My dad passed away a few weeks ago having been in hospital for a while, even though we had been advised about what the future held for him, loosing him was a devistating blow for my brothers our families and myself.

Why I am sharing this with you is because it meant I had to be away from my business for several long weeks, even now I am struggling with the reality of whats happened. The effect on my business however has been minimal thanks to the incredible strong team I have around me, not only has there support and kindness been a real comfort but there efforts in keeping the business going is to be admired.

Thank you guys for all the hard work and dedication you display it means so much to me. In theses tough times we are still moving forward and giving great customer service.

You are a great team.

An event such as this really does make you take a step back and look at what your are doing in your life, how close you are with your family and loved ones and how fortunate I am to have such wonderful friends.

Dad was a massive influence in my life more as I was an adult than a child, I always wanted to make him proud of what I had achieved and return the love he displayed to me. There is hole left in my world and that of my brothers and family but in time that will mend it self.

So we move forward to new adventures and experiences armed with whatever we need, to do whatever it takes.

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E-Myth

Michael Gerber in the legendary E-Myth book extols the virtue of working on your business not in it, and for ages I never really understood how I could make the shift or find the time to do just that. It’s so easy to get caught up in the day to day activity of your business that’s the hours fly by and  the days merge into each other.

What was my solution ?

find out here!

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Celebrating Success

Oxford Business Wealth Club

My business mentor and close friend, Paul Avins, invited me last Friday to the Oxford Business Wealth Club awards evening, now in its 4th year. Of course I couldn’t say no and spent Friday night in the company of  diverse, inspirational & successful business people.

What surprised me was the sense of community they demonstrated, all pulling together, working with each other to grow their businesses in what after all are some of the toughest times we have been through in a long while. The awards covered a variety of different aspects of business, growing business, business of the year etc.The two categories I found most interesting were the Joint Venture Award and the Back from the Brink Award.

Continue reading

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One Size Fits All

Can one size fit all ?

Retail Merchandise Units (RMU’s) have been on the UK mall walkways for well over 10 years. The challenge that all manufacturers face is designing a unit that works for everyone, not just retailers but for shopping centres as well.

Shopping centres will want to protect sight lines and ensure that the unit is made from fire rated material, that it is secure at night and blends in well with its surroundings and will stand the test of constant use.

Retailers on the other hand want something totally different, large areas to display, power and data capability, lights and shelving that work for their own particular product. They also need enough room to store all the stock they carry. One of the only things they seem to agree on are security at night.

Whats The Answer ? find out here!

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You don’t have to be a big brand

As an expert in commercialisation let me bust “The Myth” about working in a shopping centre, it’s not as expensive as you might think and you don’t need to big a big brand name either.

Across the UK’s shopping centres you will find activity on the mall walkways, companies with a retail offer, experiential activity & lead generation. Have you ever stopped to look at just who they are? Well more than half of them are local or regional businesses. They have realised that using the local shopping centre is a cost effective and dynamic way to grow sales, leads or raise customer awareness.
read on..

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Visit to The Business Wealth Club St Albans

This morning I spent an amazing few hours with the members of the BWC in St Albans. The Breakfast question was “What are you passionate about?”

The discussion that followed generated many interesting ideas, a given was our family and friends of course, but the one thing we had in common was that we were all passionate about doing business.

Over the years I have been to many network events, we’ve all been to ones where you are constantly being sold to or talked at by the other networkers.

The St Albans Business Wealth Club wasn’t like that at all, not only was the group treated to a great member presentation, members received the book of the month and some excellent mentoring by Alan French, they were all genuine people linked by a common purpose of helping each other and having a passion for business.

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Mall Services bakes for charity

All at Mall Services, Blueprint Projects, iCentreB2B helped raise money for Wear it Pink day
with all baking cakes for sale and wearing pink outfits.

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Westfield Stratford City

Westfield has opened their new centre next to the Olympic site in Stratford, London. The site opened to huge crowds and is expected to be packed with fans on the 7th November when Justin Bieber turns on the Christmas lights.

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