On today’s episode of The Engaging Marketeer, Darren speaks to Teana Lynne about her incredible story, and how she went from being the victim of two consecutive abusive relationships to a surviving, thriving motivational speaker, model and business owner of The Naughty Badger Bistro in Chester.
Below, we’ll find out what Teana has to say.
Darren: So, you run a bistro in Chester with a rather strange name! What’s the meaning behind The Naughty Badger?
Teana: We actually inherited the name. We took the place over on a whim – someone sent me a screenshot of the business for sale, and I’d left my job in the January redundancy. My fiancé is a chef, and we decided to go and have a look. That was on a Friday, and by Monday, we’d signed the lease, and opened officially on the Friday! It was already called The Naughty Badger, but we’ve come in and badgered it to death – black and white everything!
Darren: So, were you actually looking for a business at the time?
Teana: Not really! I’d been in banking for 15 years, and then I won a modelling competition at age 49, having got back into modelling at 47. It made me realise there’s more to life than corporate, where you’re always hanging on by the skin of your teeth. When I won the modelling competition, I thought, “there’s more to life, let’s go and do something else”. So, my plan was to be a confidence coach, helping women who had no confidence to become confident, like I have. Then I accidentally fell into a job in hospitality. My fiancé was a chef, and a bit of a frustrated chef, because he’s quite a perfectionist and he always felt like he wasn’t in control of his kitchen. It was actually my hairdresser who sent me a screenshot of the bistro for sale, saying she thought it would be perfect for us.
Darren: Hairdressers are probably the best networkers on the planet, because they know everything about everyone! So, had you run a business before this?
Teana: Not really, no. I did 15 years in banking in all different roles, from PPI to selling cars. My fiancé has been in hospitality for years, but more on the bar side, and he was attacked a few times, so decided to become a self-taught chef.
Darren: Were you worried about taking on a business, particularly a hospitality business? Given that the industry has just been through the most difficult period in history?
Teana: I think it was a case of “nothing ventured, nothing gained”. In my mind, worst case scenario, we can just sell it on, and I’d go back to corporate. So, there wasn’t a lot to lose. I hadn’t gone into debt for it, as I was using the remainder of my redundancy that I’d just been living on anyway, so at least I felt like we had a chance to do something big with it, rather than just living on it month to month.
Darren: So, it was a calculated risk then. Before you bought the business beforehand, was it a sustainable business, or were they selling it because they needed to get shot of it?
Teana: They were selling for a few reasons. One partner’s wife was pregnant and poorly, and they were having to close days in the week at short notice. They sold it to us as though it was all singing, all dancing, but when we actually opened it, we realised it was struggling.
Darren: So, you’d already committed and made the decision before you found out?
Teana: It was done really quickly, so we weren’t able to see any accounts before we bought it. I don’t think they put as much marketing experience into it – nobody knew it existed.
Darren: To be honest, I’ve been to Chester quite a bit, and I didn’t know that it was there!
Teana: It doesn’t help that we’re on the rows! We’re currently looking for somewhere street level.
Darren: Oh, so you’re looking to relocate! I imagine that could be quite costly.
Teana: That’s the scary bit. We’ve been told by our accountant it’s time to jump now – it’s time to be brave. We can’t open at night because we’re above a jeweler, and we share a doorway, so it’s quite restricted. If we had our own premises, then yes, we’ll have more rent to pay, but we’ll have the ability to take more money, because we can extend our hours.
Darren: When you took it over, how did you start promoting it and marketing it to do things differently?
Teana: I took over the Facebook page that had about 1,600 followers – I think we’re on 3,000 now. I’ve used everything I’ve learned over the years in social media marketing. I try and be consistent, and I always show my face and talk to people. I go to so many networking events, and wherever I go, I’m known as The Naughty Badger.
Darren: You mentioned modelling earlier – that’s quite interesting to start modelling at 47. What made you want to do that?
It’s never too late to try something new!
Teana: It was a teenage dream. I started modelling when I was younger – I was a bit of an ugly duckling kid, I didn’t get asked out on dates in school and had no confidence whatsoever. I went to a camera club with my friend’s dad once, and lots of people took pictures of me, and I thought, “maybe I’m OK, maybe I’m not ugly.” It started to give me a little bit of confidence, and I started to do a bit of modelling. Then unfortunately, I got into a toxic relationship and that was all stopped. Years later, a friend who owned a boutique asked if I would mind doing a bit of modelling for her to promote the shop on social media. It’s something I now want to keep doing – you can do it at any age!
Darren: That’s true! It sounds like everything’s going good for you now, with the modelling and the bistro – but it hasn’t always been that good for you, has it.
Teana: No, it definitely hasn’t. As I touched on earlier, I have been through really toxic relationships.
Darren: You mentioned in a newspaper article about how you were living out of bin bags at one point?
Teana: My first relationship, I was actually groomed. He was 32 years older than me – I was groomed from the age of 14. I escaped at 30 and I literally got driven to Chester and dumped with my life in bin bags, with £600 in the bank and £10,000 debt.
Darren: At the time, did you have any idea that you were being groomed?
