Wirral Business Association

Networking is working for our new ladies

2011-03-01T13:58:00.002Z

WBa has started a new ladies only networking group called Morning Mums. It's very new and a bit quiet at the moment but that isn't holding back our ladies! Despite there being only a few ladies in the room the girls are making it work for them.

I'm so pleased to be able to say that Annie Long, Jazz Singer has got herself an afternoon singing at Roses Tea Rooms for Mothers Day. Thanks to an introduction at the Morning Mums events Annie and Michelle found they could help out each other and both make money in the process.

And another little success story? Carrie Spacey from About My Area was looking for some help to run the Bromborough area of her business and she found the perfect fit. After a chat at the first Morning Mums event Carrie has now taken on board Cath Long for what we hope will be a successful expansion of the About My Area family.

As the Morning Mums event build we hope to be able to bring you even more success stories from our ladies. We want to prove that you can have fun AND make networking work for you.

How to Work a Room - Motivational Sales Speaker Susan RoAne

2011-02-23T11:07:00.000Z

A helping hand.

2011-02-21T09:01:00.009Z

We are please to say that one of our sponsors has helped a local charity with a brand new website. Stick 'n' Step, in Liscard, Wallasey help Children with Cerebral Palsy live much fuller and more independent lives through Conductive Education. It is truely amazing how some simple exercises can make such a difference to young lives.

Now Stick 'n' Step have a website to be proud of and one where they can update everything quickly and easily including their latest shopping list. The shopping list is an easy and affordable way to help the charity with everyday running costs. Just pop along to the website (http://www.sticknstep.org) and take a look at the things on their shopping list, when you next go shopping just buy one of the things on their shopping list and drop it off at the centre. Alternately you can bring it along to the next WBa meeting and we'll drop it off for you. Choose how much you spend from a box of tea bags to a ream or two of printer paper - everything will be put to use for the centre alone.

The website gives lots of info on what Stick 'n' Step do to help kids across the northwest who suffer from Cerebral Palsy so please do go and have a read.

http://www.sticknstep.org

Tulip Publishing

2010-09-13T11:48:00.003Z

Hi all for a few months I was receiving demand letters for advertising in a 9nine9 emergency services booklet/leaflet to the value of £195-00 from Tulip Publishing and FGD Debt Management Services both based in Chester in fact across the road to each other. I found out from Chester Police that they were both suspect scammers and that they both work from PO Boxs. I have also reported them to the Trading Stands.
So be careful you don't get conned out of your hard earned money!!
All seems to have stopped now. And no I did not part with any money!!

Social Networking Viral Marketing Experiment

2010-06-07T10:50:00.000Z

Hey guys,

It's true!

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This seems to be the truest form of Viral marketing I have seen yet. It uses
social media and blogs to get the "news" out about something rather than
Tell-A-Friends etc.

But the main thing I want to share with you is that you can get 3 Kick-Butt
copies of his latest newsletter and you don't have to pay $89.00 to get it.

Just click the link below and it is yours Free!

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P.S. - Even if you THINK you are not interested in his newsletters (Which are
pretty good from what I see) I suggest you give it a shot for 2 reasons. 1- You
may be surprised at the quality. And 2- Wait until you see how he is trying this
new viral marketing.

A Lesson from Andy Lopata

2009-07-24T08:39:00.002Z

Author of top selling book 'and death came third' on networking and public speaking Andy's article on 'Connecting is not enough' has some really good tips pn getting the best from networking. here is just a sample (Thanks Andy).

6 - They focus on the sale, not the relationship

Few people go to networking events to buy. So you have to ask yourself what the point is of trying to sell to people who aren't in buying mode. Think beyond the short-term gain and develop relationships. After all, wouldn't you prefer to get ten referrals from a long-term relationship than one sale from a passing contact?
RESOLUTION TIP - Go through your contact management system or business card file and pick ten people to whom you haven't spoken for a while. Re-establish contact and then stay in touch.

I suggest you read the rest too.

A 'lesson for kids' we should all take note of....

2009-06-29T08:13:00.002Z

This was wrongly attributed to Bill Gates but actuall was by educator Charles Sykes. It's an excerpt from his book "Dumbing Down our Kids". It is a list of eleven things you did not learn in school and directed at high school and college grads. Perhaps we should take a step back and listen to this as adults.

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents'fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

Free or Paid?

