Special Offer to If We Can You Can Members

If We Can You Can member, Glynis Jeffries has a special offer open to members. Neuro-Linguistic Programming Is becoming increasingly popular within business due to the great success people have had whilst using the techniques.

We have a great opportunity for you to come along to Beamish Hall Hotel contact to experience a free taster session by Glynis Jeffries who is the director of Thinking Success UK and licensed by Dr Richard Bandler the co-creator of NLP.

This Unique opportunity will take you through how NLP can be used to enhance you and your business. The topics covered will be:
• Building great relationships with clients, contacts and employees to maximise every interaction.
• Having a clear direction for both you and your colleagues.
• Coaching for performance
• Language skills – using language effectively to maximise communication to all.
• There will be also a question and answer session with Glynis during and after the event.

The sessions will run from 6.30pm until 8.30pm with coffee after the event on both the 28th of March 2011 and again on April 21st 2011.

If you are interested in attending or finding out any more information, then please contact Glynis at info@thinkingsuccessuk.co.uk

Two IWCYC Unplugged Events for March

Here at 'If we can, you can' we are doing what we do best and shouting out loud about you guys, what we do and why those running their own businesses in the North East need to be part of our community, if they aren't already!

'If we can, you can' is all about promoting the growth of entrepreneurship in the region by sharing all of your experiences and knowledge. So we've hooked up with the Federation of Small Businesses and Newcastle Business Forums to put on not just one, but TWO great events in March for you!

The first of the two events will see us try out a slightly different format of event, away from the usual Unplugged events.

Inspired by If We Can You Can member Mike Bell's "Knowledge Cafe" events we invite you to co-create brilliant conversation about innovation and growth.

Conversation Question – ‘Why is innovation necessary for growth?’
When: Wednesday 9th March. 6.00 for 6.30 – 8.30pm.

Where: Kaffeccinos Coffee House, 54-56 Grainger Street, NE1 5JG. Buy your own drinks. Food will be provided.

To book on to either of the events, or for more information then email Will or call on 0191 226 7488.

Imagine joining three or four people at a Café-style table or in a small conversation cluster to explore questions where collaborative thinking can really make a difference. Nearby, other small groups are exploring similar questions and noting down key insights and perspectives. Soon, you move to another group or Café table, visit with new people, and cross-pollinate new ideas and insights. As the conversations connect, they spark new discoveries.

Innovative opportunities begin to appear. Collective knowledge grows and evolves. A sense of a larger whole becomes real, and the wisdom of the group emerges for all to experience.

When we engage each other in dialogue we enter into a conversation with a view to learn from each other rather than impose our views on the other.

The evening will be facilitated by "Mutual Inspiration CIC's" Mike Bell and we hope it will spark off its very own series of events with the discussion developing as we go!

The second event of the month returns to the familiar Unplugged format to discuss the issues faced when looking to take on your first employee or even your 250th.

Joining us on the panel will be Joanna Feeley, Emily Pitkethly and Jonathan Wadewho between them have a wealth of varied experience when it comes to taking on employees and growing the business.

Date: Tuesday 29th March
Time: 5:00 registration for 5:30pm start. 8pm finish.
Venue: Bewick Hall, Newcastle Central Library. NE1 8AX

Jonathan Wade started up Neuro Partners with two friends and began operating with just the three of them in January 2006. Five year's later, they have just taken on their 250th employee and now have offices in Newcastle, Cumbria, Yorkshire and Lancashire, showing phenomenal growth.

Joanna Feeley and Emily Pitkethly have very different experiences when it came to taking on their first employees. Both Joanna and Emily found that their workloads were increasing as the business grew, so taking on staff seemed the only sensible way to give them their time back to work on the business. However Emily soon found that she was spending just as much time managing her staff, and so had no more time than before to work on the business. Joanna’s workload was drastically improved by taking on board her first member of staff, but a new challenge arose in defining exactly what her own role should now be!

Having met through the If We Can You Can Challenge, Joanna and Emily who both work in design, have taken on interns and graduates and even allow their staff to cross over and work within each other’s companies to in a bid to share and enhance their knowledge and experiences as well as appreciate how other similar organisations work in their sector.

Come and join us for this informal evening event to hear from a broad range of experiences, and be inspired, energised and full of ideas to take back to your own business.

To book on to either of the above events, or for more information then email Will or call on 0191 226 7488.

Places are limited, and also open to guests as well as the member database of the FSB and Newcastle Business Forums, so please make sure to book early to avoid disappointment.

Expansion to Big Apple for Trend Bible

Forecasting trend specialists Trend Bible is reaping the fruits of its labour by branching out to the Big Apple where it has established a presence in the heart of Manhattan.

