Heads & Dovetails

GillHB

Gill is a mindset / life coach and and Jamie is known as the Worcestershire Cabinet Maker. They both love to chat to people and find out about their lives as well as chatting with each other about what has been going on, not only in their world but the world at large. Listening to their podcast is like dropping in on someone else's conversation and you never know what you are going to learn. Some episodes they are chatting about life and other episodes they are joined by guests.

  1. Episode 92 - From hot weather and drinks to seagulls!

    Jul 1

    Episode 92 - From hot weather and drinks to seagulls!

    Of course with the recent heat wave Jamier and Gill have to talk about the weather! Jamie says that somehow he has been very productive doing little jobs on his list including lots of sewing. With the hot weather Gill's been busy washing everything like the sofa cushion covers, the mattress topper and getting them all dry in the sun. Letting nature do its work rather than dry cleaning! Jamie confesses to turning on his air con in his workshop for the first time in over 13 years. His workshop is like a little tin box and he wasn't sure it would work but with students coming in he needed to have it on. It worked! He compares the cost of running it to impact on the amount of work he can actually get done when it's cool.   Gill mentions their solar panels would be perfect for running AC as basically wouldn't cost us anything but luckily living in a bungalow with loads of insulation she and Clive stay cool! She chats about how people tend to do the opposite of what they should to keep their homes and cars cool. It leads on to them talking about EV cars and sitting in traffic jams, more about that next episode of they ever manage to get their guest on!  Jamie tells Gill about the drinks he has been making using broccoli water with nettles and other ingredients to keep hydrated.  Rather than just drinking water it means he also gets lots of minerals and electrolytes which are so important in the hot weather. Lastly they talk about bird poo! Jamie has been scraping it off their cars whereas Clive and Gill were scraping it off themselves whilst on their normal Saturday morning walk in Budleigh Salterton. How one seagull could have such an impact and make such a mess literally from top to toe on both of them was beyond Gill! She smugly tells Jamie how she got everything clean without any chemicals being used.

    33 min
  2. From insect bites to becoming skilled at what you do.

    Jun 17

    From insect bites to becoming skilled at what you do.

    Eleven days after an insect / spider bite Jamie has been to A & E as his ankle kept swelling. He was recommended to take some antihistamine tablets and went off to buy some. He was given a choice between a branded one tablet or a supermarkets own brand at a much cheaper price. Jamie of course took the cheaper one and no real differnce according to the person serving him.  It leads to a chat about the difference in cost between branded and non branded items. Gill says she has 2 friends who know a lot about plants and there medicinal properties. She wishes she could plug her brain into theirs to download the information as she knows she must have a lot in her garden that she could use. She tells Jamie about how, when she worked as sales admin in a cardboard box factory and had to deliver some samples to a customer, she was shown around the factory and saw various brands being made next to each other. The only thing that needed to change between them was one ingredient!  Jamie has also been carving a little mouse, copying it from a carver, Robert Thompson, well known for his mice. Jamie explains how apprentices are often told to copy something from a Master in that field as it puts you into the same frame of mind and makes you think about how to acheive the same result. Gill jokes about how in a 100 years someone will appear on the Antiques Roadshow with Jamie' mouse thinnking they have a Robert Thompson mouse worth a fortune and be disappointed. Jamie explains that he will burn his own mark into it so that there is no mistake and when an apprentice copies a Master's piece of work it is not allowed to leave the workshop but is destroyed.  This leads them to talk about 'biting off more than you can chew' when learning a skill. Gill talks about a new willow weave she has been learning and it's defintiely not perfect but has helped her learn what she needs to do / change much earlier on in the process next time to make it better.  They both agree that it is good to remind students / newly qualified people watching or wondering how they came to certain decisions that they have years of experience of doing their jobs.

