The Business Village People

This is a POD ONE production. For more information, visit podone.co.uk. This is the Business Village People podcast. Hello, I'm David Markwell and welcome to the Barnsley Business Village People Podcast. This is episode nine of series two. In this podcast, we showcase stories from the companies, service providers and staff at the Business Village in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. In this episode of Business Village People. The Business Village has a strong working relationship with enterprising Barnsley. They provide business support to companies looking to expand, develop, and flourish, as well as guidance and help for new businesses. Paul Johnson is a key account manager. We'll be finding out from him. How enterprising Barnsley can help companies win. But first, I'd like to introduce you to Capstone Foster Care, an independent fostering agency that supports hundreds of carers across England. One of their officers is based here at the Business Village. I've been along to have a chat with them. My name's Allison Dixon, and um, I'm a senior practitioner, uh, social worker, and I work for Capstone North. It's a fostering agency. We're an, um, independent foster agency who are employee, employee owned. So a lot of our, um, business and our money goes back into, um, supporting foster carers and families. Lots of events for children and families. So we'll have like a celebration day. We'll celebrate Eid. For example, we have Christmas events. We take the children to like Gulliver's or rather valley, the water park we've done in previous years. So it's basically we're, we're a small ho in Barnsley. It's a bigger organisation, Capstone North. But, um, we've got that kind of family feel. So how did Capstone begin? Began in 2009 as an independent foster agency, and then obviously it's evolved over the years and it's quite a big organization. Well, it's become bigger, but like I say, we've got individual hubs. And we are based here in Barnsley Business Centre, but we've also got Hobson, Bradford and Hull in Manchester and also in the south of England. How, how do you fit into the picture? So basically we work with a wide variety of local authorities from all over the borough and, um, it can be as far as far away as, as say, Bristol down south. And sometimes children move around for whatever reason. Um, so, so we work with all the local authorities and we receive referrals for children that need to be looked after and cared for. 'cause they're in, they're very vulnerable and they've been assessed by the courts to come into care. And I don't know if you're aware, but there's a national shortage of foster carers. So, and, and I think as well since COVID and the Pandemic, a lot of the spare rooms that people had. That they need for fostering. 'cause they need to have their own bedroom. Um, they've been used for offices, so then that's created, um, a bit of a problem. And so nationally it's very difficult, um, for children to be placed in area. So the area, so we, we try to kinda. Manage that and recruit foster carers, which every, every fostering agency and local authority is trying to do. What do you look for in a foster carer? Someone that's empathic, that's obviously got got, they need a spare room and a bedroom for a start. They have lots of training. Um, we like them to be holistic and [00:04:00] therapeutic in the approach. And their approach to parenting. We look for skills. It, it could be that they've maybe been, um, teachers or support workers or possibly worked in the care sector themselves. Um, a lot of our foster carers are like kinda middle aged, or they could be in their fifties. We also have some younger ones. And, and there's, it's a wide variety. Sometime we have short break foster carers, so they might just provide care for children on a weekend basis or for a week or just like on a short term basis. And then other short term carers could be, could be up to two years. And if the child settles, then it goes to long term. So the skills we need is, is basically to accept these children as part of your family. That's what we're looking for. They get fully assessed. It's called a Form F assessment, and it basically goes through that person's whole life and any previous relationships or so we, so we look for any kinda strengths, vulnerabilities, uh, that doesn't kinda count them out. It just depends. Um, obviously if they've got a criminal record for violence or something, then we wouldn't consider it. It just depends on the person. So it is like a really thorough assessment because we want to get the right people there. There are so many different kinds of fostering that you are looking for. Yeah, and we also do parent and child as well. And that could be both parents and a child or children or one parent and that's, that's a different, but they need additional training to become a parent and child foster care. So, so it's quite, it's quite wide and varied really. The foster enroll and, and every year the foster carers get like an annual review. They're assessed on a yearly basis. And, um, there's basically the team around the child. So it's not like any other [00:06:00] employment, if you like, that the class is self-employed. Um, and they get lots of support. Like I say, lots of training. We have fostering support, uh, meetings. They have monthly supervision with the supervising social worker. So foster carers have their own. So social worker. I've been looking at your website and there's some lovely stories on there, and one story that stood out to me, which again, is something that. I'd never thought of. Uh, it is a service that you provide to unaccompanied asylum seekers and there's a story on there, em, EM'S story. How do you provide the support for asylum seekers, unaccompanied asylum seekers who might not even speak English? Well, that can be a challenge in itself, and obviously we work closely with. Local authorities and, uh, interpreters if it's needed. Um, it might be that some foster carers speak more than one language, so they, they might [00:07:00] have, they might have the same language as the asylum seeker, so that's helpful. But if not, we use interpreters and we work with local authority. We look at community and how we can integrate them into. Um, society with, you know, with all the trauma and everything that, that, that brings with being asylum seeker. So how did you get into working in fostering? I started off working with teenagers for 10 years, which was interesting. I really enjoyed it actually. Doing what? Uh, working with young people that were leaving care, uh, 16 plus. So basically the age, the age group was from 16 to 21. And I worked in for, for children for, for 10 years. And then I decided to have a change of direction and looked at, um, fostering. And I've been in fostering social work since 2011 till present date basically. And I really enjoy it. Did you ever think you'd become a social worker? No, not initially. Uh, what did [00:08:00] you want to be when you left school? I didn't really think about it actually 'cause it was, obviously I'm a woman of a certain generation. I kinda left school and um, went with some friends to work in the Channel Islands for a summer and ended up staying for about 15 years. Um, and I worked initially in hotels 'cause there was lots of, um, restaurants and hotels and in Guernsey. And then I got into care with the elderly and did that for a while and then that sort of led me. Then I moved to England in 1992 and then I sort of was led down a different path and thinking. The quality of care for the elderly in comparison to the Channel Islands was very different, and so I, I decided to, to look in another direction and then decided to be a mature student and, and do some qualifications and got my degree and then it led me to social work. What did you really want to be there when you left school? I knew I wanted to travel. So how did you end up in, in Guernsey [00:09:00] jersey? Well, I, I was working in a factory. I left school, I think it was three weeks before my 16th birthday. But they paid me off the books 'cause they did back then and, and then they put me on, on the books obviously as soon as I, uh, my 16th birthday. And then there was, there was some, some friends, uh, that worked beside and they were saying, oh, we're up. We're, um, we won't belong now. We'll be off to Sey Summer's starting. And I, I was like, oh, what are you doing? And just ask some questions. Oh, we're gonna be working in the hotels. And started asking some more questions. I'm like, oh, I could do that. And they were going, you're too young. And I'm like, I'm old enough to work. Yeah. And it was literally one of those kinda spur of the moment I'm off. And I just went with them and, um, and I've not really looked back and, and I'm glad and I sort of left Scotland and it was much, much warmer in ey. Hang on a minute. You're from Scotland? I never spotted that. Which, which, which part of Scotland You're from? All of it. Um, Stirlingshire, a little town called Deni, [00:10:00] which is seven mile from Sterling. So, and my accents kind of diluted, obviously, 'cause I've been, I've been diluted, I've been away longer than I've mm-hmm. Than I lived there, if that makes sense. Yes, yes, yes, yes. So what's the situation like at the moment? Within the fostering sector? It's, it's really difficult because there's lots of children still coming into care, unfortunately, just because of the situations and there's not enough foster carers to go around. So we're desperately trying, working really hard to try and recruit new foster carers, um, and from all walks of life and, and different age groups. And, and that goes, that can be, um, they can be single foster carers, they can be same gender couple. Um, heterosexual shows. It's, you know, if they meet the criteria and they fulfill everything we need them to fulfill within the assessment, then they'll be successful. If anybody's listening to this [00:11:00] and is interested in becoming a foster carer, what should they do? Contact, um, look on the website. Have a look and have a look at the stories. Like you say, you dread some things yourself. And, um, the numbers and everything, emails are there and contact us, um, if you're, if you're interested. 'cause we really are trying hard to recruit. And how did you end up at the Business Village? We, we were initially in, um, Kenry, an area of Barnsley, but we've kinda outgrown that really. So we just wanted, um, it was me, Amy, from business support in Barnsley, and she's local, so she knows the area really well and she tells some good reports about it. And we love it. It's really good. And everybody comes to visit. It's just very professional. There's a lovely wee bistro and everything, reception. Everybody's really friendly. And as you know, there's all different businesses, so we, we all kinda mix in well and, and just really like being here. [00:12:00] And what about yourself? What's, what's lined up for the future? Well, I'm, I'm getting to that age, whereas I'm slowing down a bit and getting ready to retire. Oh, shut up. But not for a few years yet. I'm, I'm looking at maybe, um, reducing my hours next year. Um, but I'm still pretty active and I've, I've just signed up for a Cycle to work scheme, um, the government initiative and, and through Capstone as well. That must be a hell of a ride from Scotland too. You. Well, I live in Costa Roham now, Costa Roham. Lovely. Um, Alison, thank you for your time. It's been really interesting and I've, I, I'd tell anybody to go and have a look at your website 'cause there's so much to look at on it, uh, about what, what the services that provide and the store is just gone and, and. Read some of the stories. They're lovely. Alison, thank you for your time. Thank you.[00:13:00] Wherever your business is on its journey, enterprising Barnsley are here to provide guidance, help, and direction to achieve all the aims of your company. Paul Johnson is a key account manager. I spoke to him about how enterprising Barnsley can help companies win. It's the economic development arm of Barnsley Council, and it's our job to work with businesses that are looking to grow, expand, relocate, or invest in the borough of Barnsley. We support businesses of all sizes from someone who is initially thinking of starting up a business. Right through to multinational global corporations and everyone in between. As a key account manager, what, what do you have to do? Yeah, so part of my role is working with businesses, as the name suggests. We've identified some of the most strategically [00:14:00] important account management companies within the borough. So it's our job to work with them and to make sure everything's okay and to make sure they're here to stay within Barnes in the long term. So those companies have been identified as those ones. That might be major employers or have a significant impact upon what the council's economic strategy is. So they might have a sectorial focus towards them. So my job is basically going out to see them, finding out what issues or challenges they have and to help keep them informed about what projects, grants, or initiatives that are available to make sure they on anything. So how did you end up doing this job? Uh, if I'm being honest, by accident, I've always had a passion for businesses and economic development in general. I initially started off years and years ago, probably about 20 odd years ago as a project officer, and from now I've worked my way through at various levels of different parts of economic development, from project management and policy developments to researching. And as time's gone on, I've slowly migrated into the [00:15:00] fact of thinking, well, actually, I know what the offer is to businesses. And some of the business development managers in the past have quite kindly said, you know, if you are interested, come out and have a look at them and see what the business is and see what it's like. Get a bit more understanding about what businesses do. And from there, the spark really came and I thought, actually this will be a good career. You know, you get to meet people on a daily basis. You understand the companies a lot better, you understand their needs, and more importantly, what I benefit from it is to try and flip on its head. So as a council, we've been very good in looking at developing programs and support over the years, but by working with the businesses, you get a fresh perspective. So whilst you, instead of being, I hate to use the word top down approach. You also must take a bottom up approach this time so you can quickly get to work with companies and identify what the trends and issues they have. And we largely report that mostly before it comes out in the local or regional press. So, you know, we were picking things up about national insurance issues, how it's affecting confidence and how it'll [00:16:00] affect companies productivity. Way before it was in the b BBC news or anything like that. And we're seeing it on the ground level, which is good. So having that personal touch and links with the companies. It's really one of the key things that really attracted me to it, if I'm being honest. You know, to get a bit more of a broader feeling and understanding behind the role. Have you got an example of a a, a business that you work with and what you've done for them? Yeah, of course. Yeah, so my remit is key account management, but also having a slight focus on with investment as well. I'd say one of the best examples of that covers all of those activities altogether is a company called and Dell. They're based up at Dodo. So they relocated into Barnsley probably about three years ago, I'd say originally based in Huddersfield. They do flood detections, uh, systems for the likes of houses of parliaments, water companies and individual local authorities up and down the country. They were constrained for growth where they were, they were looking at new [00:17:00] sites. Met their md uh, at the Fairway Pub of all places. 'cause that's what he wanted to be. 'cause he was viewing properties around there and it was his lunchtime and we got like a house on fire. It was brilliant. We just somehow, we just clicked altogether, even though there was a whacking great age difference between us. I'm not that young by the way, for people out there. And we just clicked. And it was, it was 'cause they, they had been in a local authority where they haven't had this resource. So they didn't know what account management was and how it could benefit their business. So from the go set, we very quickly identified. What the business was, why it was moving, what it needed, and what support was available. And obviously when you haven't had that type of interaction in the past, it's kind of like kids in a sweet shop and you're thinking, wow, there's quite a lot here. And like everything I, I'm on the assumption of, well, I was taught actually by previous account managers to say, give a company what they think they need to start with and then give them what they actually need after. And that's a classic example of, [00:18:00] so obviously the incentives say you come into Barnsley, one of the best things we'd like to do is see if there's any grant support for you. You know, people, people's eyes light up at the thought of money, symbols, et cetera. And we talked about the grant support at the time through the business productivity grants that we've run within the council, the digitalization grants that we did previously, and that obviously was great, that ticked that box to start with. Then once they were established here, set up, we then started looking at other support for them. So one of the key things that made them move across was part of the bottleneck issues that they had, didn't have enough production space or the storage system was right. So we said, right. One of the key things we can do is we can link you in with, at the time that we had some enterprise coaching support, but we linked him in with a lean manufacturing consultant that could look at their processes, procedures, their factory flows, look at support that was available. And that was probably, that really opened their eyes to say, actually, you know, the support here in Barnsley, it is good [00:19:00] and it delivers with what they say and it's what the business needed at the time. Then on from there, you know, it was a general conversation. We meet probably three times a year just to review what the latest challenges are. The support has been everything from looking at skills bank application for their existing workforce. So they have the right level of leadership and qualifications in there. Looking at innovation support. One of the project was an r and d project. They were looking to do, uh, whether they actually use this business center as a trial for one of their antennas, uh, where they triangulated out various points around the borough. Really lovely business. It's great to see them grow and expand. What, what economic benefit does. Enterprising, but honestly brilliant to the town. You can, you can see it from many angles, really. One, one of the key things is obviously the mantra of if you bring businesses to the borough or you support businesses, the long-term benefits is improves their sustainability, their profitability, which means that they [00:20:00] can, uh, as an end result, potentially create new jobs. Now, that's great for the residents of Barnsley because what that does is it means there is that opportunity for work, which obviously hasn't been the case over the years when there's been. The town's been affected numerous times by deindustrialization having a mono industry, and the fact that we're in a position now where we have such a much more broad and varied economy than we we've ever done, it really does allow the route to market for local residents the opportunity to look for jobs. What it also does as well for this kind of like support programs that we have offered, it's allowed a lot more collaboration. So for instance, on Inwood investment side, when we are looking at attracting companies and bringing them into the borough. One of the questions is, is could we have a discussion with your purchasing manager or your supply chain person mainly to see, to say, well, the first thing you're gonna have to look at if you're looking at a new facility, might be racking, or it might be, what's your forklifts or who's your software provider? That type of stuff. Or, what are you looking to do? [00:21:00] And to give those companies information on those companies in the local area that can provide that service. So they have a route to market to see who is available in the local area. Some support that we provided has been really beneficial, uh, through the likes of things like the business productivity group. So that group, as a name suggests, it's all about improving productivity within businesses. There's probably a cohort of around about 30 to 40 businesses that meet once a month. They discuss various issues on productivity. They go to each other's, uh, facilities to learn best practice on implementing a type of productivity aspect that that one company's done that others are learning to do and vice versa. So it's saving companies time and effort through kind of cutting the corners what others would've lost. Um, we add value also in terms of being that single point of contact 'cause we work for the council that comes with everything. It could be complaints about the traveling community when they pitch up [00:22:00] on site. It could be support for planning applications. It could be when companies are in distress and might need a bit of help financially in terms of what can we do with the business rates as an incentive for them to help support them. Um, or it could be, um, what could we need to do in terms of looking at how the skill levels of what businesses have today and will need in the next five years, how it aligns with the education system, for instance. So it's a mixture of, I guess, direct support and guidance to businesses, but at the same time being a critical helping friend. That supports a lot of other initiatives as well at the same time. So it really is kind of like a hybrid role. So that's one of the best things about this role. You never know what's gonna be in the inbox. Paul, how can people get in contact with you if it, if they think that you are the man to sort their business out? First way would be through our enterprise advance websites. We do have links there to all of our key account managers and wider support. So any business that is [00:23:00] looking to overgrow, expand, invest. What we do say is, before you even spend. Any money or think about spending any money, give us a call, drop us an email, target us on LinkedIn, whatever medium is best for you, have a word of us. We'll get back to you as quickly as possible and try and support you as quickly, quickly as we can. Um, our doors are always open, like I said earlier on. We do work with companies at various stages. There is no wrong question a company can ask us. Um, we have the same conversations with someone who has just started the business. Um. Exactly for someone who has been trading for 30 years or is part of a group of companies, uh, that's a sub subary of a company from a, a global company from around the world. Um, all that's different is the type of support that's available, and we will tell you what is available at that time to help you grow your business.[00:24:00] Good morning, the Business Village, Holly speaking. How can I help upgrade your workspace and boost productivity at the Business Village? Our modern offices are designed to meet your needs from solo entrepreneurs to growing startups. You'll have access to high speed internet conference rooms. A bistro and a thriving business community with networking events, workshops, and collaboration opportunities. Contact us today to schedule a talk call oh 1226249590. That's oh 1 2 2 6 2 4 9 5 9 0, and start your success story at the Business Village. That's it for this edition of The Business Village People Podcast. Thank you so much for listening. If you want to find out more about the office rentals or the services available at the Business Village, please call oh one two two six [00:25:00] two four nine. Five nine. Oh. I'm David Markwell, and this is a Pod One creative audio production for the Bosley Business Village. Never miss an episode of The Business Village People Podcast. Simply subscribe and follow from wherever you get your podcasts.

