Episode 2: Hannah Hughes

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Connect with Hannah -

• Website; https://www.thegrowthmentor.co.uk/
• LinkedIn; https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannah-hughes-growth/
• Instagram; https://www.instagram.com/the_workingmum_mentor/

 

Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-sangster/

 

Would you like to answer your own 13 questions?

Drop Sarah an email here - sarah@sanx.co.uk

 

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Sarah Sangster [00:00:00]:
In this episode of the Motherboard Podcast, I sit down with Hannah Hughes, founder of Growth Mentor, to explore the 13 key areas of business through the Motherboard Questions. The Motherboard Framework is built around 13 areas that every business owner should be working on to build a business they not only love, but that supports their life rather than consuming it. Through Hannah's answers, the episode explores boundaries, relationships, confidence, values, visibility, trust, motherhood and opportunities, and what success really looks like when you're business around the life that you want to live. Drawing on her experiences supporting businesses to retain and develop working mothers, Hannah shares honest insights into balancing ambition with family life, building meaningful relationships, protecting your time and staying true to your values whilst growing. A business episode is full of powerful. Sometimes it's measured by the boundaries you keep, the relationships you build and the freedom to be present for the moments that matter most. Enjoy.

Sarah Sangster [00:01:00]:
Hello and a warm welcome to Motherboard Podcast. We want listeners to walk away feeling inspired, understood and less alone in the way they're building business and their life together. The podcast is built around 13 short questions linked to the core areas of business inside the Motherboard Framework. Joining me today is Hannah Hughes from the Growth Mentor. Please introduce yourself, what you do, who you do it for and the results you get for your clients.

Hannah Hughes [00:01:23]:
Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. So, yes, my name's Hannah Hughes. My company is called the Growth Mentor and I essentially work with businesses to support them in retaining their working mums. So I help mums who are either just about to go on their maternity leave, during their maternity leave, or once they return, and I help them through a relationship with the business in themselves, basically stay in the workplace and retain that talent and help these working mums actually feel like they've got an identity as a mum, but also from a career perspective, obviously, why they were working beforehand. So, yeah, that's my focus very much. How can we make sure that we've got loads of female talent? The female talent pipeline remains and actually these amazing mums who are juggling motherhood and a career can set an example to people who are joining their teams as well.

Sarah Sangster [00:02:12]:
Amazing. So here we go with the questions. First one is about you. What part of who you are has helped you most in business?

Hannah Hughes [00:02:20]:
Yes, definitely, for me, it's personality and relationship building. It took me a long, long time to realise that they were my skills and my strengths, like, because a lot of what I've always done from a corporate perspective was about, what's your leadership style and, like, analytical? Or are you kind of like more like storytelling. And I always felt a bit out of place because I always felt really strongly that my skill was me and it was just being able to build a relationship with somebody and actually getting stuff done. And I think that's part of my story, is how I've leveraged my kind of like not inability to kind of demonstrate my strengths through numbers or commercially, but actually say, this is what I'm really good at. It's building relationships and getting shit done, but actually then creating those bonds with different teams and like departments within a corporate perspective to learn about how they work as well. So I think it's very much about how I'm. How I'm able to build a relationship, to learn from them rather than be the person teaching everything.

Sarah Sangster [00:03:21]:
Yeah, amazing. Okay, numbers. What's the biggest lesson you have learned about money or pricing? As a business owner, without a doubt,

Hannah Hughes [00:03:30]:
it's the importance of how much you value yourself. I think when you start out your own business, especially you have an idea in your head and you create a big framework and you know that as soon as someone signs up to you, this is what it's all going to look like and you want to charge this amount of money and then the reality and the. The pain of trying to find those people to have that conversation with you, you forget a little bit. Sometimes I think I just want someone to work with me to prove my value and then you compromise what it is that your value is based on your price. And I think my biggest learning is very much I have to hold my pricing to reflect the impact I can have on someone's business because I know I've got really great experience, I've got really great skills that actually, if I devalue myself, then I'm never going to be able to perform at my best because I'd always be a bit frustrated. So think that's the key thing I've learned from a numbers perspective?

Sarah Sangster [00:04:22]:
Definitely, yeah. Time. What is the one thing that helps you protect your time and energy whilst growing your business?

Hannah Hughes [00:04:30]:
So my business is very much about helping mums set boundaries and actually have that importance of exactly that is like, how do you make sure that your time is so valuable, even just from a memories perspective, not just a monetary perspective? And I think I've always been very good at knowing that when my little girls finished school or they had a netball practice or whatever it was, they would never get home if I didn't collect them because my husband would work away. So I was like, I have to pick them up. And it was Always very much these are my boundaries, I can do a meeting either side of this but this can't be compromised because I'm collecting them. And it was always to me that I would justify it very much by that's my one hour with them while they've got home from school and they're folks are excited and I think it's setting that off from the get go and actually sort of being able to plan your day, know your calendar's blocked out, but actually communicate that with people you work with as well so that there's never a misunderstanding or like a reason as to why you can't do it. So I think for me it's always been about protecting that time as being very transparent and actually saying to people I can't do it this time because I do XYZ or they've got a show or assembly. And I think it's that transparency and being genuine as to why I'm doing it. Not just to be difficult if it only works. And of course there's always a compromise but for me it's just about being honest and transparent of why you need that protection.

