Chairmans Message

Review 2010 - 2011

Chairman's Report

The clubs steering committee set the goals of

Educating
Informing
Providing a forum

For club members to grow and develop themselves and their businesses and the feedback from members has been... The Club has succeeded in fulfilling those goals.

In summary club members have the opportunity to network amongst a wide and varied variety of fellow business people and to pick up ideas from a wide range of guest speakers. Even if you are not in business or work for a company with many hundreds of employees this is a great chance to learn from people who know what is going on at the leading edge of marketing, social networking, and communication. Why not give a meeting a try?

Below is our programme from 2010 - 2011

September 14th

Zybert Computing are our main speakers http://www.zybert.co.uk/
A famous lack of vision quote...“There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home.” (Ken Olson, President, Digital Equipment Corporation, 1977) How long before many homes have a server?
And in business. Chances are if you do not have a server in your business someone will ask your opinion on the subject. This is your chance to learn about what is available aimed at small businesses from a firm based in Longbridge Birmingham.
Sarah Bowers from Solihull Council will also talk about:

Generating Employment Opportunities is a new ERDF funded project, delivered via SMBC, specifically aimed at helping local employers recruit in areas where there is high unemployment in the borough. The project will offers free tailored recruitment support dependant on the needs of the business which can include:
Support employer with short listing, testing and interviewing
Business Needs Analysis
Information, Advice and Guidance on current Employment Legislation including National Minimum Wage, Working Time Directives, Equal Opportunities etc
Assist with compiling Job Descriptions and Person Specifications
Advertise vacancies through Partner Networks, Provider Contacts and E-Portal
Assist employer with uploading vacancy details to JCP system
If vacancies are appropriate for LEP agreements, design Pre Employment Course with Training Provider, JCP and Employer
Signpost to other support services eg: TraintoGain, Business Link, Chamber of Commerce, National Apprenticeship Scheme and other initiatives
Post Employment Support - continual contact to ensure retention and sustainability for employee and employer

Paul Harris Real Success

October 19th

NB this will be the 3rd Tuesday in October - Speaker - Paul Harris Instead of dreaming of a better future Paul Harris helps business owners turn ambition in to reality. Discover some of the secrets of turning dreams in to action.
Real Success is different.
How?
Real Success is founded upon the principle that success is a personal experience that means different things to different people. Whilst success principles exist and are well documented, individual success is just that – individual.So why does so much coaching, mentoring and support use the “one size fits all” approach?Well this is where Real Success is different.

Our approach is to bring to you all the success principles developed over the ages and to blend them with modern business and life enhancing strategies. We then develop a strategy for success that is unique to you. This requires bravery and commitment as it can often be harder to be successful your way than someone else’s way.We will also listen to your needs before proposing a solution – something that many other coaching and training companies simply fail to do.And we aren’t right for you, we’ll be honest enough to tell you.So we have structure, we have strategy and we have systems to help you. But more importantly, we have the humility to listen, the openness to share our strengths and weaknesses together and the desire to make a positive difference to you.
Let’s build some Real Success together.Paul Harris Real Success

November 9th

Communicate Your Way to Profits

Speaker - Lorna Sheldon is renowned for providing business people with the inside track on effective communication.

