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00:16Welcome to Kent Business with Zoe Cairns on KMTV. I'm Zoe Cairns and today we are talking about
00:21two things many people watching will relate to. The rising cost of running a business and the
00:26booming side hustle economy. Joining me on the sofa today is Karen Stanley, founder of
00:31Mabel and Stanley Publishing and Karen started a business while having side hustles to keep it
00:36afloat. Her journey is one I know will inspire so many of you watching today and our expert
00:42contributor today is Sam Spillett from KPM Accounts, one of the best accountants in Kent
00:48and I should know because she is mine. Sam is here to give us the financial reality check
00:52every business owner needs to hear right now. So Karen tell us a little bit more about your
01:00side hustles and the business as well and how it helped you keep afloat. Well it was quite the
01:06quite the baptism of fire I have to say I started my business started Mabel and Stanley Publishing
01:10back in 2021 and my business model was terrible I have to confess it wasn't it wasn't secure at
01:18that point I'd never run a business before I didn't you know I'd had leadership experience but
01:23running a business is very different to being in an organisation and so I did all manner of jobs I
01:29did
01:29a lot of supply teaching because I was a teacher initially I worked in a caravan park for several
01:36months because I was allowed to take my laptop in and do my work while I was while I was
01:41doing that
01:41job so I pretty much did whatever I could to keep the business afloat in those early days which
01:46was um yeah was tricky it was a lot to juggle. And wow look at where you are now though
01:52tell people
01:53where you are now. Well now I've um five years in five and a half years in I've published over
01:5980
01:59authors including 21 bestsellers I've written book number 15 and published book number 15 of my own
02:06um I've just got new offices I've worked with clients all over the world so I'm mighty relieved to
02:12say things are going pretty good now. That's amazing and Sam like so many more people now
02:17are doing side hustles and you know some of them are starting out I mean we was having this
02:22conversation earlier a lot of people don't even know that they've got to let HMRC know or what do
02:27they do when they get to that point where they feel like it's not a hobby anymore it's actually
02:31becoming a business? We always recommend from day one to treat to treat it like it is a business so
02:37keep a proper set of records so that when you do have to report to HMRC you've got all the
02:42records
02:43there that they require and keep tax and national insurance completely separate from all of your
02:48business money. Wow it's and it's such a big thing because lots of people are not aware of it they
02:52just
02:53think I'll do a little side hustle see how it gets on and then if it takes off they might
02:56then do it
02:57what was you thinking Karen about when it was time to like finally get rid of the side hustles
03:03and actually do it full time what was that like? Well it was quite scary I have to say and
03:09I know
03:09you and I had several conversations about this in the beginning I think one you have to be brave
03:14enough to just say I'm going to commit now and also I did find it's quite hard to juggle something
03:20that you're passionate about and you really want it to grow along with the side hustles because the
03:25side hustles in the beginning were more hours of my time actually and so I began to sort of resent
03:32them in a little way because it was drawing my attention away from what I was really passionate
03:35about and what I really wanted to grow so I think you really have to have a mindset that you're
03:42going
03:42to make it work and you're going to commit to it and once you do commit wholeheartedly then you
03:48tend to find things grow anyway that's not to say you don't have to put a lot of stuff in
03:52place
03:52but sometimes trying to juggle two things you end up doing two things not as well as doing one thing
03:58well if that makes any sense. Yeah it does make sense and Sam are you finding a lot more businesses
04:02now or a lot more people that are in full-time jobs that having more side hustles because it's
04:07helping them meet their expenditure and the rising of costs and all of that type of thing now? Yeah
04:13absolutely we've seen more letters come out from HMRC this year regarding side hustles and extra
04:18incomes and it is cashing a lot of people out now. Yeah it's really interesting isn't it I know
04:23loads of my friends have got side hustles and it's it's really really interesting I mean one
04:28of the things that I think when you're doing a side hustle you do it just because you it's you
04:32enjoy
04:32it nine times out of ten our side hustles are passion so it's really interesting it's a really
04:37good conversation. Now while for Karen side hustles kept her business afloat for others their side
04:43hustles can turn into their main business that's what happened for Chloe Lovett another Kent businesswoman
04:49who turned her side hustle of selling pre-loved clothes into her full-time job opening her business
04:55love it or list it. Reporter Justine Nata went to meet Chloe to find out all about it.
