about nell sanders
|
Hello! Thank you for visiting my mentoring site. I hope that I can pass on as much relevant information, saving you time, money and stress by ‘shortening the learning curve’, and helping your business or dream develop.
Here's a bit about me (actually.. quite a lot), because I've had such a random series of roles and careers, I felt I needed to put it all in one place for it to make sense. LinkedIn only says so much! I usually prefer working behind the scenes or one to one, rather than to a wide audience. I definitely understand all the fears that go with setting up and running a business, whether on your own or with other people - and the dynamics that that also throw up with friends and family! Having said that, I have done a lot of people-facing work now, both developing ideas, as a sports massage therapist, as a DJ, and also managing stakeholders, talking to bar managers, to also being around my own mentors! So I've learned how to overcome fears being in front of people professionally too. I also understand just how scary it is to actually... drumroll... be successful. To have hundreds of people want your product or service, or to listen to your music. It's actually like.. wow... people know who I am, or at least know my business or creative persona. It's also a really wonderful magical feeling too, to know that people know and love your business!! So far I have only mentored people who have come to me organically through word of mouth. Now I want to help people further afield, giving the opportunity to share my experience with people who may not have easy access to startup or creative mentors, or know who to reach out to. It's scary to know who to trust with a baby business idea or your art, so I really want to create and provide that 'safe space' where people can have unbiased, pragmatic feedback. Thank you so much for your interest in mentoring. I hope that through sharing my experiences, I can help elevate yours! Wishing you all the best for your ventures, Nell LinkedIn Profile: Nell Sanders Crowden
SurfGirl: Sports Massage for Surfers SurfGirl: 8 Strategies to Feeling Good British Medical Journal: What’s bad for the climate is bad for health |
"It's scary to know who to trust with a business idea or your art, so I want to create and provide that 'safe space' where people can have unbiased, pragmatic, relevant feedback." - Nell 
the short story..2005 - 2009: I studied Classical Studies BA at King’s College London, and then History of Medicine MA, University College London. My MA dissertation was on the history of health & climate change; aspects of generation, development, dissemination & advocacy.
2009-2014: I worked on various climate change, sustainability & health projects. My key roles at projects were usually project management, and communications, including PR, copywriting, proofreading, and stakeholder engagement. One highlight was being hired by the World Health Organisation to facilitate a session on raising awareness in the media on climate change & health. This was part of a 3-day conference on Climate Change & Health for the Euro region, in Bonn. 2012-2013: I was the communications co-founder of BorrowMyDoggy. It started at a Lean Startup Machine weekend in London, and within the first 7 months had national press coverage and thousands of people (and dogs) signed up. 2013 - 2017: I trained in sports massage, and set up Neon Sports Massage for surfers in Newquay, with 150+ clients and two national level surf ambassadors. 2014 to present: I started making electronic music, lived in Los Angeles for 10 months and studied at Musician’s Institute in Hollywood. In 2015 I launched SKYDANC3R, had an endorsement deal with Arturia, and most recently in summer 2018 had a DJ residency at Belushi's Newquay, overlooking the ocean. November 2017 to present: I began mentoring friends and family, before officially launching in November 2018. |
the long story..
2005 - 2009: The uni years
2005-2008: I studied Classical Studies BA at King’s College London. Wanted to leave after first year to do photography, but was persuaded to stay. Scraped a 2:1, learned a lot about ancient philosophy, science, and medicine. Sucked at Ancient Greek. Played rugby for 2 years (full contact), and ended up as President of the embryonic KCL Classics Society. In a year we’d taken it to 14th biggest society in the uni with over 100 members. Could say it gave the freedom to be more.. me. Went to a lot of drum & bass nights too.
2008-2009: Due to general panic caused by Global Financial Crisis, went on to do a History of Medicine MA degree, up the road at University College London (UCL). Tried to become more ‘relevant’ focusing on 20th Century & international health. Wrote my dissertation on the history of heath climate change. A pretty recent history that went up to 3 months before the hand in date, but written in the past tense made it ‘history’. Organised a 'come as your favourite disease' Halloween party.
