 For small and medium business (SME) owners, the ‘to-do’ list may feel never ending. There is always another metric to check or possible lead to follow-up. Trends come and go too. However, one which shows no signs of going away is that of corporate social responsibility (CSR), and is one which may be worth adding to the ‘to-do’ list. It is one area which has been proven to be beneficial to many businesses in terms of profits and staff morale.
The scale of course can change according to the size of the company. For some businesses, it may be about doing a fun run with a team of employees for a local charity, while for others sponsoring a whole community project for many years may be an option. Certain themes are emerging which will be useful to bear in mind if you are considering CSR for your business. The environment Climate change is no longer just a buzz phrase. The effects are very real, and action is needed particularly around prevention, rather than providing support after natural disasters. Local initiatives can be particularly effective especially around beach clean-ups, work on flood defences and use of plastics within a business. Regular sustainable support is the key here and small steps are the key – consider an initiative such as banning single use plastic water bottles throughout your business. Generation Z Generation Z – those born after the mid-1990s – are entering the workforce as well as becoming consumers in the world market. Expect Generation Z-ers, who are the real early adopters as well as being digitally savvy, to demand better and easier-to-use technology, more flexibility in the workplace, more freedom of choice, and greater degrees of acceptance and transparency in the workplace and marketplace. Reduce travel It isn’t always possible or viable for business to reduce carbon footprints immediately and drastically but, again, every business can make changes which all contribute to making a difference. Video conferencing has made remote working much quicker and easier so consider using this as much as possible, rather than travelling to meetings. Also consider introducing a subsidised travel card system for staff so that walking and using public transport becomes the norm. Installing a bike rack at your premises or encouraging carpooling and encouraging home working are all achievable incentives too. Keep up-to-date In a constantly changing world, it’s more important than ever for business owners to keep up-to-speed with trends and initiatives. Diversity, inclusion and equality are to the fore and it will be necessary to ensure that your company is compliant with any changes in these areas. Look out for local and national training that you can tap into. Check your supply chain Your own business may be looking to its corporate social responsibility but how about that of your suppliers? Who are your providers and do your values align? Using local businesses for catering and supplies not only supports your local economy and other small businesses, it also cuts back on shipping, fuel, manufacturing, and logistics. Enterprise Exchange also runs a management development programme aimed at supporting CSR goals. We train managers to be effective mentors and match them with an individual we see could be supported by them. We then support them to make a real and long-lasting difference to that person and consequently to the local community. This unique and innovative programme not only provides valuable training for managers in all areas of team management, it results in increased staff retention, higher productivity, enhanced leadership and mentoring skills and it provides tangible corporate social responsibility outputs. Sources: Small business trends, Forbes, The Borgen Project
0 Comments
 Enterprise Exchange Directors Phil Ashford and Benna McCartney recently celebrated a work anniversary. The occasion helped them reflect on what brought them together in the first place, and what drives them to continue to reach out to people they can support.
Phil and Benna met ten years ago while in working in Newhaven, East Sussex. Phil was working with Business Link and Benna Chichester College SEED Project. They were working with a similar client group but it was a link made by someone else which brought them together and helped them see each other’s qualities. John Orr was the Resettlement Partnership Manager at HMP Lewes (now retired) and asked Phil and Benna independently to work there. John had identified that self-employment was often the only option for most people once through the gate, and was keen to provide training. Although this was a short-term project, the seeds of a partnership had been sown and redundancy offered Phil and Benna the opportunity to start a business together and build on their new understanding of each other’s skills. The next step was to organise focus groups in HMP Lewes and HMP Ford to ask what support the men felt they needed if they were to set up their own businesses. This feedback helped Phil and Benna get funding through Serco and run a successful 18 month programme, working with 89 men, of which 40% ended up in self-employment or employment afterwards. Over the past nine years, Enterprise Exchange has grown into a substantial business offering self-employment support to those on the edges of society. The main drive for Benna to begin this work was due to previous challenging life experiences. She has had eight businesses since the age of 18, so understands the additional challenges that women in business face, which gave her empathy for other groups who have additional barriers to enterprise and a passion for helping people overcome them. As a qualified business advisor running the East Sussex Enterprise Gateway (a programme to enable hard to reach people access start-up business support), Phil found his vocation by linking his specialist skills with a desire to increase opportunities for those with challenges. Enterprise Exchange now has nine staff members working across the UK and has established a reputation as being the pioneer of self-employment support for those for whom mainstream business support is not fit-for-purpose.  It’s not often you see those three elements in a blog title – so what have Ed Sheeran, jerk chicken and choral singing in common? Add in residents from HMP Birmingham, entrepreneurship, mentors, business pitches and hope for the future and you get an electrifying mix.