Following the success of a string of national and international contract wins, the boutique trend consultancy, based in Heaton, has entered into a strategic relationship with merchandising consultant and trend forecasting company The Doneger Group, to broaden its exposure in the US market.

Trend Bible already boasts an international client list including US home interiors specialist Pottery Barn on its client list along with TK Maxx, JCPenney, Wal-Mart and Macy’s department store.

Founder and creative director of Trend Bible Joanna Feeley, 35, said: “We have reached a point in our business now where we are ready to create new opportunities after working hard to establish a solid business and reputation in the UK.

“There is obviously something about what we do that appeals greatly to US retailers. Out of the 18 countries we supply our Trend Bible to we sell more of our books in the US than anywhere else in the world.

“This is an incredibly exciting time for Trend Bible, despite the lingering effects of the recession, the type of forward thinking companies we’re working with are still ambitious for growth, so having a presence in New York puts us in a better position to work with more home interior retailers across the US.”

‘Deadgood’ future for North East company

Having won contracts with the BBC and Phillips, a North East furniture design company is making ambitious plans for expansion creating 3 jobs in the process.

Newcastle based Deadgood is looking to more than double its workforce after seeing demand for two of its main products soar.

In addition to its base in Newcastle’s city centre, the furniture designers have opened up a new office in the capital as part of its growth strategy.

Elliot Brook, Managing Director at Deadgood, said: “We’re really excited about creating new jobs.

“It’s always been part of our strategy to grow the business by brining in specilist human resources and this is a exciting step for us to be able to bring these people on board.”

“Very recently we just opened up an office in London which in the next 12 months will act as a showroom for us to promote ourselves directly to new markets in the capital.”

Meanwhile, the firm has recently won a high value contract to supply the new BBC offices in Salford with two of their main collections - the upholstered lounge chair (Love chairs) and laminated plywood stools (Form stool).

The firm has also secured contracts to have their products sold in some of the world’s major furniture retail outlets including, Liberty of London, La Rinascente in Milan and Lane Crawford in Hong Kong.

Mr Brook added: “ We’re really excited to be winning the type of projects that we are now starting to see to come thorough.

“It’s great to be seen to be working with these high profile clients and competing with some of the more established industry players.”

Story courtesy of http://www.bdaily.info

PostGraduate Toolbox Ltd launches new site to support Masters and PhD Graduates looking to find jobs in the commercial sector.

PostGraduate Toolbox Ltd launches new site to support Masters and PhD Graduates looking to find jobs in the commercial sector.

www.linkhigher.com is the newest offering from the Durham based company, specialising in Postgraduate support services. Designed and built on research with large employers such as GE, Barclays Capital and BT, LinkHigher will provide companies with direct access to a fantastic talent pool of future employees.

LinkHigher already offers a network of 17,000+ Masters and PhD level candidates and a contact base of 3000+ individuals in Graduate and Careers services across the UK and overseas. For the launch phase, the site and its services will be offered on a trial basis to a range of companies. As part of the trial companies can upload full company profiles, specific job vacancies, advertise graduate schemes and future recruitment plans.

Business Relationship Manager for the site Chris Colegate commented that “This is an exciting time for the business as we approach the Launch, we have developed some excellent relationships in the commercial sector already in 2011 and feedback for the site has been great, we are now looking to broaden this pool of Employer contacts and trial www.linkhigher.com across a range of industry sectors, working with SME’s and Blue-Chip’s.

"There are a number of jobsites on offer to companies when they look to recruit, however for specific requirements where businesses want to tap into top-tier Masters and PhD Graduates the LinkHigher service is new and innovative and will offer something different."

To discuss www.linkhigher.com and the free-trial on offer please contact Chris Colegate, Business Relationship Manager on 07825001189.

Slotzz iPad cases Win Grand Idea Award

Slotzz, a bespoke iPad, iPhone and MacBook case manufacturer based in Newcastle, UK, is one of this month’s Shell Live Wire Grand Ideas award winners. The Live Wire scheme is sponsored by oil giant Shell and aims at developing early stage businesses run by young entrepreneurs by giving them the chance at grabbing a £1000 cash injection.

Young entrepreneurs Simon Barker and Leonie Cunnington pitched their latest business development idea for Slotzz in last months Live Wire video pitches. They already make one of the worldʼs most unique and customised cases and now they intend to add monogramming and branding services to their offering.

Cunnington explains how the business works: “Each case is made to order, using our unique online design studio you can interactively design and visualise your case before ordering.”

“Many customers have been asking about extra personalisation options beyond the material choices recently so we have been exploring monogramming options. Weʼve found something that works fantastically well and we will use this money to push it to market.” Barker said when explaining how the money will be used.

