24 businesses attended the June 2023 breakfast at The Mix to meet new people, catch up with friends and network. They also heard about a special scheme for new business launching soon from John Bradbrook of AnyIT.

Timely help when they need it

AnyIT opened in 2006 as a high street shop in Needham Market but now has its own premises in Station Yard.

John Bradbrook stressed the business’ core principles of transparency, reliability, integrity and character.

He announced the launch of a support scheme starting in August when start-ups will receive IT support free for their first year in operation.

AnyIT will be measuring how much revenue it has generated for these start-ups as well as ensuring their IT security. This is part of their CSR promise.

He cited the example of one Ipswich business that had grown significantly but then lost all its web pages following 90,000 hacking attempts in a month. AnyIT was able to recover everything but it emphasises the need for IT security, said John.

After six months of the new scheme of monitoring start-ups on the scheme, his company will give feedback on how they are doing.

At the end of the first year businesses on the scheme will not be tied to AnyIT but obviously, they are hoping they will stay.

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 publicise 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.

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There was no guest speaker this month as it was the AGM – but there was the usual delicious Mix breakfast of course.

Voting and the chairman’s vision for the coming year

Chairman Colin Tapscott, secretary Keely Taylor and new treasurer Jason Ford were all elected at the AGM.

Colin then used the opportunity to outline the progress in the Chamber’s three core principles, the three Cs: Champion, Connect and Communicate.
These have been facilitated by setting up the Chamber Catalyst and Chamber Chat to help members communicate online.

This year, he said, we had also been able to hold our first in-person business exhibition post Covid, which had been well attended and a great success. Aims for the coming year will be to continue exploring and expanding our network as well as attracting more members. We are also investigating other, bigger venues for an in-person business exhibition next year.

He also paid tribute to two members who had been staunch Chamber supporters. One, Tracey Gaught, has sadly died and the other, former chairman Allan Scott, is sadly quite poorly after having been diagnosed with terminal bowel cancer.

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 publicise 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 May 2023 – the AGM appeared first on Stowmarket & District Chamber of Commerce.

The usual lively mix of chat, breakfast, and some thought-provoking advice from Owen Williams of West View IT at the April 2023 breakfast.

How much personal information can be gleaned from your wallet?

The contents of a wallet loaned by Nathan from Softwood Self Publishing (with permission, of course) provided a handy prop to illustrate Owen’s talk about protecting personal data from those with evil intent.

In these days of carrying so many cards, it is alarming how much information can be gleaned.

The contents included a driver’s licence, a platinum card, a receipt, gift cards, a National Insurance card, business cards, and some cash.

Individually each card might not give out too much information, he said, but collectively, they give a much more complete and personal picture and one that could be used for identity theft.

Then, there is the digital footprint from activities we carry out online.

It is all about trust, said Owen. How much do you trust the organisations you use as a consumer?

As business owners, we all need people to trust us, so we must be careful how we store their information.

The critical point is, both as consumers and businesses, we need to ensure our data is as secure as possible and this means using such techniques as ensuring you know where all information is stored using such safety measures as two-factor authentication, never using the same password everywhere and ensuring that everyone in your business with access to personal data follows the security rules.

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 publicise 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 April 2023 – Plenty of new faces appeared first on Stowmarket & District Chamber of Commerce.

Is our fame spreading? Or is it the fabulous Mix breakfasts? No matter. All were welcome at our March 2023 networking breakfast.

Dave Baker on International Standards and ChatGPT

Dave Baker, of Performance Plus, helps his business customers achieve compliance with international standards (ISOs).

He decided to use the new AI tool ChatGPT in preparing his talk.

Among his questions was “Explain in under 50 words why compliance with ISO 27001 could benefit their organisation”.
This ISO, he explained, is the standard for international security. The ChatGPT answer was “Compliance with this standard can help protect an organisation”.

So far so good. Next question: “Tell me something amusing about ISO standards”. The reply “ISO Standard 3103 is the standard for making a cup of tea”.

