E133: Jessica Purdie

Richard:
Hi, there. I'm Richard Hill, the host of eCom@One. Welcome to episode 133. In this episode I'll speak with Jess Purdie, founder at Prikli Pear. Jess has over five years of experience working on the agency side of some of the capital's brightest niche PR firms. 18 months ago, she left London to follow her passion and started Prikli Pear.

In this episode, Jess talks about the transition from agency life to her own company, and how she overcame some of her biggest challenges while growing the business. PR strategies that actually generate the best revenue and results for businesses, and lots of free strategies to dip your toe into the world of digital PR in this one.

If you enjoy this episode, hit the subscriber follow button wherever you are listening to this podcast, so you're always the first to know when a new episode is released. Now let's head over to this fantastic episode.

Hi, there. I just wanted to take a quick break to introduce our sponsor, Prisync. Prisync is a competitive price tracking and monitoring software that can dynamically change your products prices on all sales channels. They work with brands such as Samsung, Sony and Suzuki to increase their online revenue. If you run Google shopping ads, like I know a lot of you do, this software is absolutely key to accelerating profits.

One of the reasons I recommend Prisync to my clients, is because you can find out what your competitor's pricing and stock availability is in one simple to understand dashboard, giving you a huge competitive advantage. If you have any questions about this software, or you are ready to take a 14-day free trial, head to ecomone.com/prisync. That's ecomone.com/prisync, P-R-I-S-Y-N-C. Complete the inquire form, and we will connect our listeners to the Prisync team. Right. Let's head straight back to the episode.

Hi, and welcome to another episode of eCom@One, today's guest, Jess Purdie, founder at Prikli Pear. How are you doing, Jess?

Jessica:
Hi. Good, thanks Richard. How are you?

Richard:
I'm very well. I'm very well. We were just chatting before we came on, and I think last week we had somebody from Austin, Texas, the week before we had somebody from San Francisco, and this time we've got somebody on now, Jess, who is literally about 10 minutes away, which I didn't actually know exactly where you were exactly. But yeah, 10 minutes drive from where I'm sat right now. So that's quite rare on the eCom@One podcast. It's normally scattered all over the universe. So great to have you on, Jess, how's things?

Jessica:
Yeah, good, thank you. I'm just gearing up, ready to move into the studio full-time, as of Monday.

Richard:
How exciting.

Jessica:
So my small business is becoming a reality.

Richard:
We love these stories, and we'll get into that during the episode. So I think it'd be great to get straight into it, really. I know you were working in PR, in London for a few years, so why did you decide to move from that career to then setting up your own business in Lincoln now?

Jessica:
Lots and lots of reasons, really. I guess in PR, I made it up to sort of agency manager level, and then I just realized this is all great, I love all my clients, I love all the opportunity and experiences, and my team as well, just absolutely love them, miss them, really miss the agency life. But it wasn't quite giving me the lifestyle that I want, really. I'm quite a country girl, from the highlands of Scotland originally, so I was brought up on a farm.

So I guess London was quite a big jump. And then I had lots of great experiences, but yes, again, there was no sheep there, there were cows, and I wanted a balance of that kind of country life, but then you can dip into the city when you need to. So I tried to move West London when I lived there, to try and get that kind of country/city life, but it still wasn't giving me it. So I moved up to Lincolnshire to have that kind of family support again, and that country lifestyle.

Richard:
So can I ask, I'm going to go back to the farming for a moment, because I actually used to live on a farm also when I was a lot younger, shall we say. I was brought up on a farm as well. So what was the farm then? So it wasn't an animal farm, was it?

Jessica:
Yeah, beef and sheep, we had. My uncle runs the farm back home, he's like my second dad. So yeah, whenever I go home, I was there last week, and we're always out checking the sheep together and-

Richard:
Ah, brilliant. So you spent a lot of time on the farm as a child then, you sort of grew up on the farm?

Jessica:
Yeah, every day after school, we'd just go out and help with shearing and rolling wool, and jumping in the wool sacks. But yeah, I suppose that's kind of my inspiration really, of taking farming into textiles and fashion.

Richard:
Yeah, it's interesting, the sort of farming connection, we've had a few people on from a farming background. And I think about my parents that ran our farm, obviously it's many decades ago now, but it's obviously so different now. When I look at, it's a very tough industry to be in, farming, and obviously all the different, like any industry really, it's moved on somewhat.

