Saturday Strategy

On this episode of Saturday Strategy, host Johnny Themans welcomes guest Niamh Kelly, a Human Resources executive with 25 years of experience in employment relations at the highest level in the corporate, public, and voluntary sectors. Many businesses have either changed the way they’re operating or have decided to open up into new markets, including hers, and she’s here to talk about it. Niamh also details why two specific HR issues, redundancy and recruitment, are keeping her busy.

Niamh explains how The Taylor Review led to the Good Work plan that led to changes in employment law, which means we’re looking at different processes and procedures for working. She also explains how people are now more than ever engaged in a conversation around doing work differently and how productivity has shot up since employers have begun heavily supporting working from home.

How do we figure out the best model for the future? Niamh touches on the concepts of checking the right of people to work and immigration points-based system, then notes the trend of people acting on entrepreneurial opportunities and taking risks during this pandemic. She shares her thoughts on side hustles and challenges that come along with them, as well as employees’ social media impacting employer reputation.

“A recession is ironically a great time to think about starting a business or going in a different way.”     - Niamh Kelly

Tune in next week for another episode of Saturday Strategy!

About our Guest:

Niamh Kelly FCIPD is the Director at The HR Dept Shropshire and The HR Dept Wrexham and Chester. She’s a Human Resources executive with 25 years of experience in employment relations at the highest level in the corporate, public, and voluntary sectors.

Visit her website: www.hrdept.co.uk/licensees/shropshire

Email her: [email protected]

Connect with her on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/niamhkellyhrdeptshropshire

Follow HR Dept on Twitter: www.twitter.com/hr-shropshire

Find them on Facebook: www.facebook.comHRDeptShrop

Contact Johnny through WhatsApp: 0 797-743-7360

Follow Saturday Strategy on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SaturdayStrate1

Follow Good2Great on Twitter: www.twitter.com/GOOD2GREAT_ltd

Welcome to the 30th episode of Saturday Strategy! On today’s episode, host Johnny Themans welcomes guest Scott Brown, CEO of EiB Group Ltd., to discuss bidding for large contracts and the main opportunities they provide for SME’s. He explains that SME’s don’t exploit these opportunities as they could because they usually don’t understand this process or how to find those opportunities and they’re not prepared in advance.

For business owners who are focused on growth, you’ll want to give this episode a listen to learn important information on the range of size of contracts, examples of types of contracts that are available to you, and the risks to be aware of. He also divulges helpful tips to help you along the way in the bidding process.

“The worst position to be in is finding a procurement opportunity at the point that it’s published... The best thing is to be looking at procurement portals and understanding that something’s going to come to market in a month’s time, two months’ time, three months’ time...”

-  Scott Brown

Recognize the opportunities that are out there and reach out to EiB for support in growing your business! Tune in next week for another episode of Saturday Strategy.

“Answer the question that you’re asked, not the question that you wanted to be asked.”

-  Scott Brown

About our Guest:

Scott Brown is the CEO of EiB (Excellence in Business) Group Ltd., which is a group of companies that includes EiB Professional Services Ltd; Preferred Bid Writers Ltd; and Excellence in Business Ltd. The group specialises in supporting clients with strategic work winning and implementing new collaborative delivery models.

Scott is a visible, highly energetic leader who is passionate about building high performing teams. He enjoys growing profitable businesses through employing and working with exceptionally talented people. Success for him is a motivated and inspired team with happy customers built on long-term relationships, innovative solutions and excellent service delivery.

Connect with him on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/scott-brown-65006516

Visit his website: www.eibps.co.uk

Contact Johnny through WhatsApp: 07977-437-360

Follow Saturday Strategy on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SaturdayStrate1

Follow Good2Great on Twitter: www.twitter.com/GOOD2GREAT_ltd

On this episode of Saturday Strategy, host Johnny Themans welcomes guest Jason Batty, founder of HJR Tax, to discuss a special tax savings opportunity valued at an average of £25,000 for people who have commercial property. He explains (in a way that’s easy for folks like us to understand) the process of making claims for embedded fixtures in commercial buildings and how it leads to this huge tax relief.