What you get is the Restart programme. On Tuesday 30 April, families, friends, mentors, supporters and staff from businesses involved in Restart, gathered at HMP Birmingham to celebrate the completion of the programme for some of the residents, and a chance to hear their ideas for the businesses they plan on release. But Restart – and what the men had achieved – is so much more than that. Restart brings together the charity Beating Time, Enterprise Inspiration (a community interest company providing training advice for offenders and ex-prisoners to move into self-employment) and us too, here at Enterprise Exchange. The figures are stark. About 85,000 people come out of UK prisons each year – most of them do not find work. Around half re-offend. Restart works to readdress that balance. Our part in the programme is to provide business advice to those residents who are approaching release, alongside Enterprise Inspiration. Our Directors, Phil and Benna work with the prisoners on business plans, pitches and cashflow as well as supporting and developing life skills. Mentors from KPMG also work with the prisoners spending time with individuals honing their plans and looking to how the ideas can become reality on release. Restart is also able to give grants to ex-offenders giving that valuable financial boost that every start-up values. However, all this business advice and support would come to nothing if the people we work with had no self-belief or vision about just what they may achieve. This is where choral singing fits in. Restart runs in prisons for 15 weeks and the business support runs alongside choir practices. Being part of a choir provides the participants with a community and a goal to work towards. Singing unlocks creativity, helping the feelings of self-worth grow and an understanding that it’s possible to rely on other people to support you. The concert on 30 April was a celebration of what the current cohort at HMP Birmingham had achieved. After just weeks of rehearsal, the choir – led by musical director Pete Churchill from Beating Time – stepped onto the stage in the newly refurbished recreation space to perform. They had chosen a range of popular songs, with several men stepping forward to sing on their own. None of these residents had sung with a choir before. But the results were uplifting and moving. At one point, one of the choir members had a solo in the Ed Sheeran song, Perfect. For one small moment it looked like the occasion was just a bit overwhelming. So much was a stake here, not ‘just’ stepping forward to sing a line or two. A gentle touch of a hand on the small of his back from a fellow choir member was all he needed. Support, friendship, guidance all there in a single gesture. But there was more to this event. Interspersed between songs four men also pitched their business ideas – a plan for retro sweets sold in shops and online, a barber shop and tattoo parlour embedded in a local community, a recruitment agency for ex-offenders and Jamaican street food for the heart of Birmingham. Each of the business pitches were of the highest standard and presenting in such an environment asked a lot of each entrepreneur. But everyone stepped up to the mark. After the concert, we were invited to sample some of the amazing jerk chicken, curries and wraps from the Jamaican street food range. It was also a real pleasure to see the resident behind this initiative receive a cheque for £5,000 towards start-up costs when he leaves HMP Birmingham soon. The power of this programme is such that Enterprise Exchange Directors, Phil and Benna, decided that their core team should take time out from their busy work schedules to attend the concert. To say everyone was all blown away by the singing, pitches and positivity is an understatement. We are very proud to be part of the Restart programme and continue to be inspire by the courage, determination and ambition of the residents we work with. The third in our team profiles is of our Senior Project Coordinator, Magali Lewis  Could you give us a quick overview of your role at Enterprise Exchange?
I help with the delivery of our service to our partner, the Shaw Trust, and help find ways of operating smoothly within the company. What experience do you have which led you to work with Enterprise Exchange? That’s a good question…lots of different experience! Which aspect of your work do you enjoy most? Finding solutions and nourishing relationships. When you’re not supporting EE what do you enjoy doing? I love watching a good movie. Tea or coffee and how do you take it? Definitely coffee - white, no sugar Thanks so much? How can people best contact you? By my email magali@enterpriseexchange.org.uk  Change can be a double-edged tool. It can be invigorating, dynamic and exciting. Or any change can present a challenge, a threat or a huge hurdle to overcome.
