Bromley Business Club Member's Blog

Thanks Richard and everyone at Bromley Business Club for raising a fantastic £80 for The Maypole Project at last month’s meeting. And what an informative meeting it was. Thanks to Jason’s talk I have now discovered my ‘core stability’. I came away enlightened and rather in awe of someone who obviously paid more attention in their biology class than I did!

It’s been a busy couple of weeks at The Maypole Project. Over half-term we held a Respite Day at Christ Church Hall in Orpington. This gave parents and carers of children with complex medical needs the opportunity to drop the children off with their brothers, sisters and special friends and have a break for the day. We had a bouncy castle, a children’s entertainer, face-painting, a soft play room and tables for doing arts and crafts. The children had a great time – and so did we. It’s so rewarding to see children of mixed-abilities enjoying themselves and having a great time.

We’ve got our Soul Night at Petts Wood Memorial Hall on Saturday 13th March. Tickets are £10 each. There’s a licensed bar, a raffle with great prizes and a prize for the best-dressed outfit (optional!). If you fancy a fun night out please email me on rebeccadevaux@themaypoleproject.co.uk or call 01689 898910 for tickets.

With thanks for your support and best wishes

Rebecca and all at The Maypole Project

Whether you are considering taking your business online or embracing the social web, finding out key facts about your target audience can prove immensely valuable.

Every year the Office of National Statistics takes a snapshot of the UK internet population and as a web marketing agency, we believe this makes for an essential read.

You can now view a summary and / or download your own copy of the 2009 report here.

Blogging and twitter have always been a closed book for me up to now. I knew about them of course and realised their potential for helping with marketing my business.

My problem has been a lack of time as I felt I needed to have a firmer grip on how it all worked before I dipped my toe in the water.

I'd like to thank Richard for the very clear instructions that he has put together for us novices.

This is my first attempt at a blog so I will keep it very short!!
I am in the process of putting together some words of wisdom in relation to "Equity Release". This is an area of financial advice that is often misunderstood so I hope to debunk a few myths over the next few weeks. My aim is simply to help people recognise that, like any financial product, it has it's place as long as it is properly understood.

Equity Release as a concept/product has the power to significantly improve the financial position of many elderly people.

Watch for future blogs as I explain how in more detail.

Thanks to all those who attended last night's meeting with guest speaker Dr Jason Gould, a chiropractor from Chislehurst. His Back Pain and Business Workshop was an interesting topic, brought to life by Jason highlighting some of the common causes of back pain suffered by many in the group.

Everything from how to correctly stand up from a seated position to how your emotions relate to your posture were discussed.

One of the main things I took away from the evening was how you should respect the signals your body is sending, ie pain! If left unchecked for a long period of time the pain can escalate and cause damage that could have been prevented.

A lot of common problems seem to occur from a lack of core muscle strength which affects a lot of the body. Former international footballer, Niall Quinn said that he could not have played his last two seasons without Pilates which helps strengthen core muscles.

Beware of Expensive Chairs!

The topic of chairs came up in discussion, one person having spent many hundreds of pounds on a designer chair found that this solved their back problems.

Jason warned against expensive purchases, that may or may not solve your back pain, as the root cause may be something else entirely, such as your bed!

I can testify to that as I myself have one of these designer chairs, luckily I didn't pay quite as much, which helped my back pain but has definitely not solved it.

It turns out I might have sciatica so it looks like I'll be seeing Jason again quite soon!

There are many things you can do to promote your business and gain new customers. Some cost effective methods include social media marketing, email marketing or business networking.

Being a member of the Bromley Business Club's committee I'm naturally going to pick the latter as one of the best ways to gain new business and make new contacts.

Having been involved with the club for over a year now I can testify to the fact a business club can really kick start your business and give you food for thought. So diving straight in, here are some good reasons to join a club.

5 Reasons To Join A Business Networking Club

1. Word of Mouth Marketing
2. Meet people actively seeking to trade
3. Speak with those already successfully trading
4. Practice your elevator pitch
5. Listen to some great speakers

In the case of The Bromley Business Club there are actually 7 reasons! We let you add a profile of your business to the website and also add blog posts to this very blog!

What are you waiting for, join a business club today and start expanding your network.

Business Clubs In The Area

• BNI
• 1230 Club
• Cut To The Chase - Speed Networking

What's your experience with networking clubs? Do they work for you?

Image credit Marc Smith