15 Talk us through your day… My day generally starts at 8am when I skim through emails over breakfast. This gives me the freedom to pop to the gym/walk the dog/meet a friend first thing to get my brain working. As my children are now grown up, I have the whole day to work if I choose to – I generally don’t – that’s one of the things I love about this job! No day is the same. It may comprise a heady mix of social media, website updates, meeting advertisers, walking up the high street to check out new businesses… networking, researching events to keep our What’s on section up to date or... even chatting with local mums to find out what they need to know. What do youmost like about your business? I absolutely love the variety! What has given me the most pleasure over the last 13 years is meeting someone with a brilliant new business idea, helping them to grow and knowing Raring2go! has been instrumental in that growth. I also love networking and meeting people who have given me ideas to help build my business; ideas I can pass on to others. How have you grown your business? Networking in all sorts of ways has been helpful to me. By asking to be introduced to specific people I have managed to adopt a less official approach which I feel is more beneficial. I love the fun aspect of the business and enjoy relaxed meetings. How did your franchisor react to the Covid-19 pandemic? Our franchisor has been amazingly supportive. Annual, national, and regular regional meetings have kept us formally updated and supported in the past. The Covid-19 situation was a potential disaster for us as a business, as we need the support of schools. Throughout this time, we have had weekly zoom meetings and as franchisees, we have been very much involved in decisions about how we adapt the business. We all have the same passion that the magazine must work for our customers and so going digital during this time was a no brainer. The flexibility of our contract was a great relief during this time too. From a financial perspective our franchisor has also been very generous in terms of our monthly fees and very fair in terms of payments. AnyWOWmoments for your business? Last year I held some advertiser awards with 13 categories. Over 4000 readers voted. This was a wow moment on its own but the ceremony itself sold out with nominees and winners attending with the most amazing evening full of praise for Raring2go! Another wow moment was when I met a lady for the first time and when she heard what I did she was so excited and said she “absolutely loved” Raring2go! Also, being told: “Raring2go is the only place we advertise now” from one of the biggest theatre schools in town who used to advertise literally everywhere - was special. How do you stay ‘fresh’ with your marketing? Even though my children are 21 and 24, I still love the challenge of each new issue and creating new ideas for features. My daughter is teaching me the wonders of Instagram stories and how I can use social media to help market my business. I love learning new skills. Any advice you would give to a person considering Raring2go! The most important prerequisite for this job is a passion for your local area. I’m a mum of two grown up girls but when I started out, they were little, and we loved attending local events and activities. I have a background in sales which really helped, and this was originally a career move I chose to fit around the family. Now the girls have flown the nest, I still seem to be loving it! An interview with Claire Healy of Raring2go! St.Albans and Harpenden ‘That’s one of the things I love about this job.’ Claire, Raring2go! St. Albans
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDA0NjA=