YouSaid · the spoken record

Holly Tucker

lines on the record: 102
first: 2021-08-09
most recent: 2021-08-09
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Yeah, well, I can't believe this gets to be my life. Get to meet you. I'm a big fan of this podcast. Can't believe I'm on it. I was just saying that I was so nervous. I've only been on a few. I'm very good at talking to others. I'm so interested in other people's, but I'm not very, you know, I don't do this very often. So it's been an absolute honor to meet you. And I wish you your good life business in the future.”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I never explicitly said that to the team, but that's exactly what we wanted. It needs to be the book that represented the good life businesses, that someone was talking their language. And so that has been really humbling.”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“My god, I've written a book. Look at that person. Oh, that was me. Yes, I remember that. And because of COVID and timings and things like that. But the process is not an easy one, right? When the editor comes back and goes, could you just insert that thought into that paragraph? You think, really? Really, does it really necessary? And yeah, so it's just been wonderful. And as I said, having people, the amount it was shared, it was as if it was the community's book.”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I didn't at all. I didn't even realize, you know, it's like everything, isn't it? When you're doing something, you're not actually, you're so fast forward. You're like, oh, I've written that book. I really hope I get another book. You don't actually think about the moment, actually the book is born. You know, so you're all, you know, up to that point. And then you slightly move on, you know, you know, and then the book's launch. You're like, oh.”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And so many it's been helping so many people. It's just insane. And so, yeah, it's just one of those moments in my life that I can't believe I get to be this lucky.”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yes. You know what I mean? Well, that was the whole purpose for the creative bunch that our small businesses. You need to be able to love it. And it needs to be speak to you.”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And it's Sunday Times bestseller, and I'm super proud of it. And I hope that now writing books will be part of my life until that age that we speak about where I'm going to wear lots of jewelry, big glasses and drink lots of wine.”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Being passionate, your energy, you don't have to be great at the P&L, you have to be great at being you and we'll figure all the rest out at another stage, that you are the founder, that you're the heartbeat brand and purpose is one of the most important things that you can put into your business. And so there are micro chapters because all the small businesses that I virtually mentor don't have much time. So you can pick it up. Kids can be screaming. You can read a micro chapter. We created an exclusive product range so every micro chapter has a almost merch that goes with it. But obviously all the 50 small businesses that work with me actually do what they love and love what they do, which I just love that circle. It's a color book which was funny because business books normally aren't color. But of course it had to be color.”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Los of spelling mistakes and D's were B's and all this sort of stuff. But it was a wonderful experience and it allowed me A book to almost put down everything we've spoken about today, bringing colour to gray.”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I didn't write until four years ago when I started my Instagram account, Holly Tucker. And I now write a post every day. But I would have to get my founders to check the post because, you know, I couldn't do it. And, you know, again, they raised me up. They said, actually, you can write. So fast forward, how on earth could I write a book? So during lockdown one, I created something called SME SOS actually for my community. So I went live every day on Instagram to try and demystify the news, to try and be there for them, literally just be there 10 o'clock every morning. We're just going to be here for you and we can just do this together. But what they didn't know, I was also writing a book in the morning, first thing. And it was one of the most beautiful experiences ever because people liked who I was and how I wrote. And yeah, there was.”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, it's an amazing experience. I'm a dyslexic. So writing, you know, I remember not in the high street, so if you had to check it, all my emails. That wasn't probably great because that meant that I definitely thought I couldn't. And remember, she could rewrite the English dictionary. So it was probably the wrong person, but right person at the time.”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Holly and Coe is here when we're all valuing mental health as something that we do talk about, changing the world, purpose, our environment, all these sorts of things. And so that is what I'm excited about because we are able to pivot, able to move, and we're building something that is at the time that people need it. We're going to have a lot of displaced people and they're going to need to be entrepreneurial and they're going to need to probably have their own businesses. And that's what I hope we can do is provide them with the guide, I suppose.”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Interesting world that we're living in at the moment. I think what's beautiful for Holly& Co is we are right in the zeitgeist of what people are feeling. So, you know, when we're all looking at, you know, the freelance economy, when we're all looking at the changes, remember, not in the high street was built, when the high street was declining.”