Lorna’s career path has been exciting, challenging and rewarding. Her early career saw her taking over and running an engineering company in crisis, taking it from the brink of disaster to a successful and profitable company. Joining the Foundation for Conductive Education as their National Funding Director, she was personally responsible for raising the sum of £1.5 million in 12 months (1990) and realising the largest amount ever given by BBC Children in Need for a capital project – twice!Invited to take up the position of first Chief Executive at Birmingham Forward, Lorna worked with a team of people to take the early development of this organisation towards greater and wider acknowledgement of the professional and financial service companies in Birmingham; the challenge was to promote Birmingham U.K. both nationally and internationally.
Lorna left Birmingham Forward to set up her own company in 1991, concentrating on public speaking and presentation skills coaching. This company is known as The Complete Works (International) Limited. CWI offers high-level professional training programmes to all business sectors. These programmes include Strategic Personal Impact through Public Speaking and Presentation, Media and Television coaching, Sales Training, Negotiation, Running an Effective Meeting, Networking, Event Management, Customer Care, Telephone Skills and Call Handling, Business Strategy and Finance Planning.
Clients in the UK include Coutts, BT, Lloyds TSB, 3M UK, Mitsui & Co UK, E. ON, Barclays Bank plc, WH Smith, Glaxo SmithKline, Deloitte, The DVLA, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Halfords, The Home Office, Oxford University MBA’s and many more well known names. Overseas clients include The Henkel Group, E-ON and Coca-Cola.
On a number of occasions it has not been unusual for Lorna to be working with people from as many as 30 different countries in one session and where English is a second language to the majority. CWI has clients in 24 countries and Lorna has worked in South Africa, Canada, the Bahamas, Germany, Ireland, Holland, America, New Zealand, Poland, Austria, Bulgaria, Dubai, Malawi and Saudi Arabia to name a few, enhancing communication on a global basis.
A Fellow of the Institute of Directors, a Member of the Westminster Club, a Member of the Institute of Marketing, a Council Member of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry, an International Licensed Corporate Trainer for International Training in Communication and Founder Member of the Birmingham UK and Lichfield Branches of I.T.C. together with being a Founder Member of The Professional Speakers’ Association UK. Finally, a Director and Trustee of Abbots Bromley School.Lorna also successfully launched the Acorns Business Club supporting Acorns Children’s Hospice which raises on one night a year a sum of £15,000 - £20,000
Lorna is a qualified public speaker with over 25 years experience both in speaking herself and in the development of others. Lorna has won a Midlands Excellence in Marketing Award, was runner up in the UK National Business Woman of the Year contest and voted Network Midlands Business Woman of Achievement. Winner of the GB Region Powertalk International Speech Contest 2008. Writing is also added to her list of interests. Lorna has written monthly for a U.K. magazine for 5 years and now writes for The Institute of Chartered Accountants journal. She is currently completing her first book and attempting to set up a business for ex-prisoners in South Africa.
Following the success of heading up and developing an award scheme and writing the training programmes for top trainers in 35 countries Lorna has been invited to become the first Fellow of International Training in Communication since this worldwide organisation started in 1938.
www.compworks-int.co.uk
December 14th

StayPutt – Christmas festivities.
A welcome return to this popular social venue. at Stayputt
Tickets are sold out.

January 11th

Show & Tel: Networking Your chance to showcase your business to members and visitors – Visitors are especially welcome this evening.½ table each – preference will be given to those who book a spot first.Timetable assemble from 7:00 – 7:458:00 - 8:30 compulsory circulation time – that is to say you cannot stand behind your display but you must circulate around the room and visit other members stands – if you wish to circulate more than that, that is perfectly acceptable.8:30 8:45 Questions and Answers session
9:00 The winner will be announced.
Thereafter people are welcome to stand until 10:30 or leave when they wish.
February 8th

Social Media Jon Upton There is a revolution in communication happening. Scoffed at by some but with Facebook said to be worth an imputed $56billion and with 500 million users can you afford to ignore the next big thing?
Jon Upton founder of Think and Do will bring the club up to speed with what members should know.
Social Media - February 8th - Jon Upton

Business commitments have forced Nick Hennegan to move his talk to our April slot. Jon Upton our Vice Chairman has kindly volunteered to bring the club up to speed with what is happening in the world of social media.
For those who missed the announcement a part share in Facebook was sold which created an implied value for the business of $56billion US dollars. One commentator suggested that Facebook could be worth $200 billion by 2015.
It is said that Facebook revenues will reach $32 billion thanks to $5 billion in social games credits, $5 billion in off-Facebook ads, and $22 billion in on-Facebook ads. He said Facebook will control 20% of the entire Internet ad market.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-stock-sold-at-56-billion-valuation-in-significantly-oversubscribed-auction-2010-12#ixzz1CiVRdicU
Why is Facebook hype so strong right now?
Some ideas:
Tremendous user-adoption. The site now has well over 500 million users.
Revenue traction. Last spring, we heard Facebook revenues could cross $2 billion this year. Who knows where the projections are now.
Some very successful industries are being built on top of Facebook – group-buying and social gaming – and Facebook is collecting "taxes" on those industries. In social gaming, Facebook collects 30% PLUS marketing expenses.Facebook keeps hosting press conferences for product rollouts and press keep attending them.
Some reason hype shouldn't be so strong?
We have no real idea if Facebook revenues are actually near $2 billion. The company is private and doesn't have to report numbers to anyone.
Groupon and its clones buy lots of Facebook ads, and we don't know if group-buying is a sustainable advertising model. Some local merchants say it kills their margins.
Zynga and the other social game companies are desperate to find a way to live off Facebook. Google is supposedly building an alternative.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-stock-sold-at-56-billion-valuation-in-significantly-oversubscribed-auction-2010-12#ixzz1CiVaSuK0
March 8th
Business Planning - March 8th Steve Taylor Q2 Ltd

