Eat Love Do – Clare Honeyfield, Be A Changemaker & Carve Out A Fantastic Life At Any Age

Hello and welcome. This is the Eat Love Do Show, exclusive to Women's Radio Station. I am Ginny Newbury and I have a fantastic guest for you today. You are going to love her. I love her. I fell in love with her when I met her immediately online, and I've been cyberstalking her for many years. And we actually met in person for the first time last week at an event. So I was really excited and I had to immediately ask her to come on the show. And here she is. She's sat with me now. Well, opposite me, and I'm going to bring her on. But before I do that, remember to go over to our social medias, the Facebook, uh, Twitter, Instagram, @WomensRadioStN, and go to our YouTube channel, hit that like and subscribe because it really helps us and we love it when you support the show. So thank you so much. Um, anyway, without further ado, let's get started. So today's guest is the lovely Claire Honeyfield. She is a certified, um, high performance coach who helps business owners to overcome procrastination and self-sabotage habits and achieve lasting success. How amazing is that? She's got over 25 years experience, but I'm not going to go on about her. I'm going to let her tell you who she is. Claire, welcome to the show. Hi, Janine. So good to see you. Hello. Good morning. Morning. Morning. It's good to see you again. It was nice to actually meet you last week and give you a hug, actually touch you, a human being, not just someone I'm cyberstalking. We met online, didn't we? Online. We met online. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 100 squats a day challenge. You just did what? Oh yeah, you did my— yeah, when during lockdown I set up that, that challenge and you jumped on my challenge. Yeah, that was right. You know what, I did that and there was so many people actually started like health journeys and getting into shape off the back of doing that challenge. I just did it for something to do, just to help get, you know, people get through that time and didn't think much of it. And then so many of the people went on and actually like they got into shape or they felt they're motivated to do other things. Yeah, you don't always know as a coach, do you, that just doing one little thing can make someone span off to do so many other things. But anyway, anyway, you don't realize the impact you're having just by being online. Yeah. It's true, isn't it? Nice. Yeah, I think that's good for anyone listening as well, because you might— people like, you put stuff out there, you might be putting stuff out there now and thinking it's not having an impact, but some of the people that are silent and don't even like or comment on your posts are inspired by it and go off and change their life in some way. You might not think you're changing lives, but you are, just by showing up. Absolutely. You are right, Clare, you are absolutely right. That's lovely. It can feel like you're speaking into the void But actually, after a couple of years, you'll find that people have been following you for years and that they find your contribution really helpful and that they then go on to say, oh, you've really inspired me to make changes. It's nice when you hear that. I bet you hear that a lot. I've been watching your stuff for a while now and I think I comment and like on a lot of your posts. And I've watched you grow and evolve and I can see the impact that you're making and the change that you're bringing. And you, you're glowing. I can see that you're like, you're— and I can see the women's and men's lives that you've changed because I can see the comments that they put on your posts and stuff. And it's really nice. I love it when I see people doing well and helping other people. That's why I do this show, really. Like, I'm just like, you know, I love you, Claire. But anyway, tell people, for anyone who's listening, doesn't know who Claire Honeyfield is yet. I mean, hello, where are you? Where have you been? But just share with everyone who you are and what you do. Um, so I, yeah, coach helping mainly women, but everyone, to overcome self-sabotage and procrastination and build lasting success. I work with people who run ethical businesses, and I work with people who are setting up ethical businesses, um, people who've got ideas, people who've got to a certain stage and kind of get stuck and need a bit of help. Moving beyond that. When you say ethical business, what is it that you mean by that? Expand on that. Uh, people who run a business within their own values. Yeah. So whatever their values are, that their business is values-based, and that, um, they always put their values at the forefront of what they're doing. Yeah. And it's, and it's for the greater good, isn't it, of others? Not just themselves, not just lining their pockets like some people are out there. With the people, with people and the planet in mind. Yeah, I love that. That's lovely. Yeah, yeah, I love that. Yeah, I guess that I started farmers markets in the UK. So, uh, in the early '90s, I started running makers markets. What's a makers market? Uh, markets for people who make things like Not exactly a craft market. Okay, so it says what it does on the tin, it's a maker's market for people who make things, obviously. Okay. And then young kids and we went traveling for a year, came back, and I live in Stroud in Gloucestershire. Yeah. And the council wanted somebody to start a farmer's market. And they wanted it to be called Made in Stroud, which is what I'd been running, Made in Stroud Markets. So I went to see the Leisure and Tourism Officer and explained to him that was me, it was my idea, here's my cuttings book. Um, it had become an academic exercise. And I said to him, it was never about conferences and meetings and reports, it was always about community action. And he said, well, look, we've got £10,000 set aside for a feasibility study to see whether, whether a farmers market would work on this redundant site that we've got, which is a purpose-built marketplace. And I said, give me the £10,000, I'll run a market, and then at the end of 6 months you can decide whether or not it's feasible. Yeah, instead of sitting around talking about it, let's just do it. Yeah, I love that. Never tell, like, a feasibility study accurately predict whether something's feasible. Yeah, it's someone's opinion. It's going to be someone's