2009-06-10T08:00:00.003Z

The question was asked the other day whether it is better to attend a free networking event or a paid one. In my opinion how much it costs isn't the point.

Networking is all about building long term relationships. It isn't about meeting somebody once and scaring them into doing business with you. Effective business networking means meeting the same people on a regular basis and establishing a relationship with them that potentially leads to business for you both. It probably won't be immediate - trust takes time and patience.

When you recommend another business part of your own reputation goes along with it. A poor recommendation reflects badly on you and you lose a little face. A good recommendation makes you look great and increases trust in you too. So wouldn't it make sense to know more about the person you are recommending?

It might no be possible to see the work of the person you recommend but if you have taken the time to get to know them then trust can be built in other ways.

Relationships should be two way, they should have trust in you before they pass you work. You should encourage this. Mostly recommendations are of the person not the business - you recommend the person you have built a relationship with rather than the business they are in. People buy people and trust is a major factor in their choice.

So the question of how much should you pay for networking is a mute point. Cost is immaterial as any networking event is what you make of it. If you network effectively you build relationships.

Another Scam Warning

2009-06-03T12:17:00.002Z

In these tough times we might well be tempted to earn a quick bob or two outside our normal job. I received several emails today asking me to become a Mystery Shopper to earn myself a substantial amount of dollars. Being such an dis-trusting soul I automatically checked out the so called company proposing the offer.

Now while there lots of genuine companies offering jobs as Mystery Shoppers they never ask you for money up front or to do money transfers. This email seemed so plausible but Michael McDowell of WA Surveys is a con artist. Taking up this offer could leave you with a huge debt or worse still a court case. More information is freely available on the Internet.

So remember the golden rule: if it looks too good to be true then it will probably get you in trouble! Don't be taken in by scam emails - if it's a fabulous offer then look it up on the Internet and you'll probably find that it's a scam.

Search Engine Optimisation

2009-05-29T12:52:00.003Z

Search Engine Optimisation or SEO is a term most of you will have heard of but some of you may not be too clear on what it's all about.

To put it in VERY simple terms, it's about getting your website ranked highly on the search engines - that is appearing on the first page. It's actually a very complicated subject and companies charge anything from £40 per page to £3000 before they will even look at your site.

But there are a few simple things you can do yourself to aid in the Search Engine Ranking game! Get links back to your site! That means asking other websites and directories to link to your website. But you don't just want any old link. Some links score better 'points' than others, especially for Google!

So what links are best. You want links from complimentary sites - those websites who provide goods or services compatible with your own. For example you might sell organic make-up, so a link from an organic vegetable provider would be a good link but one from a mortgage advisor wouldn't be as powerful, earning less 'points'.

And try to get links that use your keywords as the link text rather than your web address - e.g. Organic Cosmetics instead of www.yournaturalbeautystore.com or Keel Soft Toys instead of www.greattoys4u.co.uk . If your keywords are part of you web address it isn't so bad but a text link is still better e.g. www.childrensbooks.co.uk has the right words but a link saying Children's Books would score more.

This is only a very small insight into improving your rankings. There are lots of other things to be done but hopefully it's given you something to think about. If you would like some more info then ask us at the next WBa meeting on June 10th.

Learning from Experience

2009-05-27T09:19:00.002Z

I've just spent a long weekend in Holland with the TKD team. The travelling was hard - coach and ferry and a very long day. Having to collect other team members for the BTCB combined British squad meant travelling to Dover via Southampton!

The competition itself taught our team a few valuable lessons. Life isn't always fair, sometimes you know what the true outcome should have been but the formal results show different. The answer is simply to accept this and move on.

Everybody has off days when they don't perform their best. Just accept it, tomorrow is a new day and a new beginning.

Sometimes you can throw everything you have at your opponent and still get beaten. Time to evaluate what you are doing right and what can be improved on. Sometimes the competition is just better than you are. So change tactics and work to your strengths.

So for me it's time to step it up a gear and make sure I organise my time better. I can do everything I set my mind to achieve - I just need to schedule it better!

Perfection!

2009-05-19T15:05:00.002Z

Is it just that I'm a perfectionist or are some large companies guilty of doing a half hearted job just because they can. I was with a prospective client yesterday and he had an advert with a well known company. This company had access to the same information I had and a printed copy of the clients logo. Yet the logo they created for their advert bore a mere passing resemblance to the clients actual logo.