This is a Pod One production. For more information, visit pod1.co.uk. This is the Business Village People  podcast. Hello, I'm David Markwell , and welcome to the Business Village People podcast. This is episode eight of series two. In this podcast, we showcase stories from the companies, service providers and staff at the Business Village in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. In this episode of Business Village People, we meet Dave Moss from Property Projects Yorkshire Limited. His company identifies houses that need renovation. He secures investment to fund the purchase and the refurbishment and  ultimately utilises their buildings as social housing. I also have a conversation with Gemma Edwards from Get Real Comms. Gemma's business career has taken her to many countries , and while living in Spain, she secured a job with William Hill Online Betting. Today she runs her own communication company here at the Business Village. In February of this year, everyone at the Business Village, both staff and tenants, was saddened to hear of the sudden death of Adrian Waite, the former chief executive of the Business Village. Adrian retired just over a year ago. Not long after we began this podcast, we knew we wanted to invite Adrian to share more about himself. He came on, we recorded it, and this is Adrian Waite in his own words. My name is Adrian Waite. I'm the Chief Executive here at the Business Village. I was born in Lisbon in Northern Ireland and spent a little bit of time in England before my mum and dad took me off to Australia when I was fairly small. And so my formative years were spent Sydney. I can remember walking off the plane when it arrived in Sydney airport the first time. I think I was five years of age. I've been led to believe that Australia was very, very hot, but we arrived in the middle of winter , and it was absolutely freezing. The next thing, I looked around and I couldn't see a kangaroo anywhere. In my junior years in Australia, I think it was very much juniors who were still sort of seen and not heard. So I can remember my first time on a tennis court was when the temperature was 40 degrees Celsius and there were no adults interested in playing at that temperature. My early introductions into sport were playing tennis when it was too hot for the adults and playing golf at 5 o' clock in the morning because the tee times were booked from seven for adults only. I wanted to be a pilot, but as my eye deteriorated. You had to be very good at physics. The eyesight and the physics killed my dream of being a pilot. I ended up becoming a geologist. I have a degree in geology from the University of Birmingham. I got offered a PhD at the University of Edinburgh to go and study the algal growth on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. But unfortunately, I lost my grant and , to cut a long story short, ended up doing a master's degree at Leeds University in engineering geology. So my first career was as a geotechnical engineer. So that's sort of halfway between geology and civil engineering. I am what's called the Lawn Tennis Association councillor for Yorkshire. So I sit on the advisory body, about 60 LTA councillors in total. We work alongside colleagues at the LTA and advise them on strategy. I was self-employed in the noughties. When the world fell off a cliff in 2008. I went from being very gainfully employed as a consultant to working about 20 hours a week. I thought I'd better try and find something else to do to fill those hours. I heard about a role in Barnsley, working on a specific project, working with the larger companies and helping them with  taking advantage of public sector support. And I thought it would just be for a couple of years. I kept  getting into different projects and Tim Milburn, who was the chief here, he retired after 22 years. I sort of knocked on his door and said, do you think I might be the type of guy the board is looking for? And he encouraged me to apply for his job and here I am. We're much more modern, I think, than nine years ago. We've invested a lot in future-proofing. So I'd like to think that, you know, some tenant who came and based themselves here would say it's a modern, forward thinking organisation I've come to be based at, but the infrastructure that's in place is going to be the right infrastructure for my business moving forward. So I look at things like broadband. I think we have the fastest speeds in Barnsley. I think the infrastructure we're putting in place. So, as things like artificial intelligence take off, my understanding is it'll require a larger bandwidth. We've already put those sorts of structures in place so people won't have to say, well, you know, we'll have to leave the business village because it doesn't have the facilities, the technology that we require. So I'd like to think that we're, you know, we're staying on top of the changing business world and hopefully accommodating the requirements of our tenants. This time next year I will probably have retired. There's a management team of four that runs the business village, but the four of us hopefully have set the village up for   growth. We're very much focused on Net zero here at the Business Village. And that's not just, you know, objectives for the next couple of years. I mean , we're talking about 20, 30 years. I'd like to think that the new management team that take over when we've gone, there'll be some changes at the management level. Adrian Waite, former chief executive of the Business Village, who sadly passed away in the February of this year. Our thoughts and love are with his family . SA , my next two guests , both believe that running a business is not only about financial success, but it's also about what the company contributes to society. Gemma Edward is from Get Real Comms, which is based here at the Business Village. Originally from Scotland, Gemma has lived and worked in various countries around the world and she tried to explain to me what a company actually does. We are a people-first communication, end-to-end solution for business. So what that means, what's that mean? Well, what that means is that any type of communication internally in an organisation and also externally, so creating a reflection, a mirror image of what's going on internally for them to employer, brand from an investor relations perspective, esg, all of that, that's what my business does. I still got no idea what you're on about. So if you were an employee in an organisation, from the minute you start to engage with a company, whether it be on their social media page, their careers page, the first onboarding chat that you have, once you're successful in getting a career with that company, right way through your life cycle. So every internal communication, everything about performance management, everything about employee retention, all these different things, that's what I am involved with , and that's one of my biggest clients that I do that for. So give me an example. An example? Yeah. What would you do if a customer came to you, one of your clients, came to you and said we need this doing, what would it be? Well, for example, one of the clients I work with now and have done successfully for seven years, I am effectively their director of people shared services. So what I do is I handle all of their internal communications. So, let's say they have a massive revamp of performance management, which is an annual performance review. They want to look at one to ones with clients, like how their leaders engage and communicate with their team members, how they then create that in a culture, a workplace culture, successful and where all you're doing is driving entrepreneurial drive on each and every single team member. I then take that, take their ideas, what they want their deliverable and their outcome to be. I work back the way , and I create a great communications campaign. That harnesses everything to do with that, which is massive. It's a massive production to do. It's every employee interaction that there could be, whether it's just a conversation with a leader or a team lead or with their HR team; all of that is curated , and then it's encompassed and packaged into a campaign that they can reuse consistently. And that would be something that we would do. That's a service we would provide. Yes. So it's very wide but very specific as well. Yes, absolutely. At the end of the day when I say a people first culture, I truly believe one of the consistent things in my life has always been the psychology of speaking to people and making them feel good, paying it forward. So when a client may come to me and say, okay, so we need to roll out, let's say they are either expanding or they are reducing in size, how can we communicate this? This is what we want the  result to be. And I will then sort of survey and canvass the people that they have. I'll speak with them, their teams, we'll do surveys, we'll look at all different types of results and you can see, okay, how is the best way to communicate. Communicate this in a kind, caring, compassionate way and the right thing to do. Sometimes, there have been situations where what a client would like to happen can't happen the way they'd like it to happen if they want a good result in the end, where their reputation isn't damaged. Whatever a move a company makes with a communication, if it's shared internally, it can go externally, and in fact it will. You need to wear about 10 different hats from a legal perspective, HR, newspaper reporter, all these different things.  You need to make sure that when you're communicating, you are communicating in a positive way and that you're looking after your people regardless of what part of the life cycle they're in as an employee and making sure that they are looked after. And that's why I say it's a people first communication. And that's what I'm. So that's what you're doing now? Yes. How did you end up doing what you're doing now? So about 15, six, almost two decades ago, showing my age now, I was qualified in adult social care and wanted to become a social worker. And I was doing my studies for this and I discovered that after a number of very complicated years, personally and professionally, that not only was the remuneration not worth it, but the outcomes you could get within the social care system system just wasn't adequate and you can also see that now, especially in today's system as well. So I moved away from the uk, but my love of writing. Which part of Barnes do you come from, with that accent? I come from a little place called Dundee in Scotland and we moved away from Scotland and I just decided that writing was always been my passion. Communicating was always my passion. And. And after many waitresses jobs and all these other things. So where did you move to? We didn't get that. Sorry. Didn't cover that. Sorry. I moved to. Very exciting listener. I moved to the south of Spain. I started in Fuengarola and then sort of every year incrementally moved about 40 kilometres closer up the coast up to Gibraltar. Estepona was a stay for a while as well in Marbella and then up to La Linia de la Concepcion, which is where I lived predominantly for my time in Spain. And I applied for lots of jobs and I ended up getting very lucky to land a job with William Hill on customer service. And then within a year I just worked as hard as I possibly could. I volunteered to do all sorts of different jobs with them for free, for nothing. Just getting in on projects because I just knew if you could get the foot in the door with a company like that. And right enough it paid off because I then started rewriting the Refugee. I started launching their internal software with Microsoft Yammer. I then was sent around the world to all of their locations to train their entire team, their online team with that. And then that graduated to the internal comms manager position. Then I was moved back to London for a short period of time and I worked with a number of the big CEOs there and it was an amazing time. And that's what led me back to the gaming industry industry in Malta. You're making me feel pathetic. You've done so much stuff, haven't you? Yeah, yeah. My dad and I have often joked that by the time I think I was 32, I'd done 27. I tried 27 different types of jobs, but this is the one. It all adds up though, doesn't it? It all adds up and it's. It's where it takes you. So in Spain you learned the language and everything? Yeah, yeah. I mean, hola comes. Well, not quite as good as that, of course. David. I've a nude lore as well. I'm doing Scottish. No, no. So I would say fluency. I was about a three and a half out of five. Especially being a waitress for the first sort of six months, being out there. I picked it up and then I lost part of it when I moved away back to the UK for a year and a half and then I moved to Malta, which is a remarkable language. It's something like 70% Italian, is it? Or Arabic, and then 20% Italian and then 10% of the rest of the world. That's a phenomenal language, phenomenal people. And I still travel over to Malta regularly now. I've got an amazing team over there. It's just such a vast array of people, talent, really talented people. So tell me how you ended up at the business village. So Covid hit my now husband and I, we had moved to Spain just internally. We moved from Malta back to Spain again and we fell pregnant with my son and we gave birth about three months after lockdown. And the lockdown in Spain was an entirely different prospect than it was in the uk. It was earlier. It was a lot more severe. You couldn't travel more than a kilometre from your house. We lived nine kilometres up a mountainside, so that didn't really help. And we were struggling and we made the move to come back home to the uk. My partner, he is from Essex, I am evidently from Scotland, so we thought a midway point was a really nice way to see family. So we got a little wee flat in Huddersfield just so we could have a look at the area, see where we liked. And we settled in Darton and it's just such a beautiful area. And I ended up in the business village because my mental health was really going downhill. Working at home because running your own business, yes, there's a lot of flexibility to it, especially as a mother. However, there's no days off. I rarely get a weekend to myself and holidays. I've always got my laptops with me, I've always got my phone on and I will always respond because when you're an employee, there's somebody else above you to look after you. When you're the consultant, when you're that person that's been hired. I truly believe that when somebody hires me, I am theirs, that business is mine and I will do everything I can in my power to make sure that what I'm doing for them is a success. And it often doesn't stay within the remit they've hired me for. It often spans very wide, whatever they need support with, if I've got knowledge in it or I know somebody in the industry, especially in the I gaming industry, it's a very vast in revenue, but small in numbers of people. And everybody knows everybody, generally just Reminders. If anybody's unsure of what igaming is, what is it? So I gaming is online gambling. Effectively play. It could be anything from bingo lottery through to casino sports. My largest and best client. Currently not best, they're all amazing, but my largest client, they're the ones who helped me start my own business during COVID They run a fantastic technology platform and for sports. So they actually do the technology side of it. They're not business to Customer, they're not B2C, they're B2B and B2C. I Gaming is the likes of your William Hill paddies, etc, etc, all of