Then Dave decided to probe further to see where things might go wrong. He asked it to multiply 157 by 2.70 the answer came back – 1099.25 (incorrect). The point, he said, was that you cannot believe everything ChatGPT says because it uses probability theory to compose its answers and it is not possible to identify all the sources from which it has derived its answers.

By comparison, said Dave, ISO standards are very useful for organisations wishing to prove their capabilities.

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 publicise 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 March 2023 – Plenty of new faces appeared first on Stowmarket & District Chamber of Commerce.

Thanks to the February 2023 half-term break, slightly fewer people than usual were able to visit The Mix for its usual excellent breakfast. Hence, there were 11 people there, with another five online via Zoom. Among the Zoom attendees was Lee Graham of St Nicholas Hospice, the month’s guest speaker, who was obliged to attend remotely, having tested positive for Covid the day before.

Fundraising for St Nic’s resumes with a vengeance this year

Lee explained that although the hospice receives an NHS grant, it has to raise £12,000 per day to be able to offer its services. The grant covers just one-fifth of the income the hospice needs.

Among its many services, there is also included:

• an area community nursing team
• an in-patient unit with ten beds
• carers’ support
• a palliative care team
• an independent living team
• a psychiatric care team for patients and their families.

For the previous two years, various Covid lockdowns had disrupted the fundraising programme, although, for several years, Lee had been a volunteer fundraiser using rock concerts at the Apex. Because of the nature of its work, hospice workers regularly test for Covid, hence Lee’s presence via Zoom.

This year, however, the fundraising programme is back, and its biggest event, as always, is the Girls’ Night Out, a walk that will take place later in the year.

In March, there will be a Swim for St Nic’s event organised by the Bury St Edmunds Rotary. Later in the month will come Taken, when business leaders will be captured, and their employees will follow a treasure trail of clues in an effort to raise £1000 ransom money to free their bosses.

In April, people will be encouraged to run a marathon for St Nic’s. Also, in August, there will be an opportunity to skydive at Beccles Airfield to raise money.

Other events will include Hidden Gardens on display and a cycle ride covering various distances.

The hospice also has a supporters’ club whose members either donate or commit to raising £300 to join.

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 publicise 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 February 2023 – half-term and Covid strikes again appeared first on Stowmarket & District Chamber of Commerce.

After some networking and the usual excellent Mix breakfast (for those who were there in person).  Our January 2023 breakfast Speaker, Colin Tapscott (Chairman of Stowmarket Chamber) spoke about the Chamber’s core principles (the three C’s).

It is about Connecting local businesses, Championing their needs, and representing their views, including to the Suffolk  Chamber of Commerce.

The third of the three Cs in addition to Connecting and Champion is to Communicate.

Using a ball of string to illustrate his point as it was wound through and around those present, Colin showed how the Chamber represented a network of connections.  These of course could be face-to-face or online.

The Chamber Committee was aware that some members could not necessarily get to meetings, whether breakfasts or coffee mornings.  So two new tools were developed called Chamber Chat and Chamber Catalyst. Find out more about these below.

Chamber Chat

A friendly, by invitation Facebook group for Chamber Members, to share information and where we can communicate to improve businesses.

If you are not part of the Chamber Chat or haven’t had an invite, then please contact us at secretary@stowmarketchamber.co.uk.

Chamber Catalyst

On the Stowmarket & District Chamber of Commerce,  the website is Chamber Catalyst.  This is a login part of the website where members can access several guides contributed by members as short articles on a variety of business topics.

Any members who have not yet signed up for Catalyst or lost their login information can contact Kim Morrison at admin@stowmarketchamber.co.uk.

Members Spotlight and MSBE2023

There are other tools for Championing the Chamber and Members, such as the monthly Member Spotlight, produced by Alison Withers, and the MSBE exhibition (MSBE2023) returning face to face on March 29th at The Mix.