And the different diversification that farmers have now, and some of these amazing farmers that have, insane, whether that's, they're selling beef online, whether they're selling different produce online, and they've moved into the e-commerce space. I done a couple of episodes where we've touched on that. So it's great to get a fellow ex-farmer on, or maybe still in the farm. Yeah.

Jessica:
I'm just a part-timer, really.

Richard:
I drove past the for sale board for some land not long ago. Obviously it's quite a common occurrence where we live, because we're in the middle of Lincolnshire. For those that are listening, there's a lot of farms, and it's very flat, and a lot of farming communities. But I find myself looking online at the 50-acre farms, "Oh, god. Yeah, what if." It takes me back 20 years to my farming days.

So obviously now, farming to fashion, quite different. But obviously, I know you've taken some of the different things from farming into your fashion brand, and the fashion work that you do. I was just watching some of the videos actually that you've done, of some of the catwalk things you've done over the years. But how are you finding the fashion industry at the moment, what's the sort of vibe at the moment with fashion?

Jessica:
So I wouldn't necessarily say I'm directly in the fashion industry. I've taken my business into social enterprise community space at the moment, because I've found that the fashion industry working and fashion PR, it didn't sit well with my ethics and my values. So I wanted to create a brand that was totally transparent to the customer. So all of my clothing has the, who's made it and how long it took, on the labels. And again, with the transparency in the farming, it's taking it back to the fiber content, eventually.

So my brands are kind of a 360, and I found that there was a kind of community space missing within that fashion industry, where people can have a voice within my brands. So that's where I've been doing a lot of workshops, and having kind of hands-on days where we all kind of get together and I educate people about how to create their own clothing. So my brand's going down that sort of line, and I am only 18 months into my business, but I am feeling very comfortable with the journey riding that way.

Richard:
Yeah. That's brilliant to see. Brilliant to see. And how are you finding balancing, obviously 18 months in, moving from London to, I'll say to Lincolnshire. How have you found that sort of journey, and that transition, balancing, I guess quite a big move, really, quite a big transition in your life, to move from London to here. How are you finding that?

Jessica:
Yeah, I've always been the kind of person to just go with however I'm feeling. I just act on it straight away. So I've moved all over the UK, really. I've lived in lots of different-

Richard:
Hi, there. I just want to take a quick break from this episode to introduce something special. As part of the senior leadership team here at eComOne, I get very involved with store owners and senior marketers, when it comes to strategy and scale.

With scale in mind, we have decided to offer approaching seven and eight figure brands, a two-hour strategy session, with our account manager and management team to run through your existing marketing platform performance, as well as to uncover new revenue driving opportunities.

Simply go to ecomone.com/strategy, that's ecomone/strategy, and apply for a strategy session, and our head of growth will reach out to you directly and get the ball rolling to discuss your own growth. Let's head straight back to this episode.

Jessica:
Cities, and it's just kind of the same sort of move, really. When you know you've got to move, you've got to move, and I made the move and it was the best thing ever. So when I moved to Lincoln, I found the first six months was very much like, "Okay, who do we know? How do we get in here?" And then also, I need to talk about my business non-stop. So the first six months was just very much like day and night, day and night, day and night.

Again, the following six months is day and night, day and night. And now I'm kind of getting to the point where I have too much going on with that. I'm like, "Okay, staff." So I'm trying to scale back, and really get that work-life balance back, because the first year was totally work, life was sort of, yeah.

Richard:
I think that'll resonate with everybody listening. I think obviously setting up a business, moving to a new city, a new town, and getting yourself and your brand and your ideas out there. That's one of the reasons you're on the podcast. Obviously you met one of my colleagues at a networking event, a physical event guys, these things still exist, very much so.

Those that are listening in, and we're actually absolutely ramping up our physical events, in terms of our team's attendance, our own events, we run different master classes in our office. We're just about to launch a mastermind masterclasses, which are sort of intimate little group settings. And then the bigger events, say the 40, 50, 100, 200, 300 people events, some that we're organizing, a lot we're going to, and we've got probably about 25 events in our diary for this year. And I think it's-

Jessica:
One of them is in my diary. I'm coming.

Richard:
Oh, you booked in, are you? Fantastic.

Jessica:
Yeah. I can't remember for which one, but I've seen it on LinkedIn, and I'm definitely coming to one.

