Londis store owner Natalie Lightfoot is what you might call a ‘busy retailer’.
On top of her work at her own Bailleston store, Natalie also recently co-founded the Retail Family online peer support group, which allows retailers to come together on a weekly basis and talk about the realities and challenges of the job, or just simply for a chat.
But Convenience Store was surprised to learn that on top of this, Natalie is also currently undertaking an introductory course in counselling and psychology: “I went to university when I left school and I did a business course, but it had psychology modules in it which I liked.
“This is a 12-week course and then you can apply for the next stage. It’s really intense because it’s a lot to learn very quickly, but I’m enjoying it. I looked at the course for a long time - like people look forward to holidays!”
Retail Family
Natalie said her work at her own store has also inspired - and benefited from - the course: “The main reason I’m doing it is because I wanted to be better at peer support.
“I’ve got employees and I’ve gone through the cycle of support with them, and I’m a people person and my degree was in linked to HR. I’m also quite a compassionate, empathetic person, but I’d like more skills around that.”
“I love retailing and I know it through and through, and I don’t find it boring and I never will.”
Natalie also said the course offers her a chance to actually be herself in an industry where everyone seems to want a piece of you 24/7: “It’s for me as well - just for me. I’m at that stage in my life where I could do anything. I love retailing and I know it through and through, and I don’t find it boring and I never will.”
There was one other aspect of Natalie’s desire to educate hersef on caring which was a little closer to home, she admitted: “I sadly lost my mum at the end of October last year and I think it’s a little bit to do with soul searching.
“But you deal with the public and staff, and you become very unique. You’re not employed by anybody and you have everybody else’s problems to deal with.”
Being brave
Natalie added that her decision to enrol on this course was also informed by a questioning of her place in the wider world: “It’s about being brave enough. You only have one life and I don’t want to limit myself to one thing.
“I feel as a retailer you can be put on a pedestal a little bit, in the sense that you’re the boss or the business owner, or you can see the industry for what it is - tricky and difficult. So there’s no harm in working on yourself. It’s only going to improve my business.
“I just think that it could make me better at motivating the team if I understand a little bit more why they do what they do.”
Hectic life
With her husband Martin also involved in the running of the couple’s Londis store, understandably Natalie said that the course, Retail Family and the daily work has lead to something of a hectic life. “It’s a juggling act. I’ve got three children as well, aged between five and 14, so I’m used to multitasking. There’s a lot of compromise and sacrifice.”
Thankfully, retailers like Natalie are willing to make such sacrifices. But she said it’s actually not a challenge, thanks to the elements mentioned above that allow her to be herself: “I’m used to all the challenges, but it’s no different really from saying I want to go out once a week. It gives me something. Once a week I can either go off to a Starbucks or find some time for me, to sit down and actually do the work.
“You have all those things you have to do by someone else’s deadline. But I’m doing this course because I want to. I think it’s just being in my 40s. You get to a point where you wonder how to make yourself feel better. I don’t think I have the answer, but I can definitely debate it…”
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