In this weeks episode Chris & Helen talk open and honestly about whether or not bootstrapping their business was the right decision to make? Exploring past decisions and seeing what impact they have had on the business years later.

Now they’re filming the podcast in the office it makes life easier but they always end up jumping on the pod only half ready each week.

Did Chris overstep the mark when he made an “investment” as he puts it in some lego for him and his son, Helen seems to think not.

They discuss Chris & Helens different approaches to money, saving and spending it. Who’s is right? And they look at would they do it differently if they had to do it all over again.

Chris finally agrees that maybe he should listen to Helen a little more but will he regret saying this as Helen goes onto tell more?

Chris goes on to say that learning as much as you can means you’re in a much better position to be able to hire and buy in services.

They end by discussing looking at secondary schools for their son and how they always get a guy feeling when they enter a building, spooky or a sixth sense?

This week Helen and Chris touch on mental health, but more specifically mental health for business owners. They discuss the limited support that seems to be available for business owners and mental health and that we all need to make sure we’re taking care of ourselves.

The podcast studio has moved finally from the garden office and is now at Thread A Pixel HQ with a dedicated podcast studio space as they now threaten to have guests on the show. And Helen is finally stating to keep her audio levels down as she is now conscious she is recording the podcasts at work.

Chris is suffering from the dreaded man flu, the worst kind as he goes on to tell us, and tells us briefly why podcasts are so important and how you can leverage them for great social media content.

And finally, the dog Bella is getting in on the action and trying to distract Chris & Helen. Will she ruin the podcast? Will she be allowed on the set again? You’ll have to find out.

In this weeks episode we welcome back Helen & Chris from their Christmas break and talk about change in both work and in their personal lives.

But before they get into change they fumble their way from an intro as Chris struggles to get in podcast mode with awkward silences and lots of deep thinking.

When is it too late to say to someone “Happy New Year”? Helen thinks it’s already too late where as Chris isn’t quite sure.

Chris goes onto to discuss change at work and how it’s inevitable that change will come and both try not to burst into song every-time they say change.

To sum it all up Chris forgets to check the batteries on the mic recorder but doesn’t realise until the recorder switches off just as they start to wrap up the podcast.

Chris promises to do better next time and be better prepared.

Enjoy!

Today, Helen and Chris are in the festive spirit with their branded Christmas jumpers on for Thread A Pixel and reflecting on the year 2023. Both feeling grateful for various things in life and how we can learn to enjoy the small things in life and pat ourselves on the back for what we have all achieved in the last year. It’s not been easy for anyone, but sometimes we need to all reflect upon what we have all achieved both personally and professionally.

Chris wants to share about the movie documentary that he watched recently about David Holmes who was the stunt man for Harry Potter Daniel Radcliffe and how his life was turned upside down when he became unable to fulfil his normal role after a tragic accident.

His positive outlook on life even after this horrendous event was enlightening and truly inspiring and we would highly recommend to watch the program called The Boy Who Lived.

What a true inspiration he is. A coming-of-age documentary of Harry Potters Daniel Radcliffe and his stunt double David Holmes, whose close friendship endures a life-changing accident.

We all know life can serve us lemons, but what do we have to do? Make lemonade!

Whilst it’s certainly not always easy, it’s more than likely something we can all work on.

Shout out this week from Helen and Chris is to everyone. Well done for everything you’ve achieved this year. Take a few minutes to give yourself a pat on the back and reflect on what you’ve achieved. If things haven’t gone the way you want there’s always something to learn from it and take away from that experience.

Wishing you all a wonderful Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and we will see you all in the New Year after a nice break and time to plan for the New Year ahead in business. Cheers!

In this weeks podcast, Helen and Chris discuss how they have found running more than one business at the same time, and the pros and cons for this.

Running your own business is an additional rollercoaster in life, and in true Helen and Chris style they naturally jump in with both feet to run more than one business together alongside their family life too.

They both discuss honestly, the pros and cons they have found through running more than one business. Not only alongside each other but also working very closely with each other for all their businesses.

For them, they have found that it has worked well in the fact that the two different businesses being personalised gifts goes hand-in-hand with branded clothing and Workwear. Although they are B2C and B2B. They have been able to share resources between the two companies, as well as unit space and even staff which they have found worked beneficially towards both businesses.