those foxy bingo. They're all business to customer. So. Yeah, but igaming is all the online version. If you can do it on your phone and then land based is when you go into a shop or a bingo hall or you pay your lottery at the shop. Yeah. So what plans have you got for the future? Well, it's funny you say that because I've actually been thinking a lot about the future and I will grow with my clients I've currently got because I've really been embedded with them for so long and I love their businesses and I love working for them and I hope they feel the same way. I think they do. But I want to give back one thing that has been so just a constant in my life has been paying it forward. If I look at my life 20 years ago to who I am today, it's like two different people, two different lives and that is only because somebody believed in me and I want to continuously pay that forward. So I've been doing that as much as I can over my past, I'd say 10 years where I've been able to pay it forward in meaningful ways. Whether that's hiring somebody, whether that's giving somebody an opportunity, whether it's supporting someone, if they're starting out on a course and they need support to buy a laptop to do it, then that's what my company is going to do. And I want to do it from a philanthropic perspective where there is a lot of parents and young people out there who want to be educated in something, who want to have a job in something, but they can't get the first set of work experience. There's a blocker. I want to be that person. I want getreal Comms to be that company that can set up some sort of a fund or some sort of organisational setting where they can come to us, they can apply for support and then we can say, yes, we can help with this or we can't quite do that but we could do this and then build up that reputation and help get parents back into work as well. Because the one good thing with how I my business running is that we are very, we can be completely remote and also it's the working hours. So one of my sister in law who works with me now, she works at night when the kids have gone down, she can spend the time with my nephews and she's able, she's so fantastic what she does but she would be able to have a job like this if it was during the day because she still has young children. So that's the kind of aim. That's where I'd like the business to go in the future to support more people in the community. Lots more of that. How come people get in contact with you? Well, funniest thing is I don't have a website. I found that out because I've not needed to have one. I didn't think I'd ever take off as a business but thankfully we. Word of mouth in my industry has. So my. They can go to the business village website. My phone number is there as is my email address and that's how they can get in touch with me or on LinkedIn. I'm there. Gemma. Edward. Next, Next we have Dave Moss. After leaving school, Dave secured an apprenticeship in the plumbing trade, marking the beginning of his career in the construction industry. Today, Dave's company, Property Projects Yorkshire limited is thriving due to his team's hard work, commitment and the support from the business village. However, it's not just about financial success. The company's contribution to society is a key objective. Basically what we do is we work on behalf of investors from all over the country, sometimes all over the world and basically we find, locate, refurb and deliver the properties over to either social housing providers or supported living providers. So we provide a full, encompassing, end to end, full turnkey service. Why have you got this ethical strategy about your business? It was something, we sort of fell into this by accident just by another company letting an investor down. So they said, oh, would you get involved into social housing? And we've never really done any. The more work we did, we did that first project and the more we did and we saw the social impact of what we do and the vulnerable individual that come in and live in the properties and it just, it sort of stuck with me and I just thought, you know, we can, we can do more of this and, and make a difference rather than just running a business and Just getting all caught up with day to day, you know, stuff. And I just got. I just thought one day, I just thought, well, why don't we do something that really does make a difference to people's lives? What kind of agencies do you work with? So we work with. I can't mention too many, but we work with. One of the biggest ones is MIA's and they are. They work direct for the government, so they. For the Home Office and they do all the asylum and a lot of the Home Office and defence contracts, which also includes halfway houses for ex convicts that are coming out of prison and stuff like that. We don't get necessarily involved in a lot of that, but the majority that we do are all for vulnerable individuals. So how does the process work? Do you source a house, buy the house, or does an agency come to you? So we've got these. Yeah, both. We get both. So we will basically have a requirement off the agency that will say, we need so many properties in this area. We'll go out and find those properties on. By using, you know, we've got some, like, sourcing software, which is basically, right, move on steroids. So we find the properties, we link them with an investor, we've got an investor pool. So we can go to an investor and say, look, we found a property, this provider is looking for it, this is how much they're willing to pay a month, this is how much it's going to cost, this is how much the refurb is going to cost. And then that'll then tie in with their return on investment strategy. So I know I can approach certain investors for certain properties, properties that matches their criteria. And if we, as long as we get it right at that end, they will, they'll pull the trigger on it. So we're not wasting people's time because we want to literally find a property, match it straight with an investor, or vice versa. If we've got an investor that says, I'm looking for certain properties, I want to spend X, then we find, we go to a provider and say, we've got this, do you want it? And, you know, if this. 9 times out of 10, and they'll say, yeah, because they're so desperate for properties. You know, there's currently 600,000 people in temporary accommodation in UK that's costing the taxpayer money in hotels. So we see bridging the gap, getting people out of this property, out of the hotels, into properties to make a better, you know, so they've got, you know, better homes, you know, they've got a better standard of living and ultimately cost a taxpayer a lot less money. You're like a big conduit then, really, aren't you? Yes, basically, we. A producer, as I used to call them. Yeah. Yeah. It's funny reminding me my dad. That's what my dad says. And it's funny because we can literally create like a conveyor belt. Yeah. Of properties matching and we investors and delivering. And we are, as it stands right now, one of the biggest provider for social housing in the Northeast. We cover the Northeast due to a number of reasons. There's a lot of empty properties up there, like a lot. And there's a lot of housing providers up there that are desperate for properties. So we see it that, you know, we're just creating where we create, basically, we. We've got the investors, we've got the provider, we just put them together and they know that they've got, you know, five years or 10 years of, you know, sort of hands off investing. Tell me about yourself. Where are you from? I grew up in South Kirby, which is just outside Pontefract. I mean, it's just outside Barnsley. Small mining village. Grandparents grew up there. My dad worked down the pit and obviously the pit's closed. And then I moved to Barnsley 15 years ago now. Married, got three kids. Well, they're not kids, they're adults. And, yeah, I love Barnsley. I love everything it stands for. And that's another aspect of what we want to do as well, because we're just in talks with Barnsley council to be able to see how we can help locally in Barnsley. So, you know, what we do up there is just we, like I said, we're just turning them out, but we really want to support Barnsley in our hometown and see if we can make a difference in that respect as well. So, when you're South Kirby, what were you like at school? Not academic. Struggled, I think. Because. Because I think back then, which, I mean, I'm 43 now, so 20 or, you know, 30 years ago, you're either academic or you were told that you weren't trying hard enough. And I were one of them. So I sort of left school. I sort of left school in a position where I didn't realise, didn't really know what I wanted to do. And my dad's a joiner by trade, so I sort of slipped into. He were like, oh, I know somebody was. Who wants a plumber friend? Latest plumber. So I ended up going down that path as a plumber. So I'm a plumber by Trade. But my dad being a joiner builder, I've always been in and around the building industry growing up and yeah, it's, I've been self employed on and off for the last. Well since I were about 20, done multiple things and multiple businesses and I won't say tried and failed but I've tried and learned a lot. Yeah, yeah. And I always thought that if I ever get to a stage where I can create something, I can create something that's ethical and that I want to build a business around something because yeah, we all do it for money but there's a greater good as well and we've got, I think we've got a responsibility to each other which, you know, I can go a bit deep but just to be. Whether it's holding a door open for someone or providing a service and just going the extra mile because it does make that difference. Yeah. So that's like really important to me and. Yeah, and then I think I've done that many things and worked in that many industries. I've been a project manager, I've been a site manager on construction sites. I've been, I were an operations director for a company in 2016. So I've done everything and I thought if I ever do this, I'm going to do it this way. You know, there's no. If you walk in our office, there's no shirt and ties. It's all we want the, you know, relaxed atmosphere, everything, you know, decisions made not under duress, not under stress and create a bit of a, you know, like, like we do for his clients, a supportive team mentality and team ethos. So, you know, everybody's important as the next person. I'm not in part more important than anybody, you know, because there's guys are on the ground there delivering these projects every day and their well being to me is really important as well. I think it's brilliant what you're doing. You know, you've got a social conscience, you're trying to provide a service but also do it properly and with respect. I think. Yeah, because. But I think you need to take some time off sometimes and chill because you'll. Yeah, yeah. I'd say these, I'd say these last, last three months it's starting to get a bit better. I'm. I'm just getting to the. The worst thing is, is you almost feel like you're cheating yourself because you know how much work you've got to do. So I'm thinking, God, I've got all that work to do. So I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll just fight a laptop up while my wife's making tea or while she's gone out or usually when she's not there. So it's. It just. I think it just ends up in a place there where you've just got to think, right, well, I deserve some time off and I need to do it, otherwise I'm just gonna end up burnt out. Yeah. And I've, you know, I've been close to that a few times. But, yeah, it's. It's funny because I used to work from home and the office was at home, but the disconnect is getting better. Yeah, I feel like I can stay a while, sometimes six o' clock, sometimes later, but I can switch my laptop off and I can leave my laptop here. But again, it just comes down to self discipline and not. But the processing systems have to go hand in hand with that, otherwise I'm still getting invoices at seven o' clock on a Sunday night. Wanting pain. What about the future? The future for us is because, at the minute, it's funny because the refurbishment part of the business is the. The main income stream for us right now. So because we've utilised getting to the point where we've got a handful of investors that are really good to work with and don't get me wrong, we've had people that have been a nightmare to work with. And again, it comes down to alignment. We don't want to work under people that work under high stress levels, that pass that on to us because we don't work like that. So it's really important that as clients align with us because I don't want to end up in a situation where we've got anyone treating anyone disrespectfully or talking to my staff like that. So that's really important to us as well. But just going back to what I was saying, the main income stream is the refurbs, but now that's operationally set up within the business, then we're going to transfer, concentrating his time onto the investment side and the clients. Dave, you've been amazing. Thank you. I've learned such a lot, honestly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it's. I think it's great work that you're doing and all the best to property projects if people want to get in contact with you. How can they do that? You can find us on Facebook and Instagram just. If you just search property projects and we've got a website as well, but that's currently just being built. But I can update you on that once we've got that done. And yeah, you'll, you'll find us down at Barnsley Pick, you know, five days a week or six maybe. And what's it like down at the Business centre for you? It's amazing. And I'll be honest with you, these have had such a important hand in our development and supporting us because we had. We grow so quick. We grew so quick and they were there, you know, they helped us, developed us with rent, you know, and just supported us. And it's good that there's such a. An incredible team down here that do support you, not just, you know, but with business, with grants, with yourself, that put us onto yourself. So being able to put, you know, our business out there in front of other people is really important. And without centres like this across Barnsley, you know, I think businesses would struggle. So I think it's really important that we carry on supporting this site and stay here and, you know, we can carry on growing. Good morning, the Business Village. Holly speaking. How can I help upgrade your workspace and boost productivity at the Business Village. Our modern offices are designed to meet your needs. From solo entrepreneurs to growing startups, you'll have access to high speed Internet conference rooms, a bistro and a thriving business community with networking events, workshops and collaboration opportunities. Contact us today. To schedule a tour, call 012-262-49590. That's 012-262-4590. And start your success story at the Business Village Foreign. That's it for this edition of the podcast. Thank you so much for listening. If you want to find out more about our office rentals or the services available at the Business Village, please call 01226-249590. Thank you to my guests Gemma, Edward and Dave Moss, as well as to the family of Adrian Waite, the former chief executive of the Business Village, who sadly passed away in February of this year. I'm David Markwell and this is a POD One creative audio production for the Barnsley Business Village. Never miss an episode of the Business Village People podcast. Simply subscribe and follow from wherever you get your podcast.