opinion based on other people's opinions. So they need £10,000 to start a market. That is incredible. I love that you stepped up and said that as well. And you've just touched on a really big thing. And I think a lot of people do this. They try and work out in their head if something's feasible, like, is this relationship feasible? Is me starting this business feasible? And they try and work out if it's going to work or if they'll be any good at it, which is probably where the procrastination and sabotage comes up, which you will know about. And then they work it out and they talk themselves out of it in their own heads, and they haven't even tried it. And the only way you can know if it's going to work is by doing it. So I love that you've done that. And you know, that's proof, isn't it? You've proved it there. It happened. And, and I have to say that not one person believed that it would be a success. Wow. I ran it for 13 years. I then sold it to my ex-husband as part of our divorce settlement, financial settlement. He still runs it to this day. When I sold it to him, it was the most awarded farmers market in the UK. That is incredible. You know, I was thinking that I need a little round of applause button, like just me going, "Grrr." That is amazing. The amazing thing is that from starting with 25 stalls, in the marketplace once a month. It then became, after 6 months, twice monthly. Then it grew outside the marketplace. I had to get the bylaw on street trading changed so that I could have stalls in the streets because it was such a contentious issue in the town with retailers that there was a bylaw against street trading. Do you know what, you, you've Just in telling your story there, you've actually covered so many things that so many people go through. First of all, you said you had everyone around you telling you that it was never going to work. Nobody said it would work. No, not one person. And I think there's a real learning point there, because I think like when people have got a dream and they want to do something, and I'm sure you have this with your clients when they come to you, everyone around them tells them it can't work and puts them off because no one had your vision. Like, you had that vision, and the reason they couldn't see it is because they don't have that vision, so they can't see it. And that's right, they're not meant to see it. As long as you can see it and you stay with it, you stayed with it, you did it, you did it, you won awards. This is bloody brilliant. I didn't even know this about you. Like, yeah, you have to put this out there as well because this is incredible, Claire. And you changed the laws. You're like, the rules and the laws didn't work, I'm just going to change them. Yeah, yeah. Everyone else would just follow them verbatim, wouldn't they? You're a changemaker, Claire. Trailblazer. There you go. I love that. Thank you. First farmers market to win the Radio 4 Food and Farming Awards Best Food Market of the Year. That's amazing. Yeah. Wow. And I love that you sold it to your ex-husband as well. I know. Part of your divorce settlement. Thank you very much. You can have this. You gave him something amazing though as well, which is really lovely. He still runs it today. And, you know, when I sold it to him, there were 60 stalls a week. Yeah, he was a full-time employee, uh, as was I. Yeah, and, um, he ran it all the way through the lockdown. So when he wasn't allowed to run it, he did, uh, box delivery ski. Yeah. Yeah, uh, he still has 60 stalls a week, and every estate agent description of the town and of a property says, uh, Bohemian town with a thriving farmers market. That's amazing. What a lovely gift to give him. Why did you not want to continue doing it? What was your, like, the reason? Uh, because physically I'm 5 foot 2 Uh, we had a 7 and a half. Really high. I'm kidding, my mom was always really short. I used to give her short jokes all the time. Northern banter. It's so cool. Sorry, I couldn't even reach the pedals on it. I didn't have my driving license. I did used to put out the stools, but you know, in about I guess by my 40s that got quite tired, putting up the stalls. Yeah, it's quite physical, isn't it? It's labor. So at the height of that, I did have a really good six-pack, which I have at the moment. So there you go, there's a unique selling point there. You could get staff on, don't go to the gym, come and work here and get a six-pack. Um, and he threw in as part of the deal the shop which I had founded with him. Yeah, the Amazing Stroud Shop, which wasn't profitable. In fact, it was making a loss at the time. Yeah, so it was £17,000 in loss when I took it on, right? And it's now profitable, successful. My eldest son runs it now. So my son, my son 5 years ago said, could— look, I'm in between jobs. He had a background in sales and retail and is an artist. He said, I'm in between jobs, could I come and work for you? And I said, really nice of you to offer, but I really don't want to work with family, thanks. And he 'Could I just have a trial period? Just do the odd shift, fill in for you.' So I was like, 'Oh, okay.' So he came along. Obviously, I had last lived with him when he went to uni, so he was 19. Then when he came to work for me, he was like 30, completely different person. Turns out he's got really good people skills, really good sales skills. I was like, Oh, he's actually much better at this than I am. In fact, I've learned a lot from him about sales and people skills. That's incredible. And he doubled the turnover in the last 5 years. That's amazing. So you've taken something that was failing and made it successful. That's a real skill as well, by the way. Yeah. You've got that eye where you can go into a business that's failing and turn it over and make it profitable. That is incredible. And then you've got someone on and you recognize, which is what some people don't do because their ego thinks that they know everything. You recognize that he knows more. And I think that's the traits of a real leader, like leaders that thrive, like Richard Branson and Simon Sinek and people like that. They can see the potential in others. You've seen it in him and now, and you let him, like, you know, you've allowed him to flourish and you've turned it over 3 times. This is incredible. Yeah. This is a real inspirational success story. I'm like, I didn't know all this was going to come