Businesswise: The Voice of Business Networking in Swindon

Chris Dawes from Visual PR hosts our latest podcast, talking to Rachel Weaven from face2face HR. 

Rachel, who started her business three years ago, works with businesses who don’t have the capacity for a full time or part time person in their business. She helps them with all of their employment issues, challenges, opportunities, and helps them know how to avoid the problems. 

She talks about even though there is a huge number of HR documents out there, she can help businesses to recognise that they probably don’t need them all. She will ensure you keep compliant. 

We discover that Rachel’s background isn’t in HR – it is something she ended up in.  She now works with a range of companies including, manufacturing, performing arts, cleaning companies, property companies and loves every minute of it. 

Her key advice is – make sure that from an HR perspective, your contracts are watertight. We talk about this in more detail. 

We also talked about the future of face2face HR – which includes expanding the business and running workshops about making business more inclusive. 

Rachel joined Businesswise about a year ago after starting networking to raise her profile in the area.  One of the things she noticed after going self-employed was the fact that when she was in an office space, there is always someone you can have a quick chat with, which disappears when you work alone. So, networking has given her back her ‘office family’. 

Her advice about networking is, however nervous you are, ‘just do it’. 

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

Rachel’s website is: https://face2facehr.com/consultants/hr-consultant-swindon/ 

Fiona Da Silva Adams from Revolution Performing Arts hosts this latest podcast where she talks to Joe Tomkinson from UW, otherwise known as Utility Warehouse. 

Joe and his wife, Claire, have run their Utility Warehouse business together for the last 12 years. Both previously worked in the police and when their first child came along, Claire decided that she wanted to be at home with the children. Eventually, they both left the police force, leaving behind shift work, and they are now able to spend more time together and with their three children. Together they are building their team and introducing others to the business.

He shares how working together as a married team, they are able to draw on their different skills and strengths. Joe also talks about the positive effect the business has had on their lifestyle.

Joe is fairly new to Businesswise, having joined in January this year. He already knew some of the members, socially and through networking in different circles. Having seen Businesswise on social media and hearing about the different events that take place, it was something he wanted to be involved in.

Despite liking structure in his previous career as a police officer, what he particularly likes about Businesswise is the informal, yet formal nature of the group and that there is light heartedness in the meetings but with a good balance of business taking place. He’s even had some positive results from joining the group.

If you’d like to know more about Joe, you can find him at http://www.earnwithuw.com 

Find out more about Fiona Da Silva Adams and Revolution Performing Arts by visiting https://revolutionpa.co.uk/  

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

Today, our presenter, Fiona Da Silva Adams is talking to member Caroline Peyton, who is a nutritionist, naturopath, and specialises in gut health in her business; Peyton Principles.

Caroline has been running her business for 15 years now, and even during COVID she was able to continue to work with clients on Zoom, as her business is not a hands-on type of therapy.

She has belonged to Businesswise for just over a year, and loves having the chance to meet up with other like-minded people every other week, to bounce ideas off of.  You can’t know everything yourself, and belonging to the group, you learn that others have had the same issues as you. Something she really loves about Businesswise is that although we’re a referral group, we don’t purely focus on sales, as some of the other networking groups she’s visited do.

Caroline is passionate about helping people with their health, and not only works on a one to one basis with clients, she also regularly talks to corporate groups. She has recently been sharing some new research about the link between the gut and the brain. And she has run ladies’ retreats, and this year is going to run a mixed retreat.

She also shares how she managed to study for a degree whilst still working in her previous job at BT, and bringing up 5 year-old twin girls. 

If you’d like to know more about Caroline and Businesswise, visit https://businesswise.org.uk/ and if you’d like to visit email [email protected] – 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 Caroline directly:

Website: https://www.peytonprinciples.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolinepeyton/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/peytonprinciples

In today’s podcast our presenter John Lewis is talking to member Laura Dent of commercial cleaning company So Fresh and So Clean who begins by talking about her recent office move and becoming an ‘office junkie’. 

Laura and her husband, Neil run their cleaning business together. They started about 12 years ago with Neil doing carpet cleaning, and the business has grown, from just the two of them to now having about 10 members of staff.  

Laura talks about the pros and cons of working with her husband, and how they have learnt to cope being together at home and work. 

Since Covid19, their business has broadened in what they offer. They still do carpet cleaning, but also, commercial cleaning, specialist /biohazard cleaning and particularly since the pandemic, mental health crisis cleaning. This work is an area Laura finds very rewarding. 

Laura joined Business Wise, two years ago, having done no networking prior to joining the group.  

Before going networking, she had heard both bad and good things about networking, so was pushing herself out of her comfort zone to come along. However, she loves the fact that she feels comfortable enough to ask the like-minded people in the group for help and advice. 

If you’d like to know more about Laura and Business Wise, visit https://businesswise.org.uk/ and if you’d like to visit email [email protected] – 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 Laura directly: 

Website: https://sofreshandsoclean.org.uk/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoFreshandSoCleanUKLtd 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/so-fresh-&-so-clean-uk-ltd/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sofreshandsocleanukltd/ 

John Lewis of JL Mindset Performance, interviews Dave Southby of Dave Southby Financial Planning – or in other words, BusinessWise current chairperson interviews the former chairperson!  

Welcome to our new podcast, where over the coming weeks, we will be introducing members of BusinessWise,– and we are now officially the ‘voice of business networking in Swindon’.  

We launch this podcast in our 10th anniversary year. BusinessWise first began life as another group in 2011 however in 2014 the then members decided to break away from that national brand and become independent. BusinessWise as a brand and a group was born.  

In this our first podcast episode, current chairperson John Lewis interviews our first Dave Southby.  

Dave talks about how he joined Business Wise, and how belonging to a one-seat networking group has taken him from someone who was terrified of networking, to someone who has only recently stepped down from being the Chair. 

Dave also gives us some background to his career in the motor trade before moving into financial planning, and how that previous background prepared him and helped him develop the skills required for running his business. 

Despite having only been in his business for three years, he also mentors young financial advisors coming into the profession, sharing his experiences of both work, and marketing themselves, networking. 

If you’d like to know more about Dave or BusinessWise, visit https://businesswise.org.uk/  

If you’d like to visit us for free – we need to check that your seat is vacant – please email [email protected] 

BusinessWise Swindon is one of the leading networking groups in the town. Join us for the launch of our podcast! Every fortnight you'll hear from one of our members about what networking means to them, why they joined the group and more. This podcast is just one of the perks that our group offers its members!

We are a single seat referral group that meets every fortnight at Bassett Down Golf Complex. If you like what you hear and would like to know more about the group, email our group secretary Hannah on [email protected]

You can also find out more about the group by visiting https://businesswise.org.uk/