A few souls were unable to join us today including Terry and Aidan, Sarah B and Toby so Scott jumped into the Conductor’s role and Jane Malyon volunteered to take the Minutes (for one week only!) 😀
Medal Winners
Top of the league table for July were Terry Maylin, James Humphries and Scott Griffiths in Gold, Silver and Bronze positions. Proud of you! Also, the order of members on the website page apparently reflects the order of play in that league. Who knew!
One in, one out!
Mark Robinson of Blue Sky Yoga is stepping away from EBF. He’s been stuck in Spain for 8 weeks (poor thing) but wouldn’t be able to make the physical meetings going forward. However, Trent who came along last week, has submitted an application. Yay.
Education Presentation
Ben Ben Golding introduced the Education Slot speaker: Colin O’Connor who told us a True Story as inspirational food for thought. Toby you’d have been applauding this: 15 years ago Jaguar stated they would make the brand bigger than Mercedes (who were outselling them by up to 14 to 1). A grand announcement but alas not backed with any kind of a plan. Talk and dreams do not grow a business and Jaguar had no product, investment, growth plan nor understanding of the size and achievability of the task. So the moral is that even long-established businesses can get things wrong. We ALL need a strategic flexible plan that can even factor in disappointments.
Oh and if we have no plan, then at least plan to have a plan!! When did you last review your business plan and compare it against projections? Answers on a postcard please.
Speakeasy
Today the system was that each speaker nominated the next one, so there was an element of surprise-surprise about it all. The other surprise came in the form of a loud Gonggggg noise because we were ‘joined’ by a new ‘guest’ in the form of a 60 Second Timer (represented by the bronzed adonis a la J Arthur Rank movies). No popcorn alas, but some jarring interruptions when your time was up. I want a steward’s enquiry though, because I was gonged out early and somewhat mid-flow. Most unseemly – but such is life!
Brian Painter of Pilgrim Hypnotherapy – Busy helping people such as a new client with travel sickness who wants to cruise and a smoker who drives a petrol tanker! Hurry up Brian – that last one sounds particularly urgent!
Jane Malyon rhymes with Stallion of The English Cream Tea Co reminded that we also offer bespoke gifts and hampers (including Steak and Peppercorn Sauce hampers being prepared this week) and that we make all cakes/scones/sauces ourselves so there are no nasty chemical preservatives added to ensure fresh deliciousness!
James Humphries of RMK Insurance talked about super hero Professional Indemnity and the importance of a PI policy because otherwise, even if accused whilst being innocent, it still costs you to defend yourself.
Alan Moller – Cable Plan registered electrician. Just looking for smaller jobs ‘on the way home’ now before his move to I of W! Alan also gave us a timely warning about unreliable builders. Ouch.
Vincent of SpeedPrint explained that they embrace technology to give client’s the best experience – but they opt not to sell online. Their clients want everything done for them so he manually checks all files submitted to create a perfect final result.
Scott Griffiths of Eseyo: Learning management systems to take courses online, was the topic this week, eg for people like Sarah Bell who deliver workshops or those who have a service/product that needs explaining. He’d like to do more of that work please, folks.
Tina Walker – Liberty Executive Services for virtual or in the office assistance and despite being in Weston Super Mare on holibobs last week, she was still able to work and support her clients. If we know anyone going away that needs cover, Tina is the solution.
Sarah Steel – Better With Money reducing money stress in the workplace. One method is that she tells people about the free tools available to them and this includes the fact that the Money and Pension Service have relaunched a Couch to Financial Fitness 9 week plan to assist folks.
Stuart Smallcombe – LG Networks talked about Burnt Mills, Pipps Hill and Southfield areas in Basildon who all suffer from rubbish BT internet and no fibre (not the All Bran kind). However, LG have the solution by using Glide Networks for a private internet service. So if you know someone struggling in that area, Stuart from LG Networks can help.
Paul Booth, Booth & Co – is looking for people considering early retirement in their 50s but with the plan to rejoin the workplace as a consultant, part time.
Dean Caldon, Grace & Rose Estate Agents updated us on attempts to digitalise the industry, eg digitalise ID of clients and trials to make each house digitalised with its info/identity. Oooh!
John Freeman – The One Stop Property Shop is a multi-skilled tradesman around Brentwood doing refurbishment work but would like to tackle somewhat bigger projects such as home offices/bathrooms/kitchens.
Howard Bullock, Clear Financial Advice/IFA including retirement planning discussions with clients. This link on their website page: https://www.clearifa.com/useful-links/ can be tapped for a State Pension Forecast….telling you what you’re due to get and whether you’ve missed Nat Ins contributions. He advises it’s a good return on investment to pay back any missing NI money!