out, Claire. I'm like, yeah, I'm loving this. I'm like, it's in my ear. With 200 makers, the shop turned over, I think, £330,000 last year. Uh, it employs both of us full-time. We're totally— we're always reinvesting in the business. We've also got an online shop. Yeah. So when lockdown happened We were both a bit upset about having to close our business, really. We tried everything, you know, we tried to say we were an essential business, but then we would have had to— it's interesting, the difference between a family business and a corporation. We would have had to cover up everything that's not essential. Destroy from the start. Physically cover it. So we weren't allowed to do that. So we— he had set up this online shop in the winter of 2019. Yeah, in his free time. And he's got a family, he's got a son. And I said to him, look, you're spending all this time setting up this online shop. He used Shopify. Incidentally, he now sets up online shops for other businesses. Oh, so while he's at work running my shop, um, I'm really happy for him to do freelance work setting up— so he sets up websites for, for, yeah, people's businesses, for e-commerce. That's brilliant. Yeah, incredible. While he's at work, so he's like doing double, which I, I really encourage that. Um, so he, he had been setting up this online shop, and I said, look, you've invested all this time in it, why don't we set it up as a separate business with us both as directors? Because otherwise you're investing so much time and so much energy into something that you haven't got a stake in, and you're just going to end up feeling resentful. Yeah, so yeah, so we set it up as a limited company with us both as directors, um, and then like 4 months later the lockdown happened. So because it was a separate business, we were allowed to run it from premises using the same stock. That is incredible. And clever. And also that you've had the foresight to do that as well and to recognize that to bring someone on instead of trying to hold the whole pie for yourself, which is what a lot of people— this is my baby, you're just an employee. But actually putting someone on and getting them to share the pie grows it so much bigger and quite happily as well because they're doing like, you know, they're doing so much work for it. I think I love your mindset and your ethos in business and that you've done that. I think this is the future of leaders and the future of business owners. If everybody ran their business the way that you did, the way that you do, I think the world would be so much better. Like that, that, that, like to share, like to share greatly everything we've got and all come together. I love this, Claire. You are an inspiration. This is brilliant. Yeah. So the makers all set their own prices in the shop. Who does? The, the makers. So we work with 200 makers from soap makers to, uh, beauty products to honey to beer, wine, gin, to pottery, ceramics, clothing, jewelry, authors selling their books. They all set their own prices. It kind of makes it like Fairtrade. I love that. That's brilliant. Yeah, it's all independent. Yeah. So it's almost like you're like running a mass concession and you— yes, I love that. And you're giving people a space to actually sell stuff rather than just big business sort of having the whole, like, you know, this is brilliant, this just gets better and better. I feel like I'm watching really exciting movie that just keeps unfolding a new plot that just gets better and better. We don't wholesalers, we don't go to trade fairs. People apply to us. We have an application process. Wildly, they all live within the Stroud District. There's 200 of them. Yeah. We get applications that are outside of Stroud. I'm just thinking for anyone listening to this now, they have their own stuff. Yeah, we used to have guest makers, but we don't need to now because so many makers have moved into the area, right? Because there's a— it's that virtuous circle thing. Yeah. Um, yeah, so they set their own prices, they bring in as much work as they want to display in the shop. We handle the social media, the sales, the window displays, the displays. Um, so lockdown happens and we're both quite upset. I just thought of another, a bigger business for you. Like, my mind always goes into business mode. Like, you've got Made in Stroud now, you could franchise that into each town. You could have Made in Bradford, Made in Leeds, Made in I don't know, Gloucestershire or whatever. Yeah, and you could create a model and have everyone running the same thing, but you teach them to run it in the same way. You could go national with that. So my mind works big, big vision. Oh, you could do that if you so wanted to. Pardon? Every town should have one. Every town should have one. That's brilliant. I think that's I think it's such a lovely book, the way that you're running it, which is really, you know, collaborative and, and ethical. Yeah, I love that. Yeah. Um, so yeah, so we were upset about the lockdown, and after a week of being at home, um, his wife's a teaching assistant, so she was at home the first lockdown, and his son was at home. After a week of being at home, he came into the shop and he decided he was going to list everything in the shop online. Brilliant. So he just started listing everything, doing loads of social media, and we started photographing. We started doing click and collect. Yeah, before the government even said, oh, you're allowed to do click and collect, we started doing click and collect. And we started photographing the customers with their bags, our branded bags, outside our shop whenever they came to collect something, to publicize the fact that you could still shop from us. And then we started doing free local delivery in my Mini with the roof down. So that's still outside. We spent the whole summer driving all around the area delivering to all these little villages, and people were ordering from us to support the shop. Yeah. And also a lot of people were ordering from us because they wanted their photograph on our social media. That is brilliant. We would take their photograph outside their front door or by their garden gate. Oh my God, I love this. This is brilliant. Yes, sorry, we kept the brands going and then when we reopened we were just so busy and our sales have just increased, increased, increased that, um, I had to put my coaching on hold for a year. Yeah. So this December