11 - PR, Pilates and Parenthood - Ruth Stone on Making It Work

In this episode of Between the Bells, I chat with Ruth Stone, a dynamic entrepreneur who splits her time between the worlds of PR and fitness. 

Ruth shares her brilliantly honest journey of juggling two careers while raising a family, organising large events, and keeping her sanity intact. We talk about the power of conversations, the surprising efficiency of Google Forms, and why every single interaction could lead to unexpected opportunities. 

Ruth also gives us a unique homework challenge that might just change how you value your time. A funny, insightful, and practical episode full of energy and real-life wisdom.

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

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Transcript

Yeah, absolutely. Every conversation is an opportunity to connect and collaborate, you know, in all walks of life, not just business, but absolutely, I think. And sometimes it's once removed as well, because you'll be mentioning it, oh, my friend does that, you know, so it's not even necessarily that direct connection. 

I'm so excited to welcome Ruth Stone to Between the Bells today. Ruth will be talking about how she's juggled being a PR girly, and also a fitness instructor. And I love the way she's been able to balance both sides of her business life as well as bringing up her two children. 

So Ruth will share really interesting tool that works really well for a big event that she's running right through to her homework assignments. So you're in for another fabulous episode. Enjoy listening to Ruth.

So Ruth, welcome to Between the Bells. It's so lovely to have you on here. Thank you very much.

What a treat for me. I know we've met up at a few different events, but I'm finding these episodes so special because it's just a little snapshot into somebody's world. So I was delighted that you wanted to come on. 

Thank you. So what I love to do with this is kickstart with you. Tell us about your business journey, because I know you've got a great one to share.

Gosh, it's an ADHD essay, really. I've always juggled multiple plates. I've always, always done it. 

And my two primary streams have been fitness and public relations. And so I went into public relations pretty much straight after university, working in-house and then in agency and setting up my own business. But just prior to that, I worked briefly as a lecturer and you got free courses at the college.

And so I trained to be a fitness instructor. So I always managed those two things together. So I've always had those two strands. 

And at various points in my life, PR has been top heavy and fitness has been beneath and the other ones come up. But particularly when you think about your audience and what you're about, that sort of flexible working, having those things, being able to be a consultant and an instructor just allowed me to accommodate other things. Before children, it was traveling and now it's children.

It's other things. So yeah. It's really interesting. 

So I do a body combat class lately and my teacher is also an architect in the daytime. And I love that because I can see how it fits so beautifully, doesn't it? So it ticks the boxes on both sides then. It absolutely does. 

Yeah. Love that. So thank you. 

So if we go into our sort of initial bit, which is the quickfire question. So what favorite tools or lessons have you learned by running your business that you'd like to share? Well, my favorite tool hasn't been there all as long as I've been going. It's Google Forms.

I absolutely love a form. I have to organize so much on my own and I need to be able to manage my data really, really well. So for example, I'm doing this Wellbeing Festival in the summer and I've got 82 people who want to be involved either as storeholders, workshop presenters, talk givers and what have you. 

So they all have to fill in the same form. So I know I can just go to Google Forms and say, right, who's giving me their public liability insurance? I can click through to the document and then I can just pull out those who haven't said, oh, come on, send that document to me. And it is so good. 

It's it saves a lot of time than if everyone had sent them as email attachments and then I had to put them in a folder and then I had to look through the folder. So definitely Google Forms gets a massive thumbs up from me. Yeah. 

So I make people open their own Google accounts if they've got one, because I need that organization behind what I'm doing to be as efficient as I possibly can be. No, good for you. And then it gives that sense of streamlining, doesn't it? Because I know what I can be like, I'm trying to find something, hunting through an inbox, especially in an organizing event. 

None of us often will even recognize how many people have been involved in a single event. So you've clearly demonstrated the need for that efficiency. Yeah, definitely. 

And it's great. And the people I work with regularly, they're just they're just fine with it. And the good thing about it is a live document as well. 

So if you want to change and tweak what they want to do, they just go back into it. It's not like, oh, you know, this is my fourth version of what my presentation is going to be. They just I just get the most up to date version of it without needing all the various iterations it's experienced along the way. 

So it's really, really useful. Definitely one to use if you're doing any kind of group activity or event. Yes, perfect. 

