Did you know it’s ‘Take a Businesswoman to lunch day’ on Friday 1st June 2012?

Is there a woman in business who has inspired you? Or helped you to build your business? Bring her to lunch!

Vicki Stone (Vicki Stone Marketing / Ladies that network) and Jayne Graham (Space on Tap /Colleagues on Tap) were inspired by the  Girls Mean Business event ‘Take a Businesswoman to Lunch’, (Girls Mean Business Facebook page) so are hosting an event for you in Newcastle on 1st June.

We’ve collaborated with Fresh Element and Caroline Theobald (Bridge Club North/FIRST and Fresh Friday’s) to  host an informal lunch at Six Restaurant at the Baltic to mark the occasion.

Where? Six Restaurant at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Arts, Gateshead Quays, South Shore Road, Gateshead,  NE8 3BA

What time? 12pm for 12.30pm – finishes at 2.15pm

How much ? £20 per person which includes 3 courses and a drink (plus voluntary £5 donation to be brought on the day which will be donated to the Community Foundation Women’s Fund)

How do I book? Book your Take a Businesswoman to lunch ticket in advance with Christina Denton at Fresh Element at the Baltic on 0191 440 4948 or email christina@freshelement.co.uk by Monday 28th May.

Anyway, I made a 2 tiered fruit and chocolate cake and it was actually really nice. Delicious, in fact. So I started practicing; whipping up a batch of cupcakes here, a coconut sponge there, and I enjoyed all the adulation and compliments so much that I became a bit obsessed (and still am).

I think I must be a natural… Which is great because I can’t do anything else as well as I bake. I’m rubbish at drawing and I can’t act or dance. I sing like a cat being beaten with a slipper. But cakes, I can do (or make, I should say).

Here’s a picture of a wedding cake that I made recently. The bride wanted a simple, contemporary cake and requested three different flavors; lemon, chocolate and fruit. So I happily obliged and I’m pleased to say it went down extremely well. It was a lovely wedding, too. Congratulations to the happy couple!

Take a look at my website www.yumyumcakes.co.uk and follow me on twitter @claireyumyum

Being a marketing person, I’m always using the creative side of my brain on a regular basis for clients’ and our own business.

I’d never done any ‘official’ mentoring and always thought of it as being a bit ‘namby pamby’, and I thought I couldn’t waste my precious time giving free advice.

I saw a tweet about the first startup weekend which was being held at Newcastle Business School. I’d always mentored our clients on a day to day basis. I thought what the heck, I’ll give it a go.

I’d figured that after having run two businesses and with my x-ad agency background I could help. So I picked up the phone and persuaded Howard Kingston to let me come along as a mentor.

To be honest I was dead nervous and all the week before I swotted up on ‘lean business principals’ and top tips for mentoring.

I turned up at 11am on the Saturday and jumped straight into it for a full day of mentoring the groups, after a brief welcome and what I blast I had. I came away from the end of the day (without sounding too cheesy) really inspired and ready to take on the world!

On the Sunday I came back for the pitches in the evening and was so pleased and proud to see my top 3 groups come up trumps, winning 1st 2nd and 3rd prize.

If you’re thinking of trying mentoring for the first time, I’d say just go for it. You don’t have to spend days and days, it could be just a one-off weekend or a couple of hours at a time. 

Shabia and Devang designed the logo and developed a prototype of the interface of the tablet over the weekend. Tommasso designed the website and helped Varun to crunch the numbers and primary research was carried out by reviewing the tablets currently on the market. Social media accounts were made for trip TAB whilst Archie and KahKiat went to Newcastle airport to do some vox pops on passengers and made the tripTAB t-shirts (as it was the weekend so everywhere was closed!). The progress made by the team in the 54 hours was unbelievable, and an infectious vibrant working atmosphere was created with a shared vision and common goal of what was to be achieved.

The pitch itself on the Sunday at 5pm was done by Archie that was to last 4 minutes. as the 6th presentation to go of 12 the pressure was on. He got up there with the team behind to a pitch and couldn’t see his words! Speechless. After his opening line of are you finding flying frustrating ? which got an answer from Jonathon Goldman of a “yes”! throwing him completely off course. With the clock ticking in front of him and after 30 seconds of nothing, and not allowing his colleagues to take over, he managed to psyche himself up and battle on. The pitch was followed by 4 minutes of questions and answers to which Devang, Tommaso and Varun answered with great commercial acumen and understanding. Archie was thoroughly upset with himself for letting the team down, however after the pitches were over and the judges decided the winners…… tripTAB were awarded the Innovation Award. We couldn’t believe it, none of us knew what we had just won! And were ecstatic but completely overwhelmed, as the hard work and dedication that the team had put in over the weekend was rewarded.

