Small Business, Big Network

Vicki Allen's journey has been an exciting mix of live broadcast, windsurfing waves, and now, conquering the digital seas as a Social Media Manager and Consultant at Ashore VA. For ten years, Vicki thrived in the fast-paced world of television production, as Director and Vision Mixer on a live sports programme. But her adventurous spirit craved a change. Enter certified watersports instructor Vick...

A Qualified Franchise Professional with the  British Franchise Association , Rebecca Newenham is a  business owner, mentor, franchise consultant and flexible working champion . After a successful career in corporate buying, she founded award-winning outsourcing agency  Get Ahead  in 2010 and welcomed her first franchisee in 2017. Rebecca helps other bus...

Claire Hill is a self belief and businesses mentor, as well as the founder of The Vivid Business Club, a membership dedicated to supporting and uplifting business owners. She is also the host of the No Rest for the Vivid podcast. She's planning to start a new network in the Kent and Medway area which will be based more on making friends than doing business. https://www.clairehill.uk https://www.cl...

Flee Chavasse is the owner of Parker and Boots photography. She loves creating brand photography for business owners, as well as teaching children about photography, and being an NLP practitioner! Flee says she came to networking late but is glad she discovered it. www.parkaandbootsphotography.com    www.linkedin.com/in/feliciachavasse    https://calendly.com/fleephotography/ph...

John Wilson is the Founder of Honest Video, a full-funnel video marketing agency for corporate clients. Honest specialise in beautiful corporate videos and work with the likes of AQA, Bauer Media, Thomson Reuters, Roche, and Asahi. Recently, John co-founded Xplnr which produces animated explainer videos with fixed fees, streamlined processes, and a proven script model. Founded on delivering h...

Kelly Drewett is the founder of Kaydee Website and SEO Agency. Kelly started her business at the tender age of 19 and has been running it for almost 25 years! She now lives in France but networks with people back in the UK through online meetings which she loves. As well as helping businesses with their websites and SEO Kelly also trains people do be able to do some of the work themselves. Have a...

Blake Caldwell is one of the co-founders of Brotherhood-UK, a coaching business that helps people (predominantly, but not exclusively, men) be the best they can be. Blake's background includes sport, sales and crisis intervention work for Children's Services. He's very keen on fitness and mental health, and wants to help as many people as possible to feel good about themselves and their lives. He...

Nicola Auckland is a Business & Brand Photographer with a passion for the relationships formed between business owners, customer and brands.  After her corporate career ended during Covid, she turned her profitable side-hustle into fully fledged wedding photography business. Whilst she loved this, she knew something wasn't quite right (and it had little to do with the number of Ed Sheeran...

James West is the co-founder of ONLE Networking - the online business network for people who like people. He met his wife Kelly while networking and they built ONLE on the belief that most people can be trusted to network without the rules and protocols that get in the way of running a business. Based on his own experiences, James believes that the secret power of networking is to provide bus...

Camilla is a Vedic Meditation expert, based in Kent, UK Camilla trained as a primary school teacher in 2000 and learnt to meditate when she was an Assistant Headteacher in an inner city London school.  After meditating, she worked as a gardening teacher in the Eden Project, a chef and cooking teacher in Sydney and then returned to the UK to live in the family home, Owletts, a National Tr...

Claire Waite Brown is the founder of the Creativity Found podcast where she interviews people about being creative in later life. She has also built the Creativity Found website to help grown-ups find their creativity by listing courses, workshops, events, books, products and subscriptions with creativity at their heart. In addition she has created a network to support and promote artistic and cre...

Martin Whiskin and Ben Bowles (collectively known as Bentin) are the founders of The Creative Collective (TCC), an online networking group for people in creative industries. Their motto is 'collaboration not competition' and their meetings regularly attract 30+ attendees which suggests it's an approach that works! Find out more at: www.thecreativecollectivenetworking.co.uk Today's episode is kindl...