March 8th Business Planning with Steve Taylor.
To ensure a successful day out the best tip is to have a plan of where you are going, and the same applies in business.
Many people say that there goal is “just to survive” but such a goal is not very useful in the medium term. Having a vision > leading to a plan is key to surviving long-term. Finding some time to create and follow that plan is a key ingredient of building a prosperous business. Steve Taylor will provide some pointers and will share with you his top tips for creating the time to do what you should be doing to create a successful business.April 12th

Imagination and Creativity are always key ingredients of success in any business and Nick Hennegan, born and breed in Birmingham, shows how an innovative approach to theatre finance has enabled productions to take place.
Nick brings a huge amount of practical experience to the world of finance from the sharp end. Whilst you might not be seeking to raise funds for a new play in the West End Nick's innovative approach might provide you with some inspiration for financing your business in the future.
Theatre Finance

May 10th

May 10th Technology Evening Combined With Our Club Open Discussion Night

Discover the answers to real IT questions from people delivering solutions day day out, forget the theory and learn the reality.
Bring your IT questions. Or better still use the club contact form and send them in advance to be sure that you do not leave the evening having forgotten the question you came to ask.
Topics up for discussion include "cloud computing" this is certain to be the next big thing for businesses which employ less than 100 employees - that is to say 90% of the companies in the UK. Gain an early insight in to what this will mean for you and your company.
What is cloud computing? - Jon Upton
Keyboard too small? - Robert Pinner has the solution
Email may be critical to your business so how do you avoid losing it? - Tom Upton
How do you share your calendar? - Anthony Prestage
Your Internet connection is probably as critical as electricity how do you create a backup system? - Charles Willcock
Free software to help you run your business! - Brian Martin
Your profile on the internet and in particular the Solihull Business Club and how to make the most of this great opportunity - Jon Upton
June 14th

June 14th - Mike Pagan "Stop Faffing About"
Celebrated author and business guru tells it as it is and that means "Stop Faffing About."

Stop Faffing About doing things that have minimal impact on you and your business and focus on the areas that truly matter.

Profit and productivity are the main casualties of Faffing about, be that personally or professionally. We spend and waste too much money, time and effort Faffing about on randomly selected activities that, at best, just keep us busy.

The four P’s of productivity is demonstrated by the Productivity Triagram which has an impact on every individual. It consists of four zones each one relating to and impacting on the others. The central zone is the Personal Zone; find your focus in your personal environment and all other zones will have a strong keystone to work from.

The supporting zones are Proactive - making things happen; Passive - giving back to your environment and community and finally the Process Zone - building systems that monitor and sustain productivity. Get all four Ps working well together and your productivity will soar.

Mike will help your audience focus on improved productivity and choose the quality activities for their personal and professional performance.

Being busy in wrong places doesn’t work – see how much more you can achieve when you Stop Faffing About!July 12th

AGM Quiz

The club was privilleged to hear from some truly outstanding speakers whose message will stand the test of time and who provide a source of inspiration.

8th September 2009 - Ayd Instone
Unlocking your creativity to innovate your business www.aydinstone.com/

13th October 2009 - Tom Edge
Business Tips and Ideas, aimed at the SME organisation from Tom Edge

10th November 2009 - Social Media + Advertising rules & regulations
Ian Williams and Social Media opportunities
Michelle Cockayne will provide tips and advice on advertising rules and regulations and
how they relate to your website and email campaigns. Jon Upton will give some insights into Windows 7.

8th December - 2009 - Christmas Fun
Eat and have fun together at Stayputt

12th January 2010 - David Hyner, Heather Bradley

January 12th David Hyner

The power of and necessity of Master-Mind groups is well documented in almost a century of success stories and leading business books like Napoleon Hill’s ‘Think and Grow Rich’, but where do you start,? Where do you find the people for your group? And where do you get leading professionals to guide you from start to finish, train you, motivate you and more................?

David Hyner will guide is in how to get started with working with other people to create a mastermind group.

More about David on www.stretchdevelopment.com.

Heather Bradley

Heather will talk about overcoming life's problems.

More about Heather on www.oniontalks.co.uk David will talk working with other people to create a mastermind group.
Heather will talk about overcoming life's problems.

9th February 2010 - Show and tell us about your business
Your opportunity to 'show and tell' other members and guests about your business.

After the break Technology Showcase

Jon Upton - on Windows 7 - Vista was a technology disaster for Microsoft - Jon tells you why Windows 7 will actually make your life better no hype just the facts.