just gone, 2023, I was like, okay, we had a really good December, sales were really good. I am now going to properly focus on my coaching again. So I started a, a group coaching program in the beginning of February for women. And what's that called? It's called Together Community. Nice. Nice. Yeah. Uh, we meet every Monday morning for an hour on Zoom. Yeah. And people in the group are working on their identity. Their values, their habits. Uh, today we're moving on to, uh, goal setting. Um, how to identify what your goals are and then how to work backwards. Well, I want to do this by this date. If I want to achieve that by that day, how much work do I have to do? How am I going to split that up between those weeks? What does that mean on a daily basis? What am I committing to so that I can achieve that? I love that. You said then you help people identify what the goals are. So how, how might somebody do that? If someone's listening at home now and they're thinking, I don't know how to set a goal, I don't know how to know what I want or what my goals are, like what nugget could you give them that would help them? Well, it's about getting to know yourself and knowing what's important to you. Letting go of what society says you have to want. Yeah, letting go of what your family and friends say that you have to want, deciding what it is that you want, deciding what your values are. Yeah, wanting stuff that falls within your values so that you feel good about yourself. Yeah, because if you want stuff that's outside your values, you're just going to end up feeling really bad about yourself and never achieving anything. Now, for anyone who's listening— there's people listening that probably don't understand what you mean by values. So can you, like, expand on that? Really? Yeah. So my values are abundance, community, adventure, health, um, family, contribution. So, so what really matters to you? What do you want to who do you want to be, what do you want to give, uh, who do you want to work with. So, so we spent— we've spent a couple of months getting clear on all that in my group, and then that gives people the tools to really think about, so what is it that I want this year, what is it that I want in 3 months' time, So for me, when I started having coaching 4 years ago, before lockdown, 5 years ago, I wanted to buy a house, I wanted to write more, and I wanted to do my coaching more. I wanted to use my coaching more because one of the things I realized along my journey was that when I was running farmers markets, I was actually coaching the stallholders. So people would phone me up and they'd say, I'm a 5th generation organic farmer. We've got a herd of dairy cattle. Do you think there's a market for liquid milk? And I'd be like, yes, of course I do. Like, of course people want to buy grass-fed organic milk from a small family herd where the cows are fed on clover and they're allowed to keep their calves and wean their calves naturally. And wow, that's incredible. And then I realized that, that a big part of their success was someone believing in them. That's amazing. And I think you just talked about cows then as well. I think a lot of people don't realize, people think that cows are just milked, don't they? They don't realize you can only milk a cow that's just had a baby, a calf. Like, like a woman can only be milked after she's had a baby. And most cows are impregnated, have their baby, their calf taken from them, and then milked. Until they're dry, and then they're— and it continues, so they keep being traumatized. So, and they're very intelligent animals, yeah, and they cry for like 48 hours after their calf's taken off them. That's just heartbreaking, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think I don't drink dairy milk for that reason. That's lovely that you're actually— yeah, that ethics. I just wanted to point that out because I think a lot of people don't understand why that would be important and Yeah, it's lovely that you're doing that. I know, and I learned so much about food production by running those markets because, um, I got invited in 1999 when I started the market to be a founding member of the National Association of Farmers Markets by Sarah May, who started Bath Farmers Market 2 years earlier. And we worked with Nina Plank, who ran London Farmers' Markets and the Soil Association, the National Farmers Union, the National Farm Retail Association to decide what the criteria was for farmers' markets. So we actually decided, okay, it's local first. So we give priority to people nearest to the markets. But then we give priority to organic and free-range farmers. Then we give priority to smallholders and people who are growing stuff without spraying, who aren't necessarily certified organic. And then if people are producing things like, for example, making cakes, we would require that they would use fair trade sugar. Local butter, using free-range eggs, uh, local flour, uh, if they were making marmalade, like the WI would say you need to use fair trade sugar. So we spent a couple of years writing the criteria for farmers markets in the UK. So no cake mixes, um, seasonal fruit. So I learned a lot about food production. During that time. It's incredible, Claire. So basically you're responsible for all farmers markets in the UK. That's what I'm hearing. I started speaking at the annual conferences. So I used to, although I have no qualifications as, you know, formal, no degree, I used to speak every year about marketing. At the farm conference, and I used to, um, use the Californian farmers markets as a model for how to work with the community and involve the community, doing things like t-shirt design competition and outreach work with farmers. And then we got loads and loads and loads of funding from DEFRA and Um, the Lottery fund, like, half a million altogether, and we did loads of work with school dinners and sourcing and nutrition and getting school children out onto farms to visit them and getting farmers to diversify and getting the, the school dinners contracts, um, put out to tender so that small caterers using quality ingredients could supply schools with dinners. I love that because it's so important what our kids eat as well, isn't it? So I love— yeah, school— that it's like, I remember my school dinners. I loved school dinners. They're amazing. I still remember like the best puddings and that, and it's proper food that we had as well. It was like, I loved— best meal of the day really sometimes, and for some kids, the only meal of the day. It's that. I think that's great that you do that. And also, you're like a natural entrepreneur. Do you know that? Like, you've taken— you've gone into something, you don't have the degrees, it doesn't matter. You've thrown yourself in, you've learned, you've modeled another business that's working. And I think this is what a lot of people that do, that they start off thinking they've got to start a business or something and create something brand new. Just model something that's already working and make it your own. And you, you've just demonstrated that beautifully. And You've done it with like your heart and your soul. You've just been led by that intuition and heart and love, and you've created something amazing. So I think that's wonderful. You're naturally an entrepreneur, Claire. