Are you a fan of BBC’S The Apprentice series?
Our Weddings on the Mind team likes a watch and chat about it but we were especially excited about this year’s series as it featured one of our wedding industry friends Shannon Martin of Dotty Bridal, based in Holmfirth, Yorkshire!
Tabby and Shannon first got to know each other several years back when they were working together on some styled shoots and wedding fayres at The Arches in Halifax, where Tabby developed the venue and wedding packages for its first ever weddings and Dotty Bridal has since been one of Tabby’s go-to recommended bridal suppliers, not just for the amazing gowns, but the quality of experience all brides and customers get from Shannon and her team.
We were super excited to watch Shannon on The Apprentice and so impressed she managed to keep the whole experience a secret! Kudos for that! She came over so well on TV, which is not always easy to do when things are so highly edited and was proving popular with fellow candidates and the public. So, it came as a shock to many that in week 2 (***SPOILER ALERT***) Shannon took the exceptionally brave decision to leave the process on her terms.
That was a boss move right there and in Shannon’s own words she revealed: “I just don’t feel like this is the environment for me.”
There’s no doubting there’s a huge business and financial advantage to winning the show, but sometimes that isn’t the most important thing and you have to do what’s right for yourself and the biggest lesson we can take from doing something is to learn that actually, we need to do things in our own way and on our own terms. Maybe it took being a part of the process for Shannon to realise that she has everything right there to be an even more successful businesswoman, a phenomenal team around her which she built and actually the time spent in the process was time she wasn’t spent realising her dream.
In my home and business we have a motto that whatever decision we make we run it through the filter of “will I regret it?” and to hear Shannon say she has “no regrets” about either being part of the process or leaving fills my heart with joy. That is one strong lady right there with a passion and drive, because that’s an even harder decision to make when you also know there is a vast population watching on through the TV and social media.
But sometimes you have to make these choices and they are not easy and I can relate with what Shannon went through, having made a similar decision around a TV show in 2021.
I didn’t publicly share this at the time, but in 2021 I was set to be a part of filming the new series of Channel 4s ‘A New Life in the Sun’ – sharing the journey of my new home “Posto Felice” and business launch in Italy.
The show wanted to follow from the moment I stepped through the door for the first time to following me renovate and set-up a new Italian part of the Mode for… portfolio.
It seemed such a great opportunity and when you’re a business owner you’re always thinking about the PR benefits for your business – but I was also conscious about the impact it would have on my emotional fitness and, despite having succeeded in the whole application and audition process and completed all the relevant information, I actually pulled out of filming the week before.
Why? Well, a few reasons, but mainly because I was fairly conscious about how I would come over as the first filming they wanted to do was on the back of me driving to Italy over a 24 hour period, still having to conform to strict COVID regulations on arrival which included being quarantined in my new home for 5 days – which by the way, having never seen before having bought the house blind, I had no idea what state if it was in or liveable – contend with 40 degree heat so I would be a fairly unattractive sweaty mess and this all coincided with what would have been Simon’s birthday.
The fact was that whilst I could do it – it wasn’t the right environment for me and just because it meant I’d be on TV and potentially good PR for the business, it did not make it the right choice; so I put me first.
We don’t always do that, instead putting others ahead of our own needs even when we know it’s not right. But we have to put on our own oxygen mask first and not always people please. I wholeheartedly applaud Shannon for putting her own oxygen mask on first and she and her
business are flourishing because of it, with the launch of her fabulous new own brand of British designed and made wedding gowns this month called Nori Ivy.
Check them out, check Dotty Bridal out and also use Shannon’s and my experiences to ask yourself if you’re putting your own oxygen mask on first and use the “will I regret it filter” when you have decisions to make.
Now… who fancies a bao bun? Though not one described by Lord Sugar as looking like “Homer Simpson’s knackers!”
Much Love
Tabby x
Pics of Shannon and her gowns on a shoot co-organised with Tabby and a fabulous team of ladies.
Weddings on the Mind 