For anyone wondering whether one of these claims has already been made before, it’s not likely, and Jason explains why this is. He also details the relevant rules regarding what criteria is required to qualify for this savings opportunity and it’s so simple that he could even let you know in five minutes whether you qualify or not. Then, Jason shares the story of his company’s growth along with some of his noteworthy achievements.

“We’re in a recession, there’s no better time to make a claim than now. And ultimately, this is money that you’re entitled to, you just probably don’t even know it.”  - Jason Batty

Reach out to Jason to see if you qualify for this fantastic tax relief opportunity! It won’t cost you a penny and there’s no upfront cost for their service. Tune in next week for another episode of Saturday Strategy!

“You’ve got nothing to lose and all to gain.”   - Jason Batty

About our Guest:

Jason Batty is the Founder of HJR Tax, an independent property tax consultancy specialising in capital allowances claims for commercial property acquisitions. HJR Tax is a fast growing, award-winning company based in South Wales.

Visit his website: www.hjrtax.co.uk

Call HJR Tax to find out if you qualify: 01633 386017

Connect with him on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jason-batty-6aa11023

Contact Johnny through WhatsApp: 0 797-743-7360

Follow Saturday Strategy on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SaturdayStrate1

Follow Good2Great on Twitter: www.twitter.com/GOOD2GREAT_ltd

On this episode of Saturday Strategy, host Johnny Themans welcomes guest Geordie Wardman, serial entrepreneur and founder of Onestop Devshop, a software development company. Geordie is here to offer insight on scaling any business, while focusing on software companies. A problem that many people in business face when they start out is the challenge of transitioning from a solopreneur to the business owner they want to be. Identifying and taking action on the steps in between your start point and end point is often the hardest part.

Geordie describes what life as a freelancer is like, what the ambitions and goals could be at the end, and which steps to take during the transition from freelancer to agency to product owner.

How do you know your skills are valuable? Geordie details the answer to this and it’s simpler than you may think. He then offers insight on looking for a problem to solve, generating leads, and augmenting agency income with products to diversify cash flow. He talks about what you can do to start planning your journey towards owning a lucrative business and shares his views on virtual agencies, divulging a few that he utilizes himself.

Software as a Service (SaaS) is an easy way to take part in this booming remote work trend and it’s definitely not going to end. If you would like help with your software idea or would like to start down that path, Geordie would like to offer you a FREE 15-20 minute consultation to brainstorm and answer any questions you may have. You can find his contact information below.

About our Guest:

Geordie Wardman is a serial entrepreneur who is currently working on developing online software products. He is the founder of Onestop Devshop, an online software development agency that he started last year which is on track to hit $1 million in revenues this year. He has one start up SaaS for lead generation where he is in the process of finalising raising funds for it and another distressed SaaS that he purchased recently which helps people get online reviews.

Geordie has a team of 45 and the business is growing steadily each month. He lives in Switzerland with his family, skiing 100 days a year while running all of his businesses from home. He’s especially passionate about Software as a Service (SaaS), software start-ups, marketing, entrepreneurship, bootstrapping, and lifestyle businesses.

Contact Geordie via e-mail: [email protected]

Connect with him on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/geordiewardman

Visit his business’s website: www.gemm.tv

Follow his business on Twitter: www.twitter.com/gemmsupport

Listen to his podcast: www.bigbreaksoftware.libsyn.com

Contact Johnny through WhatsApp: 0 797-743-7360

Follow Saturday Strategy on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SaturdayStrate1

Follow Good2Great on Twitter: www.twitter.com/GOOD2GREAT_ltd

On this episode of Saturday Strategy, host Johnny Themans welcomes guest Lucy Key, Owner and Performance Director at Performing Perfectly, to speak about communication and how performance and business are connected. To clearly articulate our message to who we’re working with, we need to be able to use our voice and body language to communicate better and improve our chances of success in business. The two discuss the parallels of the world of performance and the world of business. Effective communication is essential for any business to succeed and when you communicate in an engaging way, you get the best results.