2009-2014: Worked on various climate change, sustainability & health projects
I started as an intern, co-ordinating a climate change education programme for children, called Project Genie. The task was to create an animation and website, deliver lesson plans, and teaching materials to teachers. Ended up project managing it, and we launched the animation at Warner Bro’s preview theatre, and I was lucky enough to work with Tom Baker (Dr Who), who did the voiceover. That was fun! Sadly due to funding, I only stayed for a year, but it was a great introduction to working on projects with awesome people. As Project Genie was based at UCL, I also ended up working on the UCL Global Health master’s, coordinating their climate change and health course. I even lectured on the course, about the history of the subject, which I’m afraid was not the greatest talk ever given.. but not bad for a 23yr old. Worked part-time as a PA to directors at Worn Again, which was a corporate textile upcycling consultancy, and Guardian Startup of the Year. Helped with admin, proofreading, compiling press coverage, and assistant to finance director.
Spent a year and a half working part-time at the Climate & Health Council, as their Communications & General manager. This involved supporting medical professionals at the UN negotiations and in the political sphere; raising the profile of the health impacts from climate change; and also peer-to-peer education on sustainability within the health sector. Since I worked from home, I asked if I could work from abroad, and they agreed, so alongside this I spent 2 months freediving in the Gili Islands off Bali, and another 2months seeing family and travelling in New Zealand. Awesome!
I was also lucky enough to have training from STEMPRA (the STEM subject Press Association), and was also awarded a join bursary (from the Climate & Health Council and the NHS Sustainable Development Unit), to attend a course on the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership for the Health Sector. One thing that really stuck with me was about ‘quiet leadership’ - which is basically about just getting on and doing something, and creating change that way rather than waiting for top-down action.
Another highlight was being hired by the World Health Organisation, as they had a 3-day conference on Climate Change and Health for the Euro region. I was asked to facilitate a session on raising awareness on climate change & health in the media. As it turns out, I didn’t need to do much as plenty of people were keen to share what was working in their countries! The best approach it seemed was to focus on the positive action that you can do, and steps you can take. And the advice still stands today!
Sadly a lack of funding has also been the reason I haven’t been able to stay working in this area. I started setting up my own project, so that I’d have greater control (I’d hoped) over funding. The only thing is I didn’t have much concept of what it meant to set up and run a business. So my friend told me to read 2 books and go on the Lean Startup Machine weekend “or my business would fail”. Well, it did fail, but probably for the better, as my attention got redirected…
2012-2013: The BorrowMyDoggy bit
In October 2012, I went along to an entrepreneur bootcamp (Lean Startup Machine) in Camden, and I quickly joined the team who was pitching for sharing animals. Cute! We spent the weekend learning the ‘Lean’ way, with some of the best mentors in the field. We also spent time on Hampstead Heath, talking to dog owners and wannabe dog borrowers. By the end of the weekend, we’d validated the business idea - it wasn’t just us who wanted to share dogs. A few days later we had to shut the website down, as we had so many sign ups but we were all working on other things (like day jobs). Three of us met up a couple of weekends later, and went over the next steps of the business. We had Rikke (who's idea it was) as the business brains (aka Top Dog), Les on the IT & design side (Tech Puppy), and me on communications & matching process (Agent Wag Wag). We worked on a new website, got more sign ups, and started manually matching owners and their doggies with borrowers. Safety was very important, so we made sure to strictly verify that people were who they said they were. This did mean having Skype calls with dogs, which was super cute!
In January 2013, we were picked up by Emerald Street, the Stylist magazine online. That was really when the press started getting interested, and we had hundreds of people signing up a day. It was amazing to see that it wasn’t just us who wanted to spend more time with dogs, but actually lots and lots of people did as well. As we started matching people, they started meeting up and having the ‘Welcome woof’ or first meetup. It was really incredible to see what joy this brought the borrowers, the dogs, and also the owners - who were so happy to have the extra help. Friendships also started developing as it introduced people who lived in the same neighbourhood to each other, which - as you know - is a rarity in London! There was also, validly, quite a bit of scepticism as to whether it was safe and good for the dog, so we were really careful to anticipate and negate any possible issues. For all the warm, fluffiness of the business, we were super diligent about safety.
