After some networking, and the usual excellent Mix breakfast (for those who were there in person) Annya Stoddart described her project to get an online business in meditation going.

You will find that there is a surprising number of skills needed for an online business

Many members are familiar with Annya from her Acupuncture business, The Pain Relief Clinic.

Two years ago, she decided to set up a second income stream.  This was for an online digital business called Wisdom-Mind, teaching meditation and mindfulness techniques.

The concept is to help with different aspects of life such as difficult relationships, bereavement and busy workloads.

In Annya’s case, it was born from needing to help her mother cope with chronic mental health issues.

The idea also is to complement and help people deal with the mental aspects of dealing with physical pain and other problems in their lives. Meditation can help people with exercise, eating, sleeping well and to shift their mindset.

Initially, Annya recorded some guide meditations and put together a training presentation on PowerPoint.  Then she worked with Kim Morrison, of Morr Marketing, to establish how to market her new service.

Other skills Annya needed to learn during the development process included (and this list, as you know, is not exhaustive).

• Building an effective email list to demonstrate to people what she was offering.
• Researching and creating blogs.
• Learning to present to camera, including using the right backgrounds and smiling (with help from Penny Morgan).
• Exploring different online platforms, to understand what best worked for her business.

After two years of testing and learning, this is the first year Annya has been able to earn income from her new platform. It is still a work in progress, she said, the refining and evolving will continue.

Additionally, there is a free guided video meditation that you can download called the Nine Breaths Meditation.

For the future

Chairman Colin Tapscott is always happy to receive any suggestions for what members want to see the Chamber doing in the future. Please send your ideas (and your wish lists) to chair@stowmarketchamber.co.uk.

Dates for your diary:

Please check the website in case of any last-minute changes.

For more information contact Keely Taylor

by phone: 01449 770965 or e-mail: secretary@stowmarketchamber.co.uk.

Anyone who has a story to publicize or you’re a Member who hasn’t yet been featured in a Member Spotlight on the website please contact publicity officer, Alison Withers: alison@multimediareputations.com.

The post November 2022 – A two year project and steep learning curve appeared first on Stowmarket & District Chamber of Commerce.

Sharing the love and some very useful tips

For February 2020 our 25 breakfasters were, appropriately, sharing the love by expressing their gratitude for the services of other members they have used.

We were also delighted to welcome the Mayor of Stowmarket, Paul Ekpenyong, as our guest.

This month’s presentation from Steve Stoddart, of Wandering River Photography and Videography, gave us plenty of handy tips to improve the quality of any videos we might create as part of our marketing.

A guide to creating your own videos

The key to creating a good video, Steve told us, is to set aside enough time to produce it.

Then you need to decide its topic, from an “about us” to a case history, self-help tips, training, or testimonials from customers.

There are two key components to a successful video, according to Steve. They are the script and visual appeal. If you do not feel comfortable with either, there are other Chamber members who can help, he pointed out.

When deciding on the equipment to use, whether it is a smartphone or tablet, sound quality is crucial. Move too far away from the microphone and you will pick up ambient noise. Steve had a range of affordable equipment that could be used as a microphone stand, crucially, he said, make sure the holder is landscape and not vertical.

When composing shots, one tip is to stand to the side of the shot to allow you to introduce other information. Another tip to remember is that digital cameras do not provide optical zoom so images will pixelate. You can use natural lighting, but you should avoid a too strong light which will create too many dark shadows.

Even with a script it is useful to have a teleprompter but set it at a comfortable speed for you to read and include pauses between sentences. Warm-up before you start and make sure you are relaxed.

Once you have completed your video it is important to review it with a critical eye. Don’t be surprised if you need to do a few trial runs before you are happy with the results.

Tell us what you want

Allan is happy to receive any suggestions for what members want to see the Chamber doing in the future. Please send your ideas (and your want lists) to allan@millhousemedia.co.uk.

Dates for your diary:

For more information contact Keely Taylor

phone: 01449 770965

e-mail: secretary@stowmarketchamber.co.uk

Anyone who has a story to publicise should contact marketing officer Alison Withers:

alison@multimediareputations.com

The post February 2020 breakfast: Sharing the love appeared first on Stowmarket & District Chamber of Commerce.

