Many of you will know that Just For Tummies is a family-run business based in the East Midlands. In this video, you get a glimpse into the world of our digestive and gut health company, as I talk about who we are, what we do and why we do it. The video features the Just for Tummies triumvirate: me – Linda, my husband, Kevin and our son, Colin.
Some say to never mix family and business. Given their portrayals in the media and recent popular TV series, it might be easy to dismiss family businesses as hotbeds of power playing, favour currying, and back-stabbing. It’s true that family businesses come with unique challenges but where these are well managed and the family can deliver a great product or service, family businesses can be some of the most successful businesses around – Dyson, JCB and Clarks are all incredible examples of this.
Here at Just For Tummies we have a strong sense of purpose, and a cast-iron determination to have a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of our customers. Our focus on the human element of business is what sets us apart from other kinds of organisations. Our commitment to our customers and their health underpins our success. We often say to each other: ‘The customer is always right, even when they’re wrong’ which just means that we will do everything we can to put something right when it goes wrong. This commitment is ingrained in all three of us.
We don’t believe in sugar-coating the bottom line – it takes a lot of hard work and an enormous amount of energy to run the business in the way we want to, to keep any competing interests from turning destructive, and to remember to enjoy our lives outside of the business too!
We trust each other, which enables us to take healthy risks; we all have each other’s back, and the feeling of support and togetherness helps us through the tough times. One of the best parts about working as a family is that we understand each other and can accommodate each other’s strengths and weaknesses to bring about success. Building the Just For Tummies brand has taught us lots, not only about running a business but about ourselves too – above all, how resilient we are.
It’s not always easy to separate business and family life, and we found this was especially challenging in the early stages of building the business, not taking enough holidays or breaks, but we’ve learned that balance is important, and we know that the family who play together, stay together. Colin will agree that he found it difficult being in business with his mum because I am different at work when I have my business head on. I am very, very focused. But we have come a long way, we have more knowledge, more experience and we have fine-tuned our work objectives. It’s taken a lot of hard work, but we now work in synergy (most of the time) and know when to stop (most of the time)!
We have encountered peaks and troughs, but there are fewer troughs now. It’s been a massive learning curve for all of us, even though Kevin and I were in business together for over 25 years when we were running our natural health clinic. We all have quite strong personalities, and we are not afraid to voice our opinions. We are a very close family which can make it difficult to separate business from family life because we love spending time together, going on holiday together, and celebrating occasions together. During these times, it’s hard for the conversation not to steer into business territory.
Our mission at Just For Tummies is to reach as many people as possible who struggle with common digestive, gut and bladder issues and offer education, knowledge, awareness and support to help them make the right decisions about their ongoing health and wellbeing. A big mission yes, a mountain of a mission some might say, but I’ve always said that if we can help just one person turn their health and wellbeing around using our advice and supplements, all the hard work and stress will have been worth it!
I hope you enjoy the video. If you would like to know more about our products or have a question about a digestive and gut health issue, please get in touch.