So, just how do you deal with change – and how can you make a transition easier? Becoming self-employed will be one of the biggest changes many of us make. Gone is a regular wage, fixed hours, set routine and a network of colleagues. Self-employment is often called a roller coaster of emotions – the wins and the ‘aha’ moments can be huge, but the lows and worries can be massive and constant too. On top of this, we live in a world where changes happen constantly and often without warning. Here are eight tips to help you deal with change, particularly if you are new to self-employment. 1. Create a routine. This may have you running for the hills but stay with us! Becoming your own boss may have been part of a process to leave the world of routine behind – ditching the 9-to-5. But without some kind of routine, your working day will simply drift along. A morning routine can be especially beneficial because no matter how the rest of the day goes, you will have started well, and know the tasks you want to complete that day. For some more motivation, check out the start of the day ideas from some successful people here. 2. Create some boundaries between home and work. This is a particularly difficult one if you are working from home, as well as starting a new business. Especially in the early days, building the business is all-consuming but if you don’t make time to switch off, you will – quite simply – burn out. You may well alienate those close to you too. Make an agreement with yourself that you will stop working at a certain time and set a timer on your phone to stop the scrolling through social media during the evening. 3. Ensure that people around you know your boundaries too – and that you can’t suddenly look after their children/have tea/take in parcels during your working time. 4. Create your own home working space - no matter how small. Part of this is respecting your business and yourself as a business owner. Pinterest is brilliant for inspiration for your space or you may get some ideas on this blog too. 5. Make sure you build a network of supporters - this is so important. Becoming self employed is such a change to anyone’s life and it’s vital that you surround yourself with people who understand your situation. Often family and friends may be caring and supportive but may simply just not get the challenges you face. You can network in real life or online – in the early days your support system may be made up of people you have met on courses as you will all be at a similar stage. 6. Here’s a real challenge. Try to keep calm - try meditation, boxing, walking around the corner, screaming into a pillow. Exercise and stress-busting solutions become particularly important during periods of change, so it is worth finding time during your day or week to build in something which helps. 7. Be patient - this is easier said than done but businesses take time to build. The internet is a wonderful source of information when you are changing things up. But it’s also where we can disappear down rabbit holes of envy. Don’t be fooled by the people who claim to have built a six-figure business in 12 months – or less. There is always much, much more to stories like this and businesses take time and effort to establish. 8. Don’t forget to have some fun. Becoming self-employed is time consuming and all encompassing at times. For lots of people the very reason they want their own business is to get some freedom but they end working more hours than ever. So, take time out – the jobs will still be there when you get back but the world won’t have stopped turning. Have fun. Smell that coffee. At Enterprise Exchange, we specialise in helping people with additional barriers become self-employed or start a business to transform their lives. Please do follow us on Twitter to keep up-to-date with our news and resources. In another in our series about our team members, we had a chat to our administrator-extraordinaire, Kara Schmieder.  Could you give us a quick overview of your role at Enterprise Exchange? I support the Shaw Trust programme, taking care of new referrals. I make contact with our new clients and their Support Managers to see how best Enterprise Exchange can support them in their self-employment project. It is wonderful to be in daily contact with people who are exploring self-employment, sometimes for the first time, and to share details of the courses and one-to-one support we offer. What experience do you have which led you to set up/work with Enterprise Exchange? I have always loved working with people and being organised! As an administrator for a small international volunteering charity and in other roles, such as teacher and support worker, I have had the privilege to work with individuals from all walks of life and with very varied backgrounds. What I particularly loved about these roles was providing personalised support and guidance to each individual: welcoming people, answering enquiries by telephone and email, customising teaching and learning experiences to be relevant and interesting. I am so lucky that my role here at Enterprise Exchange encompasses so many of these elements! I also have a lot of experience supporting individuals and teams with administrative tasks, such as record-keeping, researching, minute-taking, bookkeeping and communicating by phone and email with clients and staff. I just love to support behind the scenes in these ways. Which aspect of your work do you enjoy most? The opportunity to speak with new referrals into our self-employment programme; it is so wonderful to hear people be inspired by the idea of joining one of courses or one-to-one support sessions! I learn so much from my interactions with clients - every day I hear amazing stories about how people are meeting and overcoming challenges, and it is exciting to hear what motivated them to consider being self-employed or explore self-employment. I feel it is a real privilege to work in the role I have at Enterprise Exchange. When you’re not supporting EE what do you enjoy doing? I love so many things! Yoga, walking in the hills and along the coast, open fires, camping, reading, resting, visiting friends and family across the country and world, cooking and baking! Tea or coffee and how do you take it? Oooooh, difficult one as it depends on how I’m feeling at the time! My absolute favourite, though? Strong black tea with lots of soya milk! Thanks so much? How can people best contact you? Thank you! I’m best contacted by email: kara@enterpriseexchange.org.uk  February may be the shortest month of the year, but with some planning and forethought, we can still make it a successful time.