05:03Have you ever thought about turning your side gig into a full-time job? Well here in Sheerness on Sea
05:10Chloe Lovett's clothes reselling side hustle has moved from second-hand retailer vintage to this building
05:17right behind me let's go take a look. At Love It or List It you can sell your unwanted clothes
05:24for cash
05:25these clothes are then sold online either individually or as part of bundles. I think
05:31it's more than a full-time job like the like since being here within the four months it has just
05:36gone
05:36crazy like my earnings are from like 400 to like two grand a day. Sustainable fashion is a growing
05:43industry with Barclays reporting in April this year that 38 percent of UK consumers bought from
05:50a resale platform in the last year. As well as sustainable it can be a more affordable option
05:57for customers too. I've had a wedding dress where a lady went to get married in Vegas that she paid
06:03hundreds for I put it on vintage I think someone got it for like 50 quid so again like someone's
06:08then
06:08maybe getting married for the second time and they've got a dress off of vintage for such a low
06:12cost. Chloe has built up a community of sustainable fashion enthusiasts on her social media pages
06:20encouraging others to get involved in the side hustle too. I've had a lot of people reach out to
06:26me and say that I've really inspired them like even someone messaged me the other day like their 16
06:30year old daughter's been following my journey from when I came here and he's actually started taking
06:34like up what I'm doing. But social media hasn't always been a beneficial place for Chloe. Having a
06:41presence online has exposed her to some negative comments from other social media users. I think it's
06:48a reflection the comments that people are making a reflection on their own life. If someone's really
06:53happy and content within their own life they've got no time to leave a horrible comment about someone
06:58else but I would I would never do that. In spite of this Chloe is staying positive and showing that
07:05turning your hobby into a career can be done. We're in 2026 like you can make money from anything like
07:12as long as you're passionate about it you know that you want to do it go for it. And her
07:16business
07:17is only growing more as Love It or List It is due to move to a bigger unit soon. Justine
07:24Lata for
07:24KMTV News in Sheerness on Sea. Wow what an amazing person that's done this. I mean Chloe's done amazing
07:32and you're seeing so much more of this now especially with the help of social media as well.
07:36Sam I'm going to come into you about the rules around this because there's lots of things around
07:40vintage and stuff like that. It'd be amazing to hear your feedback on this. Yeah absolutely. So
07:46if you're just going on vintage to sell your own clothes and belongings that's absolutely fine. HMRC is
07:52unlikely to class that as a business. If you're going out to purchase things to sell online with
07:57the intention of making a profit that's when HMRC could say you're trading as a business. So it is a
08:03bit confusing for some people. Wow I didn't even know that. Well and so if it's your own then that's
08:09great. Wow okay. So Karen in terms of side hustles there's so many people out there want to do a
08:16side
08:16hustle. They're in a job and they're thinking you know I'd love to get out of the nine to five.
08:21What would you say to those people out there that are really thinking about like going for it but
08:26just maybe just sitting on the fence a little bit? It's a tricky one isn't it because actually
08:31when you're when you're employed you have that kind of security that the money just you know it
08:37doesn't just you have to work for that money but it comes into your account. You don't have to think
08:40about tax particularly. You don't have to think about marketing. All of those things that are sort of
08:46done by the by the organisation that you work for and then when you grow your own business everything
08:51then becomes your own responsibility. You know the marketing, the account. I was talking to Sam earlier
08:57about you know I have to do accounting and that's that's not my passion at all. I have to do
09:02lots of IT.
09:03Again that's not my passion. So all of you you do have to be prepared to do other stuff that
09:08may not
09:09be your primary passion and that can be quite tricky but you know one thing I think I wish I'd
09:16done sooner is they say experts hire experts and got help with the things that I didn't feel capable
09:23of doing myself or just needed you know support and guidance to kind of get to that level but
09:28it's a real it's a real tricky time when you're not quite ready to enlist help but you're getting a
09:34little bit busy to do everything yourself. That can be quite challenging.
09:37And I agree with you because you're almost wearing so many hats but then you've also not got the
09:40resources to be able to then outsource it to people if you're trying to do it all and then
09:45that's taking away the hours that you could be spending on making the money. It's like a catch-22.
09:49It's tricky. It is tricky.
09:50And what is something that you would have loved to know back then that you know now?