Ben Golding, Utility Warehouse told us that last week he met Emma who liked the idea of one single monthly bill with one password and saved £600 a year….followed by her Mum and then sister too, all joining up, each appreciating different aspects of UW’s service.
Alison Bean – UniqueMinds Counselling. Quiet month because students are away. So Alison would like to concentrate just now on more 1-1s to listen to us instead of her clients! Super.
Mike Skinner, Black Water Media reminded us why people buy drill bits. It’s not for the love of the drill bit, but that they want a hole…and that’s because they want to power a light..to make their room brighter. This type of thought process helps him design exactly the right sort of video to suit a customer’s growth plan.
Nathan Howson: Tesla Group and this week it was Show and Tell of Fibreglass Moulding. This is to replace crumbling heavy plaster which is dangerous, so they’re going to make the lightweight moulding look like an architectural feature. Clever stuff.
William Verner, Breakwater Commercial Advisors. With his fancy new Zoom background, he explained his tier method of providing funding from commercial mortgages to using high net worth guys that can step in. Any money-raising queries, just talk with William.
Colin O Connor of Blue Planet Consulting has been carrying out inspections in 4 schools and they all show issues! Sometimes people do not see what’s right in front of them. So can we recommend people who run properties, because prevention is better than prosecution. Agreed!
John Hammond was with us mutely and could listen in but not speak today. Bless.
OSCAR NOMINATION by Brian Painter.
This went to our ALAN for his wise warning about avoiding dodgy builders!
TEN Minutes – in the form of a Q&A session
VARIOUS QUESTIONS included asking about Buy To Let Properties, HMOs and whether they should be kept or sold before CGT rates go up. Also, we touched on dying tomato plants with late Blight…ignorance of personal financial plans….the merits of Premium Bonds and also the current housing market. All fascinating. Well done everyone.
Final Round Up
Final Round Up
There were a number of referrals reported by the members and even the offer of a 2 bedroom rewire job….plus the request for more 121 meetings eg with Ben and Alison etc. If you want a private cream tea with Auntie Jane, you know who to call and it’s not ghost-busters!
NB
Emails have gone round about the forthcoming B2B meeting, next Tuesday (as it’s the 2nd Tuesday of each month). Be there or miss out.
Feeling Lucky?
Ben Ben told us about the chance to enter into a prize draw, and so we all need to do is email him our name, postcode and phone number. If the prize is a trip round the world and we all win it, the next meeting could be very quiet! Then those who missed this week and didn’t read this, will be
v-e-r-y lonesome without us all!
Jane signing off now x x
Great meeting this week although a few were missing. Colin did a great Ed Slot and it was also a great Q&A. Well done Scott for chairing and Jane for volunteering to write the blog this week. Have a great weekend everyone and see you all next week.
Great meeting this morning!! Really good ED slot from Colin – Fail to plan, plan to fail!
Always love a good Q & A slot too!! Plus what a brilliant blog from Auntie Jane!!
See you all next week 😁
Great to be back this week and see you all . Loved Colin’s Ed slot and the Q and A and what a fab blog from Jane 😀 you are a natural author !
Have a great weekend all.
Interesting Q and A it could have gone on for ages. Well done, Auntie Jane, for your maiden blog, I’m sure you will be much in demand in similar situations in the future.
Have a good weekend. Get well soon Mr Chairman.
😀
Nicely written Jane.
Sorry to hear that you are leaving Mark. All the best!
A first class blog from Aunty Jane, and you managed to squeeze an “unseemly” in! Well done. I’m going home to put Mrs G’s tomato plants out of their misery…
Enjoyed the meeting this morning, if a little aggrieved about the “unseemly” gong interrupting my Superhero analogy which I had high hopes for in relation to this weeks Oscar awards! See you on Tuesday.
Apologies James, I’ll give you an additional 10 seconds next week. Teething problems with the new technology
Yes James – we both suffered from an early gong. Medical intervention may be required!
Great meeting all, very interesting Q&A. Great summary in the blog Jane! Sterling job all round!
Lovely blog Jane, well done, you may have done too good a job, you’ll be recruited soon! Sorry to see Mark go, I suppose attending meetings from Spain is a bit of a stretch….thank you, i’m here all week.
Steady there Stuart! 😀
Really buzzy meeting – well done peeps. Have a good week everyone and please do liaise for a cream tea chat here in White Roding 😀 T 01279 876661
Sorry to miss this week’s meeting but I’m having some much needed R&R on the beautiful Suffolk coast. Looking forward to seeing you all next week!
sounds like i missed a good one yesterday! great blog Jane, Aidan watch out !
see you all next week.
😀
Fab blog from Jane and kind comments re my ed slot. Loved the Q&A!