who runs the world, girls – taylor swift – betty

good morning gang,

this week for me has all been about the girls.

i am so lucky to have so many strong women around me, and this past seven days i have been so inspired by so many.

last sunday was a beautifully sunny day, and tiffany, her partner, and two dustbin lids betty and otto, and me and tan set off to bridgend to cheer and support chloe and crawford in a 6 mile running race called ’the beast of bryn’, so called because of the beast of a hill that consumes this trail run.

the night before the race, chloe informs our family whatsapp that there is a kids race prior to the main event, and obviously we signed up b & o forthwith, and there goes my sunday morning.

we all set off at 07:00 hours, and as the sun started to warm us as we toed the start line, tiffany looked at me and said “how did ‘we’ get roped into this?”

it was decreed that tiffany would walk the mile race with otto, and i would run the mile with betty.

now i had run back to the family car on a recent excursion with betty, and as a four year old, this girl can run.

i set off as the announcer loudly said ‘go’ with betty leaving mum and bro in her dust.

she is very petite, but her legs scampered off with the other junior runners, some wearing run club vests, this was a pucka race, with medals and evryfink.

now my 63 old meat sack is built for distance not speed.

never speed.

but betty hadn’t got the memo.

she sped off, with a raw exuberance that was wonderful to try to keep up with.

we ran across the grassy field, and i was transported back to my schooldays doing cross country, and i remembered that i used to enjoy running then too.

betty was gunning it, and as we left the field the race volunteers ushered us to choose to do the full mile incorporating an ugly looking hill, or turn right for the easier option down the hill.

i shouted to betty as we gambolled along, “do you want to do the easy route turn right or the tough route with a very steep hill, turn left?”

“which way is left” she shouted.

this child is so beautiful, and only as i write this have i reflected on the innocence that makes her even cuter.

“that way” i shouted and pointed.

she did an ‘ali’ shuffle

(https://www.tiktok.com/@nicoaliwalsh/video/7596831588260777229) and turned left up the hill.

i dropped a gear, and looked up the hill.

oof.

this was gonna be fun.

we ran.

and we ran.

pace slowing slightly, but when i offered the option to walk the hill, she responded with “no thanks papa”.

i eventually spied a giant flag, indicating the half way point.

thank goodness for that i thought.

“turn here betty” i bellowed.

she turned on a sixpence, and as we headed south, opened the jets.

my internal risk assessment was playing havoc with my enjoyment of the moment.

please don’t let her fall.

please don’t let me fall.

both situations would have terrible consequences for us both, and my mind raced, in unison with my legs.

suddenly, running at warp speed down an everest sized hill, betty cut across my line.

woahhhhhhhh.

that was close.

too close.

“stay on the left betty” i hollered.

“ok papa”

i’m really glad i chose to be called papa, i thought, as i sped down the path.

as we neared the bottom of the hill, hiviz-clad volunteers clapped us and became human google maps, offering us encouragement and direction in equal measure.

betty was locked in, turning and running, like a red ferrari.

there were some vest-wearing club kids ahead of us, and i don’t know if it’s my imagination, but she seemed to pick up the pace in an attempt to pass them, i’m pretty sure it had nothing to do with me suggesting “keep going, we can beat these betty”.

as the finish arch came into view we both left nothing in the tank, and sprinted, to the deafening applause of the cheering crowd.

our family enveloped her with cuddles and congratulations, and the race officials placed a well deserved medal around her neck, and i wondered how this experience would influence her life, as she seemed to love it.

medal ceremony complete, i glanced at my watch.

11 minutes.

what the actual?

a four year old ran an eleven minute mile, with a stonking great hill in the middle.

she’s olympic bound i thought.

to be continued.

chloe (3 kidneys) and crawford (one kidney) completed their 6. 5 mile race together, and as a newlywed couple running together, were a joy to watch.

so that was sunday.

back to work, and chloe and gemma having been developing an app for our business and have discovered skills none of us knew they had, and have created our own bigmoose system that has a crm, an ‘msn’ style communication system for our entire team, and is very sophisticated, allowing us to stop using paid for apps ’notion’ and ‘monday.com’, saving us thousands of pounds, truly brilliant, and game changing.

congrats girls.

so, in a recent meeting i suggested we name the software, so we have a reference to ‘anchor’ to.

i suggested joe 90, a seventies tv show character, with a good story line, and an amount of intrigue for people to enquire who is joe 90?

a rubbish idea and decision from me.

which i pondered and concluded quite quickly.

so.

i asked the team who, apart from their mums, were the most inspirational women in their lives.

and the winner was taylor swift, whose work ethic, hustle, kindness, and strength, personified what the app and its creators are all about.

so we now have a ’swift’ system.

which fits for so many reasons.

and gemma, who offered her as her inspo, and has been pivotal in its inception, is going to write to her telling the story, and taylor is going to come to bigmoose, and get involved in our growth, and help us grow globally.

cool story huh?

three more girls to go.

angie beasley.

i have mentioned her before.

recently sold her business and retired, now chosen to help bigmoose, and we met again this week, and one of my highlights of our three hour chat was when i asked her when was the last time she didn’t get what she wanted, she replied, after 30 seconds of pondering, that “she couldn’t remember”.

having angie on our team is going to be fun, seatbelts on.

again, i have mentioned cat burford before, the polar explorer.

cat is a girl of action.

she is going to be striving to raise £40,000 in 40 days imminently, and with a little encouragement, has started from scratch her tiktok channel, and i’m backing her to achieve her goal, such is is her drive, watch this space.

and finally, there is liv.

liv was mentored by chloe some years ago now, and is now at uni studying business.

she came to bigmoose last year for some work experience, and i threw her in the very deep end, telling her we were doing a video of our bigmoose ambassador will fuller, and would she like to do the video.

she immediately accepted, whereby i informed her he was coming in in 20 minutes, so go and research him, prep the camera setup, which she did with aplomb.

she absolutely nailed it, and showed confidence of one, many years her elder.

i adore liv.

after her time with us she did a year’s placement working for the hilton group, moving to london.

so it was with great pleasure i discovered liv was back in the ‘diff, and chloe had arranged for her to come in for a chat.

our chat ensued.

liv was back, and had 15 days available to work with us.

we all cheered.

she is going to work on sales and marketing, and when we offered her two choices of remuneration, one safe and higher day rate, and one risky with a lower day rate but bonus incentivised, she chose option 2.

never in doubt.

she is an ‘a’ player.

i will report back on her progress, i’m not sure if i mentioned, but i’m excited.

to wrap up this weeks blog, yesterday i travelled back to cheltenham to meet and present to the board of ‘raging bull’ clothing, to see if there are any opportunities to work together, and their founder phil vickery, who played in the 2003 rugby world cup winning team was in the meeting, and i cast my mind back to when moose and i watched the match in a sports bar in london, and jonny wilkinson kicking the game winning kick, sending us into euphoria, and i chuckled to myself what the big man would be thinking of where this bigmoose journey has led.

i wish i could speak to you again moosey boy.

blue skies,

jeff