A Mix makeover, pigeon flapping and a worthy cause.

Our first breakfast of the new year and decade took place in January 2020 in the newly-revamped and very stylish Cabbages and Kings restaurant at The Mix.

The restaurant now boasts a black and dark wood colour theme, a cosy chatting corner complete with leather sofas as well as new tables and chairs.

The 23 people attending were, however, treated to the usual high-quality pick and mix Full English and 60-second presentations from a wide range of businesses.

..and pigeon flapping? That was how Colin Tapscott, of Everyday Leader, described a pigeon trying and failing to pick up some crumbs. Because it was flapping its wings, the crumbs just kept blowing away. After a few repeated attempts, it realised its actions were counter-productive and walked slowly towards its goal. It was a good analogy for the way some approach a business problem!

A worthy cause from our guest speaker

Julia Keeble described the work of the charity Ormiston Families

Ormiston Families was started by the family of a young woman, Fiona Ormiston Murray, who died whilst on her honeymoon.

The charity works with families in East Anglia to help them to build positive family relationships. Julia said they worked collaboratively with women who had had at least one child removed from them into care but did not understand why.

The idea is to stop it from happening again by tackling the issues that caused the removal, such as drug abuse and relationship problems.

“We believe in early preventative action and our services help people to build stronger networks, learn from experience and feel in control of their wellbeing,” she said.

There are many ways people can help the Trust’s work, said Julia.  They include donation, volunteering, joining its lottery, running a fund-raising event or providing sponsorship.

The trust is holding a Quiz and Mezze night at Fynn Valley Golf Club, Ipswich, from 6.45 pm on Tuesday, February 4. You can find the details on their website.

Our Treasurer announced …

a new offer for breakfasters. Pay upfront for four breakfasts and you will get them at 2019 rates.  There are more details at this link on our website.

Tell us what you want

Allan is happy to receive any suggestions for what members want to see the Chamber doing in the future. Please send your ideas (and your want lists) to allan@millhousemedia.co.uk.

Dates for your diary:

For more information contact Keely Taylor

phone: 01449 770965

e-mail: secretary@stowmarketchamber.co.uk

Anyone who has a story to publicise should contact marketing officer Alison Withers:

alison@multimediareputations.com

The post January 2020 breakfast: A worthy cause appeared first on Stowmarket & District Chamber of Commerce.

Another excellent turn-out for the last breakfast of 2019

A seasonal flavour for our November 2019 breakfast with news of various people’s efforts to raise money and help others. These included Andrew Bingham’s daughter, Poppy, 13, raising money for Suffolk Young Carers and Kate Kelly collecting used printer cartridges for an initiative called Keeping Hearts Beating, that buys defibrillators to locate in public places.

Kate also launched our reverse advent calendar to collect festive food for the Stowmarket Food Bank.

Shelli Moyes has a new role on our committee

Shelli has volunteered (read arm twisted) to manage finding and booking speakers for our breakfasts and for our coffee mornings.

The options are a 10-minute presentation at the breakfast or a half-hour slot at the coffee morning, where speakers can talk about their services or about specific aspects of their businesses that a 60-second breakfast spot has no time for.

Shelli already has speakers booked for most of next year but she can put you on the reserve list in case anyone has to drop out. Just email her or catch her at breakfast.

“A lot of us in this room do have a lot of skills and maybe also activities we do in our social time, such as charity work. Perhaps you might want to talk about these,” she said.

A presentation can be a good opportunity to demonstrate some of the extra things a local small business does that a larger company doesn’t.

She emphasised that this was not about selling but about informing and educating people about what is involved in what a business does.

Follow-up to Allan’s Big Announcement

Our chairman, Allan Scott, reported on the successful launch of the new Stowmarket Innovation Labs, in what used to be the Bistro on the riverside. The Innovation Labs were formally launched the previous evening to a very full house.

The guest speaker was Peter Scott, brother of member Bob Scott, of Niche Cocktails. Peter works at JPL (Jet Propulsion Lab) which has had a role in almost every space mission.

Founding launch partners for the centre are Stowmarket and District Chamber, Peter Brady, of Orbital Media, business consultant Peter Basford, and Hermione Way, former head of communications at Tinder. Additional business partners are actively being sought.