09:56You're going to laugh at me now because you and I had lots of questions about this and you spoke
10:03to me
10:03a lot and I mean you you are a massive inspiration for me anyway but you spoke to me a
10:08lot about my
10:08mindset and I kind of thought I was so intent on making money growing the business you know but
10:16but sometimes you can get into that situation where you're worrying because you're worrying about making
10:21the money you're worrying if things are going to work out and if you focus too much on the things
10:26that
10:26could go wrong it really very much detracts on actually your path following your strategy
10:32following your plan and and implementing those things. So I would say your mindset accounts for
10:39so much of your success. That doesn't mean you just sit on the end of your bed and say a
10:44little
10:44prayer and wish and it all comes true but if you do have to have that belief you do have
10:49to have that
10:49confidence and you do have to focus on what your goal is and what's going to go right because
10:55your energy directed in other places can be really distracting and and take you away from your goals
11:03really. Yeah it's really good where you've come and it's it's an interesting story I love it.
11:07And that's it for this section of the show. Some great advice there from both Karen and Sam on how
11:13side hustles can work alongside businesses and also some of the more technical aspects of all the
11:18finances involved. Stay tuned because after the break we'll be discussing how small businesses are
11:23being impacted by rising costs with 82% of them saying they've seen their their costs rise in the
11:29past year. We'll also take a look at how some businesses in Kent are using artificial intelligence
11:35as a way to keep their costs down. All that and more see you after the break.
16:46So, we always recommend for people to go through all of their costs to see what they are actually spending.
17:17going out yeah but really interesting Karen what you said about you know as we grow our business
17:22we we do take on more subscriptions more tools but I know that we spoke about you know as your
17:29your company grows you want to take on more team members and I know that you at the moment are
17:34growing your business tell us a little bit about how you've grown and yeah um well I I use freelancers
17:40a lot um which is quite usual for editing and illustrations and I find that's great because
17:46um they can they can do other work as well so if I don't always have enough work for them
17:51that's
17:52perfect for me as a growing business um and I've recently taken on an intern a young girl who's at
17:58university wants to go into editorial work when she when she qualifies and I've got to be honest
18:03she's amazing absolutely amazing and it's it's wonderful for the both of us because I hope I'm
18:09teaching her plenty and she's learning a lot she's helping me to ease my burden a little bit so there
18:14are ways that you can do things in a in a more accessible way and also it's lovely to feel
18:21like
18:21you're giving someone a bit of a foothold getting that experience that will help them to get a job
18:26in the future so I'm loving that experience for me I really love that do you think Sam a lot
18:32more
18:32businesses will do that they'll take on more freelancers or look at interns to get that that
18:36resource you think yeah cost down yeah absolutely we just have to be very mindful of the employment rules
18:43that's all but absolutely you know freelancers are really helping you know small businesses right
18:48now yeah it's really interesting we've done that in ours as as a model and it really does help when
18:53you've got different contracts or or short-term projects really good one way some businesses are
18:58cutting costs is by using artificial intelligence or AI which they say can save time and money on tasks
19:05such as advertising and other admin tasks so to get their thoughts on the use of AI our reporter
19:11Naila Nahamid went to Rochester to speak to them about how they're using it in their business
19:16is AI the new industrial revolution well that's what Andy Burnham said speaking at the Labour Party
19:23conference yesterday when Britain takes the presidency of the G20 next year I will show
19:30our newfound confidence as a country and I will show it to the world by putting AI centre stage
19:39we led the world's first industrial revolution from the Midlands and the north of England so why
19:45can't we lead the next we can conference and we will with AI adoption on the rise on a large
19:52scale
19:52how are local businesses keeping up I've been knocking on the door of local businesses in Rochester
19:58asking how or if they use AI in their day-to-day use one business said they didn't like the
20:03thought
20:04of AI and would prefer to create their own content and promote the business themselves on social media
20:09a team member from another business was indifferent to AI saying that it was going to happen anyway but
20:17other businesses along the high street say they use AI but for different things for this business
20:23AI adoption is still very new at the moment we can use AI for advertising purposes and but that's
20:31basically where as far as it goes for us it's just online apps what we can use to just sort
20:36of upload
20:36images and try and work with it to just make our own advertising a little bit better than what we
20:41could
20:41do if it was doing ourselves and for this business AI is a tool that helps with the easier tasks
20:46like
20:46research and social media but business owner Glinda is aware of using it too much so it's got its place
20:53it's really useful it can save you a lot of time but it's not foolproof and it doesn't completely
21:02replace that human element we do use it for some of our social media posts so I had an actual
21:09image of
21:10someone in pirate costume with a parrot and I took that picture outside of our shop but then I gave