This is a Pod One production. For more information, visit Pod One. Co. Uk. This is  the Business Village People Podcast.  Hello, I'm David Markwell. And welcome, welcome, welcome to the Business Village People Podcast. This is episode seven. In this Podcast, we showcase stories from the company's service providers and staff at the business village in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Well, if you're ready, let's go.  In this episode, we meet Karen Greenwood from Newable, a non-bank lender.  Newable was founded in 1982  as the Greater London Enterprise by a number of London Borough Councils to help companies with funding. And today, they also have more than a finger or two in the business village pie as well. In the past, Karen has worked for banks and independent lenders  and has provided funding ranging from 8, 000 to purchase a second-hand car to a multi-million pound deal. Which you'll hear about shortly. Here's Karen's story. I work at Newable Commerce and currently head up the credit and risk team. Newable Commerce was created 40-odd years ago by the London Borough Councils um, designed to service the SME market because they were underserved in many areas. So Newell has effectively three divisions, uh, workspace, advice, and lending, and it was designed to take in a One man band who needed an office for the day or a desk or a meeting room, give them advice on how to break into new markets, uh, how to achieve new customers, and then how to fund his work and capital. And we do exactly the same thing today from the little One man band through to businesses that turn over 10 to 20 million pounds. Could you help out a little Podcasting business in Barnsley?  Quite possibly, we could help out a little Podcasting business in Barnsley. This One, we do have One caveat. So Nouveau Commerce is One of the divisions in Lending. We've been set up to help export in SMEs. Um, it's a part of the market we feel is very much underserved. In our advice division, we've had the International Trade Advisors in there. So we've got some experienced people behind the scenes that can help and direct, as well as things like DBT and UK Export Finance.  Um, they're saying from our side, we look at finding different ways to find the right solution depending on what size of the exporting business is and what they're trying to achieve. So we've got some existing exporters and we've got some who are new to exporting. When I was reading the web page and the stuff that you sent through to me, it's straight out with the top of my head. How did you start in this business and why? Oh, goodness me. So I came through a traditional banking route many, many years ago, um, because I wanted to work in the small to mid market section. Didn't want to go into corporate banking where the big boys are because quite frankly, they're, they're really easy decisions to make. The difference is that we help the SMEs. Um, as I knew, but we're set up to help the SMEs, which really attracted me, um, into the job. Um, we've gOne from the last three years to no lending to offering under the recovery loan scheme and launching the growth guarantee screen, which is now replaced the recovery loan scheme. And we obtained our accreditation on UK export finance scheme. I'm very proud of that actually, because it took us two and a half years and we're the only non bank lender on the scheme. And the whole point is we are the Ones that's there to try and support the SMEs. Um, One of my favorites. Well, it's not my favorite, but it's One of my favorite to remind people of how desperate the need is for the SMEs is that SMEs in this country export compared to 44 percent in Germany. You know, we're supposed to be a nation of small businesses and the small businesses today become the medium sized businesses tomorrow and the big businesses thereafter.  And I genuinely feel that they're not helped sufficiently by people with the expertise and knowledge, the ability to signpost and network people, or just understand what challenges they face. So this is why I came into it. And I absolutely love it. We've got 200 clients on our books in two years time. Um, we are the biggest lender by number of clients on the UK expertise. What finance scheme, which I say I'm very proud of because we can see we make a difference. We don't just provide funding which is used in day to day working capital. We've  provided funding that's being used for recruitment for expansion  for developing new products, a lot of green technology. So we really make a difference. I love it. What's the marketplace like for non bank lenders? Is it a particularly big market or? It's huge. So currently, as I said, we have 200 clients in our box in two years time, and we have huge growth ambitions.  We've carried out research that we believe there's currently about 300, 000 SMEs in the UK that could actually  be supported through our range of cash flow solutions. Can I just stop you there? If you even What did you say? 300, 000? 300, 000,  And if you think, you know, our client base, we're scratching the surface and, well, not even scratching the surface. Um, and I find that quite frightening that it is a huge marketplace, probably One of the biggest issues NESME, the experts, have.  Has to face is convincing people that they're a robust business and the exporting doesn't make them a higher risk. Um, you know, from outside, I look at an exporting businesses, far more robust, far more sophisticated because I understand the challenges that they go through. They have so many challenges. so much administration to deal with, they have to understand the rules and regulations in every single country. Um, and, and that amount of knowledge and expertise, it takes years to, to build up and actually fight your way through all of that to then actually be able to go and sell something abroad. So I've got a lot of respect and admiration for exports and SMEs. I really do. So what would happen if somebody knocked on your door  and said, um, We need some help. What can you do for us?  So we, we have a small team here. Uh, we have a small team currently of 14. And what would happen is One of the relationship managers at the front end would speak to the business, get to know them, understand what they're trying to achieve, understand what their challenges are and how they wish to face it. And particularly if it's from a lending side and a funding side.  Work a solution to cover that challenge and hopefully get them to where they want to be. We've got a number of businesses that come to us because they're growing. They won a new contract and it's a step change. And the issue they found when they've gOne to the banks, if they can get them to talk to them, is that their previous financial history doesn't support lending them more mOney because they're not big enough. And that's where we come in, you know, we like to support the growing businesses. We look forward, we look at what their contracts are coming in, we understand what the cash flow is going forward may be, and we put together a solution that works for everybody.  What's Newable's connection with the business village?  So, Newable owns, uh, the Barnsley Innovation Centre, would you believe? Da da da da da da da!  We'll get these windows cleaned, quite frankly.  So our advice division, which I mentiOned previously, um, there's an agreement that predates myself being a Newable, this is how old it is, that, uh, apparently they set up the innovation centre with, uh, Barnsley Council and our advice division. And ultimately they effectively inherited the business village. So some of my colleagues, I believe, are based there and you probably see them walking around, um, day to day. Um, I'm obviously not a million miles away because I'm a Sheffield girl. But yes, so we actually own the premises and we own the business center. So, you know, if there's somebody that you want to talk to, if a member of the team or a member of the vice is not there, you know, quite happily pick up the phOne to myself or the rest of my team around the country. So tell me about the five values. that you work to? And what do they mean?  Okay, so  Nuble has its own set of values. Um, it's the values that we find that our clients tend to work to. So we reflect that from our side, you know, we've got things like dream big, you know, we want ambitious businesses. Going back to my point where we're talking about businesses, you've won a new contract and looking for funding. We want to help them take that step along the next journey on the way, I should say on their journey to go this One. Um, you know, again, trying to, you know, be experts in our field. This is why we set up Newbill Commerce and why we're focused on a particular area of the market. We know that we've got expertise in house and we know that we've got contacts elsewhere that can help us to support and guide the business or signposting to other people who've got that knowledge and support. Um, and so our values, they reflect what we do. They reflect from where we come from. Ultimately, and so from setting out to helping the smaller SMEs to achieve their emissions, to achieve their drives and do things in the right way as well. You know, where Newable is, um, it's often described as a very grown up business. And I think it is. We are a bunch of people that want to sit here, want to talk to you, want to understand what challenge you're facing. And we want to help you. We don't want to try and put you into a round peg into a square hole sort of thing. Thank you. We want to deal with you as an individual because every business is different. So how did you get into the game of finance and working for banks? Was it a dream when you were at school in Sheffield and you thought, you know, that's where the mOney really is. That's what I want to do. Or do I just want to help businesses?  It wasn't my dream growing up. What was it? What was your dream? What was my dream? I either wanted to be a baker or I wanted to race motorbikes.  And unfortunately, my parents were dead set against me racing motorbikes. You know, Carl Fogarty on a Honda as he was before I went to Ducati was on my wall every day. My parents were very frightened that I was going to kill myself on a bike if I went down that road. And then I actually did my year at placement when I was doing my degree in Manchester at an IT technology company in their finance department. I thought, okay, I like some of this. But I don't want to go into accountancy. Um, and then when I was at university, I went to the milk rounds and went to see, obviously, the various companies that turned up. And there was One position available in Royal Bank of Scotland back in the days it was, which was in the credit side of the business. And it was talking about, well, how can you analyse a company? How do you understand it? And that appealed to my logic, as you were saying, trying to understand things built together. And then it was really nice, Sit there and talk about the new business and how it came in and go, well actually they're coming to you because they want to grow. 'cause they need funding for this. And it did. It genuinely appealed to me. They going, okay, I want to help here. So I stayed in the bank for four years and then I saw the light and I came out and went to work in the independent market where there's not less rules and regulations, but people are a little bit more human should we say, and have the time to sit there and talk to you. And it's not a case of an algorithm. Um, and yeah, I've built my career from there. So I've gOne through, um. Couple of different independent lenders to get to where I am. Uh, my, my biggest role was a ge uh, for 10 years I was there helping small businesses grow different types of funding. Then I went into Bibi, uh, was head of Trading International there for two years before I joined Nobel. And it, it just seems to be a progression that, you know, every job I go to, I, I take my experience, I take my values, I take my knowledge, and I put it to good use and I. Personally, I find I've taken the next step in in my enjoyment in my career because I help more and more companies every single time. Well, you said you wanted to be a baker. I suppose you're still out working with the dough.  Ha ha ha ha. Yeah.  Tell me exactly what your role is then as an underwriter. Okay. So, uh, when, uh, an application comes in, so it's been with a relationship manager, they've understood what the business is trying to achieve. Okay. They've shaped what they think is a suitable solution for the guys. They bring it and affecting to the credit team, which is what the underwriters look at. And we sit there and make sure number One is the right solution for the client. And number two, that we actually lending responsibly. So if we actually follow through and go, here's the funding that you need, here's the working capital to live that contract. Are we actually putting too much pressure on the business to deliver it? Because there's so many things that could go wrong. Um, again, we speak to the client. We understand, you know, what they want to achieve. We understand what they see as the risks in their business, but how they feel they've mitigated that. We take that all on board and then effectively we will go, okay, great, we want to support this. And then we go and sell it to UKEF. So we go to UK Export Finance. We tell them what we want to do. We tell them that we're putting our name to this and we're backing this business. And at which point UKF will hopefully agree to it. So currently I've got a 99 percent success rate. So there is a little 1 percent potentially where they have the right to say no. Um, but yeah, generally speaking, they come back and they support us. And at which point our relationships starts and we've got clients on our books since day One who keep coming back and renew with us and we keep doing more and more things with them, which is brilliant. Um, but yeah, so that's how it goes through. And then obviously when it's live in the books, we have the, the portfolio and I look after the portfolio as well at the back end. So if you've got any concerns, if you've got clients that want increases, things like that, they come back and they talk to us and we find again, the right solution at that point in time for them.  What's the biggest deal you've dOne?  The biggest deal I did was 427 million, to be precise, and it was into a global car manufacturer to do, um, do company cars into the manufacturer itself, to do employee car schemes, which they offered to numerous companies around the country, um, to do their secondhand car dealership, uh, networks of nearly new cars, three to six months old, um, and also into daily rental business. What are your personal plans for the future? Personal plans for the future. So I have absolutely zero intention of leaving Newble. I have a fantastic team around me. I love every day, uh, coming to work because it's always something new. And the best part of my day is, is meeting new businesses, understanding what they do. It really floats my boat. Um, so personally, I've got, I've got no intention to say to leave. However, I want to help more.  We've got plans for new investors coming in any day, which means we've got more mOney to basically go out and support more companies. Um, so I'm desperate to disperse that. Um, I'm also trying to put pressure onto UK export buyers to tweak some of their conditions in their facilities, just to make it easier for us to lend to the businesses that are out there, rather than penalising those that have battened down the hatches and come through Covid. Um, and at some point I'd like to retire somewhere warm. Arizona most likely will be, and hopefully before I'm 97. Okay, well that's, that's going to be another 57 years at least!  It's a very dodgy signal, you can't see me, it's a filter. Okay, right, well I can see somebody. Are you from Sheffield, are you?  I am. I'm a Yorkshire lass, this One there, but born and bred, uh, moved down to Sheffield, goodness now, 20 years ago, but my family's still there. In fact, I'm coming back to Sheffield this evening for my dog after my mom's, yeah, because I've got a fun holiday tomorrow. Whereabouts in Sheffield? Greenwich side. Oh, right. Greenwich side. Proper side. You know, not totally and all that a lot. Oh, God, no, no. On way to Barnsley. This One. I, I've said probably always that bit. So, when I'm cracking my grandparents back in the day, they used to live around, so, Attercliffe and Darnall, where Norman Steel works and things like that. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So, it's One of them. My parents kind of, sort of, That's basically they've got further and further out as it was. I think they just wanted a bit of peace and quiet. And then they got me. And did you ever manage to get on a motorbike? I have been on a motorbike on a few occasions. I've never been allowed to own my own. So my cousins have had bikes. Um, and friends of the family, very close Ones the family have. Um, so I've been out riding with those guys. But yes, I was well and truly banned from a motorbike by my mom. So what's, what's the future looking like for the company? So it's looking really, really rosy. Um, as I just mentiOned, we've got the investors coming in, which opens up a whole new raft of things. But Newble is It means we can start to work on expanding our solutions range, which hopefully we'll find more opportunities to go. This is what works for you as a business. We can help you and support you. Um, as where we currently stand and say that the client base is about 200,  we'd like to increase that to four or five times the size. We've got the resources. We've got the systems to deal with all that. We're just ready to scale and grow. Um, and also if it's not a case of just actually finding clients that we want to deal with ourselves, we also want to become, um, a trusted advisor, I suppose is the phrase I would use. When we have businesses that don't know where else to go, come and talk to us. It may not be me, but actually I probably know somebody because I've been around a while. And if I don't know somebody, I know somebody who will. So I can point business into whether it's Export Academy, because they want to do research on a new market that they're thinking entering, or the needs and support from DBT. Um, or if it's an international trade advisor, you know, we can start kind of mentoring relationships. NOne of that is my business, but actually, you know, I want to help and support other people. So if I can signpost people, I really will. If anybody's wanting to get in contact with you or your organization, how do they do it?  So the easiest way is probably to go on to our website because the contact forms come directly into my team from there. So you can go on to commerce. newborn. co. uk. Or alternatively, if you want to send me an email, you can send it to karen. greenwood at noble. co. uk. Um, and I will deal with it or One of my team will deal with it. Karen, thank you for your time. You're very welcome. Now, now this business idea that I've got. Sorry, David, bit busy. I've got to go now. Bye. Oh, Karen.  For all the latest news from the Business Village, subscribe to our free newsletter at business village. co. uk By the way, if you want to find out more about office rentals or the services available at the Business Village, call Barnsley 01226 249 590.  Finally, I'd just like to thank my guest, Karen Greenwood from Newable. I'm David Markwell, and this is Business Village. Is a Pod One creative audio production.  Never miss an episode of the business village people Podcast. Simply subscribe and follow from wherever you get your Podcasts. 