Sarah Sangster [00:05:53]:
Yeah, framework. What business decision have has made the biggest positive difference to your lifestyle or freedom?

Hannah Hughes [00:06:01]:
I think this links for me straight back to the time question. I know every day I have a block out in my diary, three to four, that I've got an hour, I've got 15 minutes walk for me to have a bit of mind, mindfulness before I get the girls, pick them up, get them home, throw a load of food at them, ask them about their day, get them outside playing. And I think knowing that every day I've got a structure of what's gonna happen when they get home allows me to then structure the rest of my afternoon. I'll have a client call maybe when I know the girls have got an extra club after school or play date. But it's allowed me to be more flexible with who I speak to and when because I can manage that around my diary. And um. And of course there's always times, isn't there? You work with people that they can't do the same time as you. But I feel very much like they are aware because of my structure that I've already set out with my transparent side as well.

Sarah Sangster [00:06:56]:
Yeah, cool output. What type of content or marketing has genuinely worked best for your business?

Hannah Hughes [00:07:05]:
Funnily enough, it's messaging people on LinkedIn. I. I'm very aware that my business is all about relationship building and it's all about making sure that I can get in front of somebody to have a really genuine conversation. And the only way I can do that is to demonstrate it by asking them if I can speak to them. And I think that's such an uncomfortable thing for me to do because I don't like being like hello, like have you got half an hour? But I've definitely had much more traction by sending a message to the right type of person rather than spreading a thousand messages, I'll find that ideal person that I need to speak to and sending them a very genuine personalized look. This is what I do. These are the types of people that I'd like to work with and how I help them. And that's worked really well for me.

Hannah Hughes [00:07:52]:
Rather than doing like LinkedIn posts when I'm genuine I get such a lot of traction which is great. But weirdly the most successful thing is me basically cold dming people and being that person that they're like oh gosh, who's this person messaging me? So that's worked really well for me but I think it's because I'm genuine when I do it and it's not just a sales message.

Sarah Sangster [00:08:13]:
Yeah. And I think that's important. If everyone gets loads of crazy messages, it's the one that feels personal, that actually stands out.

Hannah Hughes [00:08:20]:
Yeah, definitely, definitely prospects.

Sarah Sangster [00:08:23]:
What qualities make someone your ideal client or customer?

Hannah Hughes [00:08:27]:
So for me my ideal client is a business that has values about well being and kind of like equality because I'm very much trying to work with businesses where they will attract women to their workplace and naturally they should have like a variety of ages. So it's all about who talks about values very openly on their website, who demonstrates those values through their employees, talking about them on their, on their social media. And it's for me really it comes down to decision maker. So it's all about what HR person or what learning and development person holds the budget and holds the budget to something that they understand is going to be impactful and valuable to their team. Not necessarily them but actually their team. So I'm always trying to work with somebody who understands that they might not be the target market but as a business their value is very much upholding the values of their workforce.

Sarah Sangster [00:09:21]:
Amazing. Captcha, what do you think makes people truly pay attention to your brand today?

Hannah Hughes [00:09:28]:
I would have to say from my perspective, I think it's me being my target market. So I'm the end user of who I'm trying to reach and I think by being very open and honest and talking about things that I struggle with like being vulnerable and genuine with that makes people warm to me because that's one of my values is I want to be transparent and I want to be honest. And actually if I'm not the right person to work with, I'll find them someone who I believe is the best person rather than just be salesy to try and gain a load of profit for myself. And I definitely feel like, I mean, you know, we see this all the time, don't we? When you're genuine and you're actually telling a story, people can read that it's from your heart or it's from your experience rather than just going to do a really good hook and then get as many people as I can. And I think that's the thing that people pay attention to my brand now is it's I'm the person who's lived through it, I'm the person that used to deliver it and I'm also the person that would have to stand up and justify why I wanted the budget. So I think it's just that relatable as well.

Sarah Sangster [00:10:31]:
Yeah, amazing nurture. How have you built trust and long term relationship within your business?