The start of a new year always brings with it some pressure to plan out your perfect year! Social media is awash with mini-courses to help you organise your life and plan for success. Resolutions abound – new year, new you and all that! But, research shows that by mid-February 80% of these resolutions will have failed. January may also just not be ‘your’ time so don’t feel like you have missed the boat completely if you didn’t work out a 12-month plan, perfectly colour coded. The start of the year can be a challenge after the holiday period, and it can take work life some weeks to get fully back to normal. Many businesses also have seasons and January just may not be a good time. People have seasons too. And for many, January is a time of ‘hibernating’ and boosting batteries. If you are thinking of using the second month of the year to kickstart some planning then, here are some ideas we have gathered from around the team which may inspire you:
If you do decide to do some planning this month, we wish the best of luck. Enterprise Exchange regularly shares business support and advice via social media too so please do follow us on Twitter and connect on LinkedIn Over the next few months, we're going to be interview all our team members so that our clients and colleagues get to know us better. First up is one of our Directors, Benna McCartney.  Could you give us a quick overview of your role at Enterprise Exchange? Director - overseeing the back end of the business, managing freelance staff, business development and participant one to one support. What experience do you have which led you to set up/work with Enterprise Exchange? I am a qualified life and business coach and met my business partner Phil through different work we were doing with the same client group. We were both invited into Lewes Prison and asked to support the guys to set up their own businesses, since this is very often the only option for offenders and ex-offenders. We were not able to help at the time as we had such high workloads, but were randomly made redundant at the same time, so I had the idea of setting up the business together to initially support the men in prison. We managed to gain funding through Serco and the rest, as they say, is history! Which aspect of your work do you enjoy most? All of it! Sometimes I struggle with the admin side when there is too much to do and I feel my time would be much better spent supporting staff, participants and having more time to grow the business effectively, but I have lots of tools in place through my training, that enables me to organise myself effectively. What do you do when you're not supporting EE? I don’t seem to have time for much else at the moment, but when I do, I love spending time with family and friends, travelling, exercising, watching films and singing. Tea or coffee and how do you take it? Both but I prefer a good coffee – non dairy cappuccino (with one shot) is my ‘signature’ drink and tea with non dairy milk. I am also really into non dairy matcha lattes at the moment, which I am very happy to say seem to be more widely available in the last few weeks. Thanks so much. How can people best contact you? You are so welcome and please feel free to email me at benna@enterpriseexchange.org.uk.  December’s here and so begins the run up to Christmas. For small business owners, it’s often the one time of the year when they can really switch off as most businesses close down for a few days at least. But we’re not there yet and there are still a few weeks of 2018 to go before starting to look to a new year. The run up to Christmas itself can feel flat for those small businesses not caught up with seasonal activity. Combine that the fact that many are tired after working flat out for the past 11 months and December can mean a real challenge in just keeping going. But there are things that you can do to get the balance right for you and your business whether you err on the side of the Grinch or embrace Christmas totally and wholeheartedly! We’ve pulled together a few tips to embrace the run up to the festive season:
Use the next few weeks well and help prepare your business for a successful 2019! Photo credit: Oleksandr Pidvalnyi  Our directors Benna McCartney and Phil Ashford were delighted to collect the award at the recent National Enterprise Network (NEN) ceremony in London. This is a particular recognition for our Restart Program but it's also a reflection of our brilliant team and great partners. Please see more about the amazing work NEN do here.  