And I guess, like you say, you can tweak it and make it as long or as short as you need it to be. So I'm going to add that to my list. Yeah. 

And then in terms of our bell ringer moment, then have you got a single most important takeaway or piece of advice? Yeah, I think it's one that I learned very, very late. It's just, you know, I used to sort of hide behind what I did. I didn't really talk to people about what I did. 

I'm a great talker about all kinds of things, and I always show a lot of interest in other people. But I think what you need to do, whatever environment you're in, you know, if you're in the queue at Sainsbury's or a formal networking event, just talk yourself up, just explain what you do and share your passions, because actually, sometimes the most random associations with people can bear some very wonderful fruit. And I think the more you get in the habit of doing that and finding out more about people, the more you see the opportunities there are to collaborate and connect with people far, far more than you probably realise.

So that's definitely what I would say is my bell ringer. It's interesting, and I wonder sometimes if that comes with maturity, because I certainly know my daughters cringe, you know, if we're out and I end up talking about something solely random to people. But I'm always saying to them, it's absolutely that. 

You just never know, do you? I guess, like me, Ruth, you're curious slash interested slash nosy, which, yes, all of the above. And that's what makes us good connectors, isn't it? I think then, because we've actually spent the time to listen. And that's what I think where networking can be amazing, but it can also be rather irritating when you've got someone that just wants to sort of dominate.

It's having that confidence to. But like you said, I've made clients through my friends at Bootcamp because I was doing a press up and telling somebody next to me what I did that then lent to some wonderful clients. Yeah, absolutely. 

Every conversation is an opportunity to connect and collaborate in all walks of life, not just business. But absolutely, I think. And sometimes it's once removed as well, because you'll be mentioning it. 

Oh, my friend does that. You know, so it's not even necessarily that direct connection. It's the wider networking that happens as a result. 

But I do take up your point about it being something you do as you get older. I think, you know, going back to calling it between the bells, I think once you're given birth, your whole processing changes in your whole, you know, that loss of dignity, that loss of dignity is never going to come back. And so you just don't care as much. 

And then you achieve so much more when you've got that kind of attitude. I firmly believe that. Yeah, no. 

And it's that openness, isn't it? For things to happen. And yeah, and not being quite so closed. Yeah, no, really interesting.

Yeah, no, totally agree. And then I'm not sure. Are you still doing a school drop off? Probably not. 

No, no. Well, we're lucky that we're walking distance from the school. And so my daughter's been at school. 

My son's at college. But he does train. He's in a basketball academy as well, and they've got an early start. 

So I still have to do the odd drop off and pick up. But that regular school run thing is a long time ago now, thankfully. Yeah. 

So have you got something you'd like to share from yours? So a favourite morning routine or anything? Well, it was just when, you know, it's like getting the kids ready all the time. So this isn't necessarily a business thing, but you know, I suppose it doesn't have to be business. Absolutely.

You remember that song Ready to Go by Republika? I think so. Do you want to sing it to me? Ready to go. Look it up after the podcast. 

Anyway, I used to just play it to the kids. I'm like, you've got to be ready at the end of the song. Shoes, bag, coats, whatever. 

And they responded. So they were trained like lab rats. I love it. 

And I got them on bikes really early as well. So I even used to cycle back on my son's bike sometimes, looking like a clown bike, just to get them to and from the school so I could crack on with my day. So yeah, I built efficiency in that way. 

Oh, I love that. So I'm a huge, I love Mel Robbins. And she always talks about, I was listening to one about preparing for motherhood last week. 

And she did that piece around, you know, get school bags out the night before, get as much as things you can. And I had a bit of a win this morning. I came downstairs and I'd emptied the dishwasher last night and I'd sort of thought, yes, I'm on a winner before the day's even started. 

It's that sense of being organised, isn't it, I think. But also, I totally take your point about the kids being bought into something. So you recognise something that would motivate them. 

And the song, I'm going to look that up now. That's a very good idea. It just brings everyone in, you bring it all together. 

Yeah. And it's just the song, just going back to the fitness thing and you did the body pump. I used to teach body pump. 

It was a body pump track. I'm like, I'm just going to play him that song. And it sort of worked and it worked for quite some time. 

You know, these things do have a shelf life, but when they were young enough to be persuaded with a song, it worked very, very well. That was your theme tune. Yeah. 