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You can't. And now you have got the war scars. You've got the battle scars. And then what's so fascinating, and I'm excited for you. Whatever's next You've had those hard lessons, and potentially what you'll build next is going to be your good life company. Where you can start resetting some of those things, rewiring for yourself. And we're lucky to be able to do it again. You know, that's an amazing thing. But, you know, it's never, do you care still about the business?”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That anchors my 90th birthday. I have an anchor, which is my vision, but I don't have to define it yet because I want to be around for that long. And how on earth we know as an entrepreneur, you don't, you can't tell me what's going to happen next year. You know, we can have a course, we have best intentions, and we can think that these people are going to be the A game. And so that has been the beautiful point. And that is the knowledge I'm trying to share with this community. Trying to help them understand that they're not a cookie cutter business. They don't need to be, they shouldn't be. And that's what I'm hopefully leading by example”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Of course. It's impossible. And that's what you then, you know, you're a chameleon, aren't you? And so you will behave a certain way. So with Holly and Co. That's the liberation I have Where I understand the value of raising someone up to the highest point of their lives, personally and professionally, they are rock stars. They've never, and they know that Holly& Coe was the reason for that. They were set free of anything they are, and they're going to be there for 20 years, and they're going to grow. So many businesses neglect history as a really, really valuable tool. What you've done before and what has worked and hasn't worked is incredibly important. I actually do value the want for people to become sort of the champions, I suppose. And so that is now the destination. Why I don't have the elevator pitch? I mean, who am I pitching to? You know, why I don't have the destination. I have an anchor.”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I want to exist in a world where he could be by my side in the future, where these group of this team that I've got can work with me for 20 years, where I take Fridays off and I go on a date with my husband. That's what my good life looks like. And so that is where I can see myself at 90 here. But I do ask people, have you looked at the future? Because you, by looking at the future, understanding that last point, you can work backwards because it's normally not all the riches, the Lamborghini, the, you know, all that thing that we see, don't we? Sunday Times Rich list, you know, is that is that really where we're heading? Or is it a world where our mental health is stable, we're with our family for as much as we can get when our health is good, where we're creatively fulfilled, we're changing the world, even if it's just your town.”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Know it's a lot of people don't, by the way. No one. So if you want to be in your business, you know, right now my son's working at Holly and Coast, training as a barista. You know, he was three months old. He is nearly 17. He towers above me as this strong man that I thought I was going to fuck up definitely as a baby. I'm so proud of him. He has his own business. That is the good life. I have brought up the next generation that needs to understand entrepreneurism.”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Because I really, you know, I'm of service. Know, I feel emotional when I talk about it. I want them to have the best life that they can have. And I really would live in gratitude because I'm experiencing it. And I want others to. And I think I could be the key. So that is my power. And so one of the things I say to people is, you know, they're not comfortable calling themselves entrepreneurs. They don't want to be an SME. Hi, my name's Julia and I'm an SME. They don't want, you know, so I say you run a good life company. You balance your creativity and your need to drop off the kids and pick them up and have family life and take August off, right? With your ambition, profitability, growth, and your own little empire building. Those are the two things that you balance. And that's a good life. You're not looking to get Necker Island at the end. You've already, and what I always say to people is, have you ever looked at where you want to be when you're 80?”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, I referred to it being a good life business, but I also want to abolish the word SME. You know, I think that there's a whole new language that even needs to come into business. And I'm not talking about businesses who want to float on the stock exchange. I'm not talking about tech businesses. I'm talking about 99.9% of all businesses in the UK are small and medium, right? I'm talking about that when the founders sat around a kitchen table in their slippers and has come up with a great idea. Now they find themselves with 50 people. I want to always remind them that they were the founder with slippers with that crazy idea and that I hear them and I see them and I feel them and I want to create something for them. So the good life.”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“People start coming alive. And so that is why Holly was, where my sisters say, you can't ignore that. And that was the moment. Holly, do you know how much knowledge you have in your head that you need to share? And there's this of-service part that came through. And I think as I rose from those ashes, as my wings became colorful. Service was written on my back, and that has now allowed me to put myself out there as quite a private person. But because I'm of service, it doesn't matter what I feel it's what I can do for others. And that has just been the, again, that's the fuel in my juriscell battery that just gets me up every single day.”