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, inspiring, an inspiration to all women who are like— but I mean it genuinely. I mean, thank you. Some of the women that I work with are So there's a web hosting and web design company who plant trees. Yeah. Who do green hosting. So for every client they work with, they plant loads of trees. They're a green hosting company. Um, people who are artists, people who run decluttering and, uh, tidying services. I worked with someone who set up a beautiful, uh, glamping site, left her really stressful corporate job, set up beautiful glamping site and an environmental consultancy company. Um, people who, uh, beauticians, yeah, all sorts of people, massage I can almost see you setting up like a Stroud festival and having everyone coming and sharing all their stuff on like, like a big, like a 3-day festival somewhere. You've got your friend that can do the glamping site, the beautician can come in and give everyone facials. Yeah, party in Stroud, the festival. Oh, this is incredible. So what's next? What's next for you? What— you spoke about goals and how setting up other people's. What are your goals? What do you want to achieve moving forward? So I want to be the go-to coach for women entrepreneurs who are running ethical businesses. Uh, I want to start talking about my, um, experience, my story, uh, and I'm gonna write the story of how I started the farmers market, so in the shop shop and how the shop was cooperative at first. The farmers markets were nearly cooperative, and I sort of got to the stage of setting up a business which was a cooperative, and then the farmer said, actually, could you just run it because you're good at that, and we'll just run our farms. It's brilliant. This is a really inspiring story. I'm, I'm listening to you, and I'm glad you said you wanted to put into books. I'm thinking She needs to put this into a book. This is brilliant. Yeah, this is, this is really, really inspiring. It's like you took, I think things happen for reasons, like you took that year off of coaching and you've had all that background and you needed to go through all that so that you can be that, that coach that people want to come to. And without all that experience, how could you be? So this is incredible. Yeah. Yeah. I love, I'm inspired. I love coaching women. But when they have those aha moments, when I say, why does it matter what people think? Yeah, it doesn't matter. Yes, I can do anything I want. Yeah, because there's so much conditioning to be a certain way, look a certain way, do a certain thing, and that there isn't that much opportunity to actually pause and think. Yeah. And I, I just was listening to someone saying stillness is the key to success. I love that. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, yeah, taking that time to sort of think about everything and consider what really matters to me. What really matters to me? What do I really care about? Yeah, it's true. I, I, yeah, I also heard this really good thing this week about what's the minimum that you want in your life. Mm-hmm. Big thing. What's the minimum you want from your relationships? What's the minimum amount of, uh, time you want to spend away from work? What's the minimum time you want to spend on the beach? Uh, what's the minimum, uh, requirement for your environment that you work in? And I just— that's a good question. It's such a good question because it takes that pressure off everything. That's what's the minimum you want in a relationship instead of what's everything you want in a relationship. It takes that pressure off. What's a min— what's a minimum amount of time you want to spend on a beach? Yeah, you can think of it like that. That's, that's brilliant. What's the minimum amount of time you— yeah, it's a really, really powerful question. I love that. I'm writing that one down, Claire. So what's, what's, what's your minimums? Yeah, I mean, I'm thinking about that. Like, I bought, I bought. Oh, yeah. So I was saying what my goals were 6 years ago to buy a house, write more. So, so I bought a house 18 months ago. You did. I saw that. It's a lovely house. You decorated beautifully. I've been watching on social media. Yeah, I love it. Do you know, I was so lucky. It's triple glazed and mega insulated. Yeah, it's an eco new build. So I haven't— yeah, so I haven't had to worry about my bills. That's amazing. Yeah, triple glazed, so it's cozy and my bills are quite low. And I've got those. And then I wanted to write more. I got approached during that time to be a contributor to two books which are about success. And then I got approached by a publisher to write a book about artisans in Stroud called Artisan Stroud. So that was published like the 2021, the December of 2021, and it was launched at book festival. And then I got to interview Mary Portas at Cheltenham Book Festival about her new book, The Kindness Economy, at the time. Um, I've become a columnist for the local newspaper. So all of those things that I wanted to do, yeah, I've done. So now I'm thinking, what next? And maybe I'll approach The Guardian and see if I can become a columnist for them. I remember you telling me you wanted to write more because I remember I asked you if you'd contribute an article to Eat Love Do, to, to my site, and you did, and it was lovely. I think a couple actually, I put them out there. And then you've just gone on and you've— it's just incredible watching your journey unfold. And you just— that's great. Yeah, you're