On 3rd July I attended a Youth Mental Health First Aid (MHFA England) conference at Birkbeck College, London. Here’s what I took from it. The interactive conference consisted of talks from different professionals from the Mental Health industry speaking on the effects of mental health in schools, on teachers and students and how this heavily affects the overall environment. They also spoke about what support can be offered in educational facilities to help this and shared some very incredible (and some quite shocking) statistics on these subjects. The conference then introduced selected pupils from a few schools around the U.K and also a campaign started by a group of young people called Stamp Out Stigma (S.O.S). The students from the schools varied in age from about 7-16. They all revealed their presentations they had been working on in school in small groups. They varied from talking about the effects of mental health during unemployment, homelessness and other hardships of life that a lot of people face. They included drawings, speeches, powerpoints and animations to showcase these findings and ideas. It was truly inspirational to hear people of such a young age with such a genuine care for others. I think the way today’s society is shaped, there really isn’t enough of that. The kids were all really polite and confident and created a really cool atmosphere by basically taking over and running the session. They also created games to get everyone to introduce each other and talk about their favourite things to do etc, which created a really comfortable environment. Again, it was honestly amazing to see kids that young taking such initiative and really having a positive effect on those around them. The session then drifted towards S.O.S and here is a short summary of what they are about (taken from their website): ‘Stamp Out Stigma is an initiative spearheaded by the Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness (ABHW) to reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness and substance use disorders. This campaign challenges each of us to transform the dialogue on mental health and addiction from a whisper to a conversation.’ They were also really thought-provoking, they talked about their roller-coaster of a journey in which their head teacher had tragically taken their own life and how this affected the school and the pupils. These girls (who are about 15 I believe) had then used this horrible situation to create something genuinely amazing. They have now hosted conferences across the UK with thousands of people and even the Mayor has been involved! The session then wrapped up with an activity where all the adults sat in a circle facing outwards in groups of three and a group of children would come and talk to us for a couple of minutes about whatever popped into our heads (mostly mental health related). It was actually really interesting to see some of the things that people came up with. Some of the things the kids were talking about were really touching, this one girl (couldn’t have been older than 8) stood up and was talking about how she just wished everyone could be happy, she explained she wanted everyone to have a voice and wanted more young people to get involved in doing good things related to mental health. I thought this was a really incredible mindset to have at such a young age. In conclusion, the conference was really motivating and I learnt a lot from it. I hope more people can learn from these guys as they are most definitely going to make a massively positive impact. Thank you for reading! If you’d like to learn more about S.O.S you can find out loads of stuff on their website here. For more information about MHFA England, here is their website here. Written by Kya McCartney (Senior Admin Assistant, Enterprise Exchange).
Dinner at the Clink, Brixton Prison
Our fundraising event on 5th July 2018 at the Clink, Brixton Prison was a brilliant success. We invited some key potential funders and everybody was surprised by the unexpected and un-prison like restaurant atmosphere, except of course for small practical restrictions with no alcohol allowed, not being able to bring anything into the restaurant and having to be escorted in and out of the prison in small groups. Inspirational speakers and entertainment One of the main speakers for the evening was Carl Elliott. Carl was supported in prison a number of years ago by Enterprise Exchange and is inspirational in that he left prison and is now running three very successful businesses. He illustrated to the potential funders how extremely vital a service like Restart is to someone in his position. His speech was inspirational and it was moving to see the changes somebody can make in their lives when given the right support. The rest of the evening was filled with singing from a male acapella choir, joined by the bar tenders who clearly also had a passion and talent for singing and a quiz based on questions around the number of people in prison, how many get jobs and how many reoffend. This became quite a talking point as lots of the figures were shocking even to some in the know. Two attendees, Carl and Jason stood up and talked about how the support they had received from Enterprise Exchange had helped them in their lives and without it they would probably not be here. The food was excellent and of a very high standard and there was a huge round of applause at the end for the ten large amount of offenders who cooked and served the meal. At the end we were all escorted out of prison and picked up our belongings, inspired and moved to be part of a compassionate and supportive organisation where there is a place for everybody no matter what they may have been compelled to do or believe they are capable of. Those with the most challenging backgrounds in life are often the most inspirational.  Lucy Wilkes - social media managementQ: Why did you decide to follow this path/business?
