WiRE Blog

Had a great meeting in Hatfield last week with our Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Essex Network leaders, we discussed what ‘s going well in their network groups. Colchester Network meet regularly for a meal and discuss their businesses they have got to know each other really well over the years, their businesses have grown and they have been able to share each others journey. The Hertfordshire Network has grown since we last met and now meets in Letchworth Arts Centre each month, Jen has support from members of the group to organise the meetings and sends out a newsletter each month, which helps to share information within the group. We heard how plans were going for the regional WiRE event that Bedfordshire Network are organising.  They have a conference organising group which 10 members have volunteered to be on. It was great to meet Cecilia Holden who is part of the organising group and came  along to our meeting to find out more about WiRE.  Babs showed us the event branding which a member had designed which looks great, we’re all really excited and can’t wait to hear more about the event as it evolves.

We also had a look at the WiRE website as Network leaders have access to update the network web pages and their own resources area where they can download useful resources to help them with the network.

We also discussed the new changes to business support and the role of LEP’s (Local Enterprise Partnerships) as knowledge is power and we want to makeshire all our Network Leaders and members have an understanding of the changes so they can come up with ways to adapt and make the most of things.

Looking forward to meeting more of our fantastic Network Leaders in Bury St Edmunds next week.

Hatfield Network Leader Meeting 2 June 2011

In response to Lord Sugar’s contentious view on networking groups, Fiona Davies at WiRE has her say on just how beneficial networking can be.  WiRE has the proof…

View Lord Sugar’s article at The Telegraph Online

Dear Lord Sugar,

When you tire of looking menacingly out of your office window at buildings of dubious shape and name and bored with writing articles about how businesses should shut up and shape up, perhaps you could find time to visit one of the many WiRE (Women in Rural Enterprise) Networks. We would like to show you that contrary to your belief that; “these events are money-making exercises and benefit one party and one party only: the organiser and that they “have become an escape for people to justify sitting around wasting a day bullshitting with each other while they should be working, where you “will learn nothing, other than that there are another load of people in the same boat as you”. We would like you to see how valuable networking can be and what a powerful business support mechanism it really is.

Now that you work within a large organisation there is always somebody around; to provide practical support, to solve a problem, to consult with, to explore ideas or provide an expert answer.  But you must remember what it was like to be the chief cook and bottle washer at the helm (sink) of your own business where it was not so easy to find the support you needed.

To survive, all businesses need to continue to collaborate, learn, refresh skills, solve problems, mull over ideas and do business with trusted colleagues – networking is a great way to find this support. Just as you would choose which colleagues would be most helpful in a given situation, you must carefully choose your network. Nothing is quite so disheartening, time wasting and likely to put you off for life as finding yourself networking in a group which has no interest in what you are selling and no use for your skills (they may in fact just be there to make money for the organisers). But not all networks are the same, the reason that WiRE networks are successful is that the constituent parts of the network are likeminded; they are largely rural, run small but very professional businesses, care about their area and locality, have strong ethics, are looking to succeed and want to see other businesses succeed.  It doesn’t really matter what the businesses within the network are (professional, craft, artisan, food etc.), it just matters that the underlying principles of the members are as matched as possible – likeminded.

Scratch the surface of any of the 60 WiRE networks and you will find a rich and varied tapestry of businesses – a personal business board; they haven’t just read about it they have done it, there isn’t a single business problem they haven’t experienced and lived to tell the tale. WiRE networks are not franchised, they are run by WiRE member volunteers who believe that the right sort of networking provides fantastic business support and opportunities – all we ask is that attendees join WiRE (just £50 per year) and contribute generously and enthusiastically to their network.

Support from networking doesn’t let distance and geography get in the way, when you are part of a national likeminded network (like WiRE) networking becomes much greater than what you can achieve, learn, sell and share face to face. The WiRE network comprises thousands of members running rural businesses, so it is a mine of information and experience, if you can’t make it to a meeting, you can still tap into the expertise.

So Lord Sugar, networking works, done well it becomes your team and your business support network, we would love you to come and experience this at first hand – but you can’t because you are a man, please extend our invitation to Lady Sugar.