This is a Pod One production. For more information visit pod one.co.uk This is the Business Village People Podcast. Hello, I'm David Markwell. Welcome to the Business Village People Podcast. This is episode six of series two. In this podcast, we showcase stories from the companies, service providers and staff at the Business Village in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Well, if you're ready, let's go! In this episode of Business Village People Two people who started working for themselves totally by accident. We meet a young chap who was set up as an estate agent, but not any old agent. Barnsley's first. Disclaimer. We think, but we could be wrong, there may be others. Your house is at risk if you keep the back door open. Disclaimer. Barnsley's first, possibly, personal estate agent. He reckons it's the future. I'll be asking him why. Also, we meet the motivational educationalist, teacher, author and humourist, who at times looks and sounds like a cross between Gary Barlow and and Jason Manford. His business, Create, Learn and Inspire, is based here at the Business Village. Time to meet our first guest. Owen Beasley has recently begun working for himself as a personal estate agent. Here's his story. You've got a lot of people out there, a lot of estate agents out there, that are more corporate and work on volume if I'm honest. And I think it's time now when the market is changing for estate agents, where there is that personal touch, that personal branding, where they're not working on volume and the work on your property and get it sold, because each property is different. Some will sell quickly, just because of what everything is and the price tag. Some will sell slowly if they're more expensive. And he needs a personal touch to make sure it all gets sold, because nearly 50% of properties that go on the market don't sell. And I want to put the time in to each property and get them all sold, rather than it being a flipper coin kind of thing. And that's what I bring to suppose the Barnes and Mac is. So what do you mean by personal estate agent, say how are you different? I'll take them from A to Z, so value the house, get it sold, go for all the legal process. Anyone rings me up, they've got my mobile number from 9am, 8pm, up until 9pm at night, they don't have to ring an office and be passed around the office as such, which you get a lot in the corporate side. And that's the personal touch I'll do with everything, basically, and that's that. So how did you get into estate agents, you can say? By accident, to be fair, I wanted to get into property and I was more interested in building a portfolio for the back of it for retirement. And I joined B-craft estates in One Will, and it's spelled from there, I covered the media side of it, enjoyed it. I always knew I wanted to score myself. So what you said you wanted to get into property, did you mean owning the property rather than just getting into estate agents, say, straight away? Yeah, I wanted to get into flipping properties and... What's that mean? So buy one, renovate it and sell it on for a profit, essentially. I just loved it, I saw the people doing it, I wanted to get into it, and I started off getting into estate agents, getting into an estate agent role, and I enjoyed it. And I felt, you know, there's potential for me to do this as well. Yeah. So yeah, that's how I kind of go into it, I kind of fell into it accidentally, I suppose. So what's the market like at the moment in Barnsley and South Yorkshire? There's a lot on the market, a lot more than other years, to be fair, there's a lot of choice, and I think that's two things. Buyers have too much choice, so sometimes property can sell slowly, but also on the other end, you've got interest rates that are not the lowest. I mean, theoretically, historically, it's not actually the eye. But at the same time, it stops people buying, but that's why a lot of people are selling, so you've got a lot of sellers, not as many buyers, but stuff is still moving, and, you know, the base rates dropped. That's brought more buyers to the market, and it'll continue to drop up by the end of this year. It's at roughly 4%. But it is moving, and there's a lot on the market, to be fair. And although, if you look at the property prices and you look at statistics and whatnot, across barns, stuff is still rising. People say, you know, prices aren't at the 2022 eye, but actually, it's not the prices, it's the timing. In 2022, you could sell an house in a day, in an hour, whereas it takes a little bit longer now, but you'll still get more than you would in 2022, because it's jumped about 4.5 cents instead. So it's still growing, and barns is actually one of the strongest markets across the country. Some people, some areas have dropped 8%, some have gone up 8%, in oil, and in the last 12 months, it's gone up 8%. It's crazy. I think that is. I think there's a lot going on in barns, so it's had a £200m investment into the town centre. In Hoiland, they've got the every, that's opened up, that's had a lot of jobs, I think that's supported the property market there as well. It's normally the east side of barns, and the south side of barns, that's been the strongest so far. When you look at it over the last 12 months, it's the more stronger market. That's probably gone up 5%, 8%, roughly in the area in the north of barns. You're looking at 3%, 4%, but I think the every, especially for Hoiland, has brought a lot of jobs to it, and it's bang on the motorway, and it's actually affordable in Ireland. Parts of S75, Tankers, Gorb and that side of town are quite expensive, so pushing the ceiling prices there is the hitting them. Whereas Hoiland is the next place I think it's going to kind of blow up. Okay, so how do you value a house? There's a number of things, so you look at comparable evidence, depending on the property, there can be a lot of comparable, so if next saw is the exact same size, the exact same amount of bedrooms, and it sold last week, then you know exactly what that property is going to be worth. Sometimes it's different, and you've got to dive into it and see what sold, even within half a mile, if it's a beautiful 5-bed detached, what a 5-bed detached going for in the market. And also, that street might have gone up a couple of percents since that last property sold. If it sold two years ago, it's comparable. You've got to factor in, well, properties have gone up 5%, 6%. You've also got to factor in how much is the renovation cost going to be if you are to, if it needs the renovation. Cost chances are, you're even going to get people who want to do the work, and there's not many of them, or you're going to get someone who's wanting to buy the house and do the renovation, so you've got to price it right, that there's actually money in it for them sometimes. But also, builders are going to be cheaper, so you always try to price it right, so everyone wins, but also you've got to bear in mind, you're going to price it as much as possible for the vendor, so they walk away with the money. Don't you ever really? So, yeah, that's the idea to value an house really in the short term, I suppose. So, what about you? Where are you from? How are you at Barnsley? Bread and butted? Yeah, at Barnsley, born and bread. From Adsley, actually. Obviously, I've only been doing personal estate agency for a couple of months now, and Adsley and, I suppose, S71, you know, Montbroughton, etc. That is my key area, I know it like the back of my hand, so I'm wanting to build a really good reputation up, because I feel like I can add a lot to the market there. There's no personal estate agent in Barnsley. There is some here and there, but not in that area, if I'm honest, and, you know, when someone's selling an house in that area, especially in Adsley, if someone comes to view it, I can tell them what's actually, you know, where the dog walks, I always say to clients, I'm trying to sell your house, I need to know everything. If I get someone who wants to view your house, I want to know why they want to view it. If they've got dogs, then they want to know about the dog walks, so that's like another thing I had that personal touch. I know the area, like the back of my hand, all the, you know, the dog walk area is basically. So, what three tips that really do work would you advise somebody that's about to put the house on the market to do to the house, or when someone is coming to view it, what three tips go on? Three tips. Invest in your estate agent. It might seem funny because I'm an estate agent, I want more money, but it's the truth. If you go with the likes of, well, what names names, your national estate agents where they'll say, you take the pictures, we'll put it online, etc. You're not going to get the best return, although they are cheaper. All it takes is, let's say, for example, an estate agent says, I'll pre-prope on the market for £1,000. I'll do it for £2,000. Some people look at that and think, he's double the price, but some people say, well, it's only an extra grant, and I've got faith in knowing, he knows the market, he knows it very well. You're sure that you might be able to get me £10,000 more than that online estate agent, so yeah, it might be double in this example, but if you get an extra nine grand, pay for itself. That's tip one. Tip two is, you want to present it well. Ideally, you want to be putting it on with nice photos. In summer, well, you know, trees, blossoms, etc. It looks a lot better than winter. So that's another thing. But also, what I like to do is prepare, if I'm not doing the viewings and let's say the vendors at home, I want to prepare them for those actually coming to view the house. So I go back to that dog analogy, you know, I've spoken with the person who's coming to view your house. What is it they want? Well, they've got free dogs. I'll tell that vendor, right? They've got free dogs. Make sure you tell them all these dog walk areas or whatever. Or maybe they've got a kid, start talking about how good the schools have been, because you've been to them schools, because you've been at the area that long, or you've got a kid that's in them schools, etc. So I always say, let's be prepared. And whoever comes through the door, you can upsell the house to him. So does that. But yeah, the third one, going back to it, is make it presentable because the more presentable it is, the more people you get through the door, essentially. And then you've got a bit of competition between the buyers. That pumps price up and you get the best price. So that's the three things I'd say. Okay, what about the future? The future of me? Yeah, the future of your business as this personal estate agent. Grow it, but I don't want to grow it so it's overwhelming, because it's a personal touch. I always say, if I can get as many sold subjects contract at one time, but also only I have 10 on the market at one time, then I've got 10 people to focus on. 10 people at my time, not 100 people at my time, stretch myself to a fence. So I want to grow it, grow it to around that many, 10. So when one comes off and that's sold, another one comes on, that's supposed to short term, but also it's been nice to have a business where you run the business. You run the, I suppose, you're a hub for self-import estate agents. So how come people get in contact with you if they're thinking to sell it up? It can give me a call. I've got my personal numbers, 07, 5, 2, 6, 0, 3, 5, 3, 2, 8. You can find me on Facebook. You can find me on Instagram, some Instagrams, or on Jack Beasley, my Facebooks, or on Beasley Brands as a personal estate agent. And you can contact me on WhatsApp, give me a call, whatever it may be. You know, you're something like talking to your mate, I'm not an office, give me a call, and I might be talking to a chap with you no matter what time. As long as it's up to at night, but I mean, from 7, 8, 8, 9 at night, I'm available for any questions, anything you want. If we're going through a sale, you can give me a call. If you're worried about something, give me a call, drop me a message. And that's the flexibility you get with a personal estate agent. Good morning, the Business Village. Holly, speaking. How can I help? Upgrade your workspace and boost productivity at the Business Village. Our modern offices are designed to meet your needs, from solo entrepreneurs to growing startups. You'll have access to high-speed internet, conference rooms, a Bistro, and a thriving business community with networking events, workshops and collaboration opportunities. Contact us today to schedule a tour. Call 0-126-249-590. That's a 1-226-249-590. And start your success story at the Business Village. Howl Roberts set out in life to become an actor. He attended Bretton Hall College to study drama and loved the place so much that he stayed in extra a year to train as a teacher. These days, Howl travels the world, motivating teachers and businesses. He's even been described as a world leader in enthusiasm. He is Howl explaining more about his mission to create, learn and inspire. That's what I try and do. And 15 years ago, when I set up the company, I was really involved with creativity and creative practice in schools. How do we get children to learn when they're reluctant? And so on. I wanted to inspire adults working with children, but I also wanted to inspire the kids. Learning is at the centre of everything. That's really what the company does. I rely a lot on just word of mouth and reputation. I've got a good reputation nationally and internationally. I'm very busy just delivering conferences, but also working in classrooms and showing adults my ideas and so on with their kids. It's kind of high risk professional development work. I was based in Banzai. I was a teacher a long time. I'm actually from over the border in Lancashire. I came to train to teach at a place called Breton Hall. Just a wonderful place. It was a brilliant place. I was there in the very late eighties doing a degree. Then I just stayed on to do teacher training because I didn't want to go back to Manchester and be a burden on my parents. Young people today don't have that choice, they don't think. I settled and I got a teaching job in Wakefield and then eventually in Banzai, a place called Kingston School. I was very happy there. It was a wonderful school. I taught English and drama and so on. Things were changing. The schools amalgamate with another school. The council were coming in. There was going to be a new build and everything, which has all gone great, but I thought I needed to do something else. I didn't want to go start again at another school, so I thought I'll just try a year of doing this teacher training stuff because I'd already started doing a bit as part of my job in the school. I just accidentally set up a company, honestly. I was so naive because as teachers, I assume doctors and nurses, if you're a public servant, you're looked after in a way. You're punching, get started. All nationally, so I just had to start a business from scratch really. I had a lot of guidance from the time, from the centre, because my brother-in-law also operates a business running out of the business centre. I had a bit of help at the beginning, but then really it was get on Twitter, get on LinkedIn and get cracking really. Where did the passion, the desire to teach drama come from? Well, I really wanted to be an actor, I think, but my parents wouldn't have that. They were wonderful people, but they weren't having me at larking about. I did the next best thing really, which to me was English. I was always an avid reader. As it happened, I was an English teacher, really, but when I was at Kingston, they were setting up a drama department, or they wanted to set up a drama department. But they didn't have anyone to do it, so that was my job. I got the job on the strength of a desire to try and get a drama curriculum going. They already had a really good music curriculum, so it was meant to complement that. I think it was great times. It was quite a while ago now, as I say, but it was at a time when creativity and curriculum and school was seen as arts were as important as the sciences. That's fallen away over the last 10, 12 years or so. But it seems to have a resurgence now because I'm really busy. That's great. I'll tell you what you're reminding me of. You're reminding me of two people. One who I think you've probably met, Mel Dike, who sadly passed away recently. And also, Sir Ken Robinson. Well, Sir Ken Robinson was my alma mater. He was... Wasn't she on coronation street? Well, I legend. Just met him a couple of times, and he was a real inspiration. I don't know how close you are to all of this, but he did a lot of conversations starting, if you like, through his TED Talks and stuff. He did a few things around Lee. I remember him coming to Lee probably about 10 years ago. He'd written a book called The Element, and it really spoke to me. He was fantastic. I discovered Saken through the TED Talks that he gave. As I mentioned to you earlier, I went to Darn High School in the late 70s, early 80s. I was taught by some progressive teachers, but not enough. The majority of them were old school. They were probably four in the Second World War. Very kind of arrogant, really. And belittling and knocking you down. If you didn't stand up when they had teacher walked in, you'd get right, rollicking. I did say it, rollicking there. And I have real difficulty. I've had real difficulty throughout my life writing and reading and all that kind of stuff. In fact, a couple of years ago, I paid for a test. It came back that I'm raving dyslexic. It just winds me up that I've gone through all the system. I'm 59 now. I've gone through all the educational system, and nobody spotted it. I even went to my doctor's and said, I think I'm dyslexic. And he said, well, you've left this a bit late, haven't you? But it happens all the time now. I don't know if listeners would know. The people in their own families would be, you know, there's people you just, you can sort of explain it now. You can explain behaviours that have affected your whole life by just getting some sort of diagnosis. And I think, you know, it was a grim time, the time you were describing in school. I think it was grim because we still had like corporal punishment. I mean, you just have to read Kestrel for a nave and, oh, Kett, you know, watch the film, Kett. And you get, I think that was pretty close to many people's experience of perhaps being working class. And with decided futures, no ambition really, or, well, you know, just really challenging. And actually what happened now, I was a progressive teacher, I still am. And that's been drummed out of the system. But funnily enough now, as I speak to you today, people are needing that now because they've realised they've got room full, rooms full of children and young people who are great, who are wonderful, who are concerned about the world and so on. But they don't feel they have a voice. So, and suddenly, I don't know if you've been familiar with this, but RSC, speaking, listening, suddenly top of the agenda, as is professional imagination. And those people who were hitting kids, shouting at kids, they had trauma, perhaps, if they were, you know, those second World War people you've described, they had that and, you know, that doesn't happen now. But what we've got is teachers perhaps who are less, what's the word, they've got gaps in their skills because of what's been seen as more important over the last 10 to 12 years. Happily, I think I'm really optimistic actually. I think things are going to get better with this, with the emphasis on RSC, speaking, listening and actually being future business people, being entrepreneurs, being people who are going to contribute ethically, you know, to the communities and so on. I think that's where my work rests and it's chime in with people, you know. So what was your experience of going to school? I write about my school in quite a lot. I was perhaps a bit after you. I went to high school in 1982. I'm just turned 54 and my high school experience was, I was very happy with my friends. I had a good friendship circle. I also learned how to duck and dive. I was a bit of a, I could make people laugh and I was alright. I think I ended, I think like many of us, we were the victims of poor quality teaching. I think we had high quality teaching in pockets, but I think, you know, it was basically sit down and shut up, copy that. So there's no learning to be had there. So what's good about education is that we've really made big, we've gone forward in leaps and bounds around educational research and cognitive science so that we know a lot about, a lot more about learning. And I've just had a book published last year called botheredness. How do you get botheredness and people bothered about things? And it's really landed well because actually we've got all the research. We've got a lot of science of learning stuff. What we've actually stopped curating well enough, I think. And that's what this is what me books about is the craft of teaching and the art of teaching. And seeing it as a human relational kind of exchange rather than something that you have to go through. What needs to improve in the educational system? I think we need to, well, like anyone would say about any sort of, if you like, how can I put it? Any sort of public service really, it needs to be invested in and it needs to be invested in and it needs to be invested in. It's all right, having a beautiful building. But if the people aren't up to scratch, then a building's just a building. So that's one thing, I think investment. But I think everyone would say that. And I think an emphasis on creative practice and making sure we've got children, young people leaving us who are ready to walk in any room and they can feel at home. Kids walking into a hospital and seeing it as their entire woman and people walking into a police station and thinking, yeah, this is where I get help. I mean, something I've been doing just recently, working with some colleagues locally is a bit of a result of watching the riots in the summer. And thinking, how do we get kids to want to contribute ethically and positively to the communities rather than smashing them up? And how do we do that? We can't fix things but overnight, but what we can do is invest, keep investing. And that's not just money. That's not just money. It's investing, you know, hard, soul, intelligence, all those things. So what have you got lined up for the future? Well, I've got, I'm very busy. I've just, I've got a day today, just getting work in the diary. Like I say, I work for myself. I employ a couple of people now, which has been a build. I've got a website that's going to go live in a couple of months. And that's going to be a teacher resource site. And I'm just, I've got, I've spent a lot of time on that. And there's a lot of interest and excitement about that, not least from me. Where I'm hoping I can do a bit of content creation and not have to be on the road so much because I'm on the road a lot. But yeah, so that's a big thing actually, the website. And you also have a corporate work? Yeah, I did. The word botheredness has landed really interestingly because I've done some corporate work around, kind of, kind of just like everyone went to school, you know, so the kind of, I do a lot of storytelling and basically, it almost borders on stand up. You might not believe it. No, I do believe it. I've seen some videos and I think, I think you're great. You remind me of a cross between Jason Mumford and Gary Ball. I love that. I love some of that, mate. But yeah, so I do a lot of that. I've sort of got me on Little Neesh in that. And so, yeah, that's the kind of work where I'm at now. So that's coming up and I'm doing conferences and all sorts of stuff. And I'm also helping out. I did a conference for GPs, you know, but I'm surprised you managed to get an appointment with them all at the same time. Practically wrote my first joke there. Yeah. And I've done quite a lot. I've done some work with some, yeah, big, big companies. But almost to me, something I'd like to go into a little bit more. And I think the word botheredness really lands well. So the initial website I've got going is for education sector. But the sort of, the way I'd like to go is to sort of be more broad with that. How come people are getting contact with you? How? I'm dead easy to find. I'm creating learn is by limited. It's the business center. But I'm also, if they're just Google, my name, which sounds a bit grand. But I've got an unusual name. It's Howell, H-Y-W-E-L, Roberts. I'm also on all the socials. And again, I'm very easy to find. And also my new website is botheredness.co.uk. And yeah, so that's, and it's the books are on Amazon. So thanks very much for that opportunity, David. No problem at all. And thank you for your time today. How? For all the latest news from the Business Village, subscribe to our free newsletter at business-village.co.uk If you've enjoyed your time with us, please share the podcast with your friends. Your support helps us grow and reach more listeners just like you. I'd like to thank my guests, Owen Beasley and Howell Roberts. I'm David Markwell. And this is a Pod1 Creative Audio production.

