The Lilac Creative

How your emails and DM’s found me this long weekend🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Feeling relaxed, rejuvenated and ready to push myself out of my comfort zone & build the life of my dreams🫶🏻

Right, holiday cottage hosts. Let’s talk about your Instagram📲

You’ve got the fireplace, the view, the duck pond down the lane, and somehow none of that’s making it into your posts. Just the floor plan and “spacious living area,” like you’re trying to sell on Rightmove rather than trying to encourage holidaygoers.

Save this one for your next posting day. Five small swaps, no new camera, just a different way of showing people what they’re actually paying for: the life, not the lounge.

(Speaking of countryside cosiness, I’ve got some photos coming your way soon👀)

Turning 30 has become a little milestone in my head this year💭

Not because I think everything should be tied up with a neat now by then, but because it feels like a good moment to take stock of what I’m building and where I want it to go next. I’m an October baby, so that gives me just over a year to achieve it.

When I started The Lilac Creative, I wanted more than a job. I wanted something that fit around real life, that let me support businesses I genuinely care about, and that gave me proper financial independence. Being able to pay into my pension, save for family holidays and treat my partner the way he’s always treated us, instead of always leaning on him to make things happen.

There’s still plenty I’m working towards. A more diverse income across my services, content and the Cerys|Self-Acceptance|Self-Care|Motherhood| side of things. Being known locally as the person businesses call when they need a bit of creative support. Having the breathing room to give back to local causes that matter to me. And quietening every doubter along the way (especially the one in my own head).

I’m really proud of how far this business has come already, I’m excited for what the next year (and the rest of my 20’s) has in store.

If you’re building something too, I’d love to know one thing you’re working towards at the moment☕️

Just a selection of my absolute dream clients😍

Can you see yourself in this? Come say hi👋🏻

Last night was my third Soup event (two in Liverpool, one on the Wirral) and I think I’ve officially accepted these nights are non-negotiable for me now💜

For anyone who doesn’t know - Soup is a community crowdfunding event. You pay a few pound for a ticket and you get a bowl of soup, you listen to local people pitch ideas they’re genuinely passionate about, and everyone votes on who takes home the pot. That’s it. That’s the whole thing. And it’s one of the most wholesome nights I have.

I do wear lilac because it’s my colour, but I’m not because I’m there to promote The Lilac Creative. I’m there because a room full of strangers turning up, listening properly, and backing each other’s ideas with their own money is exactly the reminder I need that there’s genuinely good in this world. The organisers giving their time for free, the pitchers are brave enough to stand up, the audience cheering for ideas that aren’t even theirs - it gets me every single time.

Supporting more of this, with my time and eventually a bit more of my money too, is properly on my goals list. Not quite there yet, but getting there - and nights like last night are exactly why.

Here’s some honesty this hump day…

I spent a long time making my services sound like they’d work for anyone. Flexible enough, vague enough that nobody would scroll past.

It felt hollow.

Because I’m not for everyone. I’m the kind of person who gets properly invested. Who’ll message you because something I saw on my lunch break made me think of your brand. Who genuinely cheers when something lands for you🫶🏻

Some people want that, some people don’t - and that’s fine.

I’ve worked with bookkeepers to mental health charities to wellness retreats and more. Completely different businesses. But the thing that they all had in common was that they truly cared about and loved their business.

Those are my people.

If this sounds like you, I’d love to hear what you’re building☕️

There’s a line in this testimonial I haven’t been able to stop thinking about.

It’s not the bit about engagement, or the Instagram launch, or the refreshed pages (as proud as I am of all of those).

It’s “she made it easy for teams to contribute.”

That’s the thing I care about most. Not doing the marketing for people, but helping them feel like they actually can.

Because in my experience, marketing isn’t usually hard because business owners don’t have any ideas. It’s hard because they have so many and they’re already doing everything else. They’re running the day-to-day, managing the team, planning ahead and trying to remember what day it is - and somewhere in between all of that, social media is supposed to happen.

What TG Group needed wasn’t someone to swoop in and take it off their hands. They needed someone to help them make sense of what they already had, get the right people involved, and build something that could actually keep going.

That’s always been my favourite part of this job.
So to Tudor Griffiths Group - thank you for trusting me with your business, and for such generous words.

And if any of this sounds a bit too familiar (whether you’re running one division or six) I’d love to help. A strategy session, a content audit, or just a Lilac Hour to get your thoughts in order. Whatever feels most useful right now. Pop me a DM and let’s chat💜

This photos sum up my every day🤹🏻‍♀️

Trying to reply to messages whilst remembering an idea I had earlier. Carrying around a notebook full of plans, an iPad full of half-finished thoughts and a to-do list that somehow keeps growing faster than I can tick things off…

I think that’s why I enjoy the consulting side of my business so much🫶🏻

Not because I have all the answers, because I absolutely don’t. I’m dealing with the juggle too. Sometimes it takes someone outside of your business to help you untangle everything that’s swirling around in your head.

The conversations I have with business owners are rarely about social media alone. We end up talking about launches, events, confidence, ideas they’ve been sitting on for months, things they’ve convinced themselves are silly, and all the things they know they want to do but haven’t had the time or headspace to figure out.

Sometimes the biggest relief isn’t finding the answer. It’s finally getting everything out of your head and onto the table.

So if your brain feels a bit like these photos at the moment, with lots of moving parts and not enough hours in the day, pop me a message.

We’ll pop the kettle on and figure it out together☕️💜

📸 - MCR Content

A very accurate representation of the tabs currently open on my laptop at any given moment😍

Some of these are obvious creative-business staples. Others are oddly specific things that just make my life easier (I’m looking at you ).

Having tools and systems that work for your brain makes such a difference when you’re running a business. Especially when you’re juggling content, client works admin, ideas, launches, life, laundry, a feral toddler and trying to remember whether you’ve drank enough water today (you probably haven’t).

Which tools/apps/websites could you not run your business without? I’m always nosey about what other people use👀

P.S she’s already been mentioned in the post, but I just have to give an extra shoutout to for her templates! I’ve been batching more, enjoying content more and feeling more like me again when I create. So thank you Lauren for being such a wonderful human🫶🏻

P.P.S I am absolutely open to any brand work should any of you lovely businesses see this post😉

I had a client who was posting on Instagram almost every single day. She hated every second of it.

She’d just started her business and felt like she had to. As if not posting meant she was failing her business (& self). So, she kept going - showing up in a way that didn’t feel like her, saying things she wasn’t sure she believed in, not sure if any of it was really working🤷🏻‍♀️

When she came to me, we went through everything together - audit, strategy, content calendar and mindset. What did she actually want to say? Who was she saying it to? And why does it matter? It wasn’t drastic and it didn’t happen overnight.

She archived everything she’d ever posted and started again.

Not because I told her to. But because for the first time she actually believed in what she was putting out there. She had a plan that felt like her. And someone who’d sat with her long enough to show her how brilliant she really was at what she does✨

That’s the bit that matters most to me. Not just the strategies and the content plans; but the moment someone stops posting out of obligation and starts showing up because they actually want to.

If you’ve for questions about what working together could look like for you, drop them in the comments or pop me a DM.

Already know this is what you need? Come chat in the DM’s and let’s get started🫶🏻