Mackerel Fishing is a dynamic online research project gathering live research data on business leader’s response to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Aviatrix set out in March 2020 to share, learn and grow insights from over 70 leaders from a range of industries – hospitality to the NHS and different sized organisations– independent consultants to corporates with ‘000s of employees. Our intention is to gather and share insight so that we can re-emerge from the experience of the pandemic resilient, confident and with a sense of togetherness. 

I hate football. I grew up in a testosterone fuelled house with two brothers and a Dad who continuously argued about whose team was best. Week after week I watched them each become devastated and defeated by their own team’s lacklustre performance on the tv.

Last Autumn I completed half of an eight-week stand-up comedy course in Brighton. Despite my low class attendance I still wanted to attend the graduation ceremony so I found myself performing on a night club stage in front of a live audience of over 100 people! Video. This experience has become such a rich source of metaphors and life lessons that I feel the need to share.

Countless presentations and futurology sessions aimed at convincing me that the future is AI (Artificial Intelligence) have left me feeling depressed and uninspired. The absence from these events of any reference to the sheer wonder of the human being is both angst-making and disappointing.

100 years ago the suffragettes campaigned for women’s voices to be heard through securing their right to vote. All the women movements since, including the most recent ‘#me too’ campaign, are fundamentally challenging the same key issue; women do not feel heard or understood by society. This was as true then as it is today with most marketing messages failing to engage with how women actually perceive and experience their world.

Su Hardy is a hugely successful but reluctant entrepreneur, after 14 years of building her business she is in the final month of the business transitioning into Employee Ownership. We interview Su as she reflects and moves on to pastures new. Su has been true to her soul’s journey every step of the way, a “hippy” at heart she has run the business by using her instinct in the moment as guidance to find the next step resulting in a turnover of £2 million with 17% annual growth.

Aviatrix celebrated four years of being in business this Summer and despite it taking quite a lot longer than I had expected we have finally unveiled our new website – woo-hoo!

Aviatrix celebrated four years of being in business this Summer and despite it taking quite a lot longer than I had expected we have finally unveiled our new website – woo hoo!!

Imagine being part of a virtual world where you can listen in to your customers discussing your business. Imagine the possibilities of having a space where you can ask questions and get answers almost immediately. What if there are only certain types of customers in whom you are particularly interested? In a virtual space you can easily separate customers into whichever groups fit your needs – young, lapsed, female or high spenders, for example.

Nikki Hesford is an extraordinary businesswoman who has achieved a great deal in a short space of time. Nikki managed to make over £80,000 from savvy property investments with her student loans whilst bringing up her child as a single Mum.

Beryl Vertue set up Hartswood Films over 20 years ago and the company has been responsible for producing Sherlock, Men Behaving Badly and Coupling amongst many other TV hits.

Carly Read is an incredible business woman who retired in 2012 after building her third business to a turnover of £89 million.

Rosie Freshwater set up digital marketing agency Leapfrogg.co.uk, when she was pregnant, at the age of twenty-seven. The company has now grown into a thriving £1 million business.

Lara Morgan was born in Germany, raised in Hong Kong and educated in Scotland. She has a passion for business, in particular early stage business. Lara sold her 99% share of Pacific Direct for a life-changing £20 million in 2008, seventeen years after she had set up the company.Despite this success, she is still busy working for several small businesses – including Gate8 – and building Company Shortcuts into a business that will ‘change Britain in terms of its sales competence’. Most recently Kitbrix the best in triathlon organiser bags.
Lara is a straight-talking, intuitive, ballsy, self-made multi-millionaire, with a huge heart and a soft underbelly.

New Year is a good time to reflect, plan and perhaps employ some fresh thinking about your business. Are there areas in which you have become stuck? Nine times out of ten, all you need to do is go back to the basics and focus on getting them right.

Last month I went on a one-day conference with Michael Neill – creator of Supercoach and author of The Inside Out Revolution. He explained that by the end of the workshop we would either leave saying ‘thank you, that was helpful’, or feel ‘wow, that has had a real impact on me’, or possibly leave transformed, picturing the world in an entirely different way.

Aviatrix was recently invited to become the ‘female conscience’ of a hospitality business. We have been asked to help a well-known chain of bars give a female customer focus to the rebranding of their company.

Last week I returned from the Languedoc Roussillon region of France. Our family holiday was filled with some great moments as well as some challenging ones – particularly with my teenage daughter – and plenty of wine, cheese and sun!

Two nights ago I dreamt that I went running through the streets naked. Several fully dressed friends were with me, actively encouraging me to do it. Surprisingly my friends’ enthusiasm was not for a cheap laugh but because they felt that it would be good for me. Reflecting on the nightmare now, I can feel the deep discomfort of being exposed, having nowhere to hide and a pressure to carry on even though I really did not want to.