Wow. What can I say? On Wednesday 3rd June I went to Downing Street! Me! What an experience!
A couple of months ago, I was lucky enough to have been selected as a finalist in the At Your Service category for the 10th annual Small Awards, run by Small Business Britain. That was a real ‘pinch me’ moment – apparently they had thousands of entries and little old me got selected as one of eight finalists in my category.
The awards’ ceremony was in London, back in May, and it was all a bit overwhelming. As someone that’s now far more comfortable covered in dog hair, outdoors with just animals to speak to, having to attend a big, loud event with lots of people I didn’t know, was definitely a ‘put on your big girl pants’ moment. And I won’t lie, when I went, it was still a bit overwhelming; I mean to be up for an award for something that was wholly and authentically me made me feel pretty vulnerable – I wasn’t quite sure I belonged.
It was a beautiful event for sure, with an amazing host in the hilarious Sue Perkins, at a gorgeous venue, surrounded by all these wonderful people behind other small businesses from across Britain. As brave as I was in attending, I still snuck out early so I could catch a quieter train home and recharge on my own! I didn’t win (obvs!) but I was up against big competition with equally passionate people championing the importance of customer experience. All the winners deserved their accolades.
What was completely unexpected was that because I’d been selected as a finalist, I was then invited to a special reception at Number 11 Downing Street hosted by the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves. This was a second ‘put on your big girl pants’ moment! Honestly, there was no way I was going to miss this one though – what a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, especially for a small business of one person that spends her entire time making up songs to sing to animals.
So off I went to Downing Street. By pure coincidence, another finalist in my category was also from Colchester, the unstoppable Amanda who owns Colchester Children’s Counselling – we met travelling to the awards’ ceremony so it made total sense to travel to Downing Street together too. We were lucky enough to gain access to the street early before anyone else and spent 45 minutes in absolute awe of somewhere we’d only ever seen on TV. But that wasn’t even the best part, that was having the absolute privilege to go inside Number 10. Obviously my mind was only on one thing when I got in there – where was Larry the cat, Chief Mouser? And there he was, right behind me, before he nonchalantly jumped up, sauntered across a very historical piece of furniture and settled himself on one of his many personalised cat beds. Larry could not have cared less whether I was there or not, but god was I excited to see him! What a lucky girl I was.
With the excitement of Larry still at the forefront of my mind, it was time for the main event, and off we went next door to Number 11 for the reception with the Chancellor. Honestly, what an honour it all was. I got to spend time speaking to some amazing people, making amazing connections and having some truly interesting and insightful conversations. I feel like it was all over in a flash.
I left on an absolute high. For me, this wasn’t just a professional achievement, it was a personal one. After all, there really is no separation between myself and Ginger and Tails, I am the business and the business is me.
Huge thanks to Small Business Britain for giving me that opportunity and making it possible. I’m a very happy ginger.
