Steph Douglas

nickyraby.com/shopnickyraby.com/interview-seriesSupport the show

Steph Douglas is the inspirational Founder and CEO of the gifting company Don't Buy Her Flowers.Steph launched her business in 2014 after having her first baby and being inundated with bouquets. She joins Verena to talk candidly about growing a successful business, raising her family and challenging expectations, including at home. The conversation includes:Why and how to ensure you safeguard time to think when growing your businessHow parenthood can benefit you in business 'Feminine' business traits and why they are essential skillsWhy it's critical our children witness their parents sharing the load Challenging societal pressures around female CEOs and driving for equality at homeWhy you don't need to run your business like The Apprentice or Dragon's DenWe end with three tips for anyone thinking about starting their own business.Find out more about the work of Leaders Plus, including details of our award-winning Fellowship Programme and our latest events by signing up to receive our emails at leadersplus.org.uk/newsletter.If you’d like to submit a question to the Big Careers, Small Children podcast please record it here https://www.speakpipe.com/BigCareersSmallChildrenApplications close 23rd March - take a bold step for your career and family today.The Leaders Plus Fellowship (cross-sector) is an award-winning Programme open to parents from all sectors who are progressing careers in leadership and management. Our Fellowship supports you to pursue ambitious roles whilst balancing home life, equipping you with the essential tools to thrive at work whilst still enjoying time with your family. Fellows get: access to a courageous community of peers who are also juggling work and parenthood expert guidance from your own dedicated career Mentor world-class training from industry thought leaders on developing your career support to deal with the practical challenges of being a working parent that arise day-to-day The Fellowship is open to all parents internationally who have children 0-11. Our Programme is inclusive and welcoming of all family set ups. We encourage applications from those who are traditionally underrepresented in leadership positions and offer online/ blended course options and hardship fund places to help facilitate this.

Founded in 2014, Steph left her brand marketing role, to pursue an idea she had following the birth of her children. After receiving eight bunches of flowers when she had her first baby, Steph realised the well-meaning bouquet soon lost its shine when you were the one filling vases, all while juggling a new-born and feeling overwhelmed.  Steph started sending packages to her friends who were managing the early days of motherhood, and she saw the real joy a thoughtful, tailored package, that was all about encouraging them to take a bit of time for themselves, could bring. With a background in brand marketing, Steph knew she could “sell” a product but the journey to building a retail business was new and unnerving; despite admitting she’s never worked harder in her life, it felt exactly like the right path.   Originally launching for new mums, the company now offers packages for all occasions, including gifts for him, workplaces, couples and more. Steph now has three children and lives in London with her husband, while running the business between London and her hometown in Stroud, Gloucestershire, where the brand warehouse is located. She leads the team across all functions and her team includes her brother as Head of Operations and some childhood friends who have roles in the Stroud site too.  Steph is passionate about building a business and culture that supports and prioritises the way people live today, so her team can thrive both in work and out.   Listen in to find out more about working with the right people, her "Great Britain: Number One - Parenting" podcast show and great causes DBHF supports.Find out more about Steph Douglas: Instagram, LinkedIn and podcast.Find out more about Don’t Buy Her Flowers via: website, Instagram and LinkedIn. A new episode EVERY WEEK, showcasing the journeys of inspirational entrepreneurs, side hustlers and their mentors. We discuss their successes, challenges and how they overcame setbacks. Focusing mainly on what they wish they had known when starting out. The podcast aims to give aspiring entrepreneurs the confidence to START UP and START NOW by showcasing real and relatable entrepreneurs. After all, seeing is believing!Join the conversation using #startupstartnow and tagging us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Don't forget to leave a review as it really helps us reach those who need it and allows us to get the best guests for you! Connect with START UP. START NOW. and to nominate a guest please visit: www.startupstartnow.co.uk.  To connect with Sharena Shiv please visit: www.sharena.co.uk.