really good and you just decide you want to do something and then make it happen. And don't overthink it. Like, my, my writing, I just write, and I don't, I don't sit there worrying about editing. Someone, someone told me writing and editing use different sides of the brain. Yeah. So write first and then come back to it and edit it. Yeah. So be about it being perfect. I just write. I think there's a great quote by, is it Ernest Hemingway? And he said 'Write drunk, edit sober.' I'm not encouraging people to get drunk to write, but I just thought that just tickled me. But it's that concept of, right, so maybe not drunk, but write like when you're in your flow and then edit later. Write drunk, edit later. Edit sober. Yeah, that's really interesting. That uses different parts of your brain. Yeah, yeah. When we're doing different creative things, it uses different parts of our brain, and I think Women do this particularly, and you'll know, and you coach with women, that we try and do like a million things at once. Yes. We'll split between doing things. We'll do this and do this and do that. And then that each of those different tasks uses a different part of our brains. So we end up exhausted and run down. Yeah. Rather than just focusing on one thing at once, which men are really good at, and then putting all our energy into one task and then having a little break and then focus on another task, and then we won't be exhausted. Exhausted and depleted. So yeah, I love that you've got that. And I don't try and be clever. I don't try and use big words. I just write what I think. Yeah, I usually write like my latest discovery in my, you know, my inner world. Yeah, what is your latest one today? Hmm, what is it? As soon as you brought it up Well, I'm, I'm in London at 100 Shoreditch because my brother texted me last week. My brother lives in Los Angeles and said, oh, um, I'm doing this talk on Sunday and then we're having dinner after, if you want to come. And I said, oh yeah, yeah, great, thanks, I'll look at the train times. He said, get a lift with us, we're getting a driver. So I did that and he booked me a room here and I came for dinner and it was really nice. And it— doing things spontaneously and having a business where I can work around spontaneous activities is brilliant. So, so this morning in my hotel room, I'm going to work with my coaching group. And you've given yourself that flexibility just to do it as well, because most people go, oh, I can't do that because I've got to do this work. Yeah. And you've just gone, no, yeah, I can do that, and I can just do the work from there. Yeah. Breakfast morning, I went to breakfast as soon as it was open, the restaurant, and I sat with my notes and decided what I was going to talk about in my group and what I was going to share. And it's like, it doesn't, like, it doesn't have to be an either or. Yeah. Yeah, I love that. And I like that you're taking that time to work out what you want to share and you're doing it. You get into that heart space and then you, yeah, and then you're pouring that love into your group. This is lovely. And also it's quite funny that you saw your brother last night. I saw my brother. My brother's down in town with his wife. Yeah, they went to Chessington World Adventures and I'm seeing him again today, spending the day with him today. Oh, happy. We're kind of brothers. Yeah. I don't see my brother often because, yeah, because he lives in Los Angeles. That's a nice visit though, isn't it? Heading over to Los Angeles. Oh, just gonna LA and see my brother. So what you said you mapped out this morning, what you're sharing with your group, what are you going to share with them today then? Um, I'm going to share about why we set goals. Yeah. I like that. Why we set goals. Yeah. How we prioritize. Yeah. Um, how we work backwards from the goal and the date to today. Uh, how we commit to doing some small thing every day. And how accountability can really help with that. Yeah. Because I think that's where a lot of people struggle, isn't it? They set a goal and it's really big and overwhelming, or they get started because they're all excited and then they're not quite sure where to go, so they kind of give up. And, or they think, oh, I'll just do it tomorrow and put it off. But having that accountability and having it broken down in the way that you're teaching them makes— means you don't get overwhelmed. Yeah. And having that accountability stops you procrastinating because you can't I don't know why humans do this, but we will do something more for the people than we will for ourselves. Yes. So having that accountability, it's almost like you're doing it for someone else even though you're not. You're doing it for yourself. You don't want to let down that person that's holding you accountable, so there's more chance you'll do it. It's like a really messed up thing that people do, isn't it? But, but yeah, so yeah, it's good. Powerful. Yeah, powerful. I was listening to Atomic Habits by James Clear last night. And, um, because that's the sort of person I am, I'm in Shoreditch hanging out, trendies, the hipsters, listening to Atomic Habits by James Clear. And he was saying it's about putting the energy into becoming the person rather than putting the energy into the outcome. So what do I need to become the person who can, yeah, regularly write a column or book and get it published, or, uh, set business goals and stick to them, or set personal goals and stick to them? That's the key, isn't it? Because if you become the person, you will naturally do it because it's just who you are. Yes. And if you're all about the outcome, then you probably will be so excited about the thing that when you get the thing, the thing doesn't make you happy. You're never happy with life. Whereas if you become the person, then you have some sort of sense of fulfillment anyway, whether you get the thing or not, whatever the thing is. I think the goal really is becoming a person. Yeah. Oh, I love that. I should write that one down. That's the real goal, isn't it, really? Let's be honest, it's becoming that person, becoming our most empowered, wonderful self and who we are, you know, and just loving and enjoying life. That is the goal. And the goals that we set along the way, the things we want to achieve, are just there to help us become that person. Yeah, I think that's— yeah, I love that. Yeah, that's