Now maybe I'm just too much of a perfectionist but when I recreated the logo I made sure that the font (type face) was the closest I could get it to the original logo. I had taken a photo of one of the vans on my phone so I could colour match as near as possible. It took me about half an hour to create a top quality digital version of the logo for me to use in their new design. Wasn't difficult, just took time.

But do some large companies get away with a poor quality job because they are a large company - or do they genuinely just not care!

Caring about your customers is a must in today's climate and showing it can make a difference between winning the business and having to pitch to a whole new client. Now which do you think is cheaper? A bit of really good customer service, going that extra bit to show you care? Or pitching to lots and lots of prospects and hoping to get at least some!

OK. Rant over for today!

May Networking in Wirral

2009-05-14T08:43:00.004Z

It was a great night last night with lots of new faces to go with the old ones. Lovely informal networking with a couple of Networking Newbies who had their eyes opened to the potential of face to face networking.

For those of you in the local area who haven't attended yet book the June meeting in your diaries now. It is on 10th June from 19:30 until 21:30 or if last night is anything to go by finishing nearer 23:30.

Just bring along your business cards an buy yourslef a drink. See you all next month.wi

Warning - Possible Scam

2009-05-08T15:47:00.004Z

One of our clients was today approached by a company claiming that they were producing a magazine on behalf of the fire service to be distributed to schools in the area. The sales tactics were rather heavy handed and the client got suspicious.

I've taken a look around the net and concur with my client that his suspicions were well founded. These types of scams are common place and change little except perhaps for the good cause they are supporting.

Never accept any sort of deal over the phone. Check up on the company concerned and check with your local trading standards office - they have often already had complaints about the company approaching you. Don't agree over the phone to place any sort of advert and don't give in to bullying tactics that tell you you entered into a contract and they'll take you to court (yes they tried this on on my client).

** We have been asked to remove part of this post as it was leading to the confusion that a company mentioned was guilty of scamming They weren't to our knowledge and we have honoured their wishes and removed the paragraph linking them to this post.**

So be on your guard and if you get approached by suspicious sales people we'd like to know so we can warn our members.

...and Thank You for Your Knowledge!

2009-05-07T16:56:00.002Z

After my last post it was kindly pointed out to me that we often give away far more than our time. We often give our "attention, consideration, information, the benefit of our knowledge and experience, advice etc" (thank you - you know who you are!).

I guess we should all be factoring the value of these things into our pricing too. How many of us don't? How can you put a price on knowledge learned over many, many years? I know I personally find it difficult. But all these things have a value that often isn't immediately recognised.

Maybe next time we finish a meeting we'll all remember to say thank you! A general thank you for everything shared and not just time! And when you put a price on that next job remember to include a sum for the more intagible things you give too! As well as pricing your time, put a price on your knowledge and experience too.

Thank You for Your Time!

2009-05-06T12:47:00.002Z

"Thank you for your time!" A customer said this to me as I was leaving today and it made me think. How many of us put a value on our time? How many of us give away our time for nothing?

I'm guilty of it. I hope that the time I give away is returned 10 fold in customer loyalty and fresh business. But how many of us actually factor in our own time when pricing goods and services?

When you came up with that price for postage and packing did you think about your time? The time spent actually wrapping the goods? The time taken to go to the post office and wait in the queue? Have you worked out exactly how much that time is worth? It has a monetary value - do you know what yours is worth?

I challenge you all this week to calculate how much an hour of your time is worth in money. Then take account of all the things that you do with your time that don't pay anything. Some of the things will be unavoidable like doing the books. But how much time do you waste that could be spent better? How many times a day do you check your emails? Do you get distracted from important tasks by answering phone calls?

Time is a valuable commodity - how valuable depends on you. Manage it wisely.

A brand is a promise - you are the talent.

2009-04-29T13:06:00.002Z

I read this in an article by one of my clients, Molly Harvey. Out of all the things in the article this was the phrase that stuck in my mind. Molly writes and speaks so brilliantly well it's hard to single out just one thing but this phrase shouted at me.

I suppose it made me think about our own branding and what it is telling and more importantly are we living up to the expectations the brand is setting. I hope so - I've always thought of myself as a bit of a perfectionist. In fact my work experience boy, Sean, described me as just that. He considers my standards are very high and aspires to be the same when he enters the real working world.