Richard:
Oh, fantastic. Get booked in, I would suggest.

Jessica:
Yeah.

Richard:
But it's all too easy running an e-com store, the guys that are listening in. So obviously you're sitting there and not getting out, but obviously meeting those people, whether it's an industry event. If you're in the fashion industry and you're listening to this episode, there's obviously a lot of different fashion events. And if you want to get to know that local network, there's going to be a lot of different local networking that I suggest you get out to.

And that's why we're on this podcast right now, because that's how Jess met one of our colleagues who runs the sort of, books the guests in for the podcast, et cetera. So yeah, it's great to get out there. So obviously 18 months you lived crazy times, by the sound of it. Lots going on, going to lots of events, getting to know people, obviously at the same time there's the commercial side of the business, obviously you were talking about before you got on air, you've just got the office space and you're running workshops. There's so much going on. What's been probably some of the biggest challenges so far, would you say?

Jessica:
The biggest challenge, financial. Without having financial backing, it's been like, take that last paycheck from my full-time job, and make it stretch out as much as possible, but being quite strategic with it. So again, coming from a PR background, PR we're like, "How do we get this by not paying so much for this?" So I've been applying to quite a lot of mentoring schemes and things this year, and having support from...

One thing I'm not very good at is finance and legal, and all of those things because I'm a creative and really find it just makes me switch off. So I've had quite lots of support in those areas, and I'm really grateful. So there was a scheme that was going out for the local council with Destination Lincolnshire and West Lindsey Council, so I just jumped on that and I've had some support to help me with my first tax return, which was lots of pressure.

But yeah, the biggest challenge, I'd say a long-winded answer is definitely finance, like if you've got some kind of family member or any person that will not give you a high interest loan, I'd definitely take any offers to help you kickstart. So yeah, that's my biggest challenge, and still is a challenge now, and it's still going to be a challenge for the next six months.

Richard:
I think, it's no big secret, but I would say probably 90% of the people that are listening to this episode, that is still a challenge. It's managing that, isn't it? And obviously in the early days there's a lot of different challenges from running a business, doing X, to a business doing half a million, a million, five million, 10 million, but ultimately finance, having an eye on everything. In the early days, you start understanding of what levers that need to be monitoring and keeping an eye on. Ultimately, you just need to be able to pay the bills, to start with.

Jessica:
Exactly. And it's also learning to say, no. So that's something I'm learning right now. I'm saying no a lot, and I have to because my time is so valuable right now. So if there's a popular day I'm getting booked on, I've got to really think, "Okay, I really love these people, and I really want to do this work, but I can't keep people pleasing." So that's a massive thing for me because I just want to do everything at all times, but I can't be everywhere.

Richard:
I would say, rewind the last 30 seconds, guys, because it's saying no to people. We had this exact conversation in the office yesterday, we had our marketing meeting for our agency for eComOne, and it was like, we've got a request for this, we've got a request for this. And some of the things were things like in the community, and some of the things were charity things, and some of the things were obviously clients.

So many requests, and we want to do them all, and we're so passionate about the things that we do locally, and the events that we run, but time some of these things take. So I was trying to get that balance, but ultimately for us, it's like, right, for our quarter we've got our targets for our business, and they're not all monetary, but of course there's an amount of time we want all of our team to spend learning.

And if they're not doing that because they're doing something else, that maybe we could just say no to, or if we're not pitching enough, ultimately everyone's got to pay their bills as well. So it is absolutely quite tough to say no, isn't it? I think definitely in the early days because you're like, "Oh yeah, I'll come to this, I'll do this. Oh, three weeks has gone by."

Jessica:
Yeah. Well yeah, I know the feeling.

Richard:
Or how much cash has come in through the business. Oh, okay. The rent still needs paying, we've got the mortgage, we've got the... Yeah, of course.

Jessica:
Exactly. And it's not just this business I run, so I'm an ABBA tribute singer on the weekends.

Richard:
Oh, wow.

Jessica:
And I also take lots of women hiking through Outdoor Adventure Girls. So we're about 15,000 members, our group of Outdoor Venture Girls, we go all over the UK and we're international. So every weekend I'm trying to keep spare to go and do my hobbies, and also be paid for them, which I'm excited for. This is the lifestyle I think that we should all be living is, live to your full and do things now.

