindset as well of actually, how is this going to fit together and how am I going to make this work? Yes, yes. And I got very into online books and, you know, listening to, listening to things during the journey. So to make the most of that time.

No, really good idea. Yeah, I'm a huge advocate of, you know, podcasts and mixing it up and having some control over what I'm listening to as opposed to just having the radio on. Yes, yes. 

A mix of both. Yeah, that's nice. Yes. 

Oh, that's brilliant. Thank you. And then finally, Emma, and this is my most favourite section is the homework assignment. 

So I'm sure you're going to give us a good one. Well, when we work with corporate escapees who are first setting up, the very first thing we do is the foundation, the founding three planks of your marketing strategy, really. So that's making sure you've got your plan really clear, that you actually know what you're in business for, what are you trying to achieve, and that's for you in life as well as in business.

Then thinking the most important about the people that you want to work with. And we get sort of really detailed about this. So the clients that you want to attract to you, you know, not just what do they do and what do they need from you, but who are they, what makes them tick. 

We've always had a value in us that we only want to work with clients who are smiley. And that's stood us in brilliant stead over the years. Yes. 

Yeah. Yeah. Because you'll meet someone and you'll just think, never cracked a smile. 

We were in a meeting for an hour and there wasn't a glimmer of a smile. It's like a red flag, you know, is this who we want to work with? And then being really, really clear about your proposition about, you know, what you offer, what you do and the outcomes that you deliver. And again, trying not to be buffeted and not to go broad, you know, be really, really focused. 

It's much easier to start with a super focus and then expand from there rather than a lot of people trying to do it the other way around, that they go out with a very broad offer. And if you're trying to make any impact with that, it's just making it harder for yourself. Yeah, no, I love that because it all boils down to making impact at the beginning, doesn't it? And I think I often will see people sort of doing a scattergun approach.

This is everything I do and I can add more and more and more and actually it's just calming it down, isn't it? And people need to be able to understand what you do very quickly. That's right. And people, I think very much they have that sort of FOMO of like, but if I only say I specialize in this area, I won't get any clients in that area.

And it's just not true. If you become known for being excellent at one thing, other stuff comes as well. It doesn't actually close any doors. 

It just means you're more likely to get cut through and you're more likely to get referred and become known on, you know, in your networking groups and so on. And for that thing that you're brilliant at, and then you have those lovely testimonials to reinforce it, you know, it's just making life easier. Yes. 

And that's a lovely saying in itself, making life easier, because ultimately that's why we're doing this right, isn't it? To actually make our life easier in every aspect. You still have to do the work, but it just means you know that the work's going to move you in the right direction. Yes. 

Oh, that's a wonderful way to end, because I think it's exactly that, reminding ourselves why we're doing it. And actually, we want to enjoy the work we're doing. We don't want to get stressed by complicating or overselling things. 

So, yeah, I love that homework assignment, keeping it simple from the very beginning. And also, like you say, you can always add things on, can't you? And if your demand shows something else is needed, then you can adapt that way. Yeah, absolutely. 

Absolutely. Brilliant. Oh, Emma, you've been wonderful. 

I knew you would be. Really authentic and sharing a lot of knowledge in a very short time. And I'm sorry that our Wi-Fi was a little bit stilted, but you managed very well. 

So thank you so much. I've absolutely loved speaking to you, and I really look forward to sharing this with everyone. And I will see you at a networking, I'm sure, very soon, Emma. 

Absolutely. Very definitely. It was lovely to talk to you. 

Thank you, Rebecca.