This is a Pod One production. For more information, visit podone. co. uk. This is  the Business Village People podcast. Hello, I'm Davey Markwell, and welcome to the Business Village People podcast. This is episode five of series two. On this podcast, we showcase stories from the companies, service providers, and staff at the Business Village in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Well, if you're ready, let's go.  In this episode of Business Village People For some business, compliance requirements can be easily overlooked or forgotten due to the fact that the people are too busy actually doing the job.  We meet a chap who accidentally created a website that helps hauliers stay legal.  Also, a man who admits his management style is not to everyone's taste. So much so that his office is not even in the same building as his employees.  Lee Pritchard took the plunge and set up his own business just as the first COVID lockdown began. In four years since, Lee has established an award winning company providing transport compliance to the haulage industry. Here's Lee's story.  An interactive website, so it provides um, Features such as compliance guidance, there's industry news, um, there's networking opportunities, um, for various things. It keeps, uh, operators compliant with regulations, uh, connected with the industry. And we're developing it all the time, um, so it's one of those where we've just added, um, other features to it, which includes fleet management. Um, so, operators can send me their, um, service records, um, we upload that onto a fleet management system, so we can keep a close eye on them, make sure that they're, you know, they're, they're keeping legal and compliant. So it's, um, it's very interactive, um, but it is brand new. Um, we're, we're very sort of in its infancy, if you like. So we're adding new features, we'll, we'll keep on growing, and hopefully it'll, um, it'll provide a good platform for, for many operators in the future.  So where did the platform come from? Did you create it or is it part of a franchise or? Yeah, it literally is. We, I created it, um, by mistake to be honest, and I will be honest. So originally it was a conversation with a website developer. Um, and I literally asked, um, could we upgrade in, you know, update our website? And we had a good chat for about two hours, which wasn't, you know, scheduled. And all of a sudden, we come up with this platform where it was like, Okay, we'll not So we do our current website, we'll create a new website. So we do have two websites. Um, one predominantly sort of telling everybody as a consultancy what we do. But then we have the Hawleyers Hub, which is obviously the interactive website. Um, so yeah, it was created by a mistake, but, but I love it and, and what it stands for. And, you know, we've got some good guys on there at the minute that are really seeing the benefits of it. Um, so, so yeah, that's, that's where it is. Well, it was a big mistake, but not a big mistake, if you know what I mean. Mistakes can turn out good, can't they? You know, you learn from them. Yeah, we love it. I mean, I do. And, you know, like I say, it's getting updated every day and we keep on top of it. Um, but I've had a meeting this morning and, you know. You know, a client's coming this morning. He just said, I'm loving it. You know, he's interacting with it because many operators, you see, and what we're finding is, is they're not transport people, so they struggle with a compliance side of things. And some of them are, you know, so run an operator license where they don't need a transport manager. So this kind of platform creates that kind of interaction where they can go onto it, find out what they need and they can book a call with myself as well. So it's, it's, yeah, it's, it's really good. I'm passionate about it. I love it. And, you know, especially when you see it helping people, that's, that's, that's what we're trying to achieve. Where did it all begin? What did you want to be at school? When I left school, um, I PE teacher. So that worked out really well, didn't it? You know what I mean? Um, yeah, I was always into sport when I was growing up. Um, bit of background in rugby league as well. Um, but yeah, I always wanted to do that. But kind of fell into this as you do. Um, you know, you find your way. Um, I mean, four years ago, I was a transport manager at a company. Um, but always sort of had the inkling of, What would it be like going on my own? Could I, could I do this? You know, um,  You know, I had doubts, don't get me wrong, but been thinking about it for a while. And lo and behold, um,  You know, I don't know what come over me, but decided to do it when COVID hit. Which I'm thinking, what on earth are you doing? And people did question it.  Um, but four years later, here we are and I'm loving it. Yeah, I really do. Um, the variety is what we're after. You know, being on your own, you get into different things, you're seeing different people, different operators. Whereas when you're a transport manager, you're kind of stuck in the, you know, day to day, you know, same company, um, same office and things like that, which, which is fine, don't get me wrong, it's, there's nothing wrong with that, but I did fancy a change and, and I love what, I love what I do now, I really do, yeah. It is quite nice, isn't it, being your own boss and, and just  Doing what you want without some monkey around your neck. That's it. Telling you, you've done it wrong, or this is what you should have done, or why hasn't it done. Yeah, and it is because what this gives me is to be able to focus on my own thing. I think it gives me that experience as well of when you're dealing with different businesses and different operators, you know, you're kind of educating yourself as well, so you never stop learning. But when you're stuck in, I suppose in one company, I was finding myself that you become very good at what you do there, if you like, but when you're seeing other industries within road transport, then you can sort of put your experience onto other people and help them. So I just love helping people. That's, that's the key. And, you know, I enjoyed, I used to do a lot of training with drivers and things like that and just helping drivers and stuff. And this is where we're at now. That's where the platform were built.  Um, just trying to help these road operators just keep legal and compliant. Have you ever been a lorry driver? I have. I was a lorry driver. Um, I was, um, I was up and down the road. I did days, nights, um, tramping as we call it. So we stayed out on a night. Um, so, so yeah, so it was, it was good grounding really because obviously understanding drivers when you're training, when you're talking to them, when you're managing, um, transport, um, yeah, they've got a tough gig to be honest, they've got a tough job and on days like this where it's blustery and windy outside, I'm glad I'm stuck in an office today to be honest. So what kind of training do you provide for drivers or?  Yeah, we provide a variety of different training. So we do bespoke training. Um, some of it's, um, daily walk around checks. Um, we do driver assessments. Um, we do load safety security for transport managers.  Sometimes that's more consultancy. So going in there and just, you know, supporting them, just helping them with the legal and compliance side of things. So, um, we've got online training. So we have kind of bite size training that covers the intricacies of break testing with vehicles, um, drivers, hours and tachographs. So again, that's probably aimed at more your operators that are not Just general transport managers, but they're operators that know very, very good about what they do, but not sort of the legal and compliance side of it and the operator license undertakings. You've won an award recently, haven't you? We have, um, Transport Management of the Year, which we're delighted about, yeah, yeah.  We've won it two years in a row. So it was Does nobody else apply for the award? That's what I was thinking, to be honest. I mean, I got a phone call this first time in 2023 and it was, it was just crazy because there were a couple of my clients put me forward and, and that was nice, you know, just kind of, it, it's kind of a pat on the back, really, to say, you know what, we're doing something right, you know. Uh, because we're such a small business as well, so you, you, you, you know, you don't really, Are you doing well? Are you doing okay? Um, but yeah, it was good. And then we, we won it again. And we got a nice gold trophy this time. So, we're doing all right, aren't we? Do you get to keep them all if you win it three times? We have. We've got it in the corner of the office. Um, so, you know, let's, let's hope that that's what we do again third year. What do you do, Lee, when you're not stuck in your lovely little office? What do you do in your spare time to chill? I don't have much spare time.  Um, but I spend a lot of time with my family and I like, I do like, you know, getting in the gym and working out and it clears me out a little bit, to be honest. Um, and, um, and yeah, I'm into my sport. I do like my sport.  What particular? Rugby League. Rugby League? Rugby League? Up and under? Yeah, been brought up on it, you know, I didn't have much choice to be honest, because my dad was a professional rugby league player. Oh, right. Who did he play for? He played for various clubs, he was at Doncaster, Halifax, had a time in France as well. Um, so, um, so yeah, I got sort of shoved into it. Yeah, no choice on that one. Not a choice, no. No, absolutely not. Do you actually have any vehicles? No. We don't operate vehicles. It's purely consultancy, training, and supporting those guys that do operate vehicles. That's all, that's all we do. We're not, we're not, we'll not go down that route, to be honest, because, like I say, I, these guys do a wonderful job and I'll let them do their bit and I'll do my bit, to be honest. You'll look after them? I'll look after them all day long, absolutely. How can people contact you to find out more about yourself and the business? Yeah, we've got various social media, um, so we're on Facebook, um. We're on LinkedIn. Um, we do, um, We post a video every week on YouTube, so we do a bit of a question and answer, um, theory on YouTube. Um, still, you know, getting used to that in front of the camera, which I'm, you know, it's a bit difficult. But, um, the best format really to contact us is probably via the website. So we've got two websites, but if people want to get in touch with us, www. hawleyishub. uk or www. transportldp.  co. uk Your first name's Lee. Your surname's  Pritchard. What's the D stand for? Darren. Middle name. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Darren. Absolutely. LDP. Bit original, isn't it? You know? Yeah. Yeah. Um, but LDP transport. Yeah. That's us. Lee, Darren Pritchard. Brilliant stuff, Lee. Thank you for your time and all the success and, uh, we'll catch up in the future and see how you're doing, if that's all right. Yeah, absolutely. Fantastic. And keep up the good work with the podcast. Brilliant. Thank you.  At least somebody likes it.  This is the Business Village People podcast.  When John Beecher left school, all he dreamed of was finding a job where he had to wear a suit all day.  Today, he runs one of the country's leading repair services, wearing just jeans and a polo shirt.  This is John's story.  We're a claims management company working as an outsource service provider for insurance companies, um, brokers, hire companies, uh, in the management of fault and non fault accidents. Say that in English.  No, it's all right. Yeah, so So, basically When you, when you crash your car Yeah. Uh, and you ring your insurer These days, insurers outsource that entire process of repairing your car, taking it to a body shop, providing you a replacement vehicle. They outsource that entire process to people like us, and we manage that process for insurers and other people, basically. So how do you know where to send the vehicles? If, do you have a preferred list? We do. So we have a, uh, a contractor network list of roughly between 150 and 200 body shops across the UK. Um, we've worked with them for many years. I've been in the industry 25 years, so a lot of them are long standing relationships. Um, we use small to medium sized businesses, so still the businesses with the owner operator, so the name's above the door. Because it makes such a difference in the quality of service that gets delivered. So we don't use your juggernaut corporations. Um, we still like to deliver that, like, localised service for the client wherever they are in the UK in reality. What's the process? Does an insurer's company get in touch with you and say we've got a Ford Fiesta that's knackered? So again with the advent of IT integration, etc, we get a notification via API, so data transfer from the insurer, and then they transfer the client over to us.  We then manage the process that from that point forward. So we identify what damage is on the vehicle. Is it roadworthy, unroadworthy? And so we then  appoint the appropriate repairer and Dependent on the severity of the damage, the type of vehicle it is, the manufacturer of the vehicle, uh, the composition of the, um, the metals within the vehicle, et cetera, such as aluminium, um, such as EV, uh, and lots of other complexities around the repair of vehicles these days. Would you, would you do jobs for the public generally? Could, could somebody that's not part of an insurance company get in contact with you? In short, no. Um, we,  we, we're B2B. So we take claims directly from businesses that have sold policies or are managing claims. A person on the street who has an accident has the right to choose who they want to manage their claim. So if somebody was involved in an incident and it was a non fault for instance, they could contact us directly. We could manage that entire process for them without them having the need to go through their own insurance company. Therefore they wouldn't have to pay their excess etc.  However, if they're involved in a fault incident, the insurer.  If I'm really honest with you, the Bully Boys, they kind of force you down the insurance route. Um, so they want you to go through them directly. So, instead of us trying to attract clients directly to us, we're a B2B organisation in reality. You mentioned that you've been in this industry, this business, for over 22 years. How did you get into it? What did you want to be at school?  What a question. Right. Um, well, come from a family of decorators. So my dad's business was, he was a painter and decorator, um, very good one. Um,  I've got four brothers, um, and as I was growing up, most of them went to work for my dad. Uh, and, and before I left school, um, as you do when it's a family business, you were working for my dad. But I just, it was one of those where I wanted to do something else, so. The one, the one thing I had was I wanted to go to work in a suit, didn't want to go wear overalls. That was the only criteria I had when I was going through school and ready to leave school to go to work. Um, so ended up, um, in working for Auto Windscreens, um, in Chesterfield, uh, as in sales. And then from there, I've then always been connected to the automotive and the insurance, uh, and the body shop world in reality. And so, worked my way up through the corporate ladder. Uh, until a few years ago, decided to do it for meself. And is this your business? It is, yes. Just yourself? Uh, no. So, there is 20 of us in total. So we have this office here, and we have an office over in Manchester, and we have one in Liverpool.  And why did you pick the business village to set your Barnsley office up in? Um, well,  Cost, if I'm honest, at that point, so we had some dedicated officers in Churchfield Court in the centre of Barnsley, two storey building. The industry has reduced in size slightly from the number of claims which is happening due to effects of COVID, the aftermath of that. Um, the, the industry's leveling out. What are you saying, people are driving better?  Because of Covid? Definitely not. Absolutely not. Crying out loud, you should see some of the sights, sights we see. No. Um, but with the, we are in a, coming out of a recession, or been in a recession. So the impact of that has a major impact on our industry, because people just don't drive as much. They get rid of second and third cars. So there's a huge impact on us, so our volumes have dropped, um, and then with the advent of remote working and hybrid working as well, it makes it easier to actually not have as much officers. So we have, um, ten people based in the business village, uh, and then remote workers and then the two other officers as well that I have over in the Manchester side. Which is where more of the claims and insurance sector is based in reality. So you get a lot of the experience over there. We kind of run a shared services function from the Barnsley office. And what's it like being, being a leader, a manager of staff at the current Tea Cake?  