This week is National Careers Week and Sarah and Helen are shining a spotlight of squiggly career possibilities with 4 conversations with people whose careers are as individual as they are! Today you'll hear Sarah talking to Steph Douglas, founder of thoughtful gift company 'Don't buy her flowers'. Together they discuss the realities of running your own business and how to overcome challenges along the way.In the rest of the series you'll hear career stories from people pivoting their career, squiggling and staying in organisations and creating their own unique opportunities.Ways to learn more:1. Join the live PodPlus conversation on 10/03/22 at 9am https://www.amazingiflearning.com/courses/podplus2. Sign-up for PodMail, a weekly summary of squiggly career tools https://mailchi.mp/squigglycareers/podmail3. Read our books 'The Squiggly Career' and 'You Coach You'4. Access free courses and learning on the government skills for life website gov.uk/skillsforlifeFor questions, feedback or just to say hello, you can email us at helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Adrienne is joined by the wonderful Steph Douglas from Don’t Buy Her Flowers. Steph founded her company in 2014, after having an idea for the business following the birth of her children. After receiving eight bunches of flowers when she had her first baby, Steph realised the well-meaning bouquet soon lost its shine when you were the one filling vases, all while juggling a newborn and feeling overwhelmed! The business has since expanded to selling gift packages for a range of occasions, including a collaboration with Stand Up to Cancer. Today Adrienne and Steph speak about business, and how to ensure you achieve the right work-life balance. Steph also has her own podcast The Don't Buy Her Flowers Podcast which sees Steph and a guest chat frankly about LIFE and staring down the ‘rush hour’ that many of us feel we’re living in.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode of The Therapy Edit's 'One thing', Anna Mathur chats with Steph Douglas, Steph's one thing that she would like to impart to other parents is that having children puts a unique pressure on a marriage and shares her advice for focussing on family foundations. Steph Douglas founded thoughtful gift company Don’t Buy Her Flowers in 2014. Prior to running the business, Steph worked in Brand and Marketing and then started a blog, writing honestly about motherhood, relationships and trying to be a grown up while never feeling quite like she knew what she was doing. Posts included ‘When New Mums Get Angry’, ‘With this ring, I give you my dregs’’, and the postnatal ‘Pulling up the Drawbridge’ post that went viral with over 110k views to date. Steph recently launched The Don’t Buy Her Flowers podcast, an evolution of the blog, that enables Steph to find out how other people are coping. Or not. The idea for Don’t Buy Her Flowers came about when Steph received lots of well-meant bouquets after her first baby, but felt overwhelmed by them and wondered whether there was a more thoughtful gift that offered TLC and encouraged the recipient to take a bit of time for themselves. Seven years on DBHF now has 20+ employees, is in it’s second warehouse (a far cry from Steph packing on her bedroom floor for the first couple of years) and saw huge growth during the pandemic as people looked for thoughtful gifts, allowing them to invest in growth as well as, importantly, increase donations to long-term charity partners including Cancer Research UK and introduce some new ones too. Steph has three children under twelve, is married to Doug and loves naps, gin and re-watching films she’s seen a hundred times so it doesn’t require her brain. Follow Steph at @stephdontbuyherflowers and visit the Don't Buy Here Flowers website here https://www.dontbuyherflowers.com

This is a repeat of our original conversation with Steph, first published 14 April 2020. We're offering this repeat as a companion to today's catch up episode of Quarantalks Season 2.---Today on Quarantalks I’m chatting with Steph Douglas, founder of Don’t Buy Her Flowers, about how her business has adapted to new restrictions and an increase in demand. We talked through the change in how she manages her team, how they’ve changed their marketing, and how she’s managed to get things done with her kids at home all the time as well. You can find us on Instagram @steph_dontbuyherflowers @thewhinco

Welcome back to Quarantalks, season 2!Last year we ran a special series of the Whin Big podcast where we interviewed small business owners and experts on how the pandemic affected their lives and their businesses.Now, a whole year later, I'm catching up with a few of our former guests to see what difference a year makes.Head to thewhin.co/podcast to listen to Season 1, and find links to connect with today's guest online.Today I'm catching up with Steph Douglas, owner and founder of Don't Buy Her Flowers. Orders for their personalised gift packages have been through the roof since the first lockdown was announced, and Steph talked about how that had been for her, and what she thinks the long-term impact will be on the business.

Steph Douglas is a businesswoman, mother of three, wife of Doug, and founder of the thoughtful gift company she started after realising that sometimes - when we’re in need of a pick me up - we might not want another thing we have to look after. Steph has a dedicated Instagram following thanks to hilarious and occasionally heart-breaking posts about family life, her husband’s cancer treatment and the strains of running a business.  She’s a fellow firm believer that being more honest and vulnerable makes things better for everyone and says: ‘As hard and lonely as it has been at times, I’ve slowly realised there’s nothing unique about my experience. It only takes a few random conversations … and you quickly find that most of us feel the same.’ In this episode, Steph and Helen talk about: Cancer diagnosis and treatment So called body positivity movement and eating disorders The three day cycle Cancer diagnosis and treatment Parenthood Work stress and burnout The struggle to look after our mental health Redirecting our wasted capacity Trigger: eating disorders, cancerFind out more about Steph on her blog Sisterhood (And All That) at Don’t Buy Her Flowers or follow Steph on Instagram @steph_dontbuyherflowersFollow Helen on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook @MsHelenRussellRead more about Helen’s new book, How To Be Sad at Waterstones, Amazon or Apple.Get in touch with the show at howtobesadpodcast@gmail.comThanks to Joel Grove for production and to Matt Clacher at HarperCollins for making this podcast happen.

When you’re rushing through the mayhem of life it is sometimes hard to stop and consider what someone would actually want as a gift. New mum. Flowers. Tick. Mother-in-law Birthday. Flowers. Tick. Best friend’s heart break. Flowers. Tick. But Steph Douglas, the founder of the alternative gift company Don’t Buy Her Flowers has another idea – gifts that require no effort but that produce a little pocket of TLC. In this episode Steph tells the story of how life can get in the way of connecting properly to those around us. She set up her company to help those connections go a bit deeper through thoughtful gifts that people actually want. She gives tips on the best thing to say to a new mum (“you must be shattered” doesn’t cut it), advises you not knock the day job (having a salary and colleagues to chew the cud with shouldn’t be underestimated) and how it’s ok to lower your domestic standards to get just get on with life!