Yours sincerely,

Fiona Davies

This months e-newsletter feature partner is Dyke Ruscoe & Hayes

Another day, another tax return – or make that 2.65 for each employee, every day until the 31 January 2011 deadline.We try to get clients returns in early – every year – but clients (bless you) so often have a way of leaving things to the last moment, or forgetting that last bit of vital information!

We understand, we really do.. (I always put off going to the dentist) but getting the books together just has to be done so you may as well get on with it.

I had one of my favourite clients in today to go through the basics (accounts and the return). Then he started to ask me about capital gains tax and inheritance tax and was there any way to protect his hard-earned money from the potential son in-law from hell who (he was convinced) was going to marry his daughter and then run off with A N Other. We also talked through his brother’s marital problems and the financial implications.

Then two of my older clients came in and I’m still trying to work out how my query about family wages turned into how much the price of diesel has risen (I set them up with a PAYE scheme eventually).

Lisa phoned to complain about the bank (again) – quite right too on this occasion – the banks are certainly being very cautious at the moment, quite unnecessarily so in several cases. I’ve spoken to the bank and persuaded them to play ball and Lisa sent me flowers!

Later, I had a new client, sent by a local solicitor. Let’s just say there were money-laundering issues which meant that I couldn’t act…

So, onwards and upwards as they say – now where did I put my tax return??

Dyke Ruscoe & Hayes Ltd are based in Ludlow 01584 872421/Tenbury Wells 01584 810322 and Craven Arms (ask for Jackie, Peter, David or Carl) and do everything you would expect accountants and business advisors to do – marriage guidance extra!

Organise ‘Abit of a Do’ to celebrate the amazing things that women do around the globe and help Oxfam raise funds for millions living in an unfair world.

Oxfam is committed to a world where women and girls together can achieve their individual and collective potential. All across the world Oxfam is working with women to help them have something to celebrate, even in the harshest of environments.

To help you make your celebration the best it can be Oxfam will provide you with all of the support you could need – from party ideas, to discussion topics, from simple recipes to complex cocktails.

Oxfam know the obstacles facing women around the world, and know that there is a long way to go before every woman can join this celebration. That’s why, as part of your get-together, they want you to raise much needed funds. The easiest way is to include an on-line giving page with your invites, don’t worry they’ll provide you with the details on how to do this.

Every penny raised will go to their work with women like Emilina, Karo, and millions of other women across the globe who need our help and support. Together we will empower more women to escape poverty and overcome adversity. With over 1000 women a day dying through maternal health issues and 40,000,000 girls not having the opportunity to go to school we know you’ll agree that it is a worthwhile cause that needs action now.

We hope that you will join thousands of women on the week of the March 8th, to reflect on all that has been achieved and to help make sure that women around the world have even more to celebrate in the future.

To find out more about Oxfam and their work, visit www.oxfam.org.uk or if you are interested in getting involved in the Oxfam Do please contact Catherine Butt at cbutt@oxfam.org.uk

 Yesterday the Government finally announced that it will be scrapping Business Link. Over the years, WiRE has met some fantastic business advisors and support staff, working with them to provide targeted and much needed business support, we wish them luck and are sad to see them go. The announcement was no great surprise, what really rankles is the reason given for why…

 “The Government said the £154m cost of the Business Link network of offices was “high” and the “generalist nature” of the advice often “poorly targeted” towards “lifestyle businesses that have no aspiration to grow”.

www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/yourbusiness/8093448/Business-Link-scrapped-and-replaced-by-call-centre.html

 Over the years “Lifestyle Business” has come to mean anything that is too small to be a SME, that is probably based at home, that provides an income and wages for the owner, that doesn’t and probably doesn’t aspire to employ anybody else and that has limited potential for growth. It is a mystery why this has somehow become a bad thing, there are literally millions of these businesses; the WiRE network is just one example with its 10,000 members (1,500 of them paying for additional services) it generates at least that many jobs and the businesses average a £30,000 turnover – the figures quickly begin to add up.

 For women and in rural areas particularly with limited employment prospects, the need for flexible working patterns and poor transport “Lifestyle Business” is often the only choice. They not only employ themselves and collaborate actively with other businesses, help boost the economy of the local area but they provide a positive role model for the new entrepreneurs the Government is so keen to foster.   

