Success Interview with Claire Saxton

Welcome to success interviews. These are where I chat to fellow female business owners to find out why they started their businesses and how they measure success. In this post, I talk to my latest guest Claire Saxton you can either watch or read the interview below.

Interview Transcript

I’m really pleased to be joined by Claire Saxton who is a marketing consultant and social media expert from Saxton Marketing. I met Claire back in 2014, we both started our business that year and will be celebrating 10 years next year, which is very exciting. We met through networking and I’ve been able to use her services to help me grow and develop my business. Claire helps businesses to increase their brand awareness, be it on social media, or physical marketing, although mostly helping them to see the potential that digital platforms offer to them and to really hit their target audience in an effective way.

Why did you start your business?

It was for a couple of reasons really. I went on maternity leave with my daughter and while I was on maternity leave, I had ideas of what I wanted to do and how I wanted to use my creativity. But I also wanted to have the balance of being a stay-at-home mum with a job and still maintaining my career and doing what I was passionate about. That was really pushing the social media side of things. So, I decided to go self-employed and having done lots of research, I went into it very blind. I didn’t really know anybody who was in that kind of arena. I just thought that I should see how it goes, last week I celebrated my nine-year anniversary. So, it’s gone alright. Last week I used an example on my own social media that I was able to go to my Children’s Sports Day, which our school do it as an all-day event. So, one in the morning and one in the afternoon and you stay there all day. I wouldn’t have been able to do that normally. I would have been taking a day out as holiday or potentially not being able to go. Whereas I was able to work before I went to the sports day with the kids and came back and worked later on. I can have that flexibility. I’m very upfront with my clients. I’ve said that’s how I work. If my kids are sick, I don’t have to worry. I can usually carry on or put meetings on hold slightly while I look after them. There’s always been that flexibility, which is what I ultimately wanted.

How do you measure success?

One of the main things for me was wanting to give back and being able to see clients gain results. With marketing, it’s all very challenging in terms of what a client is spending versus how much they’re making back on that. But what I tend to measure my success by is feedback from clients only as well as the results they are getting. I also have clients win awards and that’s a biggie for me. That’s what’s really helped to lift my business. It does raise a business’s profile quite significantly and that’s something I’ve been able to measure, and that has helped me to grow as a business. Year on year I’ve grown. It took time but growing through networking and through working with clients and having them referring me to anybody they work with or just a positive word of mouth has helped me to grow. I feel successful and I have gained what I wanted which was the flexibility to be able to be a stay-at-home mum. I’ve always done lots of different things all at once and I do that in my role anyway. I don’t just do social media and I don’t just look after one industry. I look after lots of different industries and that’s because I can get myself into lots of different areas and still be there for my family at the same time.

What one tip would you give your younger self?

I think to not beat myself up and to not push myself too hard in a direction that perhaps other people wanted me to do. When I was doing my GCSE’s my parents sort of said this is the route you need to go down. That’s where you’ll make the most money. A job that gives you a good career, which gives you good money. And actually, when I looked originally all I wanted to do it was help other people which probably didn’t have the biggest salary. However, I did a GNVQ in business and that’s where I got my passion for marketing and then I did my degree and I’ve carried on with my learning since then. I think it’s important to follow your dreams. To do what you want to do. I ultimately decided that marketing was what I wanted to do but I took a massive risk at a young age to take on a job that wasn’t in marketing but it was in a business that had a marketing department and took a minimum wage salary to then gain experience in that company, to work my way up in the company. I think go at your own pace. It’s also about looking after yourself as well. One thing I’ve done over the years I’ve pushed and pushed even from a young age. Revising and doing coursework, I’ve never looked after myself properly. So, self-care is a big one. Have hobbies. Read books, take time out. You don’t want to burnout which can happen.

Watch the Interview