Teana: Not really. Believe it or not, I was watching Coronation Street about five or six years ago, and it was the storyline where a young girl was groomed, and I sat there crying my heart out, realising that it had happened to me. I knew what had happened had been wrong, but I didn’t realise the extent of it. I’d been brainwashed – all my beliefs had been eradicated, and his beliefs were placed into my head, and I wasn’t allowed to do anything without permission, from what I wore down to my makeup and hair. I had no friends – I was totally isolated.
Darren: How did you meet someone like that?
Teana: He was my school friend’s dad. Someone I thought I could trust.
Darren: Was your school friend aware of any of this?
Teana: She just thought he was dating me, because he’d also dated another friend of hers. It was an unhealthy family.
Darren: The understatement of the century! What kind of person was he, or did he appear to be?
How can people spot the early signs of grooming?
Teana: My own dad was a strict Victorian, and this man was really fun, and spoke to me as though I was an adult. Given that I was really shy and insecure, he would compliment me, and buy me gifts.
Darren: At what point did you start to realise that this wasn’t right?
Teana: I went to beauty college to try and prove to him I had a brain, and my tutor gave me a book called “Men Who Hate Women and the Women Who Love Them.” I read it and was like, “oh, I recognise a lot of this.” It made me think I could save him, because it explained why they were this way, so I tried to fix him when he obviously didn’t want to be fixed!
Darren: Was there anyone in your life that tried to get you out of it?
Teana: Not really. I didn’t speak to my parents for a while, and then when I did speak to them again, I tried to convince them I was happy, and that everything was good. I became a very good actress.
Darren: At what point did you then realise that you needed to get out of it, and how did you do that?
Teana: it was a client that convinced me that I deserve better and “saved me” – I now realise that he saved me for his own personal use! He seemed much nicer, and I couldn’t see the red flags because they weren’t as bad as the first relationship. It was only as time went on that the red flags started to come out, and he ended up with a drug and alcohol problem. I eventually left him and walked out again with my life in bin bags, and this time with £36,000 credit card debt that he racked up in my name.
Darren: What kind of bravery does it take to walk out on something like that – not once but twice?
Teana: I don’t think it’s brave, I think it’s self-preservation. The first time, I remember thinking I would rather be dead than stay another day – and thought I probably would die if I stayed, in all honesty.
Darren: I think it still classes as bravery, because it’s very hard to make a change that you know is going to be difficult and upsetting, even if it’s the right thing to do.
Teana: That’s why a lot of women stay, but I like to think that I’m proof that no matter how bad it is, you can start again. It doesn’t matter how old you are, you can start again – just believe in yourself. There’s so much help out there, and there’s so many kind people.
Darren: And now you’ve used this experience to provide motivational talks for others! What inspired you to do that?
“I’m a survivor – not a victim”
Teana: I just thought, if I could reach one person and tell their story while I’m telling mine, I can help them know they’re not alone. I’m a survivor, not a victim, and you don’t have to be a victim either. You can thrive after this – it doesn’t matter what you went through, because that isn’t who you are you. You are who you are now, and you’re stronger because of it.
Darren: It’s an incredible story. So, let’s get back to the bistro – happier times! Other than looking for new premises, where do you hope to take this?
Teana: Oh goodness, I have massive dreams! Let’s have a naughty badger in York, in Liverpool, in Manchester…
Darren: Badgers as far as the eye can see! And what would you say the USP of your business is, other than the quirky name?
Teana: We’re very quirky, very cute – everything on the menu is naughty. But it’s restaurant quality food, everything looks pretty on the plate, and it’s got that homely comfort.
Darren: It all sounds great! Well, I think we’re pretty much out of time now, but if anyone listening to this thinks, “I really want a bit of Naughty Badger in my life,” what times are you open, and where can people find you?
Teana: We’re on Facebook and Instagram, and now we’re on Tik Tok. You can find us on Bridge Street in Chester – you’ll see a badger outside, and you can follow the pawprints up the stairs.
Darren: Brilliant. Teana, thank you very much for being on this – I recognise you’ve only just finished a busy shift in in the bistro today, and you’ve had customers to chase out while we’ve been recording this, so thank you for being on the podcast. It’s been an absolute pleasure speaking with you.
Teana: Thanks so much for having me.
More about Teana:
Once under the influence of controlling, abusive partners, Teana Lynne is now a multi-award winning bistro owner, model, author and motivational speaker, who uses her experience to help others gain back their confidence. To find out more about Teana’s incredible story, or the work that she does, you can connect with her here:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/teana.me
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teanalynne
X: https://twitter.com/naughty_badger_
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@naughty.badger
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/teanalynne
About your host:
Darren has worked within digital marketing since the last century, and was the first in-house web designer for video games retailer GAME in the UK, known as Electronics Boutique in the States. After co-founding his own agency, Engage Web, in 2009, Darren has worked with clients around the world, including Australia, Canada and the USA.
iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/engaging-marketeer/id1612454837
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darrenjamieson/
Engaging Marketeer: https://engagingmarketeer.com
Engage Web: https://www.engageweb.co.uk
