In this episode of Scale HER Up, I'm joined by Catherine Bunn, Managing Director of Highland Campervans and Director of Camper Lux Limited — a motorhome dealership on the outskirts of Inverness that Catherine built from scratch, starting with two campervans, a baby in a car seat, and a conservatory extension she never actually built.

Catherine has been running Highland Campervans for nearly 20 years. She started the business after leaving the Royal Air Force, grew it organically while raising two sons, built a team of over 20, and is now preparing for the next major phase of growth. This is one of those conversations packed with genuinely useful business thinking — from a real business owner who's figured things out the hard way.

We cover:

- How Highland Campervans started — and the creative way Catherine funded the first two vans when the bank said no

- Growing organically and reinvesting profits rather than over-financing

- Building a team from part-time working mums to 22+ staff

- Working with her husband — what works, what didn't, and how they made it sustainable

- Being a 4am worker and why she flexes her hours around her energy

- The burnout turning point — and the simple tool that helped her treat herself like an employee

- Work hard, play hard: ultra running, sea kayaking and Munros

- The castles, moats and cores business model — and why the customer is the crown jewel

- The beachhead strategy for business growth — and why doing everything was holding them back

- What's next: a brand new workshop and the next phase of growth

- Camper Lux Limited and the Motorhome Depot franchise explained

**Quote of the episode:** *"Treat yourself the same way you treat your staff."* — Catherine Bunn

If you're a business owner who's been putting everyone else first, growing steadily and wondering when it's your turn to focus — this episode is for you.

In this episode of Scale HER Up, I'm joined by Michelle Quinn — Managing Director and co-owner of Almond Engineering, a precision engineering company based in Livingston, West Lothian.

Michelle started at Almond as a 17-year-old on a three-week temporary contract. She had no qualifications, no idea what engineering was, and no particular plan. Twenty-one years later, she owns the company.

This is one of the most extraordinary journeys I've heard on this podcast — and Michelle tells it with complete honesty, including the parts that were hard.

We cover:

- What Almond Engineering does and the range of industries it serves

- How Michelle went from office junior to MD without a degree or formal training

- The moment at 17 she told the founder she'd be the first female MD — and why they both laughed

- What it's like being a young woman in a heavily male-dominated industry — and how she built respect from the ground up

- The management buyout she completed less than two weeks after having her first child

- How she funded the MBO — and what the process actually looked like

- Being a self-described workaholic and what having a family changed

- Introducing flexible working into an engineering company — and why it's the best thing they've ever done

- Why she'll hoover the office, do deliveries and do whatever it takes — and why that matters

- What needs to change to get more women into engineering

**Quote of the episode:** *"I'll be the first female MD in this company."* — Michelle Quinn, age 17 (she was right)

If you're someone who has been told there's only one path to success — or you're building something in an industry that wasn't built with you in mind — this episode is for you.

In this episode of Scale HER Up, I'm joined by Fiona MacEachern, Managing Director of Loch Lomond Brewery and Levenbank Distillery — a business she started from scratch with her husband in 2011, home brewing for fun, and has grown into a 15-strong team producing 6,000 hectoliters of beer a year, alongside gin, vodka, rum and their own whiskey barrels.

This is one of those conversations that stays with you. Fiona is honest, direct and refreshingly no-nonsense — about what it really takes to build a business from nothing, what happened when she faced cancer treatment while running the company, and why not doing something is always worse than trying and failing.

We cover:

- How Loch Lomond Brewery started from home brewing and became a brewery, distillery and taproom

- Growing from one employee to 15 — and why building trust takes time

- Why Fiona gave up a career as a police officer to start the business (and what finally pushed her over the edge)

- Working with her husband and the boundaries that have kept the marriage intact for 25 years

- Cash flow as the constant challenge — and how crowdfunding raised £250,000 to fund their expansion

- Managing the business through cancer treatment — and why coming to work was her support network

- What it's like to be a woman in the brewing industry

- The natural progression from beer to spirits — and how selling whiskey barrels helped fund the distillery

- Her honest, respectful take on BrewDog and what they did for the Scottish brewing industry

- What's next for Loch Lomond Brewery and Levenbank Distillery

**Quote of the episode:** *"If you do it and fail, that's a good thing. Not doing it is not a good thing — because you've never achieved your full potential."* — Fiona MacEachern

If you're thinking about starting something, scaling something, or just wondering whether all the hard work is worth it — this episode will remind you that it is.

In this episode of Scale HER Up, I'm joined by Mary Pat McFarlane, Director of VMH Solicitors — a firm celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, with staff members who have been there since day one.

Mary Pat has been with VMH for 22 years, progressing from assistant solicitor to associate to partner to director. She's also a former Scotland international rugby player who credits the sport with shaping how she leads, prepares and builds teams to this day.

This is a conversation full of practical wisdom — about what genuinely great staff retention looks like, why acting decisively in a crisis matters, and why the best networks sometimes come from places you'd never expect.

We cover:

- What makes VMH Solicitors genuinely special — including a team member who's been there since day one 40 years ago

- How over two-thirds of their business comes from repeat clients — including three generations of the same family

- What they actually look for when hiring (and why cultural fit matters as much as competence)

- Mary Pat's career journey from junior solicitor to director, including stepping back during the 2008 crash

- What she's learned about herself as a leader — and why people management was the hardest part

- The transferable skills from playing rugby for Scotland: preparation, team dynamics and working toward a common goal with people you wouldn't always choose

- How competitiveness can be both a superpower and a challenge in leadership

- Where she gets support — and why her biggest network came from rugby, not traditional business circles

- Her perspective on being a woman in law: why she's never felt held back, and what that tells us

- The advice she'd give her 18-year-old self — and why it all started at the first week of university

**Quote of the episode:** *"Fail to prepare, prepare to fail. It's all about the preparation."* — Mary Pat McFarlane

Whether you're building a team, leading through a crisis, or wondering whether your personal network is your greatest untapped business asset — this episode has something for you.