    36 min
  3. From touch points of human contact to ivy suffocating trees

    Jun 3

    From touch points of human contact to ivy suffocating trees

    With AI and so little face to face communication these days Gill tells Jamie how a simple act of taking a photo of a flower high up on a wall became, what she's now calling, a 'touch point of human contact' and how she is looking to have more of them. Another one occurred when she wnet to pick up a pizza from the van that comes to their village and how it became moch more than collecting a pizza.  Having a dog Jamie says he gets plenty of these moments chatting to other dog owners and with his workshop in the Ruskin centre next to the cafe people tend to drop in to his workshop to have a look. They chat more about human contact and how important it is to us as humans. Jamie says he is now doing less videos for YouTube and as a result getting more done in the workshop and in future will only do videos of the things he enjoys making.  As a result of his shift in thnking about his work and making more of the things he wants to make he's decided to change his workshop around a little remvogn some things adding chairs. These changes in what he wants to do has also had a positve effect on the rate he charges for any work he does. Jamie has also been busy in his garden removing ivy that was choking an old cherry tree and how having removed it the tree has already got new little shoots coming from the branches.  Gill and Jamie have something new for their next podcast a guest! They can't wait to see how that goes.

    31 min
  4. From: Appreciating skills to increasing your fees.

    Apr 8

    From: Appreciating skills to increasing your fees.

    How far would you travel to see a professional you trusted? Jamie has broken a tooth and doesn't trust the dentists local to him but has located his old dentist and is happy to travel to herknowing how skillful she is.  Jamie and Gill chat about skills and how good it is when someone you are teaching reaches a certain skill level or as a learner you feel you reach a certain level and ready to move on. Jamie is creating a 'pathway' for his students so that when they reach a certain level they can decide which direction they want to go in next. Gill talks about running her willow course and how when learning something new you really get to appreciate the skill involved and often that changes your view of what the price should be, which is usually higher! When you are buying something it isn't just that product or teaching hour you're paying for but all the hours of practice that were involved for the teacher / trainer to become so skilled.  Jamie has been asked to repair a writing box and made the customer fully aware of how he charges and potential time frame. The customer was fully onboard with the cost and adament he wanted Jamie to do it no mattter how long it took. Gill and Jamie chat about how, when a sole trader and in certain professions, there is a tendency to keep prices stable and not to increase fees in line with rising costs espeically for longstanding clients particularly if you know they are struggling to make ends meet already - but everyone has increased bills to pay. Jamie has decided to tell his students that there will be a yearly increase but if they can't afford it to talk to him.

    31 min
  5. From: How do I get myself into these things? to tyres

    Mar 25

    From: How do I get myself into these things? to tyres

    Jamie and Gill talk chat about how they get ourselves into things without meaning to?! Gill explains that she's found herself running a willow obelisk workshop for her village 'allotmenteers' having been asked by her neighbour but didn't think she'd actually said yes so not quite sure how it happened. Gill describes what is involved in preparing for the workshop especially when you don't have the right equipment to start with! Jamie shares a similar type story involving a stair gate and his accountant. When peole ask for things they rarely take into account how much tiem is involved prior to actually starting the work if the client even agrees.  They chat about how people expect skilled people / speakers etc to do something for nothing, travel to the venue maybe accomodation required and offer very little in exchange without thinking they have bills to pay as well! With everything going up in price since the start of the Iran war Jamie has been looking for new tyres for his car, as he works through the 'advisories' from his car's recent MOT. He describes how shopping around can save a lot of money. Gill comments how she has been mentally working out the cost of veg as she shops and thereforer how much growing her own food actually saves her even though she buys some compost each year.  On the same lines of saving money Jamie also mentions that he has noticed the views on his free fuel biquette videos have increased in recent weeks with people looking to save money especially on things like heating. The impact of more viewings means that the money Jamie earns from YouTube will increase slightly but it all helps.

    39 min

About

Gill is a mindset / life coach and and Jamie is known as the Worcestershire Cabinet Maker. They both love to chat to people and find out about their lives as well as chatting with each other about what has been going on, not only in their world but the world at large. Listening to their podcast is like dropping in on someone else's conversation and you never know what you are going to learn. Some episodes they are chatting about life and other episodes they are joined by guests.