IMMERSIVE ADORATION FOR THE GREAT OUTDOORS

I’m ten minutes early to our meeting, and Sonya joins me a little later, apologising. Her background image is of a vibrant green forest surrounding her with leafy trees. Very on-brand.

Her curly dark hair is piled into a bun, and her eyes smile at me from behind her glasses. Immediately, the butterflies in my stomach evaporate. Although we have only met virtually, warmth seems to radiate from her, and I understand why so many people are drawn to her and her business.

She bites into a chocolate bar, a little sugar hit for energy, which reminds me that running your own business is often just as busy as a 9-5 job. She informs me that she has been planting out her cosmos and helichrysums that she’s grown from seed as well as come down with the “the lurgy”; and with this in mind, I tell her that I don’t plan to keep her for the whole hour. She nods, readjusts her glasses, and we begin.

Sonya is a certified forest bathing guide, having trained with the Global Institute of Forest Therapy, so I am surprised when she tells me she previously worked in IT. I fail to conceal my disbelief when she admits she enjoyed it, but after 12 years of working at the same company, she was ready for a change.

Change arrived in two forms: unexpected and joyful motherhood and her employers announcing plans to relocate and cut down on employees. So, Sonya took the generous leaving package provided by the company and began an adventure of her own.

I am spellbound by her story, so much so that it takes me a few minutes to realize my recording isn’t picking up Sonya’s responses, and my questions might as well have been directed to the air. I hastily remove my earphones and Sonya pauses mid-sentence: ‘Is everything okay?’

I am grateful she is observant enough to notice, but then I realise observation and paying attention to details is engrained in her. Part of loving the outdoors requires closely looking without judgement, observing the intricate patterns of a tree stump, for example.

Of course, she is sensitive enough to pick up on my fumble. I apologise and tell her just to continue and ignore my mistake. Despite the first few minutes of our conversation not on record, I feel I know her story well enough not to need a reference point. While I brush my teeth before bed, I recall her grin when she tells me she came up with the name ‘Adore Your Outdoors’ when sitting outside in her garden one evening.

‘It just came to me,’ she says with a laugh.

Sometimes, the best ideas can catch us unaware, and I like to think that being surrounded by nature provided her with clarity, allowing her to retrace her steps back to the very core of the business: spreading her love of the outdoors.

That’s what it’s all about, she tells me. ‘Spreading the nature nerd word! It’s become the strapline.’

To encourage others to spread the word, Sonya decided to train people to become forest bathing guides and opened her own training academy.

She has a ‘style,’ she informs me, and other nature therapy training programmes just aren’t as good, in her opinion. Sonya states the first cohort to go through her training contained a perfect six people, the next just three; however, she informs me her upcoming group has eight people.

Once fully trained, these people allow Sonya to juggle forest-therapy events and retreats and lead her sessions more easily. She tells me she enjoys leading seasonal events like the Summer Solstice and International Forest Bathing Day.

Keen to explore the more difficult side of beginning a business, I ask Sonya to speak on some of her challenges. While she mutes herself to cough, I muse on how lucky she was to leave her job in IT with a hefty package to allow her to set up her business. The timing could not have been more fortunate for her, and I catch myself wondering if it was fate and nature’s callings rather than serendipity.

When she returns, we discuss her challenges, and I see a fiery side of Sonya, the side that, I imagine, must have fuelled her through the grittier times of her business and kept her focused on her goals.

She tells me, bluntly, that she has had some almost aggressive participants, questioning the usefulness and relevance of her business. My eyebrows, naturally, raise to the top of my head. In this time of climate change and global warming, can people really still fail to see the importance of connecting with nature?

‘I very quickly realised it’s just not worth trying to persuade or convince them. And it’s a brilliant sense of freedom.’

Yes, I silently reply. I can imagine it is. Running a business requires communicating with customers and learning to manage those who, as Sonya eloquently phrases it, ‘are not the right kind of people.’ Patience, embracing personal growth, and a bit of steel are key to running a business. But, five years later, Sonya and I celebrate that forest bathing is approved by the NHS as a Green Social Prescription. Sonya nods: it has helped a lot.

Being ‘seen’ is also a challenge, she says. Seen online, I gather quickly. Is there any other way to be ‘seen’ these days? Anyway, she describes the hurdles she’s overcome navigating all the complexities of social media. And the time, she laments.

People don’t realise how much time and effort goes into creating and managing social media channels. She speaks of the importance of saving customers on her own systems, allowing her to connect with them outside of social media. ‘You could have your account taken away at any moment’, she tells me. Even with eyes in the back of my head, would I manage to run a successful, growing business?

There are benefits to running your own business, though. Sonya reflects, ‘You work when you want to,’ but this doesn’t necessarily mean you work less. Still, she is grateful she can split her time between her work and her son. Plus, it’s rewarding, she says. When I ask her to tell me the best things so far, her eyes sparkle.

We discuss the financial side, her hope that Adore Your Outdoors is going to be worth something, and she can eventually sell it on or handover to her son if she wished. However, I know we’re just scratching the surface of the benefits her business might give her.

Delving deeper, Sonya describes the last day of the first training programme she ran. She admits she had tears witnessing their transformation over the weeks and felt incredibly proud of being able to say, ‘I helped them do that.’

This sense of achievement and accomplishment echoes when we discuss the highlights of growing her business. She shares with me the joy she feels when previous participants contact her out of the blue, thanking her for the knowledge they gained during her forest bathing programme.

The programme, many people reflect, enabled them to establish a connection with the natural world. While some might disregard the importance of this connection, Sonya argues it really makes a difference to someone’s sense that life is worthwhile and that, in itself, is mind-blowing.

Again, I marvel at the grit and determination that underpins her business. We discuss her values, and she begins, ‘honesty, openness and… treading lightly.’ By this, she means respecting the natural world. This is a value which I am now realising many people overlook in this online world. She continues, ‘one of my skills is being able to put people at ease. That’s why I make a very good leader.’ I tell her I gather from our conversation that she is compassionate, and her job must require a great deal of empathy.

Sonya nods, ‘I am able to individually connect with people very quickly.’ She attributes this to being a highly sensitive person and feeling things deeply.

Previously, I would not have considered being highly sensitive to be underpinning good leadership; however, Sonya is forcing me to reconsider. She certainly can lead effectively, and her connection with her participants allows her to reach more and more people. After all, Sonya’s main aim is to spread the love of nature.

Sonya’s qualities and drive enabled her to win the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) award, the award for the best self-employed business in the Southeast and gain external recognition.

Before we wrap up, I ask for one key piece of advice.

‘Sell before you build it,’ she replies.

At my frown, she elaborates, ‘don’t spend loads of money at the start because within a year, you will want to change everything.’

I can’t help but laugh, although Sonya nods in earnest.

‘Sell at the start and get incoming cash. Collect emails. Do it on a shoestring. Forget the big fancy websites. Only work with people you know, like and trust.’ Solid advice from someone who has, she declares, ‘been there, done that.’ Always humble, but I might add, ‘been there, done that, won awards to prove it.’ She has come a long way from sitting outside in the garden, thinking up business names.