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Business normally it's done in a certain way, in a 2D way, in a grayer way, and my plight was to help the dreamers, we have a phrase Dream Dabble Do at Holly& Co. I want to help the dreamers become doers and I want to help the dreamers go for it. And I want to help the doers never give up. And so that means you need to give business a facelift. And so that is what I'm trying to do is create a bubble, an existence for these small businesses to live in where I sort of with my knowledge have created a world where I answer the needs, you know, you don't need to have a business plan. You need to have a plan. You know, one day you might need to have a business plan to raise money, but you need to have a plan. And the second you take that, you pop that”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You can't ignore your bird's eye point of view that you had. That is unique to not in the high street. You saw thousands upon thousands of businesses grow from nothing to where they are today because all I was obsessed with was the common denominators. They all felt alone and yet they were going through the same thing. And I remember when we built Not in the High Street naively, I thought we could have a consumer site, but I knew very quickly that they would need a B2B site because as they were growing, they would need the tools. So I said to myself, well, we'll build two sites when we launch Not on High Street. Obviously, that didn't happen. Now that B2B site was on the agenda, not in the high street, every year for 11 years. And actually now I think that Holly and Co is my B2B scratch that I've itched. But when you talk about”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Oh yeah, but when you give them enough glasses of wine and you can sell anything to anybody, you can definitely tell them. So my sisters carry my actual sister, Gabby who left Not in the High Street and has become almost like an adopted sister, but with the founders of Holly and Co, they basically said,”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And actually striving for happiness, I think that when you can control your own destiny, you can work around your family, when you can be your most creative self, when you can answer to nobody, when you can dictate all of these things, where you live, what you do, that is a real source of going for happiness. And so actually people do ask me, why are you friggin' obsessed with business, Holly? Like redefining business. What is it about business? I'm like, it's not about business. Business is a tool and a key. Business is just the thing, the vehicle to get all these other things. And that is why Holly& Co sort of had to exist. I did say to my husband never again, you know, because he couldn't. Do you know what I mean? It's huge. The whole family goes through your storm, you're whipping up. But”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“What I had to be is Holly again. And Holly is only Holly, I think, with a business within her. And when I say business and what I'm trying to rediscover with Holly& Co and trying to put it out there is actually it's not just business. I believe creating a business makes you happy.”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“My sister was employed by Notting High Street. She left someone else left who's now my other co founder. And we would sit around my kitchen table. I decided to ditch the heels. So I threw away every single pair of high heels I owned. Today I'm wearing glitter trainers and I have done for five years to really say that actually you can be a very powerful, knowledgeable businesswoman and wear glitter trainers. And actually this is Holly. And so slowly I started peeling the spanks off the heels. I slowly started rediscovering who Holly was. I had some cheerleaders around me who had remind me on the darkest days. And I knew that creativity, like it had done with the vegetable wreaths, was there as my saviour.”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It's actually what I think it sounds like. What I think now I think it is, is grief Yeah, I went through the seven stages of grief. It really was a loss. You know, that was what I was, and especially as I'd always likened it to my child, you know, I had Harry, my real baby. I had not I street. Now I wasn't with my second baby. So how can a mother do that to start with? What happens when I'm not there? It's going to fall and I'm not going to be there to pick it up. So it was a very, very difficult process. But as I said, you know, I went through total grief. I got counseling, I surrounded myself with great people. I instantly had to start building. You know, it was the only thing I knew in my head. So six months later, I”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You just forget to even say you found not, you know, you were the founder of Nottinghigh Street, but you're nothing. So I had a couple of years that were maybe two, three years, two years, dark years, where, you know, at stages, I couldn't get out of bed. But, you know, see when I had to do it all again, you know, I had to look at my brand heart. I had to surround myself with people who could raise the Phoenix out of the ashes. But it was difficult. You know, I couldn't go to Events with small businesses, I would break down. I would have to leave. I couldn't see people that I knew. I couldn't meet socially with people because I just didn't know who I was. And it was just a very difficult time in my life.”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, it's a very, very hard one. I think actually so many more people need to talk about it because I think it's like a bit of a dark secret. It's that thing we're all bound by certain things, all this sort of our egos at play here. You know, there's so many, our shame, our, all those points. And I wish more founders spoke about this moment because it's your entire identity goes now. Now I had built I was, you know, hi, what do you do? I'm the CEO of Not in the High Street. Really? You know, when you wake up in the day, it's all those emails. It's all that responsibility, the pressure on your shoulders. Wake up the next day. What do you do?”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“What I was going to go through because I'm sure you've had people describe it. It is not funny losing leaving your business. If we relate it to a child, How does a mother walk away from his kid?”