About me
Curious, always learning, an early adopter of tech, a communicator, wordsmith, blogging since 2005, connecting people, a socially confident introvert, I’d rather talk about you than me but that’s not why you’re here so here goes …
I qualified as a Fellow of the Institute of Personnel Management studying Psychology, Economics, Statistics and Industrial Relations.
A decade later I started a training consultancy and agency and later sold this to an international agency. During this time I realised that a lot of self employed people were highly qualified in their chosen field but had no training in how to run a profitable business. This led me to start advising other business owners on how to achieve their goals.
As an introvert I’ve always been drawn to on-line communication and started blogging in 2005, experimented using emerging on-line training platforms to run workshops and networking events and continue to explore new tech as it emerges.
The Business Hub
I co-founded and presented a commercial FM radio show for five years, interviewing many leading entrepreneurs and people creating new industries that have since become mainstream. This led to producing two podcasts: The A-Z of Business Success and The Social Media Show which ran for 58 episodes and featured many of the early adopters in the social media world.
New Business: Next Steps
Pearson plc commissioned me to write this book which is largely based on my blog posts and case studies of my clients. It has been used by thousands of small business owners as a reference book. 
Drive, the Partnership Network
Networking is the way a lot of small businesses find new clients but a lot of people are deeply uncomfortable with the transactional style that many networking organisations employ, or simply get bored by an unimaginative routine where everyone is expected to follow a set of rules. This led me to start my own networking events that I ran for ten years. In 2016 I launched Drive, the Collaborative Network, a revolutionary way of helping business owners build a great support and learning network.
The majority of small businesses fail before they get to five years old and this is wholly preventable. I’m determined to reverse this trend. I believe that running a business should be a joyful adventure, not a struggle. People who start their own businesses put their hopes and dreams into what they do and it’s important that they get the right help to succeed.
If you have a question I might be able to help with, please get in touch. I don’t believe in sales pitches or getting people signed up to things that don’t help, so all chats are just that – a chat with no strings attached!
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Nothing to do with business but a lot to do with how I’d like people to be seen and appreciated – as individuals, not a category. My PechaKucha talk on Disabling Labelling.