The businesss.

trip TAB is an interactive tablet for in-flight entertainment. The tablet will offer rich media content including the latest films, games, TV shows, favourite magazine. When you check out when booking online you simply add the tripTAB as an extra for just £7 to hire for your journey. So when you board the plane with your boarding pass, you just show the airhostess the ticket and she hands you the tripTAB. When seated the passenger enters a unique code and then slects their language and is then able to explore the tripTAB for the entire duration of the flight.

Startup Weekends are “weekend-long, hands-on experiences where entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs can find out if startup ideas are viable…Over Saturday and Sunday teams focus on customer development, validating their ideas, practicing LEAN Startup Methodologies and building a minimal viable product.”

Building a viable product is exactly what the team behind JobLog.co did. In the words of the newly formed business: “JobLog.co is an online portal that connects employers with employees in an innovative way. Employers have the opportunity to get a feel for a potential candidate before they even meet them from a combination of videos, posts, photos and, of course, CVs.”

Instead of listing available positions, JobLog.co allows job seekers to upload a 60 second video clip and a CV that employers can view at will.

Employers can find candidates with the skills they need by searching from an existing pool. Intelligent searching algorithms, working to match the employer’s unique requirements, will ensure that only the most appropriate candidates are suggested to employers.

 The site is free for job seekers and costs employers just one flat fee – something that should drastically reduce recruitment costs by avoiding the need for costly recruitment consultants. With sheer simplicity and low costs headlining JobLog.co’s main benefits, the new website is poised to become the single port of call for job seekers and employers alike.

Ranging from students to graduates seeking employment, experienced software engineers and entrepreneurs, each member of the JobLog.co team brings unique skills to the table.

Perhaps most vital to JobLog.co is Mark Gardener’s 10-plus years of experience in the recruitment industry. Mark was a recruitment manager, recruiting his first team in 1995, and more recently an owner of a recruitment company. He’s been there and done it before so he knows exactly what the team behind JobLog.co need to do to be successful.

Through plenty of hard work, and backed by a solid pitch, the JobLog.co team took home the coveted “Team Most Likely To Make A Million” top prize at the Startup Weekend event, as voted by business experts.

They received free office space for a year and enough mentoring to really hone their idea into a world-beating business.  They’ve already been featured in local newspapers and they’re determined to ride the wave of momentum they’ve built up so far.

With an enthusiastic and talented team working behind such an innovative and exciting idea, the sky’s the limit for JobLog.co.

Are we about to see the next big thing in job recruitment? Find out on the 1st of May when the website launches.

For more information about JobLog.co please visit www.JobLog.co and follow @JobLogUK on Twitter

I’d never tried mentoring start-ups before but really enjoyed it and I’ve come away still buzzing and feeling so happy for all the teams involved. Brilliant ideas, great people with some real energy and inspiration.

Job Log wins first prize at Startup Newcastle 2012

We had a great time exhibiting with the lovely SpaceonTap at today’s Spring North East Expo.

We met lots of new people with some fantastic businesses as we promoted Space on Tap, Colleagues on Tap co-working days and a little bit of my own business (thanks Jayne).

On the way out we couldn’t resist a pic with the lovely Jamie Lester (BBC Apprentice Finalist) – what a canny bloke! And thanks again Jamie for offering to help us carry our boxes

Here’s some pics of the stand…

It was a fresh start coming back to the North East after 3 great years in Leeds working as a Medicinal Chemist in Cancer Research. Now I was eager to get a Chemist position in the North East. Whilst I was waiting for replies I wondered if I could find something else to do that I would both enjoy and be good at?

I am a very socially active person and for the past few years I have been an Ambassador for Science involving Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, and volunteered at Newcastle and Manchester Science Festivals – the geeky side of me has to get out some way! Music is also a great passion of mine too and I have run and promoted a few music festivals, and even a friend’s band – I loved this and seemed to be good at it!