9th March 2010 - Business Agencies Showcase
We have invited a number of business oriented agencies to come and talk to us about
how they can help small businesses.

Many thanks to club member Steve Walker from Aston Reinvestment Trust who specialise in offering finance to smaller firms. Steve's presentation covered a huge amount of ground and he has generously made available the PowerPoint Presentation (376Kb) and a PDF of where it is possible to find sources of finance and grants in the West Midlands.(628Kb)

13th April 2010 - Gary Harding, Jon Upton
Sales and Marketing Success - learn about finding and turning people and companies
into customers.

11th May 2010 - Connect To YOUR Potential
A very welcome return to Andrew Nicholson and Diane MacDowall professional Authenticity and Relationship Coaches. Their talk gives us an insight into what is at the cutting edge of personal development and the science of human potential.

There are many wonderful insights, tools and transformative changes that self-help and the human potential movement has to offer us, Unfortunately, within the world of personal of development, there is also a lot of hype, over-blown promises, spin and even get rich quick schemes. Andy and Di offer a refreshing change, giving it to you straight. Andy says: "One of the issues is that many authors, speakers and experts get very excited about what has worked for them. Yet we are all very different; we have differing experiences, beliefs, models of the world and personalities. So what works for one person is unlikely to work as well for a majority of others. Yet, within each of the many disciplines, books and talks are nuggets of wisdom and potential. We are convinced of the following:

1. Authentic Transformation is a journey of (i) raising your self-awareness, to (ii) self-acceptance, to (iii) what Abraham Maslow called 'self-actualisation' i.e. achieving your unique potential
2. Personal development works best when it is done holistically - there are very few magic bullets!
3. What is required is a framework within which you are guided and supported in working out what will work best for YOU, with your personality, learning style and model of the world...
4. This framework unlocks the blueprint to your behaviour, identity and potential - it includes discovery of: your blocks and limitations, your values, needs and motivations.
5. There are nine fundamental personality types; knowing yours is one of the keys to self-awareness and self acceptance"
6. Within this framework are the tools to achieve: authentic leadership, emotional intelligence, employee engagement, alignment to purpose, 'flow' and much more.

Come and listen to Andy and Di as they show us how the pieces of this fascinating jigsaw fit together in a most enlightening manner.

More information is available at http://www.executive-relationship-coaching.co.uk and http://www.dimacdowall-lifecoaching.co.uk

8th June 2010 - Ask the Experts
An opportunity to ask a panel of experts questions about a side variety of topics
relevant to small businesses.

Trading as Team Factor, Rhys Jones specialises in increasing the effectiveness of teams by facilitating structured workshops that not only build team spirit but also produce essential early deliverables. Ideally he works with the team during project initiation, however later engagement can also be beneficial when an existing team is not performing effectively. Where appropriate Rhys will also analyse gaps in skills and knowledge; and organise follow up progress reviews, training or individual coaching. Services include:

Workshops - Giving rapid results based on innovative and creative approaches. Groups are empowered to make decisions and to take responsibility for success.

Facilitation - Bringing skills, techniques and experiences to enhance workshops through independent, impartial and successful facilitation.

Training - Enhancing the knowledge and skills of people, and changing attitudes and behaviours, in order to meet organisational and team objectives.

A recent testimonial:

"Rhys facilitated an important consultation for the Solihull Festivals Trust. He played a major part in organising the event, and a key role in deciding what processes to follow during the workshop in order to maximise involvement and input from the delegates. Rhys led the workshop leading to an excellent result which was commented on by many of the 64 people that attended. Rhys was publicly congratulated at the workshop and then again at the Solihull Festivals team meeting which debriefed the event. As Chairman of the Festivals Team I am happy to recommend Rhys as a skilful facilitator." Richard Wallwork, Chair of Solihull Festivals Team.

Additional information can be found at www.teamfactor.org.uk

13th July 2010 - Quiz Night
Twice a year we try to have fun at our meetings we enjoy a quiz in July and also manage
to sneak in our AGM.

Chairman’s Report 2008 – 2009

For the 2008 – 2009 Solihull Business Club programme the committee set themselves the task of providing a place where members could meet and feel part of a club rather than a networking venue. The key goals were to

· Educate,
· Entertain and
· Provide a support forum for members

Rather than just a business card exchange.