In April I decided to leave, as it had got to make or break time: move back to London, and work 12-hr days on a laptop, or leave and go back to health things as planned. It was a hard decision to leave, but I had a mortgage and the start up didn't have funding yet (so no salary), and I’d already moved out of London once. Also, I’d wanted to have job where my impact was more tangible, because despite the amazing work we were doing for others - we weren’t playing with dogs all day! So I decided to leave and to go back to my health roots by retraining in… sports massage.
2013 - 2017: Sports massage
I chose to retrain in sports massage as it is a highly effective, low-carbon health treatment - and definitely tangible. First I trained in Swedish massage, and then specialised in sports massage. Due to health reasons after qualifying, I had to take time off, before setting up my own sports massage practice in Newquay - focusing on surfers! So in 2014 I moved to the surf town - where I didn’t know anyone - and set up Neon Sports Massage. Again, safety was paramount, and luckily I never had any weirdness from clients! I had treatment rooms in a few different places, including a pilates studio, a hairdressers, and a yoga studio, before getting a treatment room next door to a physiotherapist (who used to work for Arsenal!) based at a hotel. This worked out great, as we could refer clients to each other.
As the town is seasonal, I focused on local clients, and made flyers and advertised in local businesses, surf shops and cafes. I was very lucky early on to do massage at an event for Surfgirl magazine, and I wrote an article on sports massage for surfers. That definitely helped raise my brand - and confidence! I did massage at other local events, including yoga, beach, and charity events. I paid for Facebook advertising, targeted at women locally 20-40. I didn’t want to advertise to men for safety reasons, and also women tent to talk more about health. I also had a client who became my first surf ambassador - and was stoked to see her win her first national title in the British Standup Paddleboarding Association competition! I was also delighted to have another ambassador join, who’d already won the English Nationals a few years before.
This was one of the most rewarding and enjoyable experiences, and gave me the confidence that I could set up & run my own business on my own. I had over 150+ clients in 2 years, and established a great reputation locally.
I needed to give it up due to the demand on my hands causing RSI, and also the insecurity of it meant I’d need to diversity my practice (ie do yoga teacher training), so it was no longer a long-term viability. Plus, I had another dream to work on…
2014 to present: music & SKYDANC3R
After the initial 3 months of 2014 being dedicated to recovery, I went travelling back to the Gilis freediving and doing yoga, where I knew people and felt safe. Since I’d always played the piano, I took my laptop and a Midi keyboard, to get into writing my own music. This ended up getting me into electronic music and composing instrumentals.
After this, I went to Los Angeles. Initially it was for a week, spent between Venice Beach and Hollywood. Then I extended my trip to three months and started having vocal coaching with Venice Voice Academy, and also Logic music production classes at the Apple store. During this time, I applied to study on the Independent Artist Program at Musician’s Institute in Hollywood, where I spent a further 7 months. During my time at MI, I focused on electronic music production and vocals, and branded and wrote a marketing plan for SKYDANC3R, which launched in January 2015.
Since coming back from the States, and moving to Cornwall, I have worked a lot on DJing and vocals, as well as writing new music. With regional charity, Volunteer Cornwall, I ran 2 x 8 week music production courses, covering MIDI, audio, drums, mixing, effects, mastering, and distribution. In order to run this course, Volunteer Cornwall kindly also put me through an adult teacher training course.
Summer 2018 saw my first summer season DJing full-time, and I was fortunate to have a DJ residency, at Belushi’s Newquay, overlooking the ocean. I’ve also DJed at various beach bars including Fistral Beach Bar, and Barefoot bar, Wax Watergate and the Watering Hole, plus private parties, inducing Scarlett Entertainment’s summer party (where I’m now a signed artist), Escape Surf School’s relaunch, and a charity fundraiser for Reggie’s Righthand Army.
