The Countrywoman’s Guide to Work, Life & You…

Here at CWG, we’ve had a busy old few weeks. With visits to the Game Fair and Defender Burghley Horse Trials and the launch of our Countrywoman paid membership, it doesn’t feel like our feet have touched the ground really.
The Game Fair is one of our favourite events and it certainly didn’t disappoint. Clear Scribbles, Charlotte Hurst and I went up on the day for Friday and it totally lived up to its reputation as a proper country day out. We’ve got a post coming up covering it in more detail very soon and have secured podcast dates to share some great brands we discovered.
Burghley Horse Trials is one of the premier events of the Equestrian Eventing calendar, with its elite 5* eventing competition and an extensive shopping village. Charlotte and I went up to Stamford for a few days to see all the action. It’s always a treat to be there with our Hiho Silver stand, and getting to see all the horses and competitors up close when Hiho judges at the Fairfax & Favor Best dressed at the First trot-up.
On August 5th, we launched our Countrywoman paid membership. It’s something we’ve talked about for some time, and hitting 50 podcasts recently really spurred us on.
Our intent for the meeting was to invite you to pull up a chair at our virtual kitchen table, (it’s very much come as you are), and start creating a Community of like-minded business women, Women juggling a lot, getting it wrong sometimes, getting it right sometimes and often feeling that they’re never quite in the right place - guilt trips about being at work and missing out on family life, then going home and having a guilt trip about not being at work!
We’re going to be meeting up once a month for an hour online and are hatching plans to meet up in real life at Countrywoman events.
It’s all about creating a group of women who look out for, support and cheer for each other. Women who want to run a business that fits their life, that they can be ambitious about, but then still have the time to enjoy their lives and their families.
For the record, it doesn’t matter how experienced you are, it’s always daunting starting something new. Over the years I’ve learnt to go into groups I’m facilitating with a topic and knowledge that I want to share, but then to be brave enough to let the room take over, and the ladies who joined the Community didn’t let me down.
I was there to go through my ADD Time Method, it’s a system that helps you free up some time in your busy days, and then look at how we can use that time usefully to add value or joy into our days.
But once we were all on the same page for the possibilities of creating more time for ourselves, the conversation in the room opened up so much wisdom and gradually, through their own supportive comments and ideas, the ladies in the room helped each other come to realise that often they were the blocks to their own liberation.
We talked about why “nobody will do it as well as me” keeps so many of us doing things we shouldn’t still be doing.
About the difference between something being done our way and being done perfectly well by somebody else.
About how doing something quicker because we came up with a better system often leads us to think we should charge less for it, rather than realising we can add more value for our client if we’re not spending hours doing tasks that don’t really add value.
Above everything else, the power of the women in the room meant that we all left that call feeling a little bit less lonely and a lot more supported.
It was a really uplifting and insightful session, I cover all this and more in the podcast so please do take a listen when you have a moment.
Join our growing Community of women who value building a business that fits your life, rather than a life that fits in round your business.

If you’re interested in more information about our Countrywoman Membership, take a look at our post explaining all about here.


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We asked the CWG team a question this week.
What are the best words of encouragement you’ve ever been given?
Why? Because today is National Encouragement Day. A bit cliché, we know, but it also feels like a rather good excuse to stop for a moment and think about something we believe in all year round.
Encouragement can come in all sorts of forms. It might be someone giving you the confidence to just go for it, a nudge when you’ve found yourself stuck, or simply a reminder that you’re actually doing a pretty good job (even when you’re struggling to believe it yourself). We’ve all experienced the difference a few well-chosen words of encouragement can make.
The funny thing about encouragement is that we often don’t realise just how much the words we hear can stay with us. A sentence said in passing can become something you come back to years later, right at the moment you need it most, or at a time when someone else needs to hear them to.
So, in honour of this day and the reminder it’s given us of the power of encouragement, we asked the women behind CWG to share the words that have stayed with them.
Emma
“Boldness has a genius and magic to it, whatever you can do or dream, you can do. Begin it now.”
Emma’s quote comes from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and, although the wording may be slightly paraphrased, it’s one she has carried with her since she was around 19.
There’s something very Emma about that idea of simply beginning. Not waiting until everything is perfectly lined up or you feel completely ready, but having the boldness to take the first step and see where it leads.
If you listen to our podcasts, it’s a belief of Emma’s that you’ll notice popping up quite regularly. It’s clearly a sentiment that has stayed with her for a very long time.
Rachel
“If I dismiss the ordinary while waiting for the special, the extreme or the extraordinary to happen, I may just miss my life.”
Rachel is not particularly drawn to the endless stream of national days that seem to fill the calendar, although she’ll happily get behind the more unusual ones!
Her feeling is that encouragement and celebration are at their best when they happen naturally, not because the calendar tells us we should do it. A kind word on an ordinary Tuesday can mean every bit as much as one attached to a particular day.
That feels rather relevant here.
National Encouragement Day might give us a reason to talk about encouragement today, but there’s really no reason it needs to stop there. There is plenty to be said for noticing the ordinary moments too, and remembering that they matter.
Rachel’s words are a lovely reminder of that. A reminder of not being so busy waiting for the big moments that we miss the good things happening in the everyday ones.
Jess
“Anyone can promise you the stars, but only you can reach them.”
Jess admits this one is a little cheesy.
But it’s also one she has never forgotten.
A PE teacher at school said it to her, and over the years it has become a reminder that other people can encourage you, believe in you and tell you that you can do something until they’re blue in the face, but ultimately, you’re the one who has to get up and do it.
It’s a very useful and important distinction don’t you think?
Encouragement can give you the nudge, the confidence or the belief, but nobody else can take the steps for you.
Charlotte
“If it was easy, everyone would do it.”
Charlotte’s is probably the simplest of the four and perhaps not quite as profound as some of the others!
It’s something her parents have said to her throughout her life, at times of trivial teenage tantrums over homework, to university, jobs and plenty of other moments when things have felt difficult. It’s even a phrase she’s reminded herself of when out riding the horses.
What Charlotte likes about it is that it doesn’t try to tell you that something isn’t hard. Quite the opposite. Instead, it acknowledges that sometimes things are hard but that doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong, and it certainly doesn’t mean you should give up. You're just doing something that requires a little extra effort and brain power.
A quote of few words, but a reminder that there’s nothing particularly unusual about finding things difficult. You just have to keep having a go.
Encouragement - it’s not reserved for just one day
Our team’s quotes are all very different, but there’s a common thread running through them.
Encouragement is about giving someone the confidence to begin, reminding them to acknowledge what’s already in front of them, and sometimes it’s a gentle nudge that says you’re the one who has to do this.
These reminders are a big part of what we’re creating here at Countrywoman’s Guide.
We want CWG to be a community that encourages one another. A place to ask a question, share an idea, have a wobble, celebrate something that’s gone brilliantly, or simply hear from someone who has been there before.
You don’t need to be a paid member to be part of that. Our wider community is here every day, and we hope that encouragement is something we all give and receive naturally along the way.
For our members though, they’re part of our inner circle if you will. A circle that gives you a little more. You become part of a group that you can turn to when you need a second opinion, a bit of advice, a cheer from the sidelines or just someone who understands what you’re juggling. A group we could benefit from.
So yes, we’ll happily make the most of National Encouragement Day.
We’re just not planning to stop when the day is over.
Perhaps that’s the nicest thing we can take from it… you never really know when a few words might be exactly what someone else needs to hear.
Over on our Instagram today we’re inviting our community to share their favourite words of encouragement, we’d love you to be a part of it too.

Join our growing Community of people who value building a business that fits your life, rather than a life that fits in round your business..