The 2008 – 2009 season has been marked by an excellent variety of speakers: -

September

Jon Upton kicked off the September meeting with a talk about marketing for the small business, with the advent of the Internet it is quite possible for a business to ‘punch above its weight’ enabling it to succeed in markets and ways not previously possible. Jon provided an overview on successful and practical techniques along with some traditional marketing methods, which are returning good levels of success.
W: www.thinkanddo.co.uk

This session was followed an introduction to the concept of Google PageRank – by Charles Willcock, possibly the most important word in business you do not fully understand.
W: www.website-doctor.com

October

Word4Word Sue Richardson Sue spoke about the opportunities available to anyone who would like to publish a book to promote their expertise and raise their profile.

Sue practised what she preached and sold a number of her “how to books…”
Sue Richardson
Business Development Director
Word4Word
Evesham

Web: www.w4wdp.com

November

Entrepreneurial Coaching
Andrew Nicholson and Diane MacDowall provided an inspiring presentation, living what they teach and sharing real examples of how to overcome

· Fear,
· Turn around limiting beliefs,
· Attract and sustain positive thoughts.

This was a lively informative evening, which included exercises to lift the spirits and increase positive attitudes.

Web: www.cosmic-attraction.com

Web: www.dimacdowall-lifecoaching.co.uk/

Web: www.executive-relationship-coaching.co.uk

Web: Cosmic Attraction Blog

Blogging
In the second half of the evening Tom Upton provided an introduction to Blogging! If you think blogging is just for those with too much time on their hands consider this fact, the giant American plane manufacturer Boeing relies on a blog (amongst other communication medium) to get their message out, written by Randy Tinseth VP of Marketing for Boeing Commercial Services in Seattle. Companies do not come much bigger than Boeing - so why not consider a blog for your website?
www.tomuptonphotography.com/blog/

December

Christmas festivities held at the StayPutt golf venue.

Golf putting
Skittle Alley
Golf Simulator
Nearest the pin
Longest Drive
Pool

Bar Food and Prizes were handed out.
W: www.sigc.co.uk

New website launched.
December also saw the launch of the clubs current website – many thanks to Jon Upton for his skill energy and resources which were put in to the getting the site up and running.

January

Present your business from your briefcase evening.
Whilst the emphasis on Networking has been reduced it would be wrong to suggest that the club is not partly about making and forming new contacts and January was a chance to present your business in a briefcase or 3 foot square surface area. This was a fun and informative evening and the winner was Roger Loads nephew.

Feedback Session
The club also ran a feedback session in the second half of the evening and received much valuable feedback including a request for a forum on the club website. It is worth noting that information posted on the club forum is picked up and available in Google. You can test this for yourself by inserting site:http://forum.sbcw.co.uk/ in to the Google search box.
W: http://forum.sbcw.co.uk

February

Sales
Steve Wright presented an excellent talk on sales and the need to get out and sell and close that deal.
Steve’s experience shone through and delivered an excellent thought provoking talk. It is easy to think you’ve heard everything you need to know about ‘sales’, but Steve provided new angles and a fresh approach.
Web: http://birmingham1.sandler.com

Twitter – www.twitter.com
Jon Upton provided members with an insight in to a service / technology which has swept around the world

March

Ivan Vickers made a welcome return to the club with some frank advice and tips to beat the recession.

Web: www.ibslocal.co.uk

April

Clive Mason from Leadership Management International, provided an interactive session on winning attitudes and motivation for success.
Web: www.lmi-ukfranchise.com

Maggie Throup Prospective Conservative MP for Solihull provided an insight in to Conservative Plans for Business, and the action the Conservatives are calling for during the recession, with a focus on local business.
Web: www.maggiethroup.com

May

Members shared best practice ideas regarding Technology evening where the topics covered included: -

1. Google – Jon Upton W: www.thinkanddo.co.uk
2. Email – the importance of not letting your Inbox grow substantially – John Staley W: www.myfirstserver.biz
3. Digital Photos – Tom Upton W: www.tomuptonphotography.com
4. The importance of backing up your data Brian Martin
W: www.superbrains.co.uk
5. Open Office a chance to save hundreds of pounds – Brian Martin W: www.superbrains.co.uk
6. Google Adwords for many businesses a greatly under used and misunderstood form of advertising. – Charles Willcock
W: www.miraquel/co.uk/adwords/

June

Was a chance for members to provide feedback and have a round table discussion about a wide-ranging set of topics including limited company status v sole trader. The future direction of the club.

July

AGM

Quiz Night Congratulations to Jon Upton's team the Wallies who triumphed over the XXX's by clinching the last round.

The above represents the programme for 2008 to 2009. Hopefully something for everyone and the club is keen to build on the platform of excellent speakers which educated and entertained members.