Find out more about being in the Member Spotlight and how you can exhibit or get your FREE tickets for MSBE2023 by clicking on the following links Member Spotlight – Stowmarket & District Chamber of Commerce and also MSBE 2023 – Stowmarket & District Chamber of Commerce.

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 publicise 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 January 2023 – a New Year and new clarity appeared first on Stowmarket & District Chamber of Commerce.

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.

After some networking at our October 2022 meeting, and the usual excellent Mix breakfast (for those who were there in person), Sarah Maidment of Get Suffolk Reading explained more about this vital project.

Did you know?

One in six adults has low skills in literacy and one in 11 children doesn’t own a single book.

The National Literacy Trust’s Suffolk project, Get Suffolk Reading, is focused on Stowmarket, Haverhill and Lowestoft and is a project that focuses on three main areas: home learning, well-being and aspiration.

Sarah Maidment leads the Stowmarket initiative, which will celebrate its first anniversary in January 2023. She covers Needham Market and Stowmarket with her main focus being on primary schools.

This initiative, which is backed by the community, uses reading, events, storytelling and activities for children to encourage them to use libraries. It also supports families and schools.

The initiative has donated 31,963 books across Suffolk and is actively looking for volunteers to create activities, come and read stories and help with fundraising.

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 changed

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 October 2022 – A much-needed literacy initiative appeared first on Stowmarket & District Chamber of Commerce.

After some networking in our September 2022 meeting, and the usual excellent Mix breakfast (for those who were there in person) Barry Edge of EA Web Design gave us lots of inside info on WordPress websites.

Did you know?

Approximately 80% of the world’s websites use WordPress.

Initially free to use, it has evolved so that, while still free, more complex versions of plug-ins are now paid for.

For the latter, Barry suggested website owners might be advised to get help from a developer.

He listed some of the most useful plug-ins he uses.

Useful Plug-Ins

YOAST is an SEO plug-in that will tell you, using a traffic light system, whether the content on your site is readable.  The premium version also suggests more keywords and phrases and also does e-commerce.

Share This allows you to share blogs on both Facebook and Instagram.

WP SMUSH has both free and premium versions and advises whether websites are fast loading or not. It also condenses images to make them quicker to load.

The best plug-ins for online sales, he said, are WOO Commerce and E-Commerce, both free but with additional paid-for extensions.

UPDRAFT Plus is helpful for backing up a website in case anything goes wrong and WPCACHE provides a cache on the WP server.

Finally, Barry said, you can load a plug-in called LIVE CHAT if you want to be able to talk to customers in real time.

One final piece of advice was to check with a developer about compatibility as thousands of new plug-ins are released and updated regularly.

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 changed

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 September 2022 – All you need to know about WordPress websites appeared first on Stowmarket & District Chamber of Commerce.

For the holiday period, August 2022 was a busy event! After some networking, and the usual excellent Mix breakfast (for those who were there in person), Iain Kimber of Hard Graft Consultancy gave his tips for how to sell successfully.

After 30 years in sales and business development, which included growing companies up to £10 million, Iain took voluntary redundancy during the first lockdown of the pandemic.

The change meant he got his weekends back and a “much nicer way of life”.

It also meant he could use his expertise to help the many micro and small businesses that had fantastic products but no experience of selling.

Now he works for them part-time, short term or on contract until they are at a stage where they can take on their own sales staff.

Keys to Successful Selling

The key to successful selling, he said, is to listen, build relationships, tell the truth, do the research and make sure to talk the right language for the product.

You should spend a couple of hours on the prospect’s website and social media before talking to them.

“If there’s one takeaway it is to do it by building a relationship, being friendly and not pushy,” he said.

Fundraising Walk for SARS

Chairman Colin reminded everyone of the upcoming fundraising walk for SARS on Sunday, September 18.

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 changed

For more information contact Keely Taylor

phone: 01449 770965 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 August 2022 – The secrets of selling successfully appeared first on Stowmarket & District Chamber of Commerce.