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Essex Business Forum
Weekly Business Networking for Essex Businesses
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      If you own or run an outstanding local business, please join us as a guest at one of our meetings. Your first visit is free.

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      Member Testimonials

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      Our Latest Blog Posts

      Annual Review 2018 / 2019 - our 8 year anniversary

      A review of our 8th year and announcement of the EBF member awards. What a fantastic 8 years it's been....

      Chairman’s Blog 21st Feb, Kevin Brooks just dropped in...

      It was our eighth Birthday celebration and given the absences for half-term the attendance was excellent with 24 Members and 3 Visitors, one of whom is to become a Member....

      Love was in the air

      Our Valentines Day meeting had a 60 second round suitably themed and it contained both lovers joy and lovers lament. The joy is that it was a beautiful morning and there was a good turnout, 26 members and one visitor....

      QE2 bridge closed; EBF open

      If last week was dull miserable and wet; by contrast but in equal measure this week was windy, 60mph gusts were recorded and the QE2 Bridge was closed.  No such closing for EBF, infact we had an excellent turnout of 26 members and 3 visito...
      Read the Essex Business Forum Business Networking Blog. A roundup of our weekly meetings, as recalled by our chairman Aidan Squire. We welcome any comments you have to make on any of our posts.
    • Contact Us

      Contact Essex Business Forum

      View our main contact information and use our enquiry form to get in touch with us. We'd love to hear from you.

      Register as a guest at one of our meetings

      If you'd like to attend an EBF meeting yourself please complete this form so that we know you are attending.

      Invite a Guest to Essex Business Forum

      If you can think of someone who would benefit from attending an EBF meeting then please use this form to invite them along to one of our meetings for FREE.
    Menu
    • Home
    • View Members

      View Essex Business Forum Members

      Our membership represents the very best of local business. Our vetting process is thorough; each member must come highly recommended, and remain so by delivering continually outstanding work for members, their contacts, clients and friends.

      Have confidence. Browse our members page and feel free to contact anyone listed.


      If you own or run an outstanding local business, please join us as a guest at one of our meetings. Your first visit is free.

    • About EBF

      Member Testimonials

      Hear from Essex Business Forum members, past and present. Discover how membership has helped their business to grow.

      The EBF Mark of Excellence

      Find out more about the EBF quality assurance scheme and discover local businesses who have been reviewed, tested and are actively recommended by our panel of local experts.

      EBF Synergy Teams

      Synergy Teams are powerful sub-groups within our membership. Designed to bring together collaborative businesses and to help members do better business, together.

      The Essex Business Forum Constitution

      Created for members, by members. The rules and regulations that form the foundation of our professional association.
    • Visitor Information

      How to find our Business Networking Meeting

      Instructions on how to find our venue, and how to find the meeting room once you arrive.

      Meeting Walkthrough

      View a visual walkthrough and explanation of the various parts of our weekly meetings .

      What to bring

      Find out what you should be bringing along with you as a guest at one of our networking meetings

      Frequently Asked Questions

      Read a collection of common questions and answers that our prospective members and guests have asked us
    • Read our Blog

      Our Latest Blog Posts

      Annual Review 2018 / 2019 - our 8 year anniversary

      A review of our 8th year and announcement of the EBF member awards. What a fantastic 8 years it's been....

      Chairman’s Blog 21st Feb, Kevin Brooks just dropped in...

      It was our eighth Birthday celebration and given the absences for half-term the attendance was excellent with 24 Members and 3 Visitors, one of whom is to become a Member....

      Love was in the air

      Our Valentines Day meeting had a 60 second round suitably themed and it contained both lovers joy and lovers lament. The joy is that it was a beautiful morning and there was a good turnout, 26 members and one visitor....

      QE2 bridge closed; EBF open

      If last week was dull miserable and wet; by contrast but in equal measure this week was windy, 60mph gusts were recorded and the QE2 Bridge was closed.  No such closing for EBF, infact we had an excellent turnout of 26 members and 3 visito...
      Read the Essex Business Forum Business Networking Blog. A roundup of our weekly meetings, as recalled by our chairman Aidan Squire. We welcome any comments you have to make on any of our posts.
    • Contact Us

      Contact Essex Business Forum

      View our main contact information and use our enquiry form to get in touch with us. We'd love to hear from you.

      Register as a guest at one of our meetings

      If you'd like to attend an EBF meeting yourself please complete this form so that we know you are attending.

      Invite a Guest to Essex Business Forum

      If you can think of someone who would benefit from attending an EBF meeting then please use this form to invite them along to one of our meetings for FREE.

Weekly meeting review from Stuart Smallcombe

Stuart SmallcombeOur first arrival this week signed in at 6:01am Paul Booth is clearly an early bird! Most of the rest of us arrived through a dark but surprisingly mild morning at a far more reasonable 6.15-6.30am. Visitors often ask, how do you get up so early? In reality, its probably only an hour earlier than I get up any weekday morning…but a better question, is Why?  Why do we all get up an hour early once a week? Really the answer is twofold, People and Business and in that order. We meet weekly with people we like and everyone is likely to do more business with people we’ve grown to like and trust.

With our illustrious leader Aiden Squire away on a well-deserved holiday, I had been asked to Chair this weeks meeting, last time that happened I had my entourage with me but clearly the leadership team thought better of that…probably for the best! So I necked a couple of superb latte’s and it was time to get this show on the road! New faces at a meeting always bring some added buzz to the meeting so it was great we were able to welcome Neil McAllister a Podiatrist from Brentwood based Kinetic and to welcome back a more familiar face of Stacey from Humble Violets florist in Brentwood, Saj was away, so got an upgrade!