Wow. Yeah. Um, uh,  I found out a few years ago that I'm a really bad manager. So I don't. Manage very many people directly. So I have a good management team in place. They manage the people, I manage them. Um, and I found over the years that that works better for me. Uh, I'm better doing the business stuff and doing the relationships with the clients and the B2B side. Uh, in my terms, what I see is I make the phone ring. I then have a team in place that actually then manage the claims and manage that process. Well, that's good management, isn't it? It's, you know, it's, you know. You're crap at management. Yeah, absolutely. At least I realised that. But you've realised that, and you've set the business up in a way that makes it work. Yeah, and to be fair, that does work. But I must admit, moving into the business village from where we were, Transition from those offices were very simple, very easy, very welcoming, really good service that we get here. And everybody's loved it to be fair. It's a really nice place to operate from, um, nice surroundings. Uh, so it's, it's been really good for the business. So where's, where's the rest of them then? Because there's only you in here and your golf clubs. Yeah, I hide them in the filing cabinet. No, so we have another office in building one. Uh, which is, which is the main operational office. Uh, this is, this is my office and meeting room. Um, so we, we run it separately like that, because again, me being in the, in, in the main office, I just cause carnage and cause problems for everybody else. So they kind of kick me out and, and, and want me in a draw out of the way. What's the future for the business? Interesting question. A lot of challenges within our industry. Um, we go through a cycle as a business. We grew to 40 people ish. Uh, and then we've downsized a little bit. We're basically regrouping at the moment, consolidating a little bit, and then we'll go again. So we will start to grow again because you just naturally win business when you are good at what you do. And we are. Good at what we do within our niche, within the market. There's not a huge amount of players that do what we do, so we're in a decent position. And because I've been around a long time, I'm getting a bit older, um, I've got quite a lot of contacts within the marketplace. So it's kind of like them doors open a little bit easier when you've been around a while and you know a few people. It's really interesting when I've been doing these interviews to find businesses like yours that I never thought existed or knew existed. No, absolutely. I just thought it went, you know, the insurance company sorted it all out. Insurers are great at selling the policy. They don't have the expertise anymore to do anything else. Yeah. other than sell the policy. They're a nice, shiny website. They have nothing in the background. They used to do it all themselves. And they outsourced it all. They got rid of it all. It's very difficult then to get that skill set back. Because it's a very, very complex industry. Uh, and that's where we come in. So we fit that niche and it works really well. So where's the suit? Ha ha ha ha ha! They don't wear suits, crying out loud. I've not worn a suit since 1976. Ha ha ha ha ha! How come people get in contact with you, John? Um  If people want to get in touch with us, um, we have a 24 hour, uh, helpline in reality, um, but get in touch with us here, walk in, ask at the desk, speak to us around about, no problem. We're always happy to help anybody, whether that's a fault incident, non fault incident, or just need some advice over something. We're more than happy to give anybody any help. Our business is Blackthorn Repair Management. Our website is blackthornnetwork. co. uk. And where's the name Blackthorn come from?  Um, Too much red wine.  And a brainstorming session. Um, Blackthorn is a, uh, a gin berry. Slow gin berry. Uh, so that's basically where he came from. However, didn't realise at the time it was also a cider. So, so not quite as That's, that's where he came from. Lovely. John, thank you for your time. More than welcome. Very nice.  This is the Business Village People podcast.  If you've enjoyed your time with us, please share the podcast with your friends. Your support helps us grow and reach more listeners like you.  For all the latest news from the Business Village, subscribe to our free newsletter at business village. co. uk  I'm David Markwell, and this is a POD ONE Creative Production.  Never miss an episode of the Business Village People podcast. Simply subscribe and follow from wherever you get your podcasts. 

This is a Pod One production. For more information, visit podone. co. uk   This is the Business Village People podcast.  Hello, I'm David Markwell and welcome to the Business Village People podcast. This is episode four of series two. This podcast showcases stories from the companies, service providers, and staff at the business village, in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Well, if you're ready, let's go!   In this episode of Business Village People, we meet a woman who was more impressed with her education from a local college than the one she received from a tuition-paying university.  According to the United Nations, the top five emitters of greenhouse gases are China, the USA, India, the European Union, and the Russian Federation.   That accounts for about 60 percent of the emissions in 2021. We'll be discovering what help is available to you to reduce your carbon emissions in your workplace, with a little bit of help from the business village. Also, we meet the brand new members executive for the Barnsley and Rotherham Chamber of Commerce.   It's time to meet our first guest. Laura Fish owns Fashion Toolbox, a company that is bridging the gap between traditional education and modernity and the ever-evolving world of fashion design. Fashion Toolbox is a little bit of a long story because it didn't start out as what it is today. It started out as an idea as part of my master's, and I was working in the fashion industry for a very, very long time.   I think it was around 15 years.  And  when I got into the industry from university, I realized that there was a little bit of a skills gap, shall we say, and that I wasn't really prepared for everything that I needed to know within the industry. I've got to do a lot of learning on the job. When you say that, what do you mean?   Because you've, you've just did a master's degree. Is that right? I did my BA first. Right. Okay. You've done your BA first. You've come out. ready to be working in the fashion industry, but you felt as though you were lacking certain skills. Yeah, I would say more like the technical skills. I did learn a lot.   I learned a lot about fashion design and pattern cutting.  But then when you're in the industry, industry. There's so many different roles that I felt like I wasn't even informed about, to be honest. And how did that make you feel? Because you've just spent three years and got probably into a lot of debt to come out and not be able to do the job you wanted to do.   Yeah, I'm quite frustrated. I mean, I was, I did get into the job that I wanted to do, but I felt like there was a lot of learning on the job to do and a lot of upskilling, which was quite frustrating. Yes, obviously, after spending all that money, then it was a little bit of, I did courses here and there in my own time to learn, particularly in like digital skills, Adobe Illustrator is massively required within the industry.   And I just didn't, I wasn't taught it. So I think I had one lesson while I was in university.  So I taught myself, um, pretty much. And then, yeah, when I asked others, they felt pretty much the same way. They didn't have the skills. So when I worked in the industry for quite a few years, as I said, and then this became a real like passion project thinking there's all these people that haven't got the skills that we need to join forces and upskill.   So when I went back to do my masters.  I decided to focus particularly in fashion education and did a heck of a lot of research into the history of education, how it's evolved over time or not evolved. And I guess this is, um, I'm generalizing in a way because I looked majorly at the UK and the fashion education system here, but there are, um, other areas that Doing a lot more to support students and bring more innovation and digital skills on board, but within the UK I found that it was quite lacking and to be honest at that time  so I built Fashion Toolbox, which was Originally, it was a podcast  So I interviewed people.   I'll have no more of that then, quite frankly.  Yeah, so I interviewed people from the industry in various roles. Roles that hadn't really been discussed  at university.  I basically asked them what their role involved and tried to educate people from that side of things. And I wanted Fashion Toolbox to be a platform where people could come and learn and upskill.   Okay, right. Let's just shut the back door a moment. Why fashion?  Oh. And what were you like at school?  I was a rebel at school. Were you?  Yeah, I was, I was a rebel. I, um, got in trouble a lot. In what way? I think I probably got in trouble a lot for, uh, My appearance, more than anything, I think that's where the whole fashion thing comes from.   How, how, how  did you used to go to school looking like? Was it like Charlie Carolli or, or a punk or a rebel? Yeah, a rebel, I would say. Like, I, I, Emo? Wearing way too much makeup.  Always dyeing my hair, which was not really allowed at school. My tie would be so undone. My skirt would be rolled up. Oh, gosh. So many pairs of socks that you can't even I mean, the fashions then were just ridiculous.   So many pairs of socks. You could only wear one pair at a time. What, on your legs?  Different hats. That's quite creative, though, I think. That's original.  That's, that's, that shows Not when everybody's doing it. Yeah, but they get hung up about uniforms and stuff, don't they? I'm in two minds with it, because I can see some kids might not be able to afford, or the parents, to afford the latest designer gear that everybody's after.   But also, I think it's a, it's a way of expression. Yeah, and, and, and And they put too many  Gates, in the way. Oh, and then you set fire to the school. I didn't do anything like that. That's not what I've heard. I did once, um, go and I picked up a for sale sign from outside the house and stuck it outside the school.   Okay.  I think we'd better stop it now.  So, which school is this, Kingston? Kingston, yeah. Yeah, okay. Anyway, you got over that.  The seed had been planted for you to work in fashion.  What happened next? So then I went to college. I went to Barnsley College and studied fashion on, I think it was a BTEC back then, a National Diploma, and learnt  I'd say that  probably my education at college was more informative than university, which is, um, yeah, it's not very good, but I learned a heck of a lot at college and, uh, really opened my eyes to what the industry would be like and what fashion was like.   All of the, um, the pattern cutting and everything I just found fascinating. I've always been interested in that side of things and how something 2D can. make something 3D, which is probably why I'm so addicted to what I'm doing now. Tell me about Fashion Toolbox. What is it? While I was doing my master's, I came across a software called Clo3D,  which is a digital fashion software.   And as soon as I saw the software, I thought this is going to be the next big thing in the industry. Like everybody before had to learn Adobe Illustrator to get on. And with Clo3D, I thought, yeah, this is going to be the next software and I've 100 percent got to learn it. So I did. I learned that as well as doing my master's and made it kind of part of the whole fashion toolbox project.   And thinking about how, um, Things would develop in the future in terms of both fashion education and the industry and then Fashion toolbox over the past couple of years has become a platform for it because I am majorly majorly Interested in sustainability as well So I like the tools like 3d fashion design can help companies save money reduce the carbon footprint and All by reducing sampling and, um, doing more like design iterations in real time.   So, um, I decided that this was what Fashion Toolbox would become. But what is it?  It's a I know it's a computer, uh, platform. Well, it's, it's a service basically. Fashion Toolbox is, is a service.  I don't own the software. I utilize the software to provide the service. So I help people to upskill. Um, so I train people in the software so that they can use it either as individuals within the business or as students.   Um, and then I also offer it as an actual 3D design service. So I will go into fashion companies and show them how it can help support their business, how it can help save them money and help them be more sustainable.  But what do you do with it? What do you mean, what do I do with it? How does it, what can I achieve by using your services?   Um, I suppose I'm asking, what does it do?  You know, I've had a look at your website, and I think I understand it. Yeah. Basically, you've  If I explain it this way and you tell me I'm right or wrong, you've created some designs, I'm assuming it's you, of different articles of clothing. Mm hmm. I can buy that off you.   Oh, yes, yes, I've got a resource library on top of that. Yeah, yeah. And I can,  put some material into the system and say what's it going to look like bang and it goes into a 3d yeah so that's all we're asking you  as well as the services that i provide i also have a resource library on my website which people can download and use and they can add their they can Download these files, upload them into their own software, and they can add their own fabrics, their own textures, their own trims, and make their own garment, basically visualize it in 3D.   Um, so that is a tool that I, it's a library that I'm constantly building. I've, I've got a  ridiculous collection of manual patterns, probably over a hundred. 100 pieces that I've started to digitize in and I wanted to be able to make that available to the wider market. Are you going to develop the business?   Do you want to grow it?  Yeah, yeah, definitely. No, I don't. I won't. It's a good bus, David. That's it, I give up.  You've talked me out of it.  Yeah, I definitely want it to grow and to succeed, um, because I think that there is, there's a lot. In it there's a lot of passion behind it as well like The whole fact that I want to help support and upskill others in in the software and help them to understand what the future of the fashion industry is going to look like because it's scary for a lot of people who maybe they didn't even upskill when it was the first digital revolution in fashion.   Now we're here at the second or third, whatever you'd call this now, and it can be really, really scary. So yeah, I want to help support those people and bring them up to date. How can anybody get in contact with you? I guess the best way to get in contact is via the website, um, but there is also my profile on LinkedIn where people can just send me a direct message.   They're probably the two best platforms, I think. Okay, and it's Laura Fish, that's what we're looking for. Laura Jane Fish on LinkedIn and my website is fashiontoolbox.  co. uk  So now you know.   The UK has pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050.  And here at the business village being net zero is high on its lists of objectives. Here is Kevin Steele, Business Development Manager at The Business Village. So, Net Zero really has grown, uh, a life of its own in the last couple of months, realistically.   So, we set off with the Net Zero Accelerator a couple of years ago.  We're now delivering another project on behalf of Barnsley Council in partnership with Simca. That's the combined authority. And we're tasked with helping 48 further businesses in the borough. Tell me about the businesses that you're trying to  Okay, the business we're trying to target is a wide variety of types of businesses, manufacturers, retailers, service providers, uh, solicitors, accountants, you name it.   We're covering all of them. We've actually opened up the doors as well to organizations and charities. In fact, uh, last Thursday I was at a meeting with, uh, Barnsley CBS, uh, the governing body for charities in the Barnsley area. Um, We did a little presentation, presented a video, and as a consequence of that we've had two charities express interest in how they can benefit from receiving net zero support and a possible grant of up to twelve and a half thousand pounds.   