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Again, I thought I could do it all. And I just now on hindsight, my father had left a CFO two years before that. So I was sort of on my todd. I was now this woman with this group with these feces. And, you know, you're always plagued with the imposter syndrome. And I think that I allowed that to, you know, determine a few things in my life. Now I look back, thank goodness for that because what I'm doing today, I have never felt more powerful. I've never felt more holy. I've never felt more colorful. I've never felt more of a founder than I do today. And I'm in complete control. But when we go back to the story of the two times in my life that I lost my identity, might I not have ripped the plaster off if I'd known?”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Her children were at a different stage of life, were older than Harry. So again, as a mother, it's okay when they're little. And she gave me that great advice, you know. Don't worry, you've missed his first steps. He won't remember. But when they're doing their GSEs and A-levels, they frigging need mum. And so she, you know, I realized that I was.”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, there was. I mean Was a bit of a storm of lots of things I can't quite remember what was going on at that point in time, but it was, you know, another Christmas was coming up. It's going to be double what that is coming in, a very full C-suite, managing that group of people. Being at, you know, now VCs are really waking up, you know, what we're doing, where, you know, I think we were at over 100 million TTV. This was starting to become something. It was about internationalization, so doing it all again, but in other countries. And there was just this point that that needed to probably not be my existence in the future. ripped off the plaster and did it and decided to get a seasoned CEO to come and replace me. Sophie had left the business at this point a few years. Before, so I was”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The headphones on what sits and ribina, and I would just sort of shuffle them in there. There used to be a program called Mr. Britis, where she used to talk about putting the baby in the drawer when that was what Harry was. He was under the thing because Being a woman and a mother. No. You know, the kid doesn't come to work, even though I was the boss, but it was the mindset. No, we are tech female entrepreneurs. We have got to be a certain way. And so that was very challenging. And it puts a strain on relationships. And so that has just been difficult, you know. you know the downs are very down dark dark days when you're running out of money you've got to raise again but the business is going amazingly you have no choice let's do it again um and you know your family takes a toll”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, yeah, you know, definitely knew that. We were in a catch-22, though, you know, when you bring up a business that's providing the only income, there's no way how does this go somewhere? Because my ambition, you couldn't stop me. I was on the hamster wheel. I could see everything. You know, I always have to be reminded what year I'm in because I can see what the future is. I know what it is. So I just now need to make it happen. That's the part. So, you know, we nearly didn't survive a few times during that time, you know, being an entrepreneur and having a relationship is a very, very difficult thing because and having a young child, you know, Harry was three months old when I started NOS. If the nanny didn't arrive, he was put under my desk. You know, I remember at the age of two. He was under my desk. He had a DVD player. You remember where you actually put the DVD and you opened the screen and you”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Could I smile or laugh? You know, I found myself becoming a different version of me. One of the lines that Hollyenco is bringing color to grey. And I think I was turning gray.”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I was just in the motion. I was a hamster in the wheel. You don't know any different. You know, you just exist, don't you? Your whole purpose is to fuel everybody else, and sort of you realize that when you're not there, things go off the rails. And so you have this sense of responsibility. And every night I went to sleep, I would lay on my pillow. I would have my son as my responsibility. I would have my home. I was the main breadwinner of our home. But I would have the thousands of small businesses that if I go wrong ever, you know, a lot of them, 50% of them, relied on that this was their only income, their husbands had quit their job. You know, they were doing million pounds, two million pounds a year. Like this was my responsibility and the staff were my responsibility. So I had this heaviness. So how could I be light, Holly?”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I didn't look like I You know, I need to be that person I was brought up. Remember, I was 28 when I started. I was brought up through, not on the high street and the experience. That's all my reference point was. And so I knew I needed to dull motion and, you know, drive this and be this person. And I think I was probably in reflection tired of not being.”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I suppose it got to that point where 200 people, 5 VCs, I was chairwoman and CEO and things were changing. You know, I was. You know, 15 meetings a day, running to the loo with my PA who would then brief me as I was in the Lou on my next meeting to go into my office where it was already set up to be countlessly doing board meetings, you know, one board meeting would finish and we'd be preparing for the next board meeting. Basically being at At a stage where in any given day did I do anything that I loved, you know, my new book is Do What You Love, Love What You Do You know, I brought up this business that I loved, but every single day did I actually ever do what I loved. And there was that moment where I needed to make that decision. And it was a pretty... Damn painful one where I sort of realized I'd lost myself. You know, I was”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And so that's just been a brilliant lesson for me, but also a lesson that I now pass on through Holly& Co. You know, Holly& Co is all about me being vulnerable with the truth and hopefully inspiring other people that when they're growing their small business and they think they're going to hire the next person that's going to be the silver bullet. A, there is zero silver bullets in business, but B, Doesn't work without you. You know, for all your defects and all your faults and all your weaknesses, it just doesn't work without you.”