I wonder what they do now if you started playing it. They'd probably tell you something. I don't, I don't think that's that kind of podcast really. 

No, not for this one. That's my old policy one. Oh, it's brilliant. 

And then finally, your homework assignment. I'm giving you the role as teacher here. Yeah, well, I'm with your line of work. 

I'm sure you do much the same. And it's a discipline that I, I need to do a little bit more than I do currently. But I used to, when I was more full time PR, as an agency, we build, we build for every minute of every day. 

And so I would literally have a piece of paper next to me going, right, I started this, I finished that. And actually, sometimes it's a bit of an eye opener that you think, oh, that's only going to take five minutes to a half an hour. And you'd allocate an hour for a task that took 10 minutes. 

So if you've got time for one week only, I would say just spend just do a time sheet, just log your beginning and end of everything you do, work and personal life, and just do a little review of it and see how well balanced it is. And also, most importantly, make sure that you are getting value for money out of your time in terms of whatever your charging mechanism might be. I do have a chip on my shoulder a bit. 

And I don't know whether you agree. But I think us women typically will work harder for less money. And, and the example I always use when my kids were small, were obviously holidays, you want to put them into clubs as affordably as possible. 

But my son was really into coding. And so there's this coding club locally, I thought, all right, we'll go for that. It was probably three times the cost of typical summer, summer holiday childcare. 

But it was run by guys who worked in IT, and they weren't willing to look after your children for less than what they were willing to work for. And they obviously had a niche, so I was willing to pay for it. And the downside was, they weren't as nurturing, caring and as coated as us multitasking women are. 

But, you know, it just reinforced that attitude to monetary value. You know, time is money, are you using it effectively? And are you charging it responsibly as well? And comparably with our, I mean, I'm sure you've got male listeners as well to the podcast, but as a working woman, our male counterparts. Yes. 

Yeah. And that's an interesting topic in itself, isn't it? But I think in our heads, often we think something might take a lot longer to do, but equally, the other way could be case as well, can't it? Yeah. It's a real surprise sometimes, you know, and you think, you know, because you get so engrossed in a particular task, sometimes you have no idea. 

I mean, I've literally spent this morning posting events on Eventbrite and Facebook, and it literally took me three hours, even though it's just a cut and paste job, because the forms are different in each of those, you know? And I do it because it gets good SEO for my events, but it's a massive time investment. Oh, huge. And I think sometimes that's why bunching them together and you're in the rhythm with it is sometimes quite good, isn't it? But I'm the same with Eventbrite. 

And like you say, it gets good SEO. My LinkedIn locals, I get good SEO on the basis of that. But sometimes I might, if I haven't done it for a while, I forget. 

And I think that's that whole piece of actually being the most efficient that you can be with your time. Yeah, most definitely. And I have found so far that the AI version of Eventbrite doesn't come close to what I need to say about my events. 

Otherwise, that would be a massive time saver. Yes. I was talking to Heidi earlier, who's a guest about AI, and everything has its place, doesn't it? And I think a common theme for a lot of these podcasts are around efficiency, but it's also balance, isn't it? And actually getting that throughout your week. 

And I like your point around the timesheet for things we're doing in our personal life as well, because that's what it's all about. Well, that's why we do it, isn't it? We do it for a lifestyle or for our families. And so therefore, is the balance right? And could we afford an hour less a week on work and an hour more on family? In some cases, there'd be a yes to that. 

So why wouldn't you? No, exactly. But actually allocating that time to do a review. Right, I'll be getting my timesheet ready then, Ruth. 

Well, jolly good. I look forward to seeing it. And it'd be interesting if any other listeners do it, and whether there's some way we can look at that and get some stats out of your audience. 

Yeah, that's interesting. I've got the opportunity to leave a voice note for this episode. So like Ruth said, if this is something you're keen to do, perhaps spend the next week doing your timesheet and then report back, and we will be interested to know the data.

Yes. Oh, Ruth, it's been lovely chatting to you. Thank you so much. 

And thanks for all your input to our listeners. It's been brilliant. Thank you. 

Yeah, thank you so much. And best of luck with the podcast. Like I say, I love the name, and I'm sure it'll do really, really well, continue to do really, really well. 

Oh, thank you.