Then I attended a networking event at Sunderland University called ‘Informal Friday’, an event where anyone can turn up discuss ideas and also show their entrepreneurial side! It was here I came away with the idea of helping to promote the North East with an online organisation in some way! I had to ask myself a few questions:

• Q. Who could my online organisation help? Answer – Anyone in the North East!
• Q. How? Answer – Using Social Media, Blogs, tutorials and More!

The North East HUB was born! I quickly started by setting up several Social Media Sites and we now have a big following. Then I launched the blog site and went on the hunt to find a small army of guest authors who kindly contribute to our blog site each week.

Why would people of the North East want to contact The North East HUB I hear you say?

Contact us if –

• You’re puzzled by Social Media (e.g. Twitter, facebook) or SEO (how to increase views on your website)? – We can help you set up Social Media and we give separate Social Media and SEO tutorials on how to use Social Media effectively, and how to get more visitors to your website!
• You want the North East to know about you! If you have a business, event, competition, charity, website etc that you want the North East to know about – we can help spread the word by promoting you across our social media, in a review, in a promotional blog and more!
• You want advice about blogs or want to set a blog up – We can set up a blog for you and provide advice on how blogs work and how you should use it to suit you!

So far The North East HUB has helped to promote – Numerous local Businesses, events, competitions, charities etc across our Social Networks, Businesses in our weekly Promotional Blogs and local singer Jason Isaacs with his successful campaign to win a record contract! We hope we can help you too, please get in touch!

Donna Petch

Email: donna.petch@thenortheasthub.com

Website: www.thenortheasthub.com/blog/

Mark has worked in the automotive industry for the last 25 years and can proudly name BMW, Porsche and Audi as a number of his clients as a management consultant. Sharon’s background was in customer service for a leading telecommunications provider and has more, recently, enjoyed the lifestyle of a lady of leisure.

While Mark is a self-confessed workaholic after making millions for other people over the years he decided it was his turn. He’ll admit himself he’s had a couple of ideas in the past about businesses ventures, but none he has ever felt so strongly about as Archers Jersey ice cream. The beloved Porsche (that we hear rarely left the garage) was sold to fund the business, hairnets were ordered and the Greener’s ice cream adventure started….

Apparently, the person to blame for this whole thing is Mark’s mother in law who bought him an ice-cream maker for Christmas two years ago. In reality, those who know Mark will tell you it’s his passion for business, delivering exceptional customer service and truly believing in a product as the real reasons.

This whole story is a real family affair, as the location of the parlour is down to daughter Jessica. As a final year Marketing student at Newcastle University, Jessica had lived in Jesmond and knew that an Archer’s ice-crea parlour was just what Jesmond needed. A couple of other areas were looked at but nothing felt as right as 36 Acorn Road did, decision made!

From selecting the right type of chairs to the excitement when the Archer’s sign went up for the first time, there’s been no looking back for the Greener’s.

Mark still travels the country in his role as a management consultant, but longs for the weekends when he can spend them in Jesmond; some would say he gets the best of both worlds. Sharon has enjoyed 70 hour weeks from the beginning quickly becoming, according to some of our customers “the best ice-cream maker in Tyne and Wear”.

While the parlour is still very new, when you visit the corporate roots of the owners are evident. Whether it’s in the customer service delivered, the premium quality of the product or the attention to detail in the parlour décor.

The first summer in Jesmond is eagerly anticipated by owners, staff and customers alike.

Be sure to watch this space for more developments at Archers because we all know the corporate world doesn’t stop moving, and neither does Archers.

A trend for ‘co-working’ is gripping North East home-based businesses, providing that ‘missing link’ that makes home-working a great way to set up and run a business. 

 “Millions of people around the UK have chosen to set up and run their company from home, reducing costs and providing for an improved work/life balance”, explains Jayne Graham, Founder of Space on Tap, a company that’s been run from a home base since its start-up almost 2 years ago.  

“Technology has made homeworking feasible for a vast range of businesses, however although it can be a sound business choice to set up from home there’s just one thing missing;  other people!  We introduced Colleagues on Tap Co-working days to recreate the buzz of a day in the office for homeworkers and the feedback from ‘co-workers’ has been phenomenal.” 

The one-day events are run around the North East region in some great venues, and provide the opportunity to get plenty of work done as well as make new contacts, join colleagues for lunch and share business knowledge.  For details of events already planned for April and May go to http://bit.ly/CoworkingCalendar  or email jaynegraham@spaceontap.com