2016 - 2018: El Camino Bracelets
Partway through doing sports massage, a friend was looking for extra help with her startup (which just happened to be Guardian Startup of the Year 2014). As it would give me some stability, and give my hands a break, I decided to join part time - and stayed over 2 years! Although the work was simple enough, it gave me the support and time to develop my vocals, and to also make hours and hours of set lists, discovering new music and artists - which I later relied on heavily for DJing. It also suited my OCD and I really enjoyed the operations part of the business, ensuring everything was exactly as it should be. It was also a total relief to work for a great startup, but without the responsibility of running it!
2017-2018: Airbnb
I’ve also had 2 successful summers Airbnbing my house, and reached super host status. Since getting the house, I did need to do some work, and styling the interiors was really important to me as I love interior design - it’s a kinda scandi-beach style. Setting up on Airbnb was actually like (or in fact, was) starting a new business, plus managing bookings and changeovers. The first year I did all my own changeovers (gotta keep it real!), but the second year I was very lucky to have a local cleaning company do the changeovers, and I managed the bookings online or on the phone. It was a bit scary having someone else do changeovers (or take on part of your business), but I interviewed a few cleaners, and found a duo who were fantastic. They were recommended locally and had great references, offered extras (such as minor repair work), and spotted things I didn’t. Sometimes things work out better than you can plan for!
November 2017 to present: Startup Mentoring
I started mentoring friends and acquaintances organically, as they started setting up businesses and projects. It’s a huge joy to be able to help, guide, reassure and encourage people to develop their products, revitalise their branding and outlook, and help clarify the priorities. For all my waffling about myself above, I am very clearcut and decisive when mentoring. They say the blunt friend is the best one! But I am also able to be, calm, rational, positive, focused on the present situation, and prioritising next steps.
The vision part is the easy bit - getting it into reality is where the real magic is. Otherwise it’s just imagination! :)
2005-2008: I studied Classical Studies BA at King’s College London. Wanted to leave after first year to do photography, but was persuaded to stay. Scraped a 2:1, learned a lot about ancient philosophy, science, and medicine. Sucked at Ancient Greek. Played rugby for 2 years (full contact), and ended up as President of the embryonic KCL Classics Society. In a year we’d taken it to 14th biggest society in the uni with over 100 members. Could say it gave the freedom to be more.. me. Went to a lot of drum & bass nights too.
2008-2009: Due to general panic caused by Global Financial Crisis, went on to do a History of Medicine MA degree, up the road at University College London (UCL). Tried to become more ‘relevant’ focusing on 20th Century & international health. Wrote my dissertation on the history of heath climate change. A pretty recent history that went up to 3 months before the hand in date, but written in the past tense made it ‘history’. Organised a 'come as your favourite disease' Halloween party.
2009-2014: Worked on various climate change, sustainability & health projects
I started as an intern, co-ordinating a climate change education programme for children, called Project Genie. The task was to create an animation and website, deliver lesson plans, and teaching materials to teachers. Ended up project managing it, and we launched the animation at Warner Bro’s preview theatre, and I was lucky enough to work with Tom Baker (Dr Who), who did the voiceover. That was fun! Sadly due to funding, I only stayed for a year, but it was a great introduction to working on projects with awesome people. As Project Genie was based at UCL, I also ended up working on the UCL Global Health master’s, coordinating their climate change and health course. I even lectured on the course, about the history of the subject, which I’m afraid was not the greatest talk ever given.. but not bad for a 23yr old. Worked part-time as a PA to directors at Worn Again, which was a corporate textile upcycling consultancy, and Guardian Startup of the Year. Helped with admin, proofreading, compiling press coverage, and assistant to finance director.
Spent a year and a half working part-time at the Climate & Health Council, as their Communications & General manager. This involved supporting medical professionals at the UN negotiations and in the political sphere; raising the profile of the health impacts from climate change; and also peer-to-peer education on sustainability within the health sector. Since I worked from home, I asked if I could work from abroad, and they agreed, so alongside this I spent 2 months freediving in the Gili Islands off Bali, and another 2months seeing family and travelling in New Zealand. Awesome!
I was also lucky enough to have training from STEMPRA (the STEM subject Press Association), and was also awarded a join bursary (from the Climate & Health Council and the NHS Sustainable Development Unit), to attend a course on the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership for the Health Sector. One thing that really stuck with me was about ‘quiet leadership’ - which is basically about just getting on and doing something, and creating change that way rather than waiting for top-down action.