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I loved it. So again, if I look at being a parent, I loved it, but I didn't enjoy them right now. You know, I found them difficult to live with, you know, and that's what I would say. It's you never lose your love. You never lose the, but actually what was happening was the process had become so big that the core of what I loved found a Titus, you know, the duracell battery. You know, that is why founders are unbelievable, should never be moved from a business, whatever, should maybe take a new role. That's okay because actually they don't enjoy the role of the operations. But that sort of Durol battery, when you take it out of a business, you know it. I'm sure you've interviewed many people that you something goes. The customer even knows it. Everyone knows it.”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Entrepreneurial spirit started being pushed to the side. And that was a very difficult period in time. You know, we were, you know, still growing so incredibly quickly. So it was a difficult moment to try and balance that state of growth and tech issues and operational issues. And funny enough, HR issues when you have enough people with that need to be what I call truffle hunters now. You know, people that can really find the most unique, amazing small business that will create the next bestsellers.”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We're not in the high street, we're not eBay, we're not Amazon, we are not on the high street, we are that beautiful mix because we know our customer. And so that was very interesting because actually what you need and require to be able to curate unique products and unique companies is creativity, eyeballs, taste. All these things that are unable to excel. You cannot put, you know, many times I've been asked, can you just please tell me the process between A and Z of a great product? And I'm like, you see, you even asking me that, my dear, means that you don't even understand what makes a great knot in the High Street product. So that was the difficulty is that suddenly you would get too much of the processing, too much of the operations. Everything was a meeting. Everything was a PowerPoint. Everything. And that room for creativity and life.”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And then you look at all the people there and you go to the kitchen that I would and I would. You'd be getting a cup of tea, and I wouldn't know the person to my left How terrible is that and also that you realize when you get that C-suite in, because that's what we need to do because we've now got VCs and we need to get the huge company COOs and the CFOs and all the C's, I call it, in that they just then recruit the carbon copies of themselves. So suddenly you've got an entire organization of mini Know of those people, and actually my gosh, suddenly the pendulum swings. So for not in the high street, remember, we always used to say, you know, we've got our marketplace hat on one day. So that is about trading the site and understanding what customers need. And then we've got our retail hat on, which is the brand.”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And now on reflection, when I look at that, oh, it's the people. So with Holly and Co, I've now got a good group of people that I believe our life is. And I'm happy to say that because what I believe is that they don't even know how great they are. And I'm going to shine their diamond until it completely shines. And that's dealing with their personal side, that's dealing with their professional skills. That's dealing with their whole self. And that is something I'm fascinated by. And I think I'm potentially going to build one of the most incredible teams that I've ever been lucky enough to manage.”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Time on. I mean, we interviewed absolutely everybody until the point that we had a C suite. And I always remembered my father saying that 90% of my role as CEO should have been the people. 90% of my role was not the people because how on earth could it be? I mean, you know, you were the next rays was happening or we were going international or, you know, we've decided to double the company in a year.”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Something I'm learning right now to do is that would probably be one of the most beautiful points of building Holly& Co is my team and investing heavily in the development of each one of the souls that I think our lifers with me. Now at Not on the High Street, it was the soldiers. You needed the energy. And then you get into the next stage, don't you, where actually those people by very nature can't stay with the business because now you need skill. And there's that awful moment where you're having to let people go for the first time and bring in skill. And to bring in skill, you now need to interview, don't you? And you now need to be able to know even what the skill is that you're even looking for as you're running at 200 miles an hour. And then it goes into that next stage where you're now looking for the people to run the people who you've just hired. And that process for me was not something I could spend enough time.”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Or is their salary low enough that's actually double bonus? Brilliant. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. It's a crazy thing. The hiring process has been, again, on reflection.”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But you're like, what's the worst? I think this would work out, right? Imagine if it does work out that the taxi driver is going to be amazing. That is great. Funny enough, it doesn't necessarily work out that way.”
2021-08-09 · The Diary of a CEO · NotOnTheHighStreet.com Founder: Rapid Success Lead To My Darkest Days: Holly Tucker · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT