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Do I have a treat for you today! Today’s episode is all about the power of collaboration and trying new things. If you’ve ever wondered about how collaborations work with many brands, or why it’s important to try new things, this is for you!

For this episode, we’re talking to Emma Warren, MD of Hiho Silver. In it, she talks about working together, why it really is important to try new things in your business, and how the Style, Skills & Silver event Hiho ran in September ’18 did this. Emma is a lady who just doesn’t just talk a good talk, she’s always trying new things and testing theories… and we get a look at the mindset behind that here too.

Let’s talk about the power of collaboration and why we should embrace trying new things

Show notes for the Small & Supercharged Podcast – Episode 15 – the power of collaboration and trying news things with Emma Warren. In this episode we have a really good chat with Emma Warren, MD of Hiho Silver, about collaboration, trying new things, and how this all came together in the Hiho Silver Style, Skills & Silver event. In this episode you’ll hear…

  • How the idea for Style, Skills & Silver came about.
  • The idea that was at the hub of the event and how this grew and developed in line with Emma’s vision.
  • How the skills that the group of amazing attendees learnt are being used even now.
  • The ability to collaborate with other brands to make an event like this work – Melanie from Mackenzie & George, Ben from Fairfax & Favor, and Sophie from Evemy & Evemy attended in person, and Annie from Albion Lifestyle and Belle from Annabel Brocks let us loan products to play with and use for the workshops.
  • How Style, Skills & Silver was quite a different concept, and how Emma and Hiho felt about that.
  • We talk about how Emma’s knowledge from different industries has been brought across to Hiho and that can help to encourage her to do new things.
  • How an event, like Style, Skills & Silver, has far reaching benefits – not just for skills but also for people’s lives.
  • That people who attended and presented at the event really pushed themselves outside their comfort zones, as much as the people who attended and tried new things did.
  • How the biggest take aways from the day were things that no one could have really predicted.
  • Why working together with other brands is kind of brave, but also hugely valuable and important. We also talk about balance and how some people and brands really embrace collaboration and others don’t. Emma also acknowledges that collaboration isn’t for everyone, but how this is fine too!
  • How people like different things at different times, and how collaboration isn’t just about the pound notes. It’s about far more than that.
  • The importance of authenticity when it comes to collaborations – how this idea might not work for everyone, but how it works for many brands and when it does, it’s great. But we also talk about why it doesn’t work for everyone and can depend on heritage and company DNA.
  • We talk about the next Style, Skills & Silver event – and how this will be in February.
  • How you can find out about the next event and how the people who came to the first event will get a 24 hour window to order their tickets before general release.
  • Why Style, Skills & Silver was a no shopping event and the benefits of this.

Since this episode was recorded the event has been renamed as Hiho & Co and the next event’s theme is around being all you can be. This will focused around helping people tap into their own skills, using them as well as possible, and not fixating on what you can’t do. I’m excited…

To find out more about Hiho Silver, all the links are below. And if you want to find out more about Emma, I’ve included her links too!

Emma Warren:

Instagram

Website

Hiho Silver:

Instagram

Facebook

Twitter

Website

Dimpsey Glamping:

Instagram

Facebook

Website

 

The Fish Hotel BroadwayThere are going to be a few blogs about Hiho Silver’s amazing Style, Skills & Silver event, because I’m still buzzing from it. Last Thursday (6th September) was the day of the event we’d been working towards for a while. And I say we because it really was a we. The event was the brainchild of Hiho’s Queen Bee, Emma Warren, but the two workshops that were held were a huge team effort, that I will tell you about in more detail soon. Today, we’re focusing on the beautiful venue – The Fish Hotel, Broadway.

The Fish Hotel, Broadway

Based on the Farncombe Estate, The Fish Hotel is a real hidden gem. And it is properly hidden too! You clamber up a hill called Fish Hill (and it’s a serious hill with some quite surprising bends!), before taking a left down a long drive. The Estate is massive and contains three amazing venues/hotels – there’s The Fish Hotel, Dormy House and Foxhill Manor. As you turn off the main road, you are taken down an incredibly long drive. It would have been useful if I’d measured the length of the drive but this thought only dawned on me as I started to write the paragraph. The thing is, the length of the drive isn’t the thing you remember. It’s the view. I headed to the venue with Ruth (Dressage Anywhere) and as I’d been there before, I wittered on about the view for most of the drive down the drive. I’ve seen the view before but it was no less impressive second time around. Worcestershire stretches out beneath you and it’s just a sight to behold. I took a picture when I went for a recce, but it doesn’t do it justice. The scale can’t be appreciated in a picture. The entrance is impressive and sets the tone for everything else.

Springfield House

The Fish is made up of a few different areas. The Hook is the restaurant were we had a very nice pizza for dinner the night before, Springfield House is where we held Style, Skills & Silver, we stayed in the Coach House (I think). They also have a number of other buildings in the grounds, including some stunning shepherd huts by Blackdown Shepherd Huts that people can stay in too. It’s clearly a big place, but the careful design of it all means it all feels rather private and lovely. There’s also a lot of greenery – when we walked up from the restaurant the night before (we didn’t stop setting up until gone 9pm so dinner was quite late), it was lovely – tree lined, beautifully lit… heavenly.

Springfield House has quite a different vibe to the restaurant but it’s absolutely lovely too. It manages to strike the mix of modern, cosy, funky, quirky and practical. And that’s quite a combination! We had four rooms in total on two different floors. The first floor was where we held the workshops – the space and the light were lovely and worked so well with the practical workshops. Up a level we had a lovely lounge where we met at the beginning and end of the day, and the room next door where we had lunch and chatted too. The rooms were lovely and having the space over the two floors worked so well with the way the day ran.

Where we stayed

The night before I stayed in the Coach House. I shared a twin room with Ruth and it was the most beautiful room. Lovely fresh white bed linen, Galaxy hot chocolate (yes, I’m very easily bought!), a huge bathroom with lovely toiletries. Everything was beautiful. But like with Springfield House, it was beautiful but very cosy and comfy too. There was a handwritten welcome note, really lovely blankets on the bed, a wooden book with ‘All you need to know’ written on it including all the important things you needed to know, like how the wifi worked. The decor was so pretty, but so comfy. I couldn’t fault it.

Breakfast was included but as I made my way down I got summoned by Sophie and Harriet, who were also staying in the same building, to have a look at their room and give opinions on what to wear. I say summoned. Sophie shouted out the window and I decided I’d rather spend time with them than eating. I felt a little nervous anyway and the last thing I need when feeling a bit nervous is food! Their room was as lovely as ours. It was a slightly different design. It had a little hall and a gorgeous outside terrace space with a glimpse of the stunning view I have spent a lot of this blog wittering on about.

This isn’t a TripAdvisor review – I mean, why be conventional?! But I wanted to explain a bit about the venue as it was really special. It’s not your average hotel, or conference room, or meeting place. It’s way more special than that. I’m looking for an excuse to return as soon as I can!

Find out more about The Fish Hotel here…

To see more about the event, see Karen & Clan and Sophie Callahan’s vlogs.