Kiera and Aimie Lawlor-Skillen are founders of the Manchester-based collective Feel Good Club. Their mission is to spread positivity and love, and to normalise talking about feelings no matter what gets in their way.

The very early inception of the Feel Good Club stemmed from Kiera addressing her own mental health struggles in 2015 through sharing positive thoughts on social media. “[It began] sat on the floor in our studio apartment, sharing parts of my story and my journey, hoping that it would help other people as well,” says Kiera.

From there they expanded the idea by making and selling candles and starting a book. “We had no money to invest so I was using the same pots and pans that we were eating from to make the candles,” adds Kiera.

In 2018, they decided to really start focusing on it when Aimie gave up her nine-to-five job to pursue a business idea with the simple purpose of making people feel good at its heart. Even though business capital was a challenge, a lucky break came from a surprise refund of £500 which helped them get going.

From there, they grew their business from a project in their spare room into a physical space where they serve coffee by day and host incredible events by night – all where people can feel accepted, all with mental health and positivity in mind. 

Going from idea to thriving reality was a twists and turns journey and they shared how self-doubt has been a continuous challenge for them both.

“We didn’t know what we were doing and I think we started reading a lot of books about business and we tried to, like, morph ourselves into someone that we wasn’t. We find ourselves in moments where we’d burn ourselves out trying to be all these different things,” says Kiera.

They moved past these confidence hurdles by reconnecting with who they were authentically and rooting all decisions in their original purpose.

In addition to being business partners, Keira and Aimie got married two and half years ago after meeting at university several years before.

Feel Good Club managed to grow their social following by 130,000 in 24 hours and they commented on the importance of work-life boundaries for business founders on a fast-growth trajectory. “We literally came home one day and said:Are we going to get a divorce? We were that stressed and there was that much pressure on us.”

As well as setting clear cut-offs for daily work tasks, they said creating clearer roles that play to the strengths of each business founder was key to achieving better balance. 

• Have the right support network: “Believing in yourself is important, but it’s also about surrounding yourself with people who believe in you as well.”
• Be an authentic leader: “Being a leader is being your true self and showing emotion. If you are a funny person, be a funny person.”
• Have open, honest communication with your team: in doing so you create a safe environment for them. “They need to be able to trust that if something is wrong, they can come to you. And if they’re not feeling great, they can come see you as well.”
• Step into fear and push ahead: “We have no experience in nightlife, we have no business experience. We were scared to do it, but we did it anyway.”

Watch the episode to find out more about Feel Good Club’s inspirational business journey.

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