Where will these businesses go to find the support they need; the website for technical and structural help yes, but everybody who has ever worked in business support knows that it is not about downloading a PDF, effective business support is complex and about much more than the “theory”.  The White Paper for the Local Economic Partnerships, also launched yesterday, talked little about support for this sort of business apart from that ubiquitous national website, and the committee leading the Advisory Group for the Regional Growth Fund features no representation of small business. It is a great opportunity to create an effective and cost effective model for supporting the sort of business that underpins local economies – lets not let it get lost in the rush to grow big.

We must stop at best ignoring an at worse demonising “Lifestyle Businesses”  and  support new start ups and give them help to move forward and grow (even if that doesn’t mean employing others). Let’s start celebrating our Lifestyle Businesses and move away from the outmoded idea that the only good business is big business.

 “Lifestyle business” is the patronizing term used by many big businesses and investors for businesses that are unwilling to pursue growth at the expense of a) the quality of their product/service and/or b) the happiness of their employees. The term is often applied to businesses that don’t want said investors’ money. www.jacksonfish.com/blog/2009/03/13/lifestyle-business-defined-in-under-140-chars/

  There are so many interesting meetings happening in the WiRE network this month; it would be great to go to them all – coming to think of it, if your a member you can! Unlike other networks we don’t limit our members to just one group. 

Here’s what you could get up to at our business network meetings during September 2010…

2nd September, Effective Marketing Strategies for the SME, North Yorkshire

7th September 2010, listen to our speaker from ‘Business buddies’  at  Waveney Valley or go to York and hear from The Press in York – women’s editor Maxine Gordon and business journalist Julie Hayes.

8th September 2010 learn ‘How to write a press release’ in Nottinghamshire

9th September 2010 the topic at our South Northamptonshire meeting is PR and writing a targeted press release

13th September 2010 in Essex find out ‘How social medial can help your business’

14th Septmber 2010 visit a local business- Stonehouse Brewery with  Oswestry network

15th September get to know our businesses in South Warwickshire and find ways we can help each other move forward  or join our members in Cheshire and discover how you learn so you can make the most of your time.

20th September network at your leisure in Grantham or at speed in Norwich!

21st September 2010 Find out the support availble from Business Link in Gloucestershire or hear ‘how to get the right photos for your promotional material’ in Hertfordshire

30th September 2010 Join our North Cotwolds members in the morning, Sharyn Singer and Anna Mason combine their nutritional talents to show you how to take advantage of the variety and bounty of the upcoming autumn harvest. Find out how to optimise your health and vitality, keep to a balanced diet as the weather turns colder and in the evening attend the launch of a new WiRE network in Derbyshire and be inspired by rural business women Gilly Groom.

And if these don’t take your fancy, there are more meetings being added each day – or you could always start your own network!

New business networking groups are springing up every week, including women only networking events, so when we met up with our WiRE Yorkshire Network Leaders at the Yorkshire showground in Harrogate recently, we thought we should spend some time reminding ourselves what is unique about WiRE networks…

Here’s what we came up with; WiRE Networking is:

• Affordable
• Women only
• Friendly & approachable
• A good introduction to networking
• where you can meet ‘New’ businesses
• where you can meet likeminded women
• Business is done  (but it is not the main focus; the focus is on support)
• you can create working partnerships
• Everyone has an understanding of each others business

Would you agree?

Is there anything else that you would add to the list?

Times are undoubtedly tough for all businesses, money is tight and customers unwilling to commit. Yes, the economic situation is to blame and we all hope that business will get better when money starts to flow more freely again. But small businesses must be vigilant; external pressures may be masking other issues and there could be improvements you could make now to increase business.

A friend sells huge great IT systems to huge great companies with huge great budgets and huge great problems. He has been thinking of taking a counselling course recently; by the time customers finally make the call after probably years of brushing problems under the carpet, they don’t need just to buy something, they need admit that they need help and expose all their deepest darkest problems before they can even start looking at solutions.

