Welcome to Retail Reckoning. I'm Clare Bailey, founder of Retail Champion.

In this special episode, I sit down with Steph, a key member of the Retail Champion team, to dig beneath the surface—beyond e-commerce tactics and spreadsheet strategies—to explore the person behind the consultancy.

We'll hear how Steph reinvented her life and career by moving to Scotland, reshaping her work to support her passions.

Together, we share candid insights on finding real work-life balance, turning business challenges into practical advice for independent retailers, and why building a business should enhance your life—not consume it.

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In this special episode, we're going behind the scenes with the team at the Retail

Champion. And today you get to meet Steph and understand a little bit more

about who she really is.

Today we're back with my colleague Steph, who Talked about Quarter

4 and E Commerce on a recent episode. But instead of talking about

peak season basics and tactics, we're going to talk to

Steph about the person she is, the work she's doing now,

her contribution to the Retail Champion and everything else as well.

Behind the spreadsheets and the strategies is someone who's consistently involving

both in business and life and I think serves as an inspiration to

many of the independent retailers out there. Yeah,

Retail reckoning. Retail

reckoning. No space for dusty

shelves. Retail reckoning

owns the floor. So, Steph,

your E Commerce journey is genuinely inspiring, but now

you're at a new stage. Tell us about your move to Scotland and

now your newfound focus through stephbriggs.co.uk.

It'S a new chapter. Moving to Scotland was partly about

lifestyle, but also partly about opportunity. I wanted to create

a different life where work supports living and not the other way

around. I'm sometimes not great at getting the balance right,

historically. The consultancy gives me the space to advise and

share all of the experiences I've learned and the mistakes I've made and helps

people avoid those and still have time for the things that I love, like

my horses. Yeah, work life balance is so important

and I can actually relate to your move. I moved

from down south to rural Lincolnshire to get that work life

balance so that I didn't have to work every hour. God sent. And have the

kids in holiday clubs and breakfast clubs and after school

clubs just to make ends meet. So it's something I think a lot of business

owners do have to face up to, certainly once family

pressures take over. And the fact that you've lived the retail

challenges makes your advice much more practical rather

than theoretical as well. It's interesting to be able

to tell those clients about how to manage the

juggling act and not choose which a hundred hours of work

they do a week. I mean, running your own business is fun

many times, but I have heard that comment about,

yeah, it's great. I have the freedom to choose the 100 hours a week

I work. And that's not a really great life. And we always use that

adage, don't we, that if you do a job you love, you'll never work a

day in your life. And I think that's also really important. But helping people

Fall back in love with their work is where experts like

you come along so that they can develop the strategies and

make it a success. But I'm more interested at this moment in

time about the horses that you mention. Explain

how they fit into your story. I've been addicted to horses for

many years, since I was a little girl. They keep me grounded

and retail can be absolutely relentless. Running a business

is relentless. But looking after horses really

helped me step away from the laptop, step away from the phone

and just reset and just have that moment of being in the

moment, really. It's a perspective and reminding me that life is bigger than

just the next product, drop the VAT return or the next campaign. I think that's

a real valuable message for independence and building a

business should enhance your lifestyle, not consume it.

So whatever your hobbies are, make sure you have me time,

I think, is the key message there.

Of course, you're now very much an integral part of the Retail

Champion team, have been for a number of years, from your perspective,

because obviously I have my view. What does that role look like to you?

It's about being that second pair of eyes that help clients see

opportunities that they might otherwise miss, either in pricing,

promotions, e commerce, branding, whatever it may be. I

bring the operational lens from my own retail journey and my

understanding of how it feels to be in that moment and

translate it into practical actions for other people to take.

So the blend of empathy and expertise is why our clients

trust you and they know you've walked the walk. But you also

do an awful lot for me within the business too, don't you? I think you

should share a little bit about some of that. I

caretake the website, I look at content,

I look at digital presence. It's how we get

found. Steph is also the custodian of all our

internal content, Blogmaster General

and SEO aficionado. I think we need to look ahead

now because obviously you've come out from having

originally had a shop, then the move to Scotland, moving to online

only, and then the decision to use everything you've learned over the years

to help others and move into the consultancy side.

What excites you most about the next stage of your career? What

kind of things are you looking forward to and where are you

investing your time and energy in terms of things like personal development?

With regard to personal development, obviously AI is a

massive area of growth within, well, within any industry

at the moment. So I'm really enjoying exploring that and

learning more and more about it. What excites me about

working with the retail champion is working with the independents who are

ready to evolve and grow. Not just the ones that

want the quick wins, but want real long term value and long term

resilience so that they can face, dare I say, the next Covid or whatever

the next curveball is that's going to throw retail way.

Personally, I'm really excited about now having a little

bit more time to balance consultancy life outdoors in

Scotland. Obviously I have my horses, but also I like a quick

dip in the sea, even in Scotland. And it's about

shaping life outside of work as much as helping

to shape retail businesses. Brilliant. And I think that's the

kind of future proofing we all need so that we have

work that funds a happy and successful life. Thank you very much,

Steph. Today's episode has shown that retail success isn't just about

margins and marketing. It's about building a business and a

life, a quality of life that align and support whatever

phase you're in in your career and your personal

goals. And it's also something worth really listening to to

understand that if you want to do things

differently, you can and you can make that balance

come to life for the benefit of yourself, your family,

your hobbies and your income. Thank you, Steph.

You've been listening to Retail Reckoning. My name's Claire Bailey, the Retail

Champion. See you next time.

Owns the floor.

Sam.