The project has the backing of Mid Suffolk District Council and already has links with the Martlesham Innovation Centre in Ipswich.

Tell us what you want

Allan is happy to receive any suggestions for what members want to see the Chamber doing in the future. Please send your ideas (and your want lists) to allan@millhousemedia.co.uk.

Dates for your diary:

For more information contact Keely Taylor

phone: 01449 770965

e-mail: secretary@stowmarketchamber.co.uk

Anyone who has a story to publicise should contact marketing officer Alison Withers:

alison@multimediareputations.com

The post November 2019 breakfast: Our last breakfast of the decade appeared first on Stowmarket & District Chamber of Commerce.

An excellent turn-out in anticipation of the Chairman’s Big Announcement

Is this a record for the year? 23 people were at the October 2019 breakfast. This meant the 60-second presentations had to be strictly observed – easier for some than for others!

Allan’s Big Announcement

Our chairman, Allan Scott, was finally able to confirm that the proposed initial Stowmarket tech hub is to be formally launched as a pilot project in a building near the railway station.

After five years of sustained effort, he said, the new riverside venture, to be called Innovation Labs, in what used to be the Bistro, and will be formally launched at 6pm on Thursday, November 14.

The centre’s aim will be to foster innovation, entrepreneurship and business growth and will hopefully be the proving ground for the concept. The eventual aim is a dedicated building on the development land close to Tesco, Cedars Park.

For £149 per month, businesses can have a fixed workspace and business coaching.

Founding launch partners for the centre are the Stowmarket & District Chamber of Commerce, Peter Brady, of Orbital Media, business consultant Peter Basford, and Hermione Way, former head of communications at Tinder. Additional business partners are actively being sought.

The project has the backing of Mid Suffolk District Council and already has links with the Martlesham Innovation Centre in Ipswich. Discussions with UCS and West Suffolk College are ongoing.

Tell us what you want

Allan is happy to receive any suggestions for what members want to see the Chamber doing in the future. Please send your ideas (and your want lists) to allan@millhousemedia.co.uk.

Dates for your diary:

For more information contact Keely Taylor

phone: 01449 770965

e-mail: secretary@stowmarketchamber.co.uk

Anyone who has a story to publicise should contact marketing officer Alison Withers:

alison@multimediareputations.com

The post October 2019 breakfast: Chairman’s Big Announcement appeared first on Stowmarket & District Chamber of Commerce.

Our secretary is looking for help and some “homework” from our speaker

There was a full house for September 2019’s breakfast and, as always, an excellent spread!

Clearly an incentive for one member, Mike Drain, of Superb Travel Suffolk, despite the disruptions to his diary caused by pilot strikes and clients being delayed or re-routed.

With a Christmas gift deadline looming, our secretary’s latest enterprise, Taylor-made Trees, has become so successful that she is looking for occasional help from someone to download and crop photos and put them in a word document.

Dealing with Difficult Employees

Meanwhile, guest speaker Peter Stanway, of Project HR, told us in his 60 seconds about dealing with an employee who had been indulging in somewhat intimate extracurricular activities during work time. Before his 10-minute presentation, Peter split the attendees into two groups. He then set everyone the task of suggesting solutions for dealing with a work-place “know it all” whose behaviour and attitudes were not only disrupting team meetings but also causing colleagues to avoid working with them.

Peter’s client had tried tackling the person, whose only response had been a shrug and the comment that this was who he is.

One group suggested looking at how team meetings were run, setting reference points for people about working as a team and videoing the culprit to show them how they behaved.

The other group suggested emphasising the positives in the person’s behaviour before engaging with them and thought about how to develop the rest of the team. Although they also agreed that such behaviour cannot be ignored.

Our chairman, Allan Scott, had an update on progress on setting up a Stowmarket tech hub, most likely to be near the Tesco roundabout.  In the meantime, there are plans for a pilot project in a building near the railway station, to be led by Peter Brady, of Orbital Media, and Hermione Way.  There is already a link with the Martlesham Innovation Centre in Ipswich and discussions with UCS and West Suffolk College have already begun.