Richard:
No, I love it. Trying to have that balance, isn't it? I think a lot of people will resonate that are listening that, we get out of bed and potentially jump on our mobile phone and check the orders coming in, or the emails coming in, and then we're still doing a similar thing at, whether it's eight, nine, 10 or 11 o'clock at night.

Well, you've got to get that disconnect, and obviously having those separate things, whether they're hobbies or side projects, or I always like to say it's good to have a side project that it might be work related or it might be completely separate, but obviously then there's obviously your friends, your family, your weekends. Sure, you're slotting all that in, book your holidays first, is what I always try and do.

Jessica:
Yes, that's good. That's what I'm trying to do as well.

Richard:
Book six weeks at the beginning of the year, and then it's like.

Jessica:
I also think it's really like, if you want something doing, give it to a busy person, because then they find time. And I think there's always time to do everything, but there's a lot of people that you talk to and say, "Oh, I haven't got enough time for the gym in the morning," Or "I haven't got enough time to go and see my family, blah, blah blah." But you do, it's just about prioritizing, isn't it?

Richard:
Totally.

Jessica:
And fitting it all in. That's why I've got diaries.

Richard:
So let's imagine we're 18 months from now, we're getting you back on. What we'll be saying about the next 18 months, from now till then. What are the goals, what are you aiming for in the next 18 months, with Prikli Pear?

Jessica:
18 months, I'd like to secure some grant funding, hopefully locally grant funding, to help me with studio rental fees, and then employee wages for the 12 months or so. I'm also going to be growing my female networking group called, Stitch and Bitch. We're currently Lincolnshire local, and in a couple of venues, but I'm looking to grow that all over the UK. So now we'll have a website for that, and that will go across focusing on areas such as Somerset, Brighton and Hove, and Perthshire, they're all areas that I have connections with.

Then also encouraging men to come into my workshops, and having options for kids as well, because I feel very female focused, but I'm getting a lot more orders from men now, which is really nice. So I'm just trying to position myself as a brand that's not just female focused. Along with this Stitch and Bitch side, I'm hoping to get up to a thousand members. We've got 250 at the moment, and within the next five months hoping to get five kind of board members onboard to help run those things.

And again, with staff, I currently have two freelancers coming onboard in the next week or so, so that'll be already ticked off by then. They will be doing marketing, kind of fashion marketing, and then there's another lady coming to help me with seamstress work, because something I offer to the local community was an alteration service, which was a bit of an accident, and it's just taken off.

Richard:
Oh, fantastic.

Jessica:
So I'm going to need someone to run it.

Richard:
So tell me more about the workshops. How does that sort of fit into the model, and how do they work?

Jessica:
So in the start, I found my goal is having transparent fashion, not in the transparent clothing, but transparent as in, we tell the truth about where our fibers are from and who made it. So we have that total kind of PR story, if you like, kind of behind of what's all going on. And within that, I think it's really important to have education, because if we're not educating, we aren't learning. So we need to educate people who are in these areas about where their clothes come, how long they take to make, what goes into making something.

So if we're knitting a jumper, it takes absolutely hours by hand. And I don't think a lot of people realize the price tag is quite reflective of the hours. We would never question a builder who's building a new house for you about their price, but you would question where your clothes' pricing's come from. But then again, we all need an hourly wage, and because we outsource our work overseas quite a lot, within the fashion industry, we are so used to not paying a lot for clothing, because it's so fast fashion.

So these are areas that I feel very passionate about, and would really love to work on. And the easiest way I could do that is by doing really fun workshops, bringing people together, educating people. And people leave with friends as well. So there's a kind of wellness side to it as well, that I'm not trained in that area, but there's the sideways talking. And I think all of these things are really positive things. So if I can break the ice, educate people, then I'm doing a little bit.

Richard:
Yeah, that sounds fantastic. That must be very rewarding work. I mean, when you think about, you get a quote for anything else, like I say they had the builder analogy, you don't sort of question what people are maybe getting paid per hour to lay your bricks or to build the house, et cetera. You may well have concerns about a very expensive top being made in certain countries and you think, "Well, how is that?" Yeah, there's a very big disparity in what potentially somebody's getting paid to do XYZ. Yeah.

Jessica:
And I just think it's just from lack of information, really. If you know your suppliers in and out, we should talk about our suppliers more. Everybody, we're all a big group going together to make one thing happen. And I always think it comes from just from the brand, "This is designed by blah blah blah blah," but what about who made the fabric, and what about that sheep that that wool is from, and what about everybody else that went into it? Where are they? We're a massive team, and I think that's totally missing from the fashion industry.