So what does your branding say about you and are you delivering on it's promises? Does it promise quality? People make a very quick judgement as to what they think of you - is your branding letting you down? Maybe it is time to take a fresh look at how other people see your company. And make sure you deliver on those promises.

The Meerkats

2009-04-28T08:01:00.002Z

The current advert 'Compare the Meerkat' seems to be gaining a huge fan base. Alexandr Orlov even has his own facebook account and a there are such a lot of blogs and articles mentioning the ad. The people behind this sure have a hit on their hands and it's a brilliant example of simple but effective marketing.

We could all do with learning a leason from this - stand out from the crowd. A client of mine once gave the advice "Look at what your competition are doing and do something different." Simple but effective advice. We should examine our own business and look at what we do that is different from our competitors - then highlight that point to our prospective clients.

For example, Your Natural Beauty Store are not only cruelty free but operate in as ethical a mannner as is possible in business. They try to keep packaging to a minimum and use recycled paper and card where possible. One of their closest rivals delights in using lots of fancy packaging and including unnecessary marketing leaflets in every package. Not exactly a 'green' policy. So Your Natural Beauty Store need to highlight the 'ethical' in their business!

And to return to our Meerkats you can buy your very own stuffed meerkat from Great Toys 4 U along with other, more unusual teddy bears and soft toys made by the quality manufacturer Keel Toys.

So take a look at your business today and see if you can tell what's different - can't find something? Then talk to us!

What a 'European' Result

2009-04-23T11:10:00.002Z

And I'm not talking about football either. One of the youngsters from my Taekwondo club has just returned from Belgium with a wonderful addition to his growing collection - a European ranking. Having got a silver medal in the Belgium International Open 2009, and at only 16, Ryan can now add a European medal to his existing British Medals. And next week he will defend his British National Champion title at the British Nationals in the Manchester Velodrome for the second year running. We wish him, and the other team members the best of luck.

What has this got to do with business? Well Ryan showed how determined he was to achieve his goal. He stayed focused and kept a positive outlook. He trained hard and equipped himself with the skills to win. That's what we should be doing in business. Are you focused and positive about your business goals? Have you allowed yourself to do the right training to equip you with the right skill set to succeed?

Disgusted of Wirral writes......

2009-04-22T09:35:00.002Z

I was chatting with one of my clients the other day and was horrified to learn of the animal cruelty that still happens today as part of the beauty industry. With the advances in technology you would think we could find a way to test new products without the need to torture innocent animals.

I'm being a lot more cautious as to what brands I buy now as a result and will be switching a lot of the shampoo and conditioners I buy for my family to brands who don't test on animals. I think I'll be trying the John Masters Organics range from YourNaturalBeautyStore.com next. And I'll be looking for a new moisturiser too.

I'd love to know what you think about testing on animals - is it right or wrong? Please post your comments.

Eventfull days

2008-10-02T17:03:00.004Z

What a day,

Yesterday was an eventful day. I had a job to go and photograph an engineering firm that makes screws. This involved being there from about 9am BST. The day started with me asking the director what he wanted me to shoot. (I had already asked him in a email) he said your the creative one I will leave it to you.. Bugger I thought no direction being given, what shall I do? So I just wandered around the factory looking and talking to the staff. Eventually I got my lights out and set them up and found out where all the wall sockets were. I started to take some pictures of the machines that were making the threads, on speaking to one of the men working on a machine I found out that the threads they were making were not being cut as I thought they were but they were being impressed and squashed to form the heads and threads. These all come from a roll of heavy guage wire that is fed into a machine at one end and at the other end they come out as threads. Truly a clever stuff. I had to spend the day here shooting anything that looked interesting. It's amazing how dirty I got while walking around and shooting. This is a company that sells all over the world even to China (Wow) and they were saying that things were quite for them but they had plans to market in a much larger way. This is definitly a company going places. At the end of the day as I was putting my gear away I found it was very mucky as there was grease on the wires. I asked for a cloth and was wiping my kit down with it to see loads of grease come of the wires etc. Prior to doing this shoot I had been shooting the threads etc in my studio for the websight and publicity.

What bugs me most about....

2008-08-06T11:23:00.003Z

OK, so I've been really slack and not kept this blog as up-to-date as I should have but I've been soooo busy.