it. That's just the goal. That we're just— we just sorted out the meaning of life, Claire. Oh, so what are you gonna do the rest of your day today? So you're gonna do your— you're gonna do your coaching thing? You're gonna go mooch around London? Yeah, my mum's here and my brother's here. So I'm going to do coaching thing for an hour and then going to hang out in London and get the train home earlier, uh, later. I'm going to get the train home later. They're going to the V&A when I get the train home. Oh, it's just down the road from me then. Is it? Just literally a stone's throw away. Move away. What question would you like to ask the listeners, our audience, that might, that might get them thinking about themselves? What's the question? What question? What do you value? Yeah. What's most important to you? Yeah. And are you honoring that in your day-to-day life? Yeah, I love that. I think that's the key, isn't it? Like, people sometimes think values is not the things not valuable things. It's not like an iPhone or a materialistic thing or a car. It's like the things that actually light up your heart and that make you happy. Yeah. And I think a way sort of to look at that is what are the things you think about? What are the things you talk about? What are the things you surround yourself with? What are the things you aim to have and be? Who are the kind of people that inspire you? And you break down all those things, and that there within all those elements lies what what your real values are. Yes. And sometimes people's environment doesn't reflect their values at all. So have a look around you when you're at home and just think, what does this say about me to me? Does this really reflect what I want in my life? Do I love these things? I literally, like Marie Kondo says, do they give me joy? I'm just about to say her, she's brilliant, isn't she? I love her. Did this bring me joy? Yeah, yeah. And if not, like, let someone else have the joy of it. Yeah, it's true. Sometimes people hold on to things because they've spent money on them, or they bought it maybe, I don't know, 10 years ago and it reminds them of that moment in time, but yeah, not who they are anymore. Yes. Irrelevant. Yes, it's not bringing joy now. Yeah. Hold on to things because, oh, I spent money on that, so I must hold on to it. Yeah, that's value. Money's not values. I think that's the— when you talk about values, then value isn't to do with money or financial value. The value that brings us joy, that's how we measure value, how much joy it brings. Just like a joyometer. Where is it on the joyometer? Obviously having money is really important. Yeah, like having— not miserable. Not having enough money is miserable. Yeah. Having enough money to do what you want is really important, and that's what I love to empower women to do and to have and, and to be that woman who can, yeah, go out and buy a new top or, yeah, whatever. The top that is that will bring you joy with who you are right now. Yeah, yeah, I love that. Yeah. So what's next then for you? What, what— I think I start— big goal, what's your big, big, big juicy goal? I think the book, the memoir of my working life, because I started writing little snippets on Facebook and people are super keen and keep saying, I want the next chapter, and I just Literally, I just sit and write it on my phone. So I think I need to make that into a book. Yeah, yeah, I think you do. I think your story is really, really inspiring. I think, I think you've got a bestseller there. Thank you. Really, because it's, it's real and you've lived it and you've done it and you've, you've gone through, you've done the hero's journey, you've come through and you've, you've revolutionized things and you've changed the world. You've actually changed the world, Claire, like just the things with the farmers markets and things you've done in Stroud, and you've changed the world for the better. And I think that that needs to be shared. Yeah. So that, you know, people can honor you and but also can feel inspired to go out and do that as well themselves. Yeah. You know, one time before, before I sold the farmers market business, I worked out by doing a survey of the storeholders of how much they take, worked out how much it generated in the local economy every year. And even then, 15 years ago, it was £2.6 million a year in the local economy. Wow. I know. Big, big. Yeah, that's amazing. Yeah. What would you do now? You know, if you could go back and change anything, is there anything that, you know, from— because we make mistakes in life, and that's— I think that's how we learn, isn't it, and grow. Is there anything now that you would do differently knowing what you know now? I would raise my standards in my relationships with men. Yeah, I think, I think I do the same. And I, and I do, you know, I don't, I don't, um I don't put up with low standards from men today. Yeah, I have no time for it. Yeah, I think that's a lot of things women have done, haven't they, in the past, like in our generations and before. It's almost like we were taught, taught as women that men were sort of the powerful ones and that we should, you know, it's, it's very different world that we live in back then, but the model, the model of what a relationship was when I was born and growing up, like almost 50 years ago now, it's very different to what it is now. Yeah, it's all been stalled in us. Yes. But yeah, I'm seeing a big shift and change in how people are around relationships and just understanding dynamics and personalities. And yeah, I just don't have the time or the energy for shoddy behavior anymore. I just think if you, if you can't be bothered to, um, be a fantastic person and be all in, then I can't be bothered either. Yeah, because there's so much, there's so much more fun to be had than hanging around with someone who's a Negative Nigel. Yeah, a drain, a drain on your happiness and joy. Yeah, not, not bringing joy, let's face it. Yeah, we should marry Kwan relationships. Just bring me joy or not. Do you pass the Mary Kwan test? It does give me joy? No, bye. Yeah, yeah, setting that. Yes, I think I understand. Yeah, I think a relationship, whether it's an intimate, business, friendship, or anything, it's like, does this— does being around this person bring me joy? Like, people go through bad times and stuff like that, obviously have to make allowances for that, but some people are just