Richard:
Totally. All the way through that whole process, right from the area of the raw materials to the man or woman that made it, spent the 10 hours creating it or the two minutes making something all the way through to the transportation, all the way through to maybe the 10 hands it passes through, before it ends up on a shelf. Yeah.

Jessica:
Exactly.

Richard:
Okay. So I think what I'm really keen to dive into, is the PR side. Something we're really excited about in our agency, obviously coming from a PR agency or doing PR at agency for different brands. So what type of PR strategies do you think are the ones that are going to get the best results for our listeners that are, I think quite often when we talk about PR, it's usually one of the last used strands or the lesser used strands.

A lot of people are focused on acquisitions, spending money on Google Ads, and Facebook ads and their SEO, and obviously that's fantastic. I'm not knocking that at all. But when we start talking about digital PR, sometimes it seems to be a bit of a disconnect between, "Oh yeah, but what return will I get?" Sort of thing from that.

So what are some of your sort of strategies that actually generate results, that you've found that have worked? So obviously you've got it from the agency side, but you've got it from very much, "Right, I'm starting a business," and implementing things that need to work, because if they don't, as we said five minutes ago, it's-

Jessica:
I'm not having dinner.

Richard:
Yeah, exactly. So what's worked for you?

Jessica:
So I think it's really, really, really important to be on the ground in front of people, having that kind of tactile time with people in events. I don't know how we survived in lockdown, but I think that is just a massive thing for PR. If you're not talking to people and networking, and being involved with communities, and willing to collaborate that kind of community spirit, that's not going to work, nothing's going to work, I don't think. Alongside that though, there is digital things that you were saying.

People do pay Google Ads and Facebook ads, et cetera. I will be very transparent, I have a 10-pound Google Ad, and I have way too much work going on, but that's through PR. So I'm not focusing on kind of building SEO and things at the moment, because I don't need more traffic coming through. But the organic traffic I've created through PR is nurturing journalists, relationships, influencer relationships, and through nurturing those relationships, I'm helping small businesses, they're helping me. I'm going to loads of networking.

Alongside that, I've got my personal profile, which I'm trying to build at the moment, where I'm doing a little bit more interaction with other brands. So that social media engagement is a really great, free tool to do. The more you can put out on social media, the better. 80% of my customers come from Instagram and Facebook, and I don't pay for any of that content to go out. That's just something I do in the morning, quickly do something in the morning, pour my coffee, and at night. So these are really great, free tools for anyone starting up, that they can use. But later down the line, it's beneficial to partner up with marketing companies that can-

Richard:
Hi, there. I just wanted to take a quick break to introduce our sponsor. Prisync. Prisync is a competitive price tracking and marketing software that can dynamically change your products prices on all sales channels. They work with brands such as Samsung, Sony and Suzuki, to increase their online revenue. If you run Google shopping ads, like I know a lot of you do, this software is absolutely key to accelerating profits.

One of the reasons I recommend Prisync to my clients, is because you can find out what your competitor's pricing and stock availability is in one simple to understand dashboard, giving you a huge competitive advantage. If you have any questions about this software or you're ready to take a 14-day free trial, head to ecomone.com/prisync. That's ecomone.com/prisync, P-R-I-S-Y-N-C. Complete the inquiry form, and we will connect our listeners to the Prisync team. Right. Let's head straight back to the episode.

Jessica:
Help you build your content pillars for your website, doing SEO work, all sorts of things like that. And then look at your Google Ads and your Facebook ads. When you have an audience who understand who your customer is, first, then you can expand. And I think a lot of people make that mistake of rushing to pay Facebook, boosting posts and et cetera, when they have no idea who they're talking to. And it's so important to know who's that avatar, who are they, otherwise you're just talking to Jenny from down the block, she's not going to be interested in your product.

Richard:
Yeah, absolutely.

Jessica:
So yeah, I think it's being on the ground, understanding your people, and helping each other. Collaboration is just-

Richard:
Yeah, I think that's some great sort of semi-free ideas there. I think what I'm keen to drill in maybe a little bit more is, so I think journalists and influencers. So I think absolutely, obviously if you've got those, and obviously you've worked for several years in the industry. You've built, I'm assuming a couple of things here, but you built your own network and your own list of contacts, as anybody does that in their business, and get to know the right people or certain people, and they become your friends, potentially.