21:16that
21:17to AI and asked it to generate a social media post for me which was an awful lot quicker
21:24in the meantime fresher is on for businesses to remain authentic I think what we're seeing then
21:31is brands are becoming more conscious about being trusted and that authenticity and so actually there is
21:37a shift away from the automated and sort of generic stuff which which has sort of been out there for
21:44a
21:44while towards a slightly more personalized touch recognizing you need to be genuine authentic
21:49with the prime minister opting for Britain to be at the forefront of new technological advances
21:54will local businesses be able to keep up Nayla Mahamud for KMTV in Rochester
22:00so we've seen how businesses are using it to cut costs Karen what do you think of this would you
22:05use AI or are you using AI because you're you're helping people write books right I know it's a content
22:10it's a bone of contention for a lot of writers I think the thing the way I feel about AI
22:16is it's a great
22:17tool but it is definitely not a replacement and the problem is if you rely on AI one you run
22:26the risk of
22:26your brain turning to mush and you're not being able to think for yourself and you're being
22:29you know you forget how to kind of plan creatively and two you do run the risk of
22:35sounding like everybody else so and people buy from people don't they you want that authenticity you
22:41want your voice to shine through you want people to know why should they buy from you
22:45and it's because of the way you do things even if you do the same as somebody down the street
22:51so I would
22:51say it's a great tool but use it wisely and understand what a good example looks like before
22:58you just resort to AI and and get it to do everything for you but yeah it's a great tool
23:02that's that's that's the honest truth really good points and Sam I'm going to come over to you as well
23:06do you think it's going to help people really you know um decrease their their costs to help them
23:11with other tasks that they would have otherwise outsourced I think it is helping with making
23:16efficiencies in businesses so we have businesses where it's helping writing contracts and tenders
23:22it's even answering telephones and answering emails now so I don't know if it's replacing people but it
23:27is certainly making businesses more efficient and more cost effective yeah I agree with you especially
23:32for the businesses like the CAFs that are putting the posters together I mean I'm against it a little
23:37bit especially for social media the algorithms don't like AI they don't want you to be using those
23:42images all the time because it does reduce your your reach and your activity across social media
23:48um and I was really interested in what you were saying Karen you know don't let it overtake what
23:53you you know you're thinking and there's always a place for our expertise and and things like that but
23:59and what I'm really interested in I really want to get out of you is the whole thing about AI
24:04writing books because Amazon's going to become a whole marketplace for AI books right
24:10I mean Amazon particularly if you publish on KDP they are not um you need to declare if you've used
24:17AI and they are not as keen um as people might think I would I advocate you write your book
24:24on AI
24:24absolutely not I don't I think what you'll get is generic very lukewarm
24:31kind of middle of the road it won't sound like you it will sound it will sound like someone wrote
24:36it
24:36for you and that I don't think that's ideal I think if you're writing a business book it's great
24:41for getting your chapter flow and organizing your ideas and getting your plan but the writing should
24:47come for you and if you're writing fiction and you're going to put it through AI I kind of think
24:52what's the point the whole point of writing fiction is that it's a pleasurable cathartic experience so
24:57for me um and then there's that other thing isn't it about it's kind of stealing from other people
25:03so writers are not the biggest fans of AI I would say I love this I could talk about this
25:08all day
25:09and I wish I could talk about it all day but we're coming up for tip of the day which
25:12I love
25:13and I'd love to hear from you what you would love to tell our um our viewers um a tip
25:19from you it
25:20doesn't matter if it's about the side hustle or it's about AI or the the rising cost but Sam I'm
25:25going to go to you first if that's all right yeah of course uh my tip of the week is
25:29to keep your
25:30business tax is separate from your main pot of money with it is the biggest area that we see
25:36and the biggest problem is it comes to the end of the year the tax bill comes in and people
25:40haven't
25:40saved for it so yeah a great tip and Karen I would say if we're talking about a business in
25:47general
25:48two things firstly get very clear on your goals because if you don't know what you want how you're
25:54going to get it it's like getting in the car with no sat nav so even if your your business
25:59plan
25:59doesn't look whizzy and uber professional and you know you've used all these fancy programs to do
26:04it but be very very clear on what is it that you want to achieve because how are you going
26:10to get
26:10there if you don't and my second tip is be prepared to get uncomfortable you know fill the fear and
26:16do
26:16it anyway yeah that's absolutely that's all we've got time for today a huge thank you to Karen Stanley
26:23from Mabel and Stanley Publishing for being so open about her journey from side hustles to full-time
26:28business today and to Sam Spillett from KPM accounts for the brilliant financial wisdom
26:33if you are a Kent business owner with a story worth telling I want to hear from you come and
26:38join me
26:38on this sofa until next time I'm Zoe Cairns and this is the Kent Business Show on KMTV see you
26:45all soon
26:49you
26:51you
26:56you