Something that has really bugged me this week is yet another example of small businesses being ripped off by other small businesses. You think we'd stick together but oh no. Some people prey on the naivety of others. We can't all understand everything.

As an IT bod I feel it's my duty to educate those who don't understand IT. They should be given the facts plain and simple. All the facts. They should end up with enough of an understanding to make an informed choice.

They don't have to be able to do it themselves - just understand what the options are. If somebody doesn't understand something I've explained then it's my fault for not explaining properly not theirs for being a bit dense. Nobody is totally stupid but some people need a simpler explanation.

Telling your customer that you need to take over hosting of the site to make changing it 'easier' is a whole load of hogwash. Then charging an extortionate price for the privilege is just plain theft.

It doesn't matter where a website lives so long as the servers it lives on support it and you have access to it. Those servers could be in Outer Mongolia or in a bedroom in Brimstage - it really doesn't matter.

SO the lesson for today is find out as much as you can about what you want to do before you let others advise you into expensive decisions. Ask around. Ask what your friends and business acquaintances are paying for their hosting. Look on the Internet and see what the mainstreams are charging. Then you'll have an idea if what you've been quoted is reasonable or not. Don't take anything at face value.

Ask us and we'll give you an honest opinion - no charge.

Photographic Expeditions around Liverpool

2008-05-21T10:20:00.008Z

Hi I am about to launch Photographic Expeditions around Liverpool. The tours start from 1 hour duration. To join me please phone or email 0151 708 7392 Mobile 07761 725 932 colin@colinsphotography.co.uk

You will be needed to use your own camera and perhaps a tripod especially for evening photography. I will take out a maximum of 6 people. If you have a larger group then do please contact me to make arrangements. I can organise a whole days shoot if needed but you will need to book with me in advance.

All the tours are walking.

Example:- the tours can be the two cathedrals along Hope Street stopping on route for pictures. This tour will take an hour. The idea for this is that I can help you to learn how to use the manual part of the camera and to get you off using automatic. It's more technical than just showing you places to take pictures.

New Look Web Site Launched

2008-02-04T16:27:00.000Z

Well February is here already and with it comes the relaunch of the WBa website. It's got a whole fresh new look and much more information.

New sections include more about who WBa are, the importance of Networking, tips on effective networking and more. So take a look and let us know what you think

The meeting this month is set to be quite full - we have some bookings through Business Scene so a big thanks to Eric for the ads. And the new look site is already generating more interest so we are looking forward to the meeting.

Networking tip for this bulletin is:

Listen - good listeners make the most successful networkers. You listen so you know what the other person is looking for and you might just hear a need that you can fulfill.

Happy New Year

2008-01-07T11:35:00.000Z

Well, here is the first entry of 2008. We hope everyone had a great break.

It's back to business for all of us here at WBa and the meeting next week is set to be a good one with some old faces coming back and a few new ones attending too.

We can't remind you enough how important regular attendance is to make the most of any networking group. Talking to the same individuals week after week means that they get to know you. People recommend people they know well and trust. And you get to know them and trust them too!

Some networking groups rely on the fact that you have paid good money to join and will recommend others in the group just because they are in the group. At WBa that is not only NOT true but we discourage it. Your reputation is at stake when you offer a recommendation so you should only recommend those you know and trust. And I've first hand experience of why!

So regular attendance is required to make the most of any networking group, especially if money isn't changing hands. People won't feel obliged to recommend you - they will recommend you because they think you are an appropriate person for the job! And that counts for far more!

So we'd like to see as many faces as possible EVERY month for 2008. If you make one resolution this year make to be at WBa EVERY month - no excuses! Let's build our success TOGETHER!

Don't Aid the spammers - part 1

2007-12-12T09:22:00.000Z

I for one would rather not receive those emails from friends and colleagues warning me of yet another email to beware of. Why? Because most of these are just another hoax! It's another form of spam and the spammers are using YOU to help them pass it on!

Now you wouldn't pass on an email offering you an 'enhancement' would you? So why pass on other forms of spam.

If you are concerned that your fellow man might fall foul of that nasty virus if you don't warn them immediately STOP! Think about it seriously for a moment. 99% of these are just another hoax. If you'd like to check it for yourself then it's really easy!

1. Identify the title of the email or a key word in it, e.g. Olympic Torch (purportedly a very nasty virus which wipes your hard drive!)