Another highlight was being hired by the World Health Organisation, as they had a 3-day conference on Climate Change and Health for the Euro region. I was asked to facilitate a session on raising awareness on climate change & health in the media. As it turns out, I didn’t need to do much as plenty of people were keen to share what was working in their countries! The best approach it seemed was to focus on the positive action that you can do, and steps you can take. And the advice still stands today!
Sadly a lack of funding has also been the reason I haven’t been able to stay working in this area. I started setting up my own project, so that I’d have greater control (I’d hoped) over funding. The only thing is I didn’t have much concept of what it meant to set up and run a business. So my friend told me to read 2 books and go on the Lean Startup Machine weekend “or my business would fail”. Well, it did fail, but probably for the better, as my attention got redirected…
2012-2013: The BorrowMyDoggy bit
In October 2012, I went along to an entrepreneur bootcamp (Lean Startup Machine) in Camden, and I quickly joined the team who was pitching for sharing animals. Cute! We spent the weekend learning the ‘Lean’ way, with some of the best mentors in the field. We also spent time on Hampstead Heath, talking to dog owners and wannabe dog borrowers. By the end of the weekend, we’d validated the business idea - it wasn’t just us who wanted to share dogs. A few days later we had to shut the website down, as we had so many sign ups but we were all working on other things (like day jobs). Three of us met up a couple of weekends later, and went over the next steps of the business. We had Rikke (who's idea it was) as the business brains (aka Top Dog), Les on the IT & design side (Tech Puppy), and me on communications & matching process (Agent Wag Wag). We worked on a new website, got more sign ups, and started manually matching owners and their doggies with borrowers. Safety was very important, so we made sure to strictly verify that people were who they said they were. This did mean having Skype calls with dogs, which was super cute!
In January 2013, we were picked up by Emerald Street, the Stylist magazine online. That was really when the press started getting interested, and we had hundreds of people signing up a day. It was amazing to see that it wasn’t just us who wanted to spend more time with dogs, but actually lots and lots of people did as well. As we started matching people, they started meeting up and having the ‘Welcome woof’ or first meetup. It was really incredible to see what joy this brought the borrowers, the dogs, and also the owners - who were so happy to have the extra help. Friendships also started developing as it introduced people who lived in the same neighbourhood to each other, which - as you know - is a rarity in London! There was also, validly, quite a bit of scepticism as to whether it was safe and good for the dog, so we were really careful to anticipate and negate any possible issues. For all the warm, fluffiness of the business, we were super diligent about safety.
In April I decided to leave, as it had got to make or break time: move back to London, and work 12-hr days on a laptop, or leave and go back to health things as planned. It was a hard decision to leave, but I had a mortgage and the start up didn't have funding yet (so no salary), and I’d already moved out of London once. Also, I’d wanted to have job where my impact was more tangible, because despite the amazing work we were doing for others - we weren’t playing with dogs all day! So I decided to leave and to go back to my health roots by retraining in… sports massage.
2013 - 2017: Sports massage
I chose to retrain in sports massage as it is a highly effective, low-carbon health treatment - and definitely tangible. First I trained in Swedish massage, and then specialised in sports massage. Due to health reasons after qualifying, I had to take time off, before setting up my own sports massage practice in Newquay - focusing on surfers! So in 2014 I moved to the surf town - where I didn’t know anyone - and set up Neon Sports Massage. Again, safety was paramount, and luckily I never had any weirdness from clients! I had treatment rooms in a few different places, including a pilates studio, a hairdressers, and a yoga studio, before getting a treatment room next door to a physiotherapist (who used to work for Arsenal!) based at a hotel. This worked out great, as we could refer clients to each other.
As the town is seasonal, I focused on local clients, and made flyers and advertised in local businesses, surf shops and cafes. I was very lucky early on to do massage at an event for Surfgirl magazine, and I wrote an article on sports massage for surfers. That definitely helped raise my brand - and confidence! I did massage at other local events, including yoga, beach, and charity events. I paid for Facebook advertising, targeted at women locally 20-40. I didn’t want to advertise to men for safety reasons, and also women tent to talk more about health. I also had a client who became my first surf ambassador - and was stoked to see her win her first national title in the British Standup Paddleboarding Association competition! I was also delighted to have another ambassador join, who’d already won the English Nationals a few years before.