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What happens when an agriculture graduate decides she doesn’t want to be a farmer, dreams up a fabric business, gets turned down for funding… and ends up becoming a full-time artist instead?
Well, you get Tilly Lock Art.
This week on the Countrywoman’s Guide podcast, Emma sits down with Tilly Lock to talk about the rather unexpected route that took her from studying agriculture and working in interior design to building a creative business of her own.
Tilly had always loved art and design, but it wasn’t initially the plan. After university, she started working for an interior designer and began developing an idea for a fabric business, combining UK-made fabrics with sourced and repurposed antiques.
The problem? Getting fabric made in the UK required a much bigger initial investment than the funding available to her.
So, while trying to bridge that gap, Tilly started selling a few art prints she had originally made for friends. One thing led to another, her Instagram took off, and the art prints gradually became the business.
Just a year and a half later, she has gone from selling prints at £20 village fairs to exhibiting at Badminton and preparing for some of the biggest Christmas shows in the country.
But, as we talk about in the episode, that growth hasn’t exactly been a straight line.
Tilly talks honestly about the reality of building a business while working part-time, training for a marathon and trying to keep everything moving. We talk about burnout, learning to say no, knowing when to invest in the next stage of growth and the slightly daunting realisation that your business has outgrown your parents’ living room.
We also get into one of the less talked-about challenges for creative businesses: copying. Tilly shares what it feels like to see your work reproduced by someone else, the difficulty of protecting creative work and why, ultimately, she has had to learn to stay in her own lane and keep creating.
There’s plenty of practical wisdom in the conversation too, from the value of having a mentor to learning how to do things yourself before handing them over to someone else.
And perhaps one of the biggest takeaways is that you don’t need to have the whole thing figured out before you begin. Tilly certainly didn’t. She followed an opportunity, tested an idea, learned as she went and built something that now looks very different from where she thought she was heading.
It’s an honest conversation about building something of your own, learning as you go and having the confidence to keep moving forward when the path changes underneath you.
Listen to the full episode with Tilly Lock here. 💚
Join our growing Community of people who value building a business that fits your life, rather than a life that fits in round your business.



Get full access to A Countrywoman’s Guide to Work and Life at countrywomansguide.substack.com/subscribe

On Monday 17th August, we held our first CWG Community Zoom, and the following Thursday evening we landed in your inbox with a brief insight into just what our Membership Community could offer you. On today’s Podcast and through this article, we’re exploring the membership even further. Diving deeper into its offerings, and shining a light on the discussions we had during our call.
Monday was simply an opportunity for those who have been following along with Countrywoman’s Guide to hear more about what we’re creating through our newly launched membership and, perhaps most importantly, a chance for us to discover what you would like the Countrywoman’s Guide Community to become.
It was a rich conversation full of discussions about business, but also about finding your people, wanting somewhere to ask questions without feeling silly, and the simple value of having people around you who understand.
It was the kind of conversation we see at the heart of CWG time and time again, and demonstrated exactly what we want to encapsulate in our community.
Finding your people
Running or working within a rural business can be brilliant, but it can also be complicated, lonely, exhausting, and at times, completely overwhelming. The response to our article last Friday and discussions had on Monday really cemented this for us. There’s often many decisions to be made, things you’re unsure of how to manage, and days when you wonder if any of your ideas are actually going to work. Whilst our friends and family can be wonderfully supportive during these times, there’s something refreshing about being able to ask a group of people “Has anyone else dealt with this? How did you tackle it?” and do so knowing that someone in the group probably has, and will be able to help.
On Monday, Elaine talked to us about wanting a wider circle of people to call on across all the different parts of country life, from business questions all the way through to canine and equine ones.
Jess spoke about how moving away from home has meant she’s needed to build a new network around her, and how valuable it has been to be surrounded by people who have “been there, done it and understand you.”
It’s that last bit that’s really important to us.
Our membership isn’t trying to create a community where everyone is at the same stage, doing the same thing or even has the same ambitions. Quite the opposite. Instead, it’s a place for different ages, experiences, businesses and lives to gather and share. You’ll be amazed how talking to someone who understands your way of life can offer you a different perspective on the question that’s been keeping you awake. Often, you’ll already have the answer but just need a little confidence boost, sometimes it may lie in someone further along their journey, or perhaps you just need a younger fresh set of eyes to see it from a different angle.