2. Copy and paste it into Google and add the word 'hoax' to the search term.

3. Hit 'search' and see what comes back. If it's a hoax then the search results (hundreds probably) will tell you so.

4. Email the person who sent it to you and tell them it's a hoax - they obviously didn't know or they wouldn't have sent it.

5. Educate them - point them in the direction of this post! Then they will know too!

Don't stay in the dark ages, let's put a STOP to Spam! Together!

Please ask all your friends and colleagues to read this now, let's pass something that will benefit the whole Internet community for a change!

Xmas is coming

2007-11-16T13:11:00.001Z

Well, Christmas is on the way so next month's meeting will be a purely social occasion. We plan to just sit down to a great meal and have plenty of chat!

Those who attended Novembers meeting are probably already aware of the Christmas meal. We hope to see as many faces as possible there, old and new. All we ask is that you let JK know that you want to come so we can let the venue know numbers by the end of November. We don't want the kitchen to suddenly panic thinking they actually have to 'feed' us next month!

Since the November meeting was such a success we hope to capitalise on that and launch 2008 with a bang. So tell all your friends they are invited on January 9th.

If anybody has any special requests for the meetings next year just drop us a line. We'll certainly see what we can arrange!

Advanced SEO

2007-09-20T15:40:00.000Z

Emerald and I spent yesterday morning at a seminar entitled 'Advanced SEO'.

I got the reassurance that I'm doing the right things along with some more suggestions on how to improve further. Emerald got a good basic knowledge of what it's all about.

The bare bones of it were that firstly it's very important to do your keyword research. Finding the right keywords for each page of your website is vital - get it wrong and it could cost you your business - get it right and quality traffic will come flooding in!.

When you consider that there are now in excess of 2.1 trillion web pages out there you don't want to get lost. A well optimised web page will help you be seen in the natural rankings 'above the fold'! That is to be seen in the first 5 results on Google. And a good Adwords campaign doesn't do any harm either.

We hope to be bringing you some more tips over the next few weeks when we get a quiet spot!

Meantime if anybody has any questions about SEO or Networking then we'd love to hear them!

Summer Sunshine?

2007-09-14T11:28:00.000Z

Well, a really great meeting. Plenty of new faces and a few old ones too.

And help was at hand when one member needed a particular vehicle for a special event - ask and you'll receive! Actually not quite the car but solid advice on where to look for the specialist vehicle they require.

A presentation by ClarityClarity's Keith Ayres broke the evening up. After discussion with other members it has been proposed that we hold the occasional presentation geared towards helping business.

The first of these will be on 'Better Networking Skills' and will be delivered by Agnes Fitzgerald of Linkage Point. This will be strictly 'no sell' but aimed at providing good solid advice to aid your networking efforts and make them more profitable.

Anybody interested in being there for this should contact WBa to register your interest. When we have finalised a date we'll let you know.

It is sure to be a great evening knowing Agnes and her rather quirky sense of humour. Learning should be fun and Agnes has always made it so for me.

We look forward to seeing you all next month - 10th October!

Summer Garden party

2007-08-31T13:02:00.000Z

The Chimneys, Hooton Green (South Wirral) will be holding a Summer Garden Party to raise money for the National Trust.

You are all invited to go and enjoy the summer in the pub garden while raising money for a good cause.

Tickets are priced at £10 and include 2 drinks vouchers, an informal food tasting plus a donation to the National Trust.

For more information and to purchase your tickets please call in to The Chimneys, Hooton Green, South Wirral (Just off Junction 5 of the M53 on the way to Chester and North Wales.)

We look forward to meeting you there!

What a summer ..... if you're a duck!

2007-08-20T15:25:00.000Z

Well the weather this summer has been appalling. I drove to Barnsley and back yesterday in the pouring rain. Good job the competition we were attending was indoors!

We will be organising a local competition to be held towards the end of September this year. It will be held in Liverpool and we are hoping to attract several hundred visitors. There will be a limited amount of advertising space and we will be looking for sponsors for the event. Anybody interested in some local advertising please let me know.

More details will be made available when we have finalised the date/venue.

By the way, the club came home with 1 bronze, 1 silver and 2 gold medals - not a bad haul for only 4 competitors.

Long Time .......

2007-08-08T13:24:00.001Z

OK, so it's been a few weeks since I last updated the blog - been Sooooo busy.