This was one of the most rewarding and enjoyable experiences, and gave me the confidence that I could set up & run my own business on my own. I had over 150+ clients in 2 years, and established a great reputation locally.
I needed to give it up due to the demand on my hands causing RSI, and also the insecurity of it meant I’d need to diversity my practice (ie do yoga teacher training), so it was no longer a long-term viability. Plus, I had another dream to work on…
2014 to present: music & SKYDANC3R
After the initial 3 months of 2014 being dedicated to recovery, I went travelling back to the Gilis freediving and doing yoga, where I knew people and felt safe. Since I’d always played the piano, I took my laptop and a Midi keyboard, to get into writing my own music. This ended up getting me into electronic music and composing instrumentals.
After this, I went to Los Angeles. Initially it was for a week, spent between Venice Beach and Hollywood. Then I extended my trip to three months and started having vocal coaching with Venice Voice Academy, and also Logic music production classes at the Apple store. During this time, I applied to study on the Independent Artist Program at Musician’s Institute in Hollywood, where I spent a further 7 months. During my time at MI, I focused on electronic music production and vocals, and branded and wrote a marketing plan for SKYDANC3R, which launched in January 2015.
Since coming back from the States, and moving to Cornwall, I have worked a lot on DJing and vocals, as well as writing new music. With regional charity, Volunteer Cornwall, I ran 2 x 8 week music production courses, covering MIDI, audio, drums, mixing, effects, mastering, and distribution. In order to run this course, Volunteer Cornwall kindly also put me through an adult teacher training course.
Summer 2018 saw my first summer season DJing full-time, and I was fortunate to have a DJ residency, at Belushi’s Newquay, overlooking the ocean. I’ve also DJed at various beach bars including Fistral Beach Bar, and Barefoot bar, Wax Watergate and the Watering Hole, plus private parties, inducing Scarlett Entertainment’s summer party (where I’m now a signed artist), Escape Surf School’s relaunch, and a charity fundraiser for Reggie’s Righthand Army.
2016 - 2018: El Camino Bracelets
Partway through doing sports massage, a friend was looking for extra help with her startup (which just happened to be Guardian Startup of the Year 2014). As it would give me some stability, and give my hands a break, I decided to join part time - and stayed over 2 years! Although the work was simple enough, it gave me the support and time to develop my vocals, and to also make hours and hours of set lists, discovering new music and artists - which I later relied on heavily for DJing. It also suited my OCD and I really enjoyed the operations part of the business, ensuring everything was exactly as it should be. It was also a total relief to work for a great startup, but without the responsibility of running it!
2017-2018: Airbnb
I’ve also had 2 successful summers Airbnbing my house, and reached super host status. Since getting the house, I did need to do some work, and styling the interiors was really important to me as I love interior design - it’s a kinda scandi-beach style. Setting up on Airbnb was actually like (or in fact, was) starting a new business, plus managing bookings and changeovers. The first year I did all my own changeovers (gotta keep it real!), but the second year I was very lucky to have a local cleaning company do the changeovers, and I managed the bookings online or on the phone. It was a bit scary having someone else do changeovers (or take on part of your business), but I interviewed a few cleaners, and found a duo who were fantastic. They were recommended locally and had great references, offered extras (such as minor repair work), and spotted things I didn’t. Sometimes things work out better than you can plan for!
November 2017 to present: Startup Mentoring
I started mentoring friends and acquaintances organically, as they started setting up businesses and projects. It’s a huge joy to be able to help, guide, reassure and encourage people to develop their products, revitalise their branding and outlook, and help clarify the priorities. For all my waffling about myself above, I am very clearcut and decisive when mentoring. They say the blunt friend is the best one! But I am also able to be, calm, rational, positive, focused on the present situation, and prioritising next steps.
The vision part is the easy bit - getting it into reality is where the real magic is. Otherwise it’s just imagination! :)