perpetually, perpetually living in a bad time, and they crave— they've just— they've basically not healed themselves and done that work on themselves, and they they're like a sort of a vacuum, aren't they? Sucking the joy from everyone else to feed themselves rather than healing themselves and finding that joy within themselves. And ironically, that would probably bring more people and joy into their lives. But that's a different topic of conversation, Claire. I have to get you on for another time for that one. That's a whole kettle of fish with me, I've been up. Yeah, I like that. That's— yeah, yeah, I think I think I would do the same, actually. I'm glad you've said that. You just made me think, mm, I think that's the thing I would do as well. Yeah. I do. When I date now, I just think, how much energy is this person bringing to this meal? Yeah. How much interest are they bringing to this conversation? Are they fun? Yeah. And are, are they, you know, present? Yeah, and actually, you know, I haven't got time for people who aren't. I think they're really good questions to ask, and I think if you ask those questions, the quality of the relationship you'll get will be very different than asking questions that a lot of women societally think is important, like, is he going to be a good husband? Is he going to be a good provider? Is he gonna, you know, is he good looking, is he tall, you know, all that nonsense that doesn't really matter that everyone thinks does when they're younger. Yeah. The quality of questions that you just asked then, that actually will create a better, you know, a better relationship, and you'd attract in and only have that standard, that high standard of someone who has those elements. Yeah. Of course your relationships are going to be better because it's based on love and joy and truth, and that's our inner connection rather than that superficial stuff. Yeah, yeah, I think that's okay. Yeah, that's lovely, Claire. I think that's a really lovely little sort of thing to end on as well. So before we end, um, do you want to tell people, um, what's your website, where they can find you? So my website is clairehenningfield.co.uk, uh, my Instagram and Facebook are The Claire Honeyfield. The Claire Honeyfield, I like that. The one and only. Funny. And I'm on LinkedIn and TikTok, although I haven't really sussed how to edit videos on TikTok yet. Right. Yeah, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok. And yeah, clairehoneyfield.co.uk. Great, great. So everyone head over there. And you're— what about your Made in Stroud business as well? Is that madeinstroud.com? Uh, the Made in Stroud shop. So that is, um, madeinstroud.co.uk. Brilliant. We're on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, LinkedIn. It's like everywhere. You can't get away from me. Which, which is your favorite social media platform? I love Instagram for images. Yeah. And I love Facebook for writing little stories, giving a little glimpse into my little world. Yeah, yeah, I think, yeah, I think they're my two as well. It's interesting because everyone's always got kind of favorite ones that they lean to, and I think lean into them. Yeah, you have them all, so you have a little bit of visibility, but focus on the ones that, that they're your two that bring you the most joy. Yeah, lovely. Oh, Claire, it's been an absolute pleasure. I've loved chatting to you and hearing all about you and your life. And this is— you've, you've really inspired me, and I think you will to everyone who listens and watches this. And, and I think what you've created is amazing. I can't wait to see what you're going to create over the next 10, 20 years, honestly. Just watch you get— I can see you up on stages all over now sharing this story. You need to be on a stage. Have you done a TED Talk? No, I need to do that. Yeah, get your book written so that you've got clarity on, you know, everything. And then if you share that in a TED Talk, that'd be really inspiring. Thank you. Yeah, I would, I would, I would watch and listen to that one, Claire. Yeah, I'm 60 this year, so I kind of Um, I really feel like, okay, that's kind of a round number, and now I need to do a lot of stuff. I love that. Yeah, you do not look 60. You look incredible, by the way. You look about 15 years younger. I think, yeah, you do. I think because you've got that youthful spirit as well. And I love that you're at 60 going, yeah, I've got so much more to do. There's probably many women listening to this that may be in their 40s, 50s, 60s, or upwards and thinking they're too old to start something. I know a lot of women fighting for retirement at 60, and I'm like, seriously? I'm 60 in August. I don't even feel like I've even got started yet. Why would you want to retire? Come on. Like saying you want to die, isn't it? Like, yeah, well, give up on life, retire from life. You love. So yeah, I think when people say retire, what they're really saying is, I want to stop doing a dead-end job that doesn't light me up and that I hate just for money. That's what they're really saying. Well, yes, I can go with that. Yeah, but, but really, what, what you are doing is a different angle because you've said you're setting up a life that you love. You become a person that you love that's filled with joy. So the choices that you make around career, it's not a dead-end job that's like a weight around your neck. You love it and you're bringing passion and stuff into the world, and that's your— it's your life. Yeah. If you go from that angle, why would you want to retire from that when it's, it's, it's filling you, it's feeding your heart and your soul and your joy rather than taking from you, and you just happen to earn money at it too? Yeah, exactly. You don't I'm here to say you don't need to work for corporations. You can live your whole life without working for a corporation. Or having a job. Or having a job, yeah. Claire, it's been a pleasure. Thank you so much for coming on. Very nice to be here. Everyone, thank you for listening. This has been the Eat Love Do Show. I'm Janine Newbery and my lovely host, uh, my host with the most, Claire Honeyfield. Do go follow her on all her social medias and look her up on her websites. And we are on 9 AM and 9 PM every day, each week with a new wonderful guest. Thank you for listening. We'll catch you next time. Thank you, Jenny. Thank you. Thank you, Claire. Have a lovely day.