Hannah Hughes [00:10:38]:
Again, very much relationship based, very much having honest conversations. Those people that I work with and part of my consulting side, the people in my extended team, it's all about understanding what their goals are and actually if I can leverage their strengths, that might not be my strengths. How can we help each other and actually learn from each other? Are so adamant that no one knows everything. Not even the experts who claim they know everything. And unless you surround yourself with people who have got an amazing skill set that's different to yourselves, you'll never learn. And I think it's all about having those relationships, honestly. So you can actually say, oh Sarah, I've got no idea what they're talking about. Can you have this? And hopefully they will gain exposure and experience from it as well.

Sarah Sangster [00:11:25]:
Yeah, absolutely. Opportunity. How do you personally spot opportunities in business and what have you learned about knowing when to say yes or no?

Hannah Hughes [00:11:33]:
Weirdly for me, I was trying to think back to the people I've recently started working with and the opportunity wasn't that they were missing my service of retaining working mums, it was that they advocated already for their working mums. So it was always about who can I look at from a brand perspective. Like I said, that one talks about values of wanting to support their parents within their workforce, but actually they're already recognizing that that's a benefit to somebody to come into their Business. So I've always taken the tact of what kind of like charities or organizations work with those businesses that are already aware of it and then I can approach them to sort of be a genuine. I see that you do this and these are the things that you're putting on for your team already. Have you thought about the pre, during and post maternity leave? And I think that's the best way I've done it so far, which I hope continues just more because I want to work with people like me, not just a corporation who've got a load of women there. I'd actually much rather work with a business that we can personalise a product and a service because the end user will benefit from it. Not just a website landing page that they support them.

Sarah Sangster [00:12:42]:
Yeah. Or tick box exercise.

Hannah Hughes [00:12:43]:
Yeah. Just to say, oh, we offer this. It's like, but you offer it. But do you actually listen and hear what they're saying as to why you offer it? Type thing?

Sarah Sangster [00:12:52]:
Yeah. Brilliant offer. What do you think people come to you for that goes beyond your actual product or service?

Hannah Hughes [00:12:59]:
I talk so much, much and I think because my whole role is to build a relationship not only with the mum herself, but with her manager and with the relationship with the business. I feel like I retain a lot of those women because I listen to them and then I will give my advice. And obviously from a men's ship perspective, it's very different to coaching. Like, I'm there to help based on my experience and like tactics I've learned or actual framework that we can implement together. I think they see that as I want to know about them and help them. And actually by me encouraging them to suggest X, Y and Z, I'm not within that business and I'm not a competition for them. I'm there to be a genuine how can we help you get where you want to be, but by protecting all of the things that you've talked about, like boundaries and, like, understanding time and that kind of thing. I think that's helped me because I'm not in it with them.

Hannah Hughes [00:13:50]:
I'm there cheerleading them on, but whilst keeping them accountable to what they want to do.

Sarah Sangster [00:13:54]:
Yeah, Brilliant. Salsa. What has helped you become more confident when it comes to selling your work or expertise?

Hannah Hughes [00:14:00]:
Oh, my gosh. Sales is just so terrible, isn't it? I am not a salesperson. As much as it sounds strange, when I read this, I thought. I actually think it's where people say no to you. And I've got to the point where. I got to the point where I thought I was very much transitioning between my growth consultancy and wanting to help SMEs grow from my corporate world to there. I basically I came up with this like framework of the growth mentor because I did it at in my corporate roles at 3 in Adobe 15 years. I never realized it was a business.

Hannah Hughes [00:14:30]:
And I think the more I talk to people about was a conversational sale. But in my growth side I'd be like, this is what I do. I can help measure this and this is what we can get your business to. And when they'd say no because they didn't have budget, I'd be so disheartened and so upset because I took that as a very personal reflection. But it then makes you a bit more determined because you're like, no, I can do it. Like, you should really want to wear it with me. And I think it's actually given me a little bit more confidence to sell by conversation. Not gosh, whatsoever.

Hannah Hughes [00:15:02]:
I can get your business here to there. It's actually a. I'd love to know what you do, why you want to get there and what is it that enables you to grow as a person, be it money or time or free, whatever it could be.

Sarah Sangster [00:15:13]:
Yeah, brilliant delivery. What is something that you're proud of when it comes to the experience your clients or customers receive?

Hannah Hughes [00:15:21]:
I think that personability and they remember it. Oh, I love. I really like getting after the same day or a couple days later, a message or an acknowledgement from either the mum or the business or the manager to acknowledge that I've made a difference, be it I feel much better today and I've gone outside or actually the thing that I've been putting off for six weeks, I've finally written that email and actually nothing bad's happened. I think the delivery of knowing I've helped them because they do the work, I'm there to help guide them. I think that's something I'm really, really proud of that they know I know that I've genuinely been someone to help them move their thought process along.