For those of you who don't remember, the August meeting is Tonight, 8th August. We are hoping to see a few new faces along with some old ones who couldn't make Tuesday nights.

Paul is running his little competition, prize is a meal for 2, for the person who brings the most guests between now and the end 0f November. Remember to let one of us know that a guest is yours so we can keep track!

For the coming months we are going to try to include a weekly networking tip both here and in the newsletter. Anybody not receiving the newsletter should let me know ASAP so we can rectify that.

For those of you interested in contributing to this blog with tips and ideas for better networking then please drop me a line via the WBa website. I'll be happy to share the workload!

Pass the word around to your friends and associates to checkout the blog on a regular basis and we hope to see you all tonight. Remember to bring a guest!

Mad March Hairs?

2007-03-14T15:21:00.000Z

Another great night! A full room and plenty of great feedback.

I've been requested to open the blog to more people. Some invites have gone out today so look out for other people's posts here in the near future!

Remember you can always comment on any of our posts and add info about any of our events by selecting the 'comments' option at the bottom of a post.

If you'd like to be more of a contributor then please let me know and we'll invite you to join.

Have a great month and we'll see you all again in April!

February is fab!

2007-02-14T10:07:00.000Z

Well last night went really well. We had plenty of new people turn up and great feedback. Looks like we could be growing quicker than expected.

There were some missing faces due to illness - we hope they all get better soon.

We've been asked if we are going to do any presentations - there are no plans at present but if we get enough requests we'll consider it (they would be kept very short though).

Thanks again to Paul for giving his support (and the venue) and for the bowls of hot chips that appeared on the tables half way through the evening. We do appreciate all the help he and Justine give for free. Without their support we couldn't run these evening on a free basis. So everybody should get down to The Chimneys on other occasions too.

All ready for the next meeting? Good, why not bring a friend!

Brilliant!

2007-01-10T15:08:00.000Z

Well last night couldn't have gone better. The first meeting of 2007 was well attended and there was a real buzz in the air. Some new faces came, along with some old ones.

It was quite hard to get around everybody for a chat but between my WBa partners and I we managed to speak with all those who attended. Everybody is already looking forward to next months meeting and ALL the newbies said they would be back.

Some great discussions were had. The support side of the meetings really emerged this time with people talking of problems they were having and others offering possible solutions. Anthony Peake sold another 2 books, fresh from his success at his 'Borders Bookstore' book signing last Saturday.

The meeting went on until just before closing time and the last of us didn't get home until just before midnight. It was well worth the effort though.

We are looking forward to seeing everybody again in February.

Happy New Year

2007-01-03T09:12:00.000Z

Well this year has begun really well - I started with a stinking cold on New Years Day. At least I should be fine by next Tuesday for the first meeting of the year.

Hopefully all the meetings for 2007 will be as good as last year if not better. I've had confirmation from a couple of new people of their attendance. I hope to see all last years businesses too.

Hope you acheive all the success you deserve over the coming year!

Stuffed!!!

2006-12-15T22:05:00.000Z

Well the Christmas meal went really well. Lots of food was eaten and plenty of drink flowed, non alcoholic for the drivers of course.

Ideas were bandied around the table and the world generally put to rights. The new website (http://www.wirralbusinessassociation.co.uk) was discussed and of course this new blog!

Everybody is looking forward to the New Year and the next WBa meeting.

Christmas Dinner!

2006-12-12T13:15:00.000Z

The Wirral Business Association will not be having a December 2006 meeting. Instead some of the members will be meeting to enjoy a purely social Christmas meal on Friday 15th, at The Chimneys.

Anybody interested in joining the meetings next year should contact me and ask to be included in the mailing list. We mail out twice a month with details of the next meeting and news of new developments within the membership. Oh, and we don't pass your details on to ANYBODY else.

The Meetings themselves are free to attend. The only cost to you is a drink from the bar!

Welcome

2006-12-08T08:55:00.000Z

Hi everybody.

Welcome to the new blog for the Wirral Business Association.

Firstly an introduction:

The idea behind the Wirral Business Association is to get lots of small businesses together once a month. These business people can then offer support to one another and hopefully do business together.

It is a very informal group meeting at the Chimneys, Hooton (Wirral). We meet on the 2nd Tuesday of each month and the next meeting will be on January 9th 2007.

If you run a Wirral or Chester based business and would be interested in coming along then please contact me for further details.