In this episode of Scale HER Up, I'm joined by Anne Wright, Finance Director of FBD Consultancy — a husband-and-wife accounting practice that started with no clients, no money and a house with no gable end, and has grown into a team of nine over nearly 20 years.

Anne is a CIPFA-qualified accountant and a passionate advocate for small businesses. She's also spent 15 years as a QuickBooks software trainer, delivering sessions from Northern Ireland to Orkney — a journey that transformed her confidence and proved that an accountant who says yes to opportunities can end up doing far more than pushing spreadsheets.

In this conversation, Anne shares honest reflections on the realities of running a finance business alongside her husband, the financial pressures hitting small businesses right now, and the simple advice she'd give to any business owner: just don't give up.

We cover:

- What FBD Consultancy does and the clients they work with

- The real financial challenges facing small businesses right now — including rising costs, employers' national insurance and Making Tax Digital (MTD) explained clearly

- The story of how FBD Consultancy started (hint: it wasn't planned)

- Why there's no such thing as the right time to start a business

- What nearly 20 years of working alongside your husband actually looks like

- The biggest obstacle in running any business: getting paid

- Why you have to build a team if you ever want your time back

- How Anne went from accountant-behind-a-spreadsheet to confident public trainer

- The importance of grabbing opportunities even when you're not sure you can do it

- What Anne would tell her 18-year-old self — and why it's advice that's still relevant today

- What's next for Anne and for FBD Consultancy

**Quote of the episode:** *"Just don't give up. Put one foot in front of the other and see it through."* — Anne Wright

If you're a small business owner who wants to understand your numbers better, or you're thinking about building a team and taking a step back — this episode is full of grounded, practical wisdom from someone who has lived it.

In this episode of Scale HER Up, I'm joined by Julie McCann, founder and CEO of Masters in Minds Limited — a leadership, management and organisational development business with 17 years of impact behind it.

Julie's story is one of real transformation. She left school at 16 with few qualifications, built her career from the ground up through corporate life, and eventually founded her own business after years of helping other organisations scale and succeed. Today she leads a team of eight full-time staff and 40 associates, and runs a platform business combining HR technology with bespoke learning and development content.

In this conversation, Julie and I talk about what it really takes to build a business that changes people's lives — and why the ripple effect of great leadership is bigger than most of us realise.

We cover:

- What Masters in Minds does and the types of organisations that need it most

- The difference between a training programme and a genuine execution strategy

- Why strategy so often fails — and what it actually takes to deliver it

- Running a business alongside your husband (and how they got better at the boundaries)

- Juggling business and family, including self-funding both pregnancies

- Why even a sales and marketing expert struggles to articulate their elevator pitch

- Keeping going when the media tells you everything is doom and gloom

- Why failure, resilience and the ability to bounce back are non-negotiables for any entrepreneur

- The ripple effect of great leadership — and why it matters more than you think

- Julie's powerful message on age: don't let it define what you can and can't do

**Quote of the episode:** *"You teach best what you most need to learn."* — Julie McCann

Whether you're building a team, thinking about leadership, or trying to get your strategy off the page and into action — this conversation is full of practical wisdom and honest reflection.

What does it take to follow a dream — literally — and turn it into a thriving business?

Jules Fleming is the co-owner of Continental Cream, an iconic ice cream and sweet shop in Banchory, Aberdeenshire, that's been delighting customers for over 40 years. Jules bought the shop five years ago after dreaming she owned it, walked in the next day, and asked the previous owners if they wanted to sell. They did.

In this episode, Jules shares the honest, unfiltered journey of buying an existing business — the chaotic first summer, the 2am laptop sessions, the staffing challenges, the impact of rising minimum wages and National Insurance on small business profitability, and the slow, deliberate process of building systems so the business can run without you.

She also talks about launching an events trailer, being deeply involved in the Banchory Business Association, and why she believes community involvement isn't optional — it's a duty of care.

In this episode you'll hear:

• Why Jules trusted a dream over a business plan — and it worked
• How she navigated the first summer with no prior retail experience
• The real impact of minimum wage increases on small businesses
• How to manage seasonal staffing and train young employees well
• The test-and-learn approach that led to the events trailer
• Why community involvement is good for business AND good for people
• Her top advice for women thinking of buying or starting a business

What happens when you launch a workplace consultancy focused on human connection at the exact moment the entire world goes into strict isolation? In this episode, Dr Brenda Hector sits down with Lisa Gallagher and Nikki Slowey, co-founders of Flexibility Works, to explore their six-year journey running an impactful social enterprise.

Both Lisa and Nikki share their matching professional histories: reaching senior levels, navigating motherhood, and hitting absolute organizational brick walls when attempting to negotiate basic part-time or job-share terms. Dr Brenda Hector also shares her personal experience navigating the rigid workplace frameworks of the past as a mother of twins. Together, they highlight why flexible working structures are no longer a modern luxury—they are a critical commercial lever that decreases employee absenteeism, supercharges retention rates, and broadens talent pools.

Key Takeaways:

• The Power of Co-Founding: How sharing executive leadership allows business owners to manage family operations, avoid professional burnout, and survive sudden personal health challenges.
• Guardrails vs. Free-For-Alls: Why hybrid frameworks require clear, evolving structures instead of static policies to remain sustainable.
• Frontline Flexibility: How manufacturing and operational environments can successfully implement staggered start times and predictable shifts.
• Charitable Seed Funding: Navigating the third-sector landscape to fund an initial launch with a distinct poverty alleviation lens.