High Flying Design

A note from your future self 💫

You'll probably let your business birthday pass this year. Most of us do.

But another year of still being here, still going? That's worth celebrating, yes, seriously. 🙌

Not the cookies and the party. The stuff that actually means something to you.

Here's how to actually mark it 👇

https://www.highflyingdesign.com/magazine/business/how-to-celebrate-your-business-birthday

You spend so much time wondering if you're doing the right thing. If you're good enough. If this is even your path.

But here's what actually matters: what happens in other people when you do what you do?

The client who leaves a call sure of herself again. The friend who feels steadier after an hour with you. The person who walks away lighter and doesn't quite know why.

That's your purpose. Not the thing you do, but the thing that moves in other people when you do it. ✨ 💫

This warm weather has got me thinking about old dreams of mine. A dream you might have once had too...

How LUSH it would be to take my laptop down to the beach and work from there 🌞 🏝️ 💻

But the reality probably looks more like patchy WiFi, screen glare, and emails piling up while you feel guilty for not enjoying yourself more.

Danielle Thompson of Goldspun Support wrote something really honest about why the “work from anywhere” dream isn’t actually freedom, and what is, over on High Flying Design 📰

🔗 https://www.highflyingdesign.com/mindset/the-truth-about-working-from-the-beach

- Shannon Kate Murray, founder & editor

45% of female founders say financial insecurity is their biggest barrier to growth. But before the strategy, a lot of us need to sort out what's going on underneath.

Many of us are quietly struggling with money blocks rooted in childhood conditioning or past experiences, showing up as self-sabotage, undercharging, or the feeling that money is always slipping away.

If that resonates, Denise Duffield-Thomas's Get Rich Lucky Bitch is worth a read.

We listened on Audible, but if you prefer to read a physical book, grab your copy from World of Books below 💘

https://tidd.ly/4dG3fsz (affiliate link)

Data: The Rise Report 2026 by Female Founders Rise

There’s a persistent assumption that commercial ambition comes secondary to purpose or flexibility for female founders. The Rise Report by says otherwise.

First and foremost in financial terms, with over half (53%) pointing to stability and profitability as the foundation of business success.

See the numbers above 👆

How do you define success?

Starting the weekend with .nutritionn’s delicious banana and blueberry baked oats recipe 🤤 🫐

INGREDIENTS
- 2 medium bananas⁠
- 200g oats⁠
- 1tbsp ground flaxseed⁠
- 1tsp baking powder⁠
- 1.5tsp ground cinnamon⁠
- 1tbsp maple syrup or honey⁠
- 400ml cow’s milk or soya milk⁠
- 200g blueberries⁠

⁠RECIPE: https://www.lutrition.co.uk/post/banana-and-blueberry-baked-oats 📖

Serve with greek yoghurt and your favourite fruit.

Another one of our female founder stories has made it to print! 📰 🎉

Thanks for running ’s conversation with Carla Pooran of SkinRenewal Colchester and 40+ Skin Bootcamp in the June issue of Over the Edge Magazine ✨💫

If you’re in or around Chelmsford, grab your free copy from Fete, Jamaica Blue or Coffee At The Mill (full list of stockists available at overtheedgemag.co.uk) 🌷

Today, Mollie is 30 years old. She runs The Hair Hut from a salon her parents built in her garden in Essex, with 160 clients, fully booked five days a week, weddings twice a month, and an ever-growing waitlist.

Before we sat down, she told me she'd been trying to figure out what she possibly had to say.

“What the hell am I going to say? I'm just a hairdresser.”

Turns out, plenty.

Mollie Barnard, The Hair Hut: "I Was Supposed to Be a Dancer — High Flying Design She had her place at dance school confirmed and turned it down the day before she left. Mollie Barnard on building The Hair Hut from a garden salon in Essex.

We’re living through a global trust recession.

You can feel it everywhere. Not just in politics, the media or big institutions but in business, marketing, leadership and in the way people buy, behave and decide who to believe.

As Danielle Thompson writes in her latest piece for High Flying Design:

"Let’s be clear, trust hasn’t dipped… It has collapsed, and the old playbook no longer works."

So what actually builds trust now? Danielle shares six principles in her latest piece 👇

The Trust Recession in Business: Why Audiences No Longer Buy the Performance — High Flying Design Danielle Thompson, founder of goldspun support, explores the “trust recession” in modern business and why audiences now demand honesty, proof and human leadership over performance.