As Emma put it during our conversation,“Your obvious might be someone else’s amazing” and that feels like a rather good principle for a community. One we want to honour.
Monthly Monday Masterclasses
The Membership community isn’t just about having people to talk to, we also want to give you some dedicated time to step away from working in your business, to work on it instead.
On the first Monday of every month we will gather online with our paid members for a one-hour Business Masterclass with Emma and invited guests.
They will be practical, useful sessions covering a range of topics from business values to seasonal living. One thing we can assure you is that these masterclasses won’t become just another addition to that list of things you should be doing. We’ll be taking your lead on the subjects most useful to you, making sure each one offers you maximum knowledge value. So please do let us know what would be useful for you - pop us an email at team@countrywomansguide.co.uk or send us a DM on Instagram.
Our first six sessions are already in the making and will be covering the following topics:
September: Time HacksLet’s start as we mean to go on and find you some extra time.
October: ValuesYou’ll be amazed at how useful understanding your values can be as a decision making tool - regularly saving you time and worry.
November: Non-Hustle Business GrowthLet’s talk about how we can harness seasonal thinking so that running your business becomes a little more effective and a lot less pressured.
December: Christmas Wrapping and ChattingA gentler session for an already busy time of year. A chance to get the bulk of your wrapping done while sharing any last minute gift ideas, seasonal tips and delicious festive recipes. Let’s come together and share ways to make Christmas a little easier on ourselves.
January: VisionIt’s an oldie but a goodie. A clear vision of where you’re going can make moving forwards so much easier. As part of January’s Vision theme, we will be running a paid in person Vision Workshop Day, (see below for the full details). Ten spaces will be available, with our members getting early access to tickets and 10% off the price.
February: FocusWith January being spent dreaming up and pinning down the vision, February will be spent turning this dream into an action plan. We do this because the actual doing is where the revenue is - dreams without actions stay in the clouds.
March: Member ShareWe will be reaching the six-month mark for our CWG Membership Masterclasses, and we want to use it as an opportunity to learn more about you and the community we have built in that time. You will have the chance to share your wisdom, and we’d love for two of our members to lead part of this session.
Our monthly Masterclasses will be recorded for anyone who can’t make the live call, but being there gives you the chance to ask questions, contribute to the conversation and get to know the other members so we’ll always encourage you to join them if possible.
Gathering around the table - for real!
As much as we love a Zoom call, there was one thing that came through very clearly on Monday - we want to meet in-person, too.
There’s something about gathering people around a table that a screen simply can’t replicate so, alongside our online community, we’ll be creating opportunities to get together throughout the year. We’ll be hosting leisurely lunches, meet-ups at events up and down the country, alongside focused business strategy days.
While these events will be open to all in the Countrywoman’s Guide Community, our members will get first access to these events, and receive 10% off the ticket price.
We’re already planning our first few events…
* Cotswold Meet Up
When: 7th of October, time TBC.
Where: Specific location TBC, near Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Details: We’re up in the Cotswolds on the 7th meeting a wonderful rural brand, we’ll be stopping for lunch afterwards (we’ll let you know a date and location nearer the time) and would love for some of you to come and join us?
* Countrywoman’s Guide Lunch
When: 10th of November, 12pm - 2pm
Where: South Somerset, near Taunton (specific location given when you buy your ticket)
Details: An opportunity for our Community to gather in person around our very own kitchen table. A long lunch full of good food, good company and authentic conversations. This event will be limited to just ten tickets, with members getting early access to purchase. If all spaces are not snapped up by our members, our free community will then have the opportunity to purchase them.
* January Vision Workshop Day
When: 14th of January, 10am-4pm
Where: South Somerset, near Taunton (specific location given when you buy your ticket)
Details: Join us for a full day around the table at Emma’s farm to create a work/life vision that will guide you throughout the year. We will be cutting, pasting, and assembling vision a board for you to take away, but more importantly we’ll be working on how to juggle those work and life priorities so you can approach things in a different way. Lashings of cake, lunch and ginger beer will obviously be consumed and you’ll be chatting away like old friends around our table before you know it!
This event will be limited to just eight tickets, with members getting early access to purchase tickets. If all spaces are not snapped up by our members, our free community will also have the opportunity to purchase them.
Work, Life & You
You’ll often hear us talk about our Three Pillars: Work, Life & You.
They really are an integral part of what we’re creating here, they underpin everything we do at Countrywoman’s Guide, and lead the content we share and curate for you. You might be growing a business whilst raising a family, running a farm, keeping a house going, trying to maintain friendships and attempting to find five minutes for yourself and often, all of the above! It’s natural for there to be months when work needs more of you, and months when life does. We’re here to help you navigate it all.
We don’t think the answer lies in pretending you can balance everything perfectly. We’re much more interested in helping you find a way of working that actually fits the life you’re living or wish to live. That’s why the conversations inside our membership won’t all be about sales, marketing and spreadsheets. Some of our most useful conversations have been about simply getting some time back, helping you make decisions you’re avoiding and even offering a space to hear that someone else has been in your position before and got through it.
Then there’s the WhatsApp group
The WhatsApp group will be the everyday part of the community, and only accessible to those in the membership.
The group will be a place for you to ask a quick question, share something you’ve discovered, get a second opinion, celebrate a win or have a little vent to people who actually understand what you’re talking about.
It isn’t meant to become another group chat that you feel obliged to keep up with. You’re very much welcome to dip in and out as you see fit. There will be different channels to allow for different topics and events to be discussed separately, so you won’t have to read conversations that aren’t relevant or of interest to you. As with everything we do, this WhatApp group is led by our community and by you - allowing you to take as much or as little as you wish.
The important thing is that you know that there’s support waiting for you in the group.
To recap…
Countrywoman’s Guide has always been a place for the knowledge and experience of the people in the countryside to be shared around our kitchen table. Our membership is simply a deeper extension of this.
Through our Monthly Masterclasses, WhatsApp Group and in-person events, the membership offers you a place to ask the questions you’ve been turning over in your head, a place to meet someone who may well become important in your business and your life, and a place where you don’t have to pretend you have it all figured out.
There will not only be the chance to learn from Emma, Rachel and Charlotte, but each other too. Already we’re home to a wide range of members spanning different ages, careers and businesses so it’s shaping up to be it’s shaping up to be just what we were hoping for.
If you’re already part of our CWG community as a free subscriber, you’ll continue to be part of what we’re building and to have access to the Sunday podcast and various articles. The membership simply creates another layer for those who want more regular support, deeper conversations, practical business help and the opportunity to build stronger connections with the people around them.
And if you’ve been wondering whether it’s for you, perhaps the easiest answer is to pull up a chair and see.
Become a Countrywoman’s Guide Paid Member
The most exciting part is that we’re only just getting started…
We’d love to see what this becomes together.
Emma, Rachel & Charlotte x
Join our growing Community of people who value building a business that fits your life, rather than a life that fits in round your business.