As we know all too well through life, we can only learn from our mistakes and so this is what they have both done along the way in life, generally as well as running businesses from the ground up and have been able to learn from running various businesses what works well for them and what doesn’t and apply these to the new businesses that they have and will set up.

They both have an exciting chapter ahead with more focused plans for Thread A Pixel’s branded, Workwear services and Krakens media video productions and they are putting in extra ground work over the next few months to really power these businesses ahead.

Todays shout out is Hayley Windows , Kelly and Laura run a fantastic business there fitting some beautiful windows and doors across all sorts of buildings and Helen and Chris were lucky enough to have the buildings opposite their home renovated by the team at Hayley Windows and the workmanship of their team, completely transformed the buildings and allowed Helen and Chris to have a much more pleasant outlook from their home! So they wanted to thank the team at Hayley Windows for this.

This weeks challenge for Helen Vs Chris. Is are you a dog or a cat person? Helen used to be a cat person having cats when she grew up however, however since having dogs together for the past over 10 years, Helen is now converted to be the same as Chris, and to be more of a fan of dogs so for the first time ever, they’re on the same page in that they both agree they are now dog people as Helen is a convert but what are you! Are you a dog or a cat person?

And for those listening the email address is studio@mrandmrsinbusiness.com

In this weeks pod Helen and Chris discuss over hot drinks in the morning, how they deal with stress in their lives and how they have supported each other through this.

Once again, they are chalk and cheese in their approach to this, and what they have as their own levels of stress and dealing with this.

Helen speaks candidly about how some brief therapy got her through a tough time a few years ago, and they both agree on the fact that when we break our arm, we have medication and things put in place to help us through this tough time yet it still seems there may be a bit of a taboo around when our minds aren’t thinking straight and can’t cope with different levels of stress depression and anxiety. These levels of stress may look very different for different people throughout their lives.

Is the world we live in today more stressful than 100 years ago? Perhaps it is. Perhaps technology hasn’t helped with this, perhaps it has for some. What are your thoughts?

They finish the podcast with a shout out to counsellors in general for the hard work they put in and the understated help they offer to so many people through hard times around the world. Maybe technology has helped in supporting people in that therapy sessions are commonly done on video calls now I’m not just in person. But has technology helped with the social media pressures of the false lifestyle that is projected to us all from a young age?

If you feel you need to speak to someone about the tough times you may be going through there are different ways to try and share your problems, as Helen says she feels a problem shared is a problem halved, whether it’s friends, family or a private therapist. Helen and Chris at least both agree it’s good to talk.

This weeks Helen versus Chris is “When is it acceptable to get ready for Christmas!?” Helen and their son wanted to watch Christmas movies from this week being the second week of November however Chris thinks no one should be festive until the first weekend of December otherwise it becomes boring! At least they both have come to an agreement that the Christmas tree can go up the 1st of December, although Helen would prefer it sooner Chris would like it later! So when is acceptable to start watching Christmas movies and put the Christmas tree up in your house hold? What are your thoughts, are you a Scrooge or are you a Christmas fairy?!

Helen and Chris are back from holiday and would love to say they’re feeling refreshed. However it’s not the case. They’ve both come back with, let’s call it “plane flu”. Whilst it’s been sunny and they’ve been California dreaming on the beach, visiting Disney, Universal and spending quality time with family, the jetlag is playing its toll on them both this week.

They are filming on a Sunday and perhaps not feeling the best this week. Helen is going to run the show as such and wants to discuss together “are we there yet?”

This was stemmed from their son asking after 20 minutes into an almost 20 hour journey, “are we there yet?”

Chris and Helen naïvely forgot just how many times children ask “are we there yet?” “No Son , it’s been 20 minutes!!”

This repeated question got Helen to reflect on this question in life personally and professionally. Do we find ourselves asking are we there yet?

What do we class as being there and what does this involve? Helen and Chris discuss this further.

With a shout out this week to family for putting them up in California and allowing them to take over their home and feel so welcome. Helen and Chris have also taken away some new ways in life from staying with Helen‘s brother and sister-in-law in California with some new recipes and ways of living on the cards.

They finish this weeks podcast with Chris versus Helen. They discuss does pasta taste different in the different shapes? Helen believes it does being a fan of tagliatelle and the bowl shaped pasta to hold nice chunks of pasta sauce, but Chris thinks this is ridiculous and they are all the same! What are your thoughts? Does pasta taste different in different shapes?

Are you there yet or are you still on your professional or personal journey!?