Tell us what you want

Allan is happy to receive any suggestions for what members want to see the Chamber doing in the future. Please send your ideas (and your want lists) to allan@millhousemedia.co.uk.

Dates for your diary:

For more information contact Keely Taylor

phone: 01449 770965

e-mail: secretary@stowmarketchamber.co.uk

Anyone who has a story to publicise should contact marketing officer Alison Withers:

alison@multimediareputations.com

The post September 2019 breakfast: homework from our speaker appeared first on Stowmarket & District Chamber of Commerce.

Creative myth-busting from our guest speaker

A full house despite peak holiday season gathered for our August 2019 Breakfast.  Not only for the reliably excellent breakfast but also to hear guest speaker Cate Caruth, of Creative Words explain some of the mistaken beliefs that are often held about marketing content.

Content, she said, is anything that adds value for your audience.

The first myth is that content has to appeal to everyone, which is not true, but it is essential to know your customers, as well as understanding your competitors, investors and staff.

The second misconception is to see value only in terms of money. Value can be about saving people time, giving them greater knowledge, and about experience.

The third myth, Cate said, is to assume that content is written. She added that content is anything that adds value for your audience, whether that is pictures, videos, animations, or networking.

Finally, there is an assumption that content must always be unique and original.  In fact, she said, while it is definitely not OK to steal other people’s articles, you can give a topic your own unique perspective.

Using the acronym CARES, she said ultimately that content should be clear, accurate, relevant, easy and simple.

Tell us what you want

Allan is happy to receive any suggestions for what members want to see the Chamber doing in the future. Please send your ideas (and your want lists) to allan@millhousemedia.co.uk.

Dates for your diary:

For more information contact Keely Taylor

phone: 01449 770965

e-mail: secretary@stowmarketchamber.co.uk

Anyone who has a story to publicise should contact marketing officer Alison Withers:

alison@multimediareputations.com

The post August 2019 breakfast: Creative myth-busting appeared first on Stowmarket & District Chamber of Commerce.

A timely reminder about some families’ summer struggles

July 2019 featured guest speaker at breakfast, Mike Smith from the Stowmarket Food Bank. He reminded us that the demand for their services climbs in the school summer holidays.

The Food Bank, which reaches its seventh anniversary in October, operates from the Hillside Community Centre. It has found that demand from families in crisis has been steadily rising, particularly since the introduction of Universal Credit last May.

Demand rose by 50% in the first three months of 2019 compared with 2018 and 70% of this was caused by delays in receiving benefits.

The Food Bank delivers help to people as far away as Claydon and Bramford, he said.

Mike emphasised that all families have to be referred to the food bank and said that people would stop donating if they did not feel the organisation was trustworthy.

Throughout the summer, he said, they would be running a holiday programme, including some entertainment from musicians and magic acts sponsored by Hopkins Homes. In addition, there would be a community lunch club every Wednesday at the Children’s Centre and every Friday at St Peter’s Church Hall.  Places need to be booked and people can call 01449 616091 to book.

They will also be running a pop-up shop two days a week at the Hillside Centre, offering “end of the day” fresh produce kindly donated by Asda, Tesco and Lidl.

There is now an app, available on the Apple App Store and on Google Play, which publishes a weekly list of items most needed for donation.

Tell us what you want

Allan is happy to receive any suggestions for what members want to see the Chamber doing in the future. Please send your ideas (and your want lists) to allan@millhousemedia.co.uk.

Dates for your diary:

For more information contact Keely Taylor

phone: 01449 770965

e-mail: secretary@stowmarketchamber.co.uk

Anyone who has a story to publicise should contact marketing officer Alison Withers:

alison@multimediareputations.com

The post July 2019 breakfast: Families’ summer struggles appeared first on Stowmarket & District Chamber of Commerce.

We welcome visitors, guests – and games!

At the June 2019 breakfast meeting, there were 22 people including one new member and two guests.

New member Joanne Moss set up Moss HR ten years ago and has 20 years’ experience in helping businesses deal with staffing issues.

Paul Flanagan’s PRV Consultancy has spent many years working for major companies helping them with health and safety project management.  He has now set up his own business tailored to meet the needs of SMEs.

Liz Rix has joined the Performance Plus Partnership, helping businesses to put in quality management systems and gain accreditation.

