This week we discuss Holiday Clubs with a Difference with Amy Cunningham, founder of The Strings Club. Amy outlines how she built a successful childcare business centred around music and wellbeing.

About The Strings Club

Amy launched her business in 2012 after hosting a small holiday camp for six children in Camden. Today, The Strings Club operates in 22 locations across London and the Midlands. Each one offers holiday camps where children learn musical instruments, enjoy creative workshops, and participate in activities like yoga and dance. The week culminates in a Friday afternoon concert where children showcase what they've learned.

Key Business Insights

Amy discusses the importance of slow, steady growth to maintain quality standards. She limits camp sizes to maximum 48 children and requires all team members to attend paid pre-holiday training sessions. Uniquely, free childcare for all staff members is provided, helping parents return to work without prohibitive childcare costs.

The business maintains a strict no-screens policy, which has become a major selling point for parents concerned about children's screen time.

Awards and Recognition

Amy has won multiple awards including Female Entrepreneur of the Year (No Fear Awards), Birmingham Businesswoman of the Year, and silver at the Best Business Women Awards. She encourages entrepreneurs to enter awards for the validation, networking opportunities, and confidence boost they provide.

Lessons Learned

Amy candidly shares her experience with burnout and emphasises the importance of entrepreneur wellbeing, advocating for regular breaks and sustainable business practices over the traditional "no pain, no gain" approach.

About Amy

Amy founded The Strings Club in 2012, transforming a £1,000 Prince's Trust loan and a six-child Camden holiday camp into a multi-award-winning music education company now operating across 22 locations and inspiring nearly half a million children. A former violin teacher driven by music's power to build confidence and creativity, she's grown the business without external investment while championing flexible working and providing free childcare for staff. Her leadership has earned recognition including Start Up Business of the Year, Small Business Entrepreneur of the Year, and Female Entrepreneur of the Year. Amy continues expanding The Strings Club's reach, bringing music's transformative benefits to children UK-wide.

{3:08} Why Amy started The Strings Club.

{5:13} How Amy has grown The Strings Club to what it is today.

{7:08} The facilities The Strings Club offers.

{8:46} A typical day for a child at The Strings Club.

{11:44} Transitioning from teaching music to running a business.

{12:03} Help and support in the early days from the Prince's Trust.

{13:05} Support with marketing.

{14:27} The need to look after yourself.

{15:54} Scaling the business.

{18:31} The profile of a typical holiday camp manager.

{20:01} The challenges of growing the business.

{20:55} Dealing with burnout.

{22:30} Amy's experience with business awards.

{23:36} The impact of the Nectar Awards.

{24:13} Winning the Birmingham Awards.

{25:08} Winning the Female Entrepreneur of the Year.

{27:22} Amy's business tips.

{30:56} The Strings Club no-screens policy.

{34:10} Future plans.

Connect with Debbie at: https://thebusinessawardsshow.co.uk

https://bestsmeawards.co.uk/

Connect with Amy: https://www.thestringsclub.org/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheStringsClub

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_strings_club/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-strings-club-limited/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheStringsClub

Create Your Gameplan with Ceylan Boyce sees the return of the founder of the Academy of Women Entrepreneurs to talk about her live planning event in March.

In this bonus episode of the Business Awards Show, Ceylan explains why planning is essential for business success. She shares why "winging it" leads to working harder for smaller results, and how proper planning gives you the freedom and flexibility to grow.

Discover how Ceylan's quarterly planning events bring together 50-60 business owners in a safe, supportive environment where you can actually think strategically about your business. Unlike typical networking events, these are full-day workshops where you leave with a concrete action plan, not just a buzz from being in a room full of people.

She also discusses the Academy of Women Entrepreneurs membership, monthly breakfast clubs, and new online workshops for those who can't make it to London in person.

The next "Create Your Game Plan" event is on March 16th in London, featuring speakers on visibility, PR, personal branding, and awards strategy. Find the link in the show notes to get your ticket. And use the promo code to get a 30% discount!