But for the guys that are maybe, they're doing pretty successful, doing a few million pounds in sales through their e-com stores, but they don't really have that sort of journalist side to their business, that influencer. I mean, they're quite different, but similar. What would you say about trying to start those relationships with journalists and finding those journalists that are in a particular niche? Have you got any particular sort of, a 123-step process of, "Right, if I was selling," and let's take it away from fashion for a minute, if I was selling lawn mowers online, that's really tricky, actually. Something that's maybe an outdoor product, a lawnmower, a hot tub. We talk about lawns quite a lot on the podcast, to be honest.

Jessica:
Okay, perfect.

Richard:
Hot tubs, outdoor furniture, grass products, garden furniture.

Jessica:
Okay.

Richard:
Selling that. We're doing a nice bit of turnover there. A couple of hundred grand a month, maybe. But I could do with getting in some, I really want to get it out there into different press, different media. What would you say?

Jessica:
Okay, so you'd probably start from, so who you need to go out to is people with lawns. So garden centers. I would make a list of every garden center that you would like to align with, if your product wants to be sold in there, I'm guessing, or online sites as well. So those that you maybe want to be in. So that's the goal. And then maybe have a look at those places and see which journalists they already have contacts with.

So see what press is written about them, and then you can jump off of those articles. I think it's about being really confident with just putting personal things aside. If you are the person reaching out on behalf of yourself, let's talk about the business, and just separate yourself from it, because it's really hard to PR yourself, "I'm really good at this, and I'm an award-winning blah blah blah."

Yeah.

Richard:
So when you kind of departmentalize that, it'd be a lot easier to reach out to those audiences. You also want to... Oh, there's a motion at the front door. Sorry, everyone.

That's a good outtake there. I love it.

Jessica:
She's always got to get involved, doesn't she? So yeah, I think there's that area of where you sit in the market, and also what press as well there is within that gardening sphere. So I'd always start with a list, have a look what's already out there. Your competitors doing a competitor analysis, but also if you're going to be collaborating with other brands, see who they're already working with.

Richard:
Yeah. We've got the local element, so we've got that list of journalists maybe, what would be the first sort of type of approach you might make to them.

Jessica:
Yeah. And I think also when you make that first list, that's what you're aiming towards, but you will add to it, and you will go off on other tangents as well. And through your research, you'll then be able to see who maybe is those kind of thought leaders within that community as well.

As well, I think it's really important for you as the lawnmower salesman to, or company owner, is to also be a thought leader in your area as well. So you'd probably be wanting to look into what events are going on locally, where you can do some panel talks, maybe you can do some school talks. Different things to make you position yourself as, "This is my industry."

Richard:
Yeah, it's funny, we're actually doing a series of internal lunch and learns within the team, and I'm actually going to do mine on lawns.

Jessica:
Are you? I'll have to come because my grass is dying.

Richard:
It's going to be exciting. The team can't wait. Okay. Yeah, so many takeaways there. I think there's obviously that local element, there's the national, there's the journalist, there's that working with different people who are at the different sides of the industry. It's not always like, right, there's different events, local, national, there's the different sort of strands, whether that's somebody more that's got a different stance on something, the bigger players that have got the bigger audience, but that might be harder and might cost more money potentially, depending on what's what. But so many ideas there, I think as you're rattling them through, and I'm thinking, "This is great."

Jessica:
That's just a brainstorm from me.

Richard:
Yeah, of course. It wasn't prepared, was it? I've just asked you off the cliff there. So how would you say that your background in digital PR has helped you this last sort of 18 months in your business?

Jessica:
I would say it's given me confidence. I think anybody who starts a business just needs to get over imposter syndrome. I suffer from it every day. I'm like, "Okay, no, I'm not good enough for this. Yes, you are Jess." I have to parent those thoughts. And I think that's probably where, you know me before the PR industry, I was a uni graduate five years ago, and me then I'd probably be way too scared.

And yeah, I don't even think I would have the knowledge of that there is that kind of network out there, and there is support, and all of these things. So I think it's kind of having, it's put me in this kind of situation where I've met so many people that are doing their own businesses. And I went, "Okay, well they're doing this, why can't I do that?"