Sarah Sangster [00:16:04]:
Yeah, amazing. And then scale. What does success look like for you now in this stage of business and

Hannah Hughes [00:16:11]:
life from a business perspective? What I'd love to start doing, which we've just done with one client, is I'd love to get other mentors in, but very specific. So I want my growth mentorship program to become scalable through having other working mums who are ambitious and have got careers be mentors for businesses, but also those mums that will work with me are growing their own business so we all benefit each other. It's not about. I work for Hannah. We work together under a framework of the growth mentor. And then they can grow their business because their boundaries may be different to mine, but actually, if I can support people that I know have got great experience and track record of mentorship, then I'll learn from them, the business learns from them, and I can scale that way. And I think from a life perspective, my eldest is going to secondary school in September and I. It's so true.

Hannah Hughes [00:17:01]:
Like, obviously, you know, you've got much older children than me, like, probably more. I mean, my sass on my girls, my God. But when they get teenagers, I'm dreading it. But I feel like it's so true that everyone would say to me, the older they get, the more they need you. And I never really understood that because I was like, oh, God, they're always there and I see that now. And I think this is why I'm very determined to scale it around my boundaries, because I really want to make sure I'm there for my eldest grades. And then when Maisie goes to secondary school, they won't need me in the way that they need me now, but I want them to need that time with me and I want to be able to give them that rather than be going to meetings and leaving at 4 o' clock in the morning or wherever I used to have to do. I think that for me will be the most amazing achievement from a scaling perspective.

Sarah Sangster [00:17:47]:
Perspective, yeah, absolutely. One of the. One of the most scariest things someone ever told me was that until they're adults, you only get 18 summers. Oh, my gosh, you know?

Hannah Hughes [00:17:58]:
Yeah, it's so true.

Sarah Sangster [00:18:00]:
Yeah.

Hannah Hughes [00:18:00]:
And when you say it like that, it's awful because I think, oh, God, Grace is 10, I've got eight.

Sarah Sangster [00:18:05]:
Then they have to choose to want to spend time with you rather than.

Hannah Hughes [00:18:09]:
Yeah, it's so true. It's so true.

Sarah Sangster [00:18:11]:
So the question from the previous was, what is your favorite life lesson quote? Like your favorite inspirational quote?

Hannah Hughes [00:18:20]:
It's a good question. I absolutely. I am known across my friends for making up quotes and saying them wrong all the time. So this is probably not exactly how it was, but I remember someone saying to me before. So my last job was, last paid job in the corporate world was at Adobe, and it was like a really great career. Like, I had a great team and I was super nervous to change where I'd been for 10 years. And my friend Lisa said to me, without change, there's no opportunity. And if there's no opportunity, you'll never change.

Hannah Hughes [00:18:50]:
It was something like that because I really undeniable about doing it because it would be a lot of traveling. And I try and remember now that if I want an opportunity to change, I have to put myself out there to actually enable a change to happen. So it's asking questions, going outside my comfort zone all the time to enable myself to grow. And I feel like if she'd not said that to me, I don't, I actually don't think I'd have probably moved because I was so comfortable where I was and she just kind of framed it for me that if you don't change what you're doing, your opportunities are always going to be limited. Whereas if you try and look at an opportunity to change, you've got an absolute like world ahead of you. So I don't know who said it apart from my friend Lisa, but it helped me and I think I do believe made me change roles.

Sarah Sangster [00:19:37]:
Yeah. Great. And finally, a question that you'd like to ask the next female founder that I interview.

Hannah Hughes [00:19:44]:
I would love to know. One of the things people ask me all the time is why didn't you just get another corporate job? Because people know you get paid well in corporate, you get great benefits and it's a great example to set your your children because obviously you're able to take them holidays in this thing. But I would love to know what was her driver or kind of like flip moment of going, I'm going to do this by myself now. And it might not be anything to do with money or earning money. It might just be a what was your driver to say? Now is the time to do it when actually you've got more things dependent on you. It's riskier.

Sarah Sangster [00:20:20]:
Amazing. Well, thank you so much for coming on and sharing your 13 answers. You will find Hannah's details around this podcast on the show Notes and also on the website.

Sarah Sangster [00:20:31]:
Well, what another great episode and insights into 13 areas of business through the lens of Hannah Hughes, founder of the Growth Mentor. Through her answers to the Motherboard questions, Hannah shared an honest perspective on boundaries, relationships, confidence, values, and building a business that works alongside her life rather than taking over it. A clear theme throughout the episode is the importance of genuine connection. Whether we were discussing clients, opportunities, marketing or leadership, Hannah's answers consistently came back to building trust through authentic relationships and meaningful conversations. She also offered a refreshing view on success. Rather than focus solely on revenue or growth, Hannah talks about protecting time, being present for her family creating impact through her work and staying aligned with what matters most. The biggest takeaway from the 13 answers is simple. Success is just not about what you build.

Sarah Sangster [00:21:27]:
It's about building it in a way that allows you to enjoy the life you're building it for.