A: Social media came about from my time running a print business. I had opened a print shop in Lewes in 2010 and needed to advertise and took to social media (Twitter in particular) and found it very interesting and successful. I then began to talk to my print customers about it - and they asked my advice on how to 'do it'. I then began to work on some training sessions focussing on business social media. These courses ran in Lewes and then for the last 3 years I have worked with The Swift Project helping women in business alongside my private clients and retained business clients. Q: Has it always been a passion? A: I was always a natural writer, and so now I write in sound bites rather than essays! Social media hasn't been around for long enough for me to call it a passion but I really love what I do for each of my clients. Q: When did you decide to follow your passion? A: I had to make the difficult decision to sell my existing business (The Print Shop) where I had been in a retail environment for 15 years, to follow the social media path. It was very challenging for me to accept that my life had changed (for the better!) and that I was scared of the change from having the security, social interactions and security of my shop; to working on a laptop - just me and my thoughts! Glad to say it was totally the right path, and I may not have been so able to take it without the support of my business mentor. Q: Were you encouraged at school? Were your talents recognised? A: My parents did everything to send me to a private school where success was inspired in each person. I was very lucky to have had that experience - but I left at 16 to continue my education in the state system and was completely unprepared for the change. I would say my education came from work - part time work in kitchens through to American Express where I worked in a dream job for many years! Q: What were the most difficult things to overcome when you decided to try and make money by following your dream rather than getting a job. A: Chasing invoices, so time consuming! I now have an accountant who is on hand to write heavy handed letters incase people don't pay up - thankfully I have done my time on this and now work with larger companies on retained contracts. You are not alone in worrying that you have made the wrong choice in life - but i try to remember and appreciate the freedom I have to be my own boss and work when I choose. The downside is you have to be very disciplined to do this job - in some ways I could work 24/7 and it still wouldn't be enough in the fast pace world of social media - so I have learnt to try and switch off client accounts at weekends! Q: Did you think you would never make it happen? Did you feel you weren’t good enough to make it happen? A: Always! Still do! New clients come through the system and you have to work out how they work so you can do your job - and usually after 6 weeks I mutter to myself - 'Thats it! I cant do this anymore! 'My job sometimes involves going into companies and taking over the social media from other people who will naturally feel resentment towards me - and I try to make them feel OK and support them in their job.. Q: If so how did you move through those thoughts? For many these thoughts can seem so real and limiting. A: Take the emotion out of the situation. Look at things rationally. Do the best job you can and be brave enough to say to a client - 'I am not right for you - Thank you but no thanks' I have done that on several occasions and the clients appreciated it! Q: What do you love most about what you do? A: Creative freedom! To make a real difference to my clients business and back this up with data! Also when I am training a business and they come back to me a few weeks later saying that they actually 'get it' now and see them moving forward. Q: I am sure many people must benefit from your service - does this give you even more satisfaction? A: Absolutely - it is gratifying to have so many testimonials and watch businesses utilise the tools that I have taught them - The Swift Project has been particularly gratifying on this level. Q: Where do you see yourself in five years time? A: Hard to say with the increase in bots - ask me next year'! Contact Lucy here We start to realise there is nothing wrong with self doubt, fear, feeling not good enough - they are all completely normal and we can relax and see they aren't who we are and don't mean anything - and carry on.  Louisa Michel - Founder and owner of Brighton LaceQ: Why did you decide to follow this path/business?