Lucy explains how much of stage performance comes from being a natural and how much comes from learned skills. She details why knowing your audience and environment is so important and how to actively develop your skills in this area, including techniques such as breath work and filming yourself. Then, Lucy shares how remaining authentic and confident, especially when making mistakes, and not being too polished makes a huge difference when presenting to a group.

Johnny and Lucy then discuss cultural stereotypes and prejudices toward voices, while exploring the importance of personal ‘blind spots’, constructive feedback, and pushing people outside of their comfort zones.

About our Guest:

Lucy is a professional actress who has worked in theatre, opera, television, concert and cabaret. After training at Guildford School of Acting, Lucy’s performance credits include: Maria in West Side Story, The Prince of Wales Theatre, London and UK No. 1 tour, Grace Farrel in Annie, Perth Repertory Theatre, Of Thee I Sing, The Bridewell Theatre, London, Midsummer Nights Dream and Two Gentlemen of Verona, Regents Park Open Air Theatre, London, The Marriage of Figaro, New Vic Theatre, The Birthday Party, Chichester Festival Theatre.

Television credits include the role of Manda in Being April for BBC One. Lucy has also worked extensively as a performing arts tutor, choreographer, director and workshop practitioner. Along with her husband, Chris, she directs Key Theatre Academy and Performing Perfectly.

Directing and choreography credits include numerous projects with Leaps and Bounds, including The Young Roots Presentation at The Birmingham Hippodrome, choreographer for The Olympic Handover celebrations in Shropshire and Assistant Director on the world premiere of the musical Chasing Fate at The Birmingham Hippodrome. Lucy is Performance Director at Key Theatre Academy and Performing Perfectly.

Performing Perfectly teams up with psychologists, fellow West End theatre and TV actors, executive coaches and business leaders to nurture performance in the broadest sense. They provide unique opportunities to learn and develop essential skills for successful communication, presentation and peak performance.

In this weeks episode, we are joined by presentation and pitching expert Michael Trigg as he guides us through how we can implement effective changes to improve our overall presentation skills. He discusses the importance of face-to-face presentation and what we can be doing to make our Zoom calls/ online discussions as engaging as possible. 

The age of live video has truly arrived. 

Links mentioned in the interview: 

This week we are joined by marketing expert Robert Elding who guides us through how we can take a new look at our business website to freshen up our homepage to engage fully with our customers. He shares his ideas on how we can identify what our customers are looking for, understand what their needs are and cater for them by using a practical step-by-step plan for mapping our pages out. 

Links mentioned in the interview: 

Marketing expert Hannah Montgomery joins us this week to guide us through the advantages of developing an effective direct mail strategy and ensuring that we implement it as a vital part of our wider marketing plan. She shares her ideas on how we can create high quality, targeted material that considers our customer demographic to engage with them most effectively. 

Links mentioned in the interview: 

Mickey Bushell (MBE) is a truly inspirational local athlete from Shropshire who has competed at five world championships, five European championships and three Paralympics representing team GB- all from his wheelchair. Alongside this, Mickey has built a career as an emotional intelligence coach, focusing on non-verbal communication and has started his business Project Emotion in which he works with clients to; channel emotions to their own advantage, body language coaching for career success and influencing techniques for better success rates in business.

In this show, Mickey shares his expertise and experiences and gives us tips on how we can overcome our own hurdles and make better use of what we have got, rather than focusing on forces preventing us from moving forward. He talks about how we can release inhibitions and risking failure as a means for making improvements. 

Links mentioned in the interview: 

Jason Green is a health and wellbeing specialist who's High Performance Program focuses on implementing high performance habits that help business owners reduce stress so they can take control of maintaining a healthy work/ life balance. In this episode, Jason shares his expertise and tips on how we can remain positive throughout this period of uncertainty and habits that we can bring into our routines to maintain our physical and mental health. 

Links mentioned in the interview: 

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-green-

Facebook - The High Performance Program 

Website - https://hppmastermind.com/thepathway36801514

Podcast - http://hpp.buzzsprout.com