Onto the meeting itself, it was a lively affair despite a few regular members being absent. David Plumley kicked things off with a good education slot which was all about covering off the basics, like being prepared.. at least I think that what he said… I’d forgotten my pen.

Moving on to the 60 second round, Dean Caldon was last weeks Oscar winner (we really will give it to anyone!) so he had the job of awarding it this week. There were some notable contributions from the usual suspects, Anna Marie Cooper always delivers excellent 60 seconds and this week was no exception with her exhibiting photographs of her grandfather “grumpy” during the Second World War, turning all our thoughts to Remembrance Sunday this weekend. Similarly strong contributions from Mike Rogers warning of the pitfalls of “Loyalty” Mortgages which imply suburb rates, but rarely deliver. Or Terry Maylin warning on the importance of getting you customers details right on your invoicing if you’re hoping to get paid. Jill Wills warned us of the dangers of Single-Use marketing and Dean Caldon of pitfalls of On-line estate agencies…. I consider myself forewarned and forearmed! Dean awarded the Oscar to Stacey, our Humble Violet.

Alan MollerOur 10 minute presenter this week was “Don’t Be In The Dark Call A Spark” Alan Moller. Now, I’ve sat through quite a few of Alan’s 10 minute presentations and he clearly he knows his stuff but, to be frank, he’s lost me few times with all the techy stuff, but not this time! Boom! Alan delivered an electrifying presentation, full of sparks! He actually had devised an electrical quiz with 10 Sparky based questions, I love a quiz… I was “ex-static”. How hard can it be, turns out, I was in for a “shock”… (I could go on…) Anyway a good fun presentation from Alan, which came down to a tie-breaker in the end which Terry Maylin won, although I’m not sure “watt” he won (sorry).

We rounded off another excellent meeting with the referral and testimonial round, showing genuine business being passed between members. All in all another excellent meeting. If you’re looking to build your business and you can handle getting up an hour early, once a week, come along and see us next week, the coffee really is very good.

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November 9, 20189 Comments

9 Comments

  1. rmkinsurance says:
    November 9, 2018 at 2:46 pm

    What a great blog . So much better than the one we had last week. Well done Stuart.

     Reply
  2. HowardBullock says:
    November 9, 2018 at 2:51 pm

    Well done Stacey. That seemed like a complete off-the-cuff presentation and you nailed it.

    Great & funny presentation from Allen. Just need to work on the tie-break!

     Reply
  3. Photobyannamarie - Photography by Anna Marie says:
    November 9, 2018 at 2:52 pm

    Stacey’s 60 secs was so perfect – Saj is going to have to work hard to pick up his game!
    Great meeting. Very entertaining and a good start to the day.

     Reply
  4. richardjreed says:
    November 9, 2018 at 2:52 pm

    A real buzz about the place this morning and hasn’t Aidan lost weight (where are those glasses…).

     Reply
  5. Alan Moller says:
    November 9, 2018 at 3:48 pm

    Hi all, techy bloke here, thanks for your kind blog Stuart, congratulations Terry on win the door prize and lastly, Saj, looks like you have some competition from the missus regarding the 60 seconds!. Have a great weekend all! Bfn

     Reply
  6. Ellen Beckenham says:
    November 9, 2018 at 3:58 pm

    Was a great meeting, glad to be back for a week to see everyone, and also meet the lovely Stacy. Alan’s presentation was ” electrifying” and good fun. Have a great weekend everyone 🙂

     Reply
  7. Terry maylin says:
    November 9, 2018 at 4:19 pm

    Great meeting there was only ever going to one winner of the tiebreaker!
    Well done Stacey on the Oscar

     Reply
  8. Brian Painter says:
    November 9, 2018 at 8:24 pm

    Very fine blog, young Stuart and well chaired. An enjoyable meeting and here’s to the next one. BTW, who’s Allen?

     Reply
  9. Saj says:
    November 13, 2018 at 11:27 am

    Good morning all, that is a great blog Stuart. Stacey is the boss after all so I have no idea what her sixty seconds was about 🤓
    See everyone this week.

     Reply

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Recent Blog Posts
  • Annual Review 2018 / 2019 – our 8 year anniversary
    February 21, 2019
  • Chairman’s Blog 21st Feb, Kevin Brooks just dropped in…
    February 21, 2019
  • Love was in the air
    February 14, 2019
  • QE2 bridge closed; EBF open
    February 7, 2019
  • Ben’s addiction to BOOBS left nothing to be desired…
    January 31, 2019
Come along to and EBF meeting

Are you interested in coming along to our networking meetings? If you own or run a local business then attending Essex Business Forum could help you to receive your share of regular referred business.

Our next events: 

  • Weekly Business Networking Meeting on February 28, 2019 6:30 am
  • Weekly Business Networking Meeting on March 7, 2019 6:30 am
About Essex Business Forum

Essex Business Forum is an association of professional business people and owners of established and reputable SMEs based in Essex which represents every trade and profession, and with the addition of an extended network of businesses in highly specialist fields.

We run weekly business networking groups every Thursday morning in Brentwood, plus other regular events and networking meetings.

We're always looking for new members to join, so if you are interested then come along to one of our meetings.

Recent Blog Posts
  • Annual Review 2018 / 2019 – our 8 year anniversary
    February 21, 2019
  • Chairman’s Blog 21st Feb, Kevin Brooks just dropped in…
    February 21, 2019
  • Love was in the air
    February 14, 2019
  • QE2 bridge closed; EBF open
    February 7, 2019
Get in touch with EBF
» Send us an email: [email protected]
» Call us on 01245 790 390
» Complete our enquiry form
» Invite a guest to an EBF meeting
» Register YOURSELF to attend an EBF meeting
» Membership Application Form

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