You have to be on your guard, you have to look very deeply at what is happening and regularly analyse your sales patterns. It may not be the prevailing economic conditions, your product or service may simply be out of fashion or facing too much competition. Don’t let the problem get too big that you expose big holes in your business when the economy picks up, dust off your “start up business hat” do some basic market research; a client facing a really tough time recently asked a few questions and found that her customers didn’t want to buy cakes, they wanted to know how to make them, guess what, now she’s offering a full training programme – simples!

Small businesses do have a unique advantage that stops them getting to crisis point; they can see their customers, they can talk to their customers and they can change and adapt to challenges quickly. Use that dexterity to your advantage and be ready for the upturn.

I wanted to paraphrase Carole King’s “It’s too late baby” (not), for the title of this blog but found myself humming “it’s never too late to stop, look, listen (to your heart)” which seemed to fit better – covered by Craig David no live Marvin Gaye version available.

So you may have both earworms Stop look listen

And, It’s too late

In an attempt to get more WiRE members listing their business on the WiRE Rural Market Place we have been putting together a “how to guide”. (BTW, why, oh why don’t you? It takes about 15 minutes and it’s another opportunity to market your business AND it’s where other WiRE members often look first for products and services – Rant over).

The guide took considerably longer than expected because there is much detail: is it cross referenced correctly, is that what the screen grab really looks like, are we using the same terminology all the way through, is the example consistent, is that the correct url etc etc. But mainly it was a really difficult exercise because everybody here in the WiRE office knows the Rural Market Place so well. We tended to assume a level of understanding which isn’t necessarily there, thus run the risk of alienated and disengaged users (never using the Rural Market Place, no matter how good it is for their business). 

It struck us that this is a much wider issue and not just about instruction manuals, it’s about every bit of communication with customers (marketing, advertising, instructions, directions etc) – are we talking to ourselves, or our customers?

Remember the school exercise; the teacher asks an 8 year old to write down how to make a cup of tea for an alien? An 8 year old will say “fill the kettle with water, put the tea bag in the cup” etc. To which the teacher (the alien!) responds, what’s a kettle? What’s water? Until the 8 year old understands – they know things the alien doesn’t.  

So if you know things that your customer doesn’t, you’ll need to find a way to help them understand your planet. While also remembering that not every customer is an “alien” some will be on your planet and you can’t risk losing their custom by talking down to them. To talk to everybody, you have to spin your pitch in several different ways; the “quick guide” and the “tell me more options” for example, different methods for different levels.

There is a great book by Steven Krug on Web Usability called “Don’t Make Me Think” but maybe it’s a concept that should be applied to all communication.

The link to the guide is HERE in case WiRE Members have been shamed into updaing their profile.

 Again thank you for the music for giving me the title, a nod to the great Karen Carpenter. Click HERE for a great 70′s Video

Just wanted share this with you; our Grantham Network Leader Svenda Scholey took a WiRE stand to the Grantham B2B event earlier this week and we pooled our ideas to make the day successful…

“a BIG Thank You for all your help. The pop-up stand looked great, laminated copies of the WiRE presentation and A4 leaflets caught the eye, the prize of a year’s free membership brought twinkles to visitor’s eyes – smiles to their lips and cards in the box, the copies of pull-outs interested a few. Thank you for everything – finding them, creating them and/or getting them together and to me. Made a big difference.

Thank you

I had a few mini-vids running on my laptop screen on the table too – moving eye candy – informative too …. here are links to youtube versions:

WiRE WiRE Presentation

Grantham WiRE (inspired by your A4/A5 leaflet) Grantham WiRE

WiRE member businesses:

Kelling House (Sue Evans) Kelling House B&B presentation on YouTube

JamJarShop (Rosemary Jameson) Jan Jar shop presentation on YouTube

superbfragrances Superb Fragrances presentation on YouTube

wilsongoodchild (Janette Wilson) Wilson Goodchild presentation on YouTube

ebizstart web design (me) Ebizweb Design presentation on YouTube

one of my ebizstart clients (Kathryn Buck) Kathryn Buck presentation on YouTube

I actually ran them directly off my laptop – so the visual quality was even better

Thank you again

Svenda Scholey

Grantham WiRE Network Leader