{2:30} Why businesses must plan to succeed.

{4:00} Bringing business owners together to plan.

{6:32} How Ceylan's events work.

{11:13} Ceylan's online events.

{12:43} Ceylan's breakfast events.

{14:10} The benefits of the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs.

{15:34} The Academy's success stories.

{16:43} Speakers at the Create Your Gameplan event in London.

Connect with Ceylan: https://academyforwomenentrepreneurs.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AWEntrepreneurs

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/academyforwomenentrepreneurs/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/academy-for-women-entrepreneurs/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@academyforwomenentrepreneurs/videos

Create Your Gameplan Live Event: https://academywe.ac-page.com/cygp-mar26

Discount code for Business Awards Show Listeners: BBWA30

In this fascinating episode, we look at Transforming the World of Medical Diagnostics with Bronia Thomas, founder and CEO of Global Lab Expert Group (GLXG).

The Genesis Story

After experiencing burnout and chronic illness, Bronia found herself frustrated by the limitations of mainstream healthcare testing. When traditional systems couldn't diagnose her condition, she discovered a London doctor working with German laboratories who finally provided answers through specialised diagnostic tests. This personal journey revealed a massive gap in the healthcare market—patients desperately seeking answers but unable to connect with the right laboratories and practitioners.

Building a Global Network

GLXG operates in the space between patients, doctors, and laboratories worldwide. The company ships specialised test kits globally (covering everything from long COVID to microplastics testing) and connects patients with top-calibre diagnostic facilities. What makes it unique? Bronia applies her marketing expertise to solve a communication problem—helping brilliant labs and doctors find patients who need them, and vice versa.

Awards Impact

Winning Gold for Best New Business at the Best Business Women Awards was transformative. Despite initial doubts about being an "entrepreneur," the recognition validated Bronia's vision and boosted team confidence. The award provides crucial trust markers when building relationships in the highly-regulated healthcare space.

Key Advice for Entrepreneurs

• Stay flexible: Your business will evolve—embrace it
• Build your moat: Prioritize legal, financial, and technical infrastructure using external specialists, from day one
• Keep it personal: In an AI-driven world, authentic human connection matters more than ever
• Tell your story: Awards aren't just about winning—they're powerful storytelling opportunities

Bronia's journey proves that industry experience can transfer in unexpected ways, and that solving problems you've personally experienced can create meaningful business opportunities.

About Bronia

Bronia Thomas is an award-winning entrepreneur and marketing specialist with over 25 years' experience working with the world's top brands across diverse industries including travel, retail, finance, tech, healthcare, and luxury brands. Her expertise lies in understanding complex problems from the customer's perspective and creating commercially focused solutions that drive business growth.

In April 2024, Bronia founded Global Lab eXpert Group (GLXG) Ltd, a healthcare company connecting patients and professionals to advanced diagnostic services worldwide. In under 18 months, she has grown the company from packing test kits at her kitchen table to leading a nine-person team with hubs across the UK, Austria, Portugal, Germany, and support locations spanning five continents. This remarkable achievement earned her the UK's Best Businesswoman Award for Best New Business 2025.

Bronia also lectures in Business and Digital Marketing, bringing her unique blend of academic knowledge and real-world commercial experience to education.

{2:10} Why Bronia set up a medical diagnostics business despite coming from a marketing background.

{16:15} Ordering blood tests and operating in an unregulated market.

{20:35} Designing processes, selecting practitioners and laboratories.

{24:25} How AI is impacting the medical sector.

{33:54} What made Bronia enter the Best Businesswomen Awards, and her experience of doing so.

{42:14} Bronia's business challenges and her advice as a result.

Connect with Debbie at: https://thebusinessawardsshow.co.uk

https://bestsmeawards.co.uk/

Connect with Bronia: https://glxg.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/global-lab-expert-group/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/globallabexpertgroup/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/global_lab_expert_group