In 2015, Debra decided to leave the corporate world and do something. Exactly what she was going to do was somewhat unclear! She decided to focus on smaller businesses and see if she could use her experience to support them. Having set up a website, she realised that she needed to get the message out which led to her joining various networking groups - a new and, initially somewhat uncomfortable,...

Anna is a Sexual Intimacy Expert and Your YOU Coach, operating from China where her focus lies in helping women who’re disappointed, disconnected and detached in their relationships accelerate their intimate connection with their partner with her INTIMACY ACCELERATION 3 Step System. She has helped 100s of women shift from desperate and frustrated to delighted and confident by integrating coaching...

Tom Jepson is a coach for creative people who describes himself as being slightly rebellious and also quite nerdy! Tom's background is in the design industry as both an employee and a freelancer, so he understands the issues that creative business owners face. https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomjepsoncoaching/ https://www.tomjepsoncreative.com

Branding is all about creating an emotional connection between the brand and their ideal customer. When that prospective customer encounters your brand, it should create an instant feeling. That feeling if done correctly should grow and turn that customer into a customer for life. That’s exactly what Squark Design help business owners to do – build trust, loyalty and excitement in their brand.&nbs...

Gemma Adair is the founder of Riada Consultancy, a marketing expert who helps businesses unlock their marketing potential. With an impressive 20-year marketing journey, Gemma has worked for and with some of the world's largest tech giants, including Accenture, Microsoft, Avanade, AWS, Ricoh Europe, and K2 (Nintex). Her deep understanding of the tech industry shines through her expertise in marketi...

Shanel Richardson is a British artist based in Sweden who creates memorable images for memorable projects through the use of illustration, animation and 3D, and she's passionate about helping companies think in creative ways when it comes to their image and marketing.  Whether it's sketching out characters and ideas in a rapid sketch-session, or designing a children's book...

The Business Allotment is run by Jodie Newman, author of Build Your Business on Ideas (published by Icon Books). From her furniture design MA at the RCA, through a decade spent in marketing, Jodie has since built her business for the last twenty-one years on the belief that great ideas grow businesses and that creativity makes you a better business owner. Just ask her about how Polo mints can...

Barbara Gill is a specialist in marketing creative businesses and has a passion for marketing strategy and email marketing.  Barbara founded Barbara Gill Marketing in 2020 with a mission to help businesses without a marketing department to take control of their marketing and reach their ideal clients and customers. Barbara is also a co-founder of the Hook Project, an agency providing workshop...

Rayhaan is a Chartered Accountant and the founder of Sidekick, an accountancy firm specialising in providing outsourced accounting and CFO support to business owners. Focused on helping clients make more money and pay less tax, Sidekick distinguishes itself by prioritising client service above all else. This foundational philosophy ensures that every client is provided with bespoke, strategic fina...

Matthew Hunkin is a branding expert and runs Valhalla Branding. He has found that being clear on your branding helps with your networking too. If business is a battlefield, then brand is your most powerful weapon. To be victorious, you need a clear strategy, the right weapons, and good people on your side. That is where Valhalla comes in. Matt will align your brand identity to your mission and sha...

Bryan Clayton isn't just another CEO; he's a visionary and a groundbreaker. As the mastermind behind GreenPal, an innovative online marketplace dubbed the "Uber for lawn care" by Entrepreneur magazine, he's revolutionizing the way homeowners connect with local lawn care pros. Boasting over 200,000 active users, GreenPal pulses with thousands of transactions daily, a testament to Bryan's knack for...

Clare Fuller has spent 30 years working as a palliative care nurse and has now set up her own business called 'Speak for me'. She helps people negotiate the tricky topic of advanced care planning, to ensure that at the end of their lives they get what they want and need as far as possible. She is also the host of the 'Conversations about advanced care planning' podcast. Clare has found that a peer...

Dan Knowlton and his brother Lloyd run Knowlton Marketing, an agency which specialises in 'advertainment'. Dan is on a mission to rid the world of 'crap marketing' and encourages businesses to invest in marketing that actually makes their customers feel something. Networking is something Dan feels he got wrong at first, by going to the wrong places, but now he networks at meetings around the world...