Today’s podcast presenter Lis McDermott talks to member Ed Le Coyte of Luniq, a technology consultancy.

Ed talks about how Luniq came from the defence sector which historically has large enterprises, but now, Luniq have moved to a space where they offer more to more people. They take a solution agnostic and vendor agnostic approach, and Ed’s role in the company is to help move the company more into a private sector space.

However, Ed is fairly new to the IT trade, but has always been in sales, and he talks about how after working in the motor trade for many years helped him with his sales skills.

Ed also talks about moving away from the motor trade has helped him to enjoy more work-life balance. He has three little girls, and only working from Monday to Friday gives him far more time with them. Plus, he also fronts a band, as the lead singer – another escape from work-life.

Before joining Businesswise, earlier this year, Ed had not done any networking, because in the motor trade people come to you – you don’t have to find your customer base. Visiting Business wise was a baptism of fire – but he says a fun place to be, where business is taken seriously first and foremost.

Since joining, he has also joined other business networks, and is looking to find other networking events to attend, because he recognises the effect it has on business. But also, in Businesswise particularly, he is enjoying the long lasting relationships that can be built, when meeting with like-minded people.

If you’d like to know more about Ed and Businesswise, visit https://businesswise.org.uk/members/ed-le-coyte/ and if you’d like to visit email secretary@businesswise.org.uk – we do have to check first that your seat is vacant. If it’s not you will be put on a waiting list.

In today’s podcast our presenter Fi Da Silva Adams is talking to member Danielle Holmes of Black Nova Designs, a company who provide design and host websites. Next year the business will be celebrating 10 years.

Danielle runs the business with her husband, Kyle, who she says is the brains. Kyle is the one who understands all of the IT stuff, and Danielle, over the last nine years has learned about how things work in terms of managing domains, emails, websites etc. She now sells the company so that Kyle and their team of 5 can do the work.

Before working with her husband, Danielle had several different jobs, but the last one in accounts and credit control is extremely helpful to make sure that Black Nova’s cashflow is correct and she keeps an eye on profit and loss.

When Danielle was first invited to visit Business Wise as a guest, she wasn’t that keen when she found out about the 7 am start, but after visiting she was surprised how much she enjoyed it, and how welcoming everyone in the room was.

According to Danielle, Business Wise is the reason that Black Nova has got to where we are today – partly because of the networking she now does. She found being able to communicate in person invaluable. Plus, during that time, she has made many good friends too. And she has found that there are many different businesses there that complement their business. And people genuinely do buy from other people in the room.

Danielle also talks about how she and Kyle, through the business sponsoring several events, including Event Horse of the Year for Horse and Hound. They also take stands at the Badminton Horse Trials, and are the only IT company there, which is also great for building their branding.

She also talks about the importance of having your own website, rather than just relying on social media.

If you’d like to know more about Danielle and Businesswise, visit https://businesswise.org.uk/ and if you’d like to visit email secretary@businesswise.org.uk – we do have to check first that your seat is vacant. If it’s not you will be put on a waiting list.

If you’d like to contact Danielle directly:

https://businesswise.org.uk/members/danielle-holmes/

Our host today is John Lewis, and he is talking to, our social media member, Hannah Edwards.

Hannah has been a member of the group for several years, and after initially joining as her own business, holding the virtual assistant seat, her seat now is social media, and she is representing her client, Scott Media. And at the beginning of the year, she took over the role of secretary of the group.

Hannah shares how her business has grown and changed over the last seven years, talking about how as a younger person, you often leap into business, without considering what it actually takes to be a business owner! She shares the things that she has learnt from Fiona Scott, her long-term client, and owner of Scott Media.

Hannah loves how supportive people are in the group towards everyone’s achievements and says it’s almost like being a family member- there’s always someone there at the end of the phone.

The three main things she thinks about being part of the group are:

• You only get out what you put in.
• You need to take up any advantages and opportunities offered.
• You learn how to help others run their business.

If you’d like to know more about Hannah, or more about Businesswise, then come along and visit us, or look at Hannah’s profile on https://businesswise.org.uk/

Chris Dawes from Visual PR hosts our latest podcast where he is talking to Matt Cantillon of the Cantillon Group.

Matt started in business as an electrician, after a parting of ways from the company he was working for. He set up on his own in 2010, and hearing how he has built up his own business is fascinating and inspiring. His business is now in its 15th year and now employs between 30 and 40 people.

From a man with a van, his company now has a contract with the local authority; they offer a turnkey package for anything construction. They do extensions, they project manage and where they don’t have the people, they work with a team of subcontractors.

Chris and Matt discuss the negative impact of COVID and Brexit on the building industry, and how much harder and more expensive it is still making things. Everything has had a huge knock-on effect, because a lot of products come in from Germany.

When it comes to charity, Matt works closely with Renew Men's Shed and the Swindon Night Shelter, and he likes to be able to ‘give back’ to the local area. He talks about how he’s been fortunate in his life, and he recognises that not everyone has, so wants to continue to support local charity.

He has been a member of Business Wise for 4 or 5 years and before this tried a few groups, before finding the one that worked for him. Matt has a unique way of looking at networking. For him it is more about growing his team and resources rather than looking for work. By that he means, he is interested in finding people in the group who he could use in his own business, due to their skills and expertise.