And that was a continuing thought that I've had in my head throughout working for different agencies and different brands, it's like I want to get involved more, not just do the PR, I want to just build it from the bottom. And I have built some initiatives and brands from the bottom with companies through PR, and being with them, holding their hand throughout, and seeing it working is just totally inspired me.

Richard:
No, I think it's brilliant. I'm looking forward to getting you back on, 18 months time. I think we'll get you back on. But yeah, that imposter syndrome, we talk about it a lot. We've had a couple of people specifically, sort of six, eight months ago. When you're saying it, I'm like, "Yeah, me too." It is, isn't it? And it's having those things to recall on, to snap you out of it.

And some days it's harder to snap out of it than others, isn't it? But it's pushing forward, putting yourself out there. It's easy to say, isn't it? But some days you just need that little booster. But yeah, imposter syndrome. So I like to finish every episode with a book recommendation. Do you have a book that you'd recommend to our listeners?

Jessica:
So I'm not very good at sitting still, but I am trying to read more this year, and not just fashion-y picture books. So there is one book that I have started to read, and will read again when I have a holiday, is The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich, self-help book by Timothy Ferris.

And it's been recommended to me by loads of people, because everybody's saying, "Jess, you need to work less, you need to stop and be a bit more savvy," with where I put my time. So yeah, I think that's a kind of recommendation for anybody who's willing to be a bit more smart with their hours, and I really do want an income that's passive. So that would be fantastic.

Richard:
Yeah, no, it's a book I've read a couple of times, actually, probably about 10 years, been out quite a while. I think it's the book that really made Tim Ferris, who he is today, the sort of figure he is today, a very famous guy in the sort of online space, and personal development, isn't he? So yeah, a brilliant book. But when you figure out and you get to the 4-hour workweek, let me know, because I've been working on that for about 20 years.

Jessica:
Well, I'm trying to do half-day Friday, as I get student full-time.

Richard:
Yes, yeah.

Jessica:
I've never been able to do that. But now I've just got a new boyfriend, and I haven't had a relationship for a very long time, and he's actually been like, "No, we're going to do some wellness things, and go hiking." So it's quite nice to just be able to get out and have an excuse, and have somebody support you through trying to-

Richard:
I love it. I think the idea of a half-day Friday is, that's a really good thing as well. We do so many months or so many weeks of the year, half-day, in the business for the team, and it's something I used to do permanently with a half-day Friday. It's a little bit, every probably third Friday I work, and every second, third I'll have off. But it is nice having that little longer weekend, and to do a few more things that are not necessarily work related. So yeah, let me know when you... But definitely let me know when you get to the 4-day workweek, because that'll be great.

Jessica:
I will. I will.

Richard:
4-hour workweek, sorry.

Jessica:
I think it's just prioritizing better. If you've got four days to work, let's squeeze it into four days, and enjoy the other three days. Let's squeeze it in like we do with our diary, like we're going to make it all work. So I think it definitely is possible, just with any challenge, it's like putting it, like I have to do this and find a way to do it, isn't it?

Richard:
Yeah, I think four days is possible, but the 4-hour, I think is a little bit more challenging.

Jessica:
Oh yeah, sorry, four hours. But right now I'm like, I don't even know if we could do half-day Friday, but I'll try.

Richard:
Yeah. So great to have you on the show. For the guys that want to find out more about you, more about Prikli Pear, Jess, what's the best way to do that?

Jessica:
Yeah, you can visit my social media platforms or my website. I'm at P-R-I-K-L-I Pear, as in the fruit. And then my website is www.priklipear.co.uk. For anybody who wants to join my community networking group for women, that's www.stitchandbtch.org.uk.

Richard:
Brilliant.

Jessica:
I had to think about that.

Richard:
Yeah, we'll link all that up. So the guys that are listening right now, if you want those links, just go to ecomone.com/ecommerce-podcast, and you will find Jess's episode there, and the links will be in the show notes on the episode page. Well, thanks for coming on the show, and I'll speak to you in 18 months and we'll have an update.

Jessica:
Oh, perfect. I look forward to it. Thanks, Richard.

Richard:
Thank you for listening to the eCom@One e-commerce podcast. If you enjoyed today's show, please hit subscribe, and don't forget to sign up to our e-commerce newsletter, and leave us a review on iTunes. This podcast has been brought to you by our team here at eComOne, the e-commerce marketing agency.