Trend Bible have cited 2011 as the year of handcrafted British products and Cunnington says they are certainly feeling the effects of this trend. As predicted customers are searching for high end unique British products to take the place of the mass produced far eastern imports seen in recent years. Slotzz certainly fill this niche and with the option of monogramming they offer a unique product.

It appears that they have had many requests for branding opportunities for high end corporate gifts and merchandise so the money will be used to expand this new and unique aspect of the business. Both of these young entrepreneurs believe that Shell Live Wire is a fantastic opportunity for young entrepreneurs and encourage people to apply:

“Even if you donʼt win itʼs a fantastic scheme and the contacts you make are great” said Barker.

Better Investment In Local Talent

Award-winning brand agency, Better, has appointed Ryan Crawford as a Junior Designer.

Ryan, 22 of Trimdon Grange, recently graduated from Teesside University with a first class honours degree in Graphic Design. After leaving University Ryan enrolled on 10 week Graduate Internship Programme before joining the team full time.

Ryan will work alongside the agency's Creative Director, Peter Jones, on brand, creative and print design projects and has already worked with the team on a number of recent projects. Ryan joins a team that has grown from the original 3 founders in 2008 to a powerful mix of 8 individuals specialising in digital and creative.

Mark Easby, Managing Director of Better said ‘Ryan joining our team is indicative of our growth over the last 24 months. He joins us to become part of Better's studio team capable of delivering highly creative results for our clients, whilst positioning Better for further growth. As former students of the University, the directors at Better are always keen to encourage and support the retention of skills within the North East. Over the last two years we have also seen an increase in the demand for our creative and design services, and on the back of a number of client wins there was a need to expand our team. We were thrilled to be able to create a position for such a bright young talent as Ryan at the end of his placement."

Ryan said "This is a brilliant opportunity to join a growing agency and it is incredibly exciting to be working in such an innovative team straight from University. I look forward to working on some of the exciting projects that are coming up."

Within the first 24 months Better have expanded to 8 staff and is proud to have established a client base which includes NDI, Freshfayre, Philippa Gregory, Codeworks, TADEA, Teesside University, The Enterprise Team, MPI Offshore, and Northumbria University.

The company has recently been recognised in the Internet/ICT category at the 2009 nebusiness awards after scooping the Best Social Media Marketing Campaign at the 2008 North East Digital Awards, and more recently have been announced as finalists in the Best New Business Awards 2010. In addition to the core brand agency services the business has also launched Better Communities, a powerful online private brand engagement and co-creation platform that has already attracted national clients such as Scottish Power and Northumbrian Water.

Sir Jackie Shares His Words of Wisdom

Racing legend Sir Jackie Stewart has been inspiring the North's company leaders with the canny Scot insight that has served him so well on the track and in business.

The 71-year-old told the Entrepreneurs' Forum how his struggle with the written word caused him to take an alternative view of the world.

The three times Formula One world champion was branded stupid at school as his dyslexia was not diagnosed well into adulthood.

He said: "I was told at school I was stupid, dumb and thick. I don't know the alphabet, I couldn't sing the national anthem or recite the Lord's Prayer, so I learnt how to say it a millisecond behind everyone else.

"When you are dyslexic you have a creative side of the brain and you learn to think in a different way. You can't think like clever folk. You will seldom be a banker or a lawyer because your brain works in a different way."

Sir Jackie left school at 15 and entered the world of motor racing, following in the footsteps of his brother.

He soon rose to the top to become one of the top five motor racing drivers of all time before switching to team ownership with his son Paul that saw him sell his F1 team to Ford.

Sir Jackie spoke at a Forum event marking Burns Night, at the BALTIC. He was joined by Graeme Lowdon, chief executive of one of F1's newest teams, Virgin Racing,

Sir Jackie shared with guests the formula that for him had proved a winner.

"Under-promise and over deliver," he said. "It is easy to get carried away with a little bit of success and that is the fastest way to bring you down. Never get angry; never get too excited; you have got to be clinical.

"I see these CEOs at motor shows with what I call the corporate strut. They think they are really important but no one knows their names and they can be here today and gone tomorrow. If you get carried away you will make bad decisions. You have to keep to your values."

He said you needed to develop experience and surround yourself with the right people.

"You have to have experience and from that you gain knowledge; put them together and you can get wisdom; you can mature and make some big decisions".

Chief executive of the Entrepreneurs' Forum, Carole Beverley, said: "Sir Jackie was a true inspiration because he was so measured in his approach. Being successful in business is more than just spotting an opportunity; it is also having the wisdom and wherewithal to maximise the potential in a consistent, calculated way."