A: I didn’t plan on going in this direction, I was just doing it for fun really, experimenting, and it turned out people liked what I was up to. Q: Has it always been a passion? A: Colour has always been a big passion. I heard a talk recently where the speaker said if you think back to what you were doing when you were very young - the kinds of activities you naturally loved to do - this speaks volumes about what your adult passions are. I realised this is very true for me; I was always ordering things into colour groups - pencils, toys, books...it was just a fascination I had! Today one of my biggest passions is dyeing our laces and thinking about the colourways in our collections. Q: When did you decide to follow your passion? A: I didn’t really make the decision to go for it, in a way it made itself. I thought I was going to end up using my journalism qualification for my work, but my pieces kept selling (I was doing this on the side of my training) and I started to realise I could make this work as a ‘proper’ business. Q: Were you encouraged at school? Were your talents recognised? A: Yes, the focus of my school was very creative, I was lucky in that way. Also my parents helped a lot just in role-modelling that this is a viable career path. Q: What were the most difficult things to overcome when you decided to try and make money by following your dream rather than getting a job. A: It’s taken me a few years to realise that running a business or being an entrepreneur is just like any other career path, it requires a skill set that needs to be learned and honed over time. The business emerged through passion but I had very little concrete business knowledge and this is something I’m definitely still learning today. Thankfully I have some amazing resources and people in my life who help me learn and grow. Q: Did you think you would never make it happen? Did you feel you weren’t good enough to make it happen? A: Oh yes, I doubt that ‘imposter’ feeling ever goes away, but I ask myself how many nice reviews will it take for me to realise we do actually make something beautiful that people love?! Q: If so how did you move through those thoughts? For many these thoughts can seem so real and limiting. A: I relax with those thoughts, I don’t let them get in the way of doing what I love. I also think about all the other people who run small businesses and I realise we all have the same worries and doubts and still we continue on making beautiful things that people cherish. Q: What do you love most about what you do? A: Working with dye, shopping for fabric, going to markets and meeting wonderful customers. I also love the network of makers around me, some of my dearest friends also run small design businesses and I’m so grateful to know them and work alongside them. Q: I am sure many people must benefit from your music/service - does this give you even more satisfaction? A: Yes absolutely. Even now I do a little happy dance when a customer messages us to say thank you, or a lovely review comes in! I also love that it creates work for other talented women in the Brighton community. That is something I feel very proud of - being able to employ the skills of other talented women in the city. Q: Where do you see yourself in five years time? A: Running a Brighton Lace studio that customers can visit, with a few more team members, making lovely lingerie of course, but also producing a small fashion collection, and perhaps a swimwear line too…so many ideas! Contact Lou here In our new series of blog posts we asked some of our clients how it was for them to take the step to self-employment and stick at it when the going gets tough. It's interesting to see we all face the same internal challenges no matter our backgrounds . . .  Max Mezzowave - musician and songwriter at MezzowaveQ: Why did you decide to follow this path/business?
A: It was always something I wanted to do and never felt happy working in a 9 to 5 situation. Q: Has it always been a passion? A: Yes more so in my 20's. Q: When did you decide to follow your passion? A: Age 16 I was in bands before that too. Q: Were you encouraged at school? Were your talents recognised? A: Not really it was outside of school with friends there was music but it was very limited, my mum got me piano lessons at a very young age, so mainly outside of school. Q: What were the most difficult things to overcome when you decided to try and make money by following your dream rather than getting a job. A: I'm not business oriented so I had to learn to be better at it and to accept other jobs (DIY, decorating etc) too to subsidise my passion and when its tough, to not focus on lack and remember the creativity is at the core. Q: Did you think you would never make it happen? Did you feel you weren’t good enough to make it happen? A: Regularly! It goes in waves it can really be on and then just feel like it's a million miles away. Q: If so how did you move through those thoughts? For many these thoughts can seem so real and limiting. A: Probably gratitude and to reflect on previous work I know has kicked ass, so to remember I'm not useless and that it is possible again. Q: What do you love most about what you do? A: When the song/tune has written me and it's really sonic soup feeling the spirit at the core of it, there's nothing like that, it stays with me for days and writes me! And to feel I've created real art and have moved consciousness through my art. Q: I am sure many people must benefit from your music/service - does this give you even more satisfaction? A: Definitely when we've created great work that touches and moves people and being rewarded spiritually and financially too! Q: Where do you see yourself in five years time? A: I'd love to be touring and playing to much larger audiences bringing my sonic soup to more people. Like to be selling many more albums, being played on mainstream radio, have a hit record. I'd also like to have my music in a major consciousness lifting mainstream movie! Contact Max here |
|
Enterprise Exchange
Company number: 11189399 © Enterprise Exchange 2020 Please access our Privacy Policy and Cookies Notice here |
Contact:
info@enterpriseexchange.org.uk |