Matt also shares his future plans to develop a renewable side of his business.

If you’d like to know more about Matt and Businesswise, visit https://businesswise.org.uk/ and if you’d like to visit email secretary@businesswise.org.uk – we do have to check first that your seat is vacant. If it’s not you will be put on a waiting list.

In today’s podcast our present, Fiona Scott talks to one of our newer members, Ali Newnham.

Ali is Operations Manager for Moova Home, an estate agent and letting agents in Swindon. The business was started up over 20 years ago by Ashley Kane, the owner. Over the years the focus of the business has shifted from just being lettings to now also having sales too.

Although new to Business Wise, Ali talks about the value of joining the group and how much she gets from it. She talks about how she loves being part of the business family that the group creates, and that for her it is exactly the group that is right for her and the business. Ali also shares how already, she is getting referrals for their business, even though she didn’t expect that so soon. And more importantly, her boss, Ashley has also noticed the changes too.

Ali shares the back story of Moova Home and her varied career journey before she ended up working there, around 6 years ago.

She also shares the shocking story of how her life nearly ended at a young age and how it has impacted on her life leaving her with a very positive outlook on life.

This is one lively story …

If you’d like to know more about Ali and Business Wise, visit https://businesswise.org.uk/ and if you’d like to visit email secretary@businesswise.org.uk – we do have to check first that your seat is vacant. If it’s not you will be put on a waiting list.

If you’d like to contact Ali directly:

Website: https://www.moovahome.co.uk

Email: hello@moovahome.co.uk

Phone: 01793 512345

Our presenter today is John Lewis, who is talking to member Martin Baker, of Martin Baker Estate Planning, who has belonged to the group for three years.

His business is predominantly about encouraging people to recognise the importance of having a will, and powers of attorney for both health and wealth. Many people don’t want to talk about what happens after their death, and he wants to help people be prepared, rather than coming up against lots of problems when things haven’t been put in place.

Martin joined us during COVID, when the meetings were online, which he found a bit strange. Apart from having to get up early on a Friday morning, he loves meeting everyone every other week and enjoys the friendships he’s made.

Networking is a fairly new thing, but he values how it has worked for him. It is something he would encourage other people to do too. So much so, he has invited some friends to our groups open networking event in February.

Martin says networking is similar to children saying they don’t like cabbage - you need to at least try it once to have an opinion about it.

If you’d like to know more about Martin and Business Wise, visit https://businesswise.org.uk/ and if you’d like to visit email secretary@businesswise.org.uk – we do have to check first that your seat is vacant. If it’s not you will be put on a waiting list.

Fiona Scott, of Scott Media, hosts the latest Businesswise podcast, talking to Janet Shreeve of Shreeve Care Services who shares how she began working in the care industry and why she still has a passion for working in it today.

Shreeve Care Services is a couple of months away from their second anniversary. However, Janet has been working in care for around 19 years, and prior to that worked as an Italian teacher. For the last couple of months, she has been in Italy.

Janet talks about being a more mature business woman and how she embraces her age rather than letting it define her, and how over the next few years rather than slow down, she is hoping to grow her business.

Despite being a B2C business, Janet talks about the importance of networking to her – how we do it all the time yet don’t think about it as networking. Also, how important people are to you if you live alone – without networking, you’d have no one to bounce ideas off. She loves Businesswise; the fact that it’s quite informal and the obvious way people support each other. Even being in sunny Italy and unable to attend for a few months, she’s missing the group!

Janet also talks about the interesting differences she found when networking in Italy.

If you’d like to know more about Janet and Businesswise, visit https://businesswise.org.uk/ and if you’d like to visit email secretary@businesswise.org.uk – we do have to check first that your seat is vacant. If it’s not you will be put on a waiting list.

If you’d like to contact Janet directly:

Website: www.shreevecareservices.co.uk

Email: jane.shreeve@shreevecareservices.co.uk

Today’s podcast presenter, Fi DaSilva Adams is talking to member, Dave Steinhausen of Red Wizard Digital, a company who focuses on pay per click, Google ads, and LinkedIn ads.

Starting his business about a year and a half ago, Dave works with small to medium businesses on a one to one basis to help them to understand how to get the best from online ads.

Previously, he worked with a larger marketing agency who were looking to grow their business with much larger businesses who have huge budgets to spend. Dave wanted to be able to support smaller businesses to help them make things work with smaller budgets.

He talked about how the Pandemic changed his thinking, as it has for many people, and he made the decision to go it alone. On leaving his previous business, he was able to take four clients with him, who he is still working with.

Dave hasn’t found networking so easy in his part of the county, and ended up coming to a Businesswise meeting in Swindon. He loved the friendly atmosphere, and although initially he didn’t have the budget to join, as soon as he did, he knew that networking was something he had to do to help grow his business.

He also enjoys meeting up with other business people, because working from home, alone can be quite lonely. You don’t have anyone to chat to when you have problems, which is another thing he has found useful in joining our group.

If you’d like to know more about Dave and Business Wise, visit https://businesswise.org.uk/ and if you’d like to visit email secretary@businesswise.org.uk – we do have to check first that your seat is vacant. If it’s not you will be put on a waiting list.

If you’d like to contact Dave directly:

Website: https://red-wizard.digital/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-steinhausen-ad-wizard/