Time for some games with a purpose

It always livens things up when your audience has something to do, not, of course, that we are suggesting that our breakfasters are less than bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 7am in the morning!

Colin Tapscott, of Everyday Leader, however, split us into teams and gave each team a bag of coloured counters and just 90 seconds to separate them into single-colour groups. Nothing like a little healthy competition!

After the first round, groups were charged with considering how they could better organise their efforts to make a second attempt.

Surprisingly, most did no better on the second try.  In fact, in some groups the times were slower, which, said Colin, is a normal and expected result in this kind of exercise.

Another discussion and a third go did improve times somewhat.

The point of it all was to demonstrate the process of encouraging people to work as teams and to make marginal gains in improving performance.

Using the acronym GROW: Goal (what you are trying to achieve), Reality (what actually happens), Options (making improvements) and Which (which improvements actually work best) he explained that it is a method he uses to coach people, both as teams and as leaders, to analyse the way they approach tasks and find out what will work best, all to the benefit of their businesses.

Tell us what you want

Allan is happy to receive any suggestions for what members want to see the Chamber doing in the future. Please send your ideas (and your want lists) to allan@millhousemedia.co.uk.

Dates for your diary:

For more information contact Keely Taylor

phone: 01449 770965

e-mail: secretary@stowmarketchamber.co.uk

Anyone who has a story to publicise should contact marketing officer Alison Withers:

alison@multimediareputations.com

The post June 2019 breakfast: visitors, guests – and games! appeared first on Stowmarket & District Chamber of Commerce.

We may be a little eccentric but we still do things properly

This month’s breakfast was all about the last year and (re)election of your committee.

Chairman’s Report

Chairman Allan Scott opened the AGM proceedings with a summary of activities and achievements, most notably the success of the Mid Suffolk Business Exhibition, MSBE2, our second – and improved – business exhibition.

Allan said that it was approached with some trepidation because the first one had novelty value. The pressure was on to improve standards and provide something new and we were likely to be judged on what had happened previously.

However, it was important to continue, he said, because there is a gap in the market for a business exhibition in central Suffolk, particularly as there are a great many very small businesses in the area. These kinds of businesses make up around 98% of business in the UK.

Feedback so far is that it was very well-organised with helpful set-up arrangements and that exhibitors were kept well informed.

Other Chamber activities have included continuing to support and work with those promoting a tech hub for Stowmarket and this will continue.

We are in contact with Andy McMillan, MSDC economic development officer, supporting the bid for money from the Government’s Future High Street Fund and we are also supporting the Regal’s plans for its development.

Secretary’s Report

Secretary Keely Taylor confirmed that we shall continue with our breakfasts and coffee mornings and have a list of interesting possible speakers.  There is also a plan to visit the Great Blakenham recycling centre next month.

Treasurer’s Report

Treasurer Kate Kelly reported that as a not-for-profit organisation any profits are ploughed back into our activities. We closed 2018 with a balance of £2,800 and will be seeking to build on that.  TSB’s banking meltdown problems caused some problems but the Chamber bank account has now been moved to Barclays.

Membership is currently 37, helped by MSBE2 and we are managing to keep prices affordable.  The possible price risks in the future could be diminishing numbers of attendees at meetings but we are emphasising that we are “not the usual stuffy clique of suits”. We also make it clear that people don’t have to be members to come to our meetings. A loyalty card has been issued for coffee mornings, which on completion gives one free attendance.

After the reports members present were invited to vote on re-election of the committee, which was duly passed. However, as the meeting conflicted with some members’ holidays or other commitments our lovely secretary will be ensuring that all those not able to be there are happy with the vote – we may not be “stuffy suits” but we do some things “properly”!

Tell us what you want

Allan is happy to receive any suggestions for what members want to see the Chamber doing in the future. Please send your ideas (and your want lists) to allan@millhousemedia.co.uk.

Dates for your diary:

For more information contact Keely Taylor

phone: 01449 770965

e-mail: secretary@stowmarketchamber.co.uk

Anyone who has a story to publicise should contact marketing officer Alison Withers:

alison@multimediareputations.com

The post May 2019 breakfast and AGM appeared first on Stowmarket & District Chamber of Commerce.