Get full access to A Countrywoman’s Guide to Work and Life at countrywomansguide.substack.com/subscribe

So here we are.
I’ve switched on the Paid Membership for Countrywoman’s Guide, quietly and without a lot of fanfare, because we want you to have the space to decide if we’re the right group for you, rather than we hustle you in and you realise we’re not.
I’ve chatted in the video above about why we’re doing what we do, and how we believe that a group with a mutual aim of helping each other to move forward can help you in your day-to-day lives.
So what’s going to be included in your membership?
We’ll be having a one hour call per month where we will work on some of the things that I have been helping individual businesses with over the past few years. We’ll start off by looking at getting you committed to your vision and what you want to be doing, then we’ll do a session on focusing on getting that done. There will be zoom sessions where we work on you and how you cope with what you’re doing, as well as fun things like cooking and making time for you. We’ll also be doing some more practical business sessions on things like trademarks, legals, understanding your finances, substack skills and all sorts of other useful topics to help you run your business better.
You will also get first access to our events - we’re going to set up a schedule for lunches and joint working days - where you can literally come and pull a chair up at our table and we’ll work through things together. As a paid member you will get a discount code that you can use on these events.
That’s the bones of what’s involved - the key thing for us is building a community that is supportive, that you can learn from in a way that helps you feel less lonely as you build your business.
Once you have signed up on Substack, you can just receive everything in your emails, so don’t worry if you don’t want to do anything on Substack.
As already stated, the podcasts that we currently do will continue to be available to everyone, as it’s really important to us that everyone gets to hear the wisdom that our interviewees pass on during their interview.
The paid tier is for you if you are looking for extra business support and community or you wish to support Countrywoman’s Guide in our mission to help rural businesses.
As always, please do not hesitate to ask if you have any questions. Thank you.
Join our growing Community of people who value building a business that fits your life, rather than a life that fits in round your business.



Get full access to A Countrywoman’s Guide to Work and Life at countrywomansguide.substack.com/subscribe