So tell me what kind of support you provide. Okay, so, uh, we're entering the last cohort of six, so, uh, this is the sixth and final cohort.  Roughly six to eight businesses on each cohort over the last 18 months. Uh, they've been receiving peer to peer support, mentoring, education about understanding their baseline, creating a baseline emission, understanding their carbon footprint.   And then at the end of that, we're delivering a innovation plan for them. So this is where information will fall out from their innovation plan as to how they can reduce their carbon footprint and stop chucking carbon into the atmosphere.  Where does the money come from?  The money for this project is delivered via, uh, HM government.   So it's a net zero project in partnership with central government. The main fund provider is Sheffield city council in partnership with the mayoral combined authority and Barnsley council. How much money are we talking? Uh, businesses can apply for up to 12 and a half thousand pounds for each project.   So that's a match funded project. So worth the total of 25, 000 pounds, if I get my sums, correct.  I've looked at your website, and it tells me that you've got the experts. Who, who are the experts?  The experts for this project are wide and varied. We're in partnership with the Institute of Sustainability.   Our friends at Brook Corporate Developments are providing us one of our key mentors, a chap called Shane. Shane is an expert in renewable sustainability and establishing a carbon footprint, and he's the go to person. We're also working with a chap called Nigel Trent, who's one of the key partners from Barnsley Council, and these two guys are putting the flesh on the bone to making the sums add up to making sure that we can put possible, profitable grant forward for you.   Like I mentioned earlier, this is the second time the project's worked.  Um, what, what did you achieve from the first one? So the first time around we, uh, delivered 38 innovation plans. These are projects where, uh, our coaches work with the businesses to understand what their priorities are. So 38 of those were delivered.   16 decarbonization plans. Uh, and we took an estimated, uh, 11, 067 tons out of the atmosphere by September 2023. 43 businesses were helped across the program. And as a result, an estimated CO2 equivalent emissions of 41, 500 tons by 2025. And that's just in Barnsley? Yeah, just in Barnsley. Prediction is amazing.   Yeah, yeah. As a consequence of that as well, we provided six case studies, uh, five video case studies, and we delivered over, would you believe, 760 hours of coaching support. That's an equivalent of a  days. And how has it changed at the business village? On every roof bar, our temporary port a cabin building, which is building three down at the very bottom, there is a plan in place to put a PV array and battery system in place there, uh, by the end of August this year.   So that will include, uh, every building on site and at Cudworth will also have PV. We've got, I think it's now eight. car charging points on site and we're looking at installing those in Cudworth as well to give tenants of Cudworth the electric vehicle charging points as well.  Tell me about the Two Gates Fishery at Shafton.   We help Two Gates Fisheries in Shafton with the purchase of a very economical deep fat frying range for his fish and chip shop.  I didn't believe that a fish and chip range would cost in excess of 65, 000, but that's what it actually costs. That's why the price of it has gone up. That's why fish and chips has gone up so much, absolutely right.   Uh, I had, speaking to Craig recently, the guy who owns the fish and chip shop, he told me that his gas bill has reduced from 450 per week to around about 150 per week, so you can see immediately the savings that that has delivered for him. What projects have you got going at the moment? Recent installations, we've helped Thurglen village haul out just on the east side of Penistone.   Third One Village Hall Community Center operated by volunteers, a charitable trust. Uh, we've put 24 solar panels on the roof and a really high performing battery storage system, which will help secure their power usage over the next few years. Uh, this in addition to the work that they'd already done, such as LED lighting.   I think they looked at car charging points, so we're actually seeing where organizations and charitable, uh,  Charitable premises are really taking advantage of the system and learning about what they can do to help the environment.  So you said you've got this cash for a certain amount of time. Are you still looking for businesses to get involved?   Or is it, is this the last run of it? Uh, very good, very, very good question, David. Yeah, we need to get the money out the door really by the end of this year. So it is limited. Time is running out in more ways than one.  If you have a project in mind that will help reduce your carbon footprint, if you're a business based in Barnsley, if you're an organization or a charity based in Barnsley, Just hashtag net zero Barnsley, you'll get to our website, you can speak to either myself or colleagues at Barnsley Council, and we can help you get that project up and running as quickly as possible.   This is the Business Village People podcast.  News now that the Barnsley and Rotherham Chamber of Commoners will be hosting several drop in sessions here at the Business Village in the coming months, and Shirley Kay is the newly appointed membership executive. The executive position is to actually promote the Barnsley and Rotherham Chamber to members, uh, and non members, and get members or, uh, people who are not members to sign up as members to Barnsley and Rotherham Chamber and give them the information about what that is all about, what it entails, and the benefits of being a chamber member.   So you've been here six weeks, you've been? Executive member, member, member chambering for three of those weeks. How many have you signed up? Uh, my first one today. Oh, excellent. Yes. And I've just had an email from a guy that I met a couple of weeks ago who's going to sign up. Uh, it's going to complete the paperwork and send that to me ASAP.   I've just also had another email from a lady that I spoke to about three weeks ago as confirmed that she's going to sign up. She's just on holiday at the moment. Oh, that old excuse.  We're going to  have a chat next week on the phone about what we're going to move forward because I have actually invited her to an event that's nothing to do with the chamber that I've been going to that I think she would really benefit from and I have picked a couple of leads up from as well.   So we're going to talk about, so that will be three, hopefully by the end of this month or the beginning of next month. Excellent. Before we go any further, looking at what you actually do now.  Where are you from? Right, so my background is training and education. No, where are you from? Oh, where am I from?   I'm from Barnsley. I'm from Athersley. Athersley? So, I'm a local girl. Um, I was brought up in Great Houghton. Houghton? Houghton, whatever. I left there 34 years ago, uh, when I met my current partner, Andrew. Um, but that's where I was born and bred, um, and I'm a Yorkshire Barnsley girl and proud of it.  You wouldn't think so, listening to your talk.   Really? Because I was saying that I think I'm taking the mickey. I was going to say, I was saying to the guys in the office last week when I found out we were going to do this, I'm just so not looking forward to this because I will sound so common. And, and they all, they know what they said to me. You're talking to Barnsley folk.   You're a Barnsley girl and you're talking to Barnsley folk. You'll be perfectly fine. Well, you know, you're talking to the world. Everybody can listen to this, but, but, but you should be proud of your accent. And, and  And the words that you use, because that's your, you know, that's your life. You just mentioned a little bit earlier that you were in recruiting, did you say?   I've worked in training and education for most of my career. Uh, I've, I've looked after apprentices. I'm a qualified trainer, assessor. But the last 15, 20 years I've been in business development. So, I've worked with employers to recruit apprentices and then work with them. wherever, whatever company I were working, we've gone in and delivered the training.   So yeah, I've done a lot of recruitment over the years, yeah, and sales. And when you were  a young lass growing up at Greater Houghton, what did you want to be?  I don't know. I never really wanted to be anything. I just wanted to be happy and have a good job. Um, I started out life in a sewing factory. Uh, which one?   Cora. Oh yeah. Uh, and I were the youngest supervisor that they ever had. I didn't go in as a supervisor, but I worked my way up. I were 19 when I would appointed a supervisor to look after a line of 10 girls and that were the young, they'd never had a supervisor as young as that. Yeah. Before, uh, and I probably would've stayed there and grown within the company.   I did not close down in the 1990s. That was a bit of a problem.  Yes, it was.  And I loved it there. Yeah, wasn't it down in Woosborough? It was, and it was my first job out of school. I didn't really have any aspirations to go to college or anything. I just wanted to work because I like to spend, I like to spend money.   I just wanted money to help my mum because my dad had passed away just before I left school. So, um, I just wanted a job, and it was the first job that I had. And I would I, well, I had it for 11 years until the factory closed down, and I probably would have stayed there as long as I could have. Um, and then I went into retail.   Okay, where did you work? I worked at New Look, when they first opened the one in town. In town? Yeah. Yeah. And then I were a part time sales assistant, worked my way up to manager, got my own store in Jewsbury, which I managed for a good nine years before I decided to leave. And now, what happened was, I had, I employed apprentices in my shop and the lady that used to come in to do their training.   When you meet, when you see somebody every month for a year, you get to know them quite well. And we just got chatting one day and we're having a bit of a, a day. And I just said, I'd fancy doing something different and I'd love to do what you do, but you've got to be trained and you've got to have a qualification, haven't you?   She says, well, yeah, you can,  but you can do your qualification while you're doing the job. And it just so happens that they're looking for someone. Yeah.  Customer service retail assessor. Why don't you apply? And I did, and I got the job. And the rest is history, really. I've just, uh, training's been, well,  since the 90s, middle 90s, I started working in training, and I've, I loved it.   Um, And I've worked for different, I've worked for colleges, I've worked for small training providers.  Um, so this is very similar to what I've always done, but different because I'm not selling funding, I'm not selling apprentices, I'm selling memberships to the chamber  with lots of benefits that come along with that.   Okay, here we go then. Um, try and convince me to become a member. Why should I join? I'm a small business, very small business. Uh, What benefits would I get from it? You'd get the chance to do a lot of networking with other like minded, uh, people like yourself. I know not everybody likes networking. I love it.   I love it. Yeah, I do. Um, you get, um, a friend chamber certificate to put on your wall, which is a lot of people see as a status symbol. Um, you get, um,  If you're a small business, you can get access to 750 documents, including HR, health and safety, VAT, tax and legal. Um, you get our logo on your website, you get the chance to promote anything that you do in events such like on our website as well.   You get lots of support from the team, not just myself. You get an account manager that looks after you and will contact you three or four times a year, or you can contact them if you need any support with anything. You get the chance to meet a lot of really nice people, which I have done in the last six weeks.   Um, you get the chance to show yourself and promote yourself. At the events that we run and other, other events, you can just go to that to meet like minded people. So it's all about growing your network, really, and putting yourself out there and letting people find out about you. And it all depends what you want for your business.   So I've spoken to a lot of people who are members who are not actually utilizing the membership. And I've said that's a real shame because there's so much that you can gain from it. I've, I've looked at it and said to them, it's like a gym membership, why would you pay every month and not go to the gym, which I know a lot of people do, why would you pay for your membership and then not utilise it,  cos there's lots you can get from it.   So tell me about these events that you organise. Pick one and let's find out a bit more about it. So the Chamber Means Business event, which sold out in 48 hours. So it's a massive event that's held at Rotherham, um, New York Stadium.  Um, so we've got members who are exhibiting.  And then delegates that can come and talk to the people who are  exhibiting.   So it's a way to meet other people in business. It's a way to promote your business. It's a way to  meet other members of the chamber and find out all about what they do and how they use their membership. It's a chance, as I said, to get your business out there.  You can only exhibit if you are a member.   But anyone can actually attend, but you've got to book on to say that you come in because they'll have a delegates list, you'll have a badge and everything. So that's one of the biggest events that we do, but there's um, the race day at St. Ledger, St. Ledger in Doncaster. So members can go to that and you can have a table of ten, there's food and drink and you get your race card, you get, uh, there's a marquee that you're in.   Again, you can talk to different people, you can network if you want, or you can just have a great day out. So they're two of the ones that I've, um, unfortunately will not be able to attend because I'm on holiday. So how many members do you have?  1, 100. Is that individual members or organisations or a bit of everything?   A bit of everything. We've got some massive organisations. We've got Soul Traders, we've got charities, we've got a really Uh, from the ones that I've seen and met, the lot of them seem to be SMEs, so small to medium enterprises, but we have got charities and sole traders as well. You're planning to run some drop in centres at the Business Village, aren't you?   I am. I've got them booked in, uh, starting in September. Uh, I'm doing the, the BB, sorry, the Business Village, and BB? No, and then I'm doing the one at Cudworth as well. Uh, I'm, we're going to be promoting it through the website, and also I've got a leaflet that we've done. Just need to put the dates on, and then I'm going to take some up to the BB, because then The Business Village!   Sorry! You need a, you need a sway box or something, don't you? Yeah. So Kevin can promote and send to the tenants. Is that it?  Barsley Business Village.  Um, yeah, starting in September, uh, I've already booked the dates. I'm just waiting for the leaflets and then once we've confirmed everything, Kevin will be advertising it on the website and obviously the podcast as well.   If they're listening to this and they want to be part of the Barnsley and Rotherham Chamber of Commerce, how do they get in touch with you? They can go on the website and they can have a look and they can sign up on the website or they can contact me personally. I've got an email address and I've got a phone number.   I am actually on the website. If they go on the membership team, they'll find me there and my contact details are there if they want to come straight through me personally. But they can just actually go on the website and sign up on the website. Shirley, thanks for your time. Thank you very much. Hope you're having a nice holiday.   I will. Thank you. I'm looking forward to it.   For all the latest news from the Business Village, subscribe to our free newsletter at business village. co. uk   If you've enjoyed your time with us, please share the podcast with your friends. Your support helps us grow and reach more listeners—just like you. I'm David Markwell, and this is a Pod One creative audio production.   Never miss an episode of The Business Village People podcast. Simply subscribe and follow from wherever you get your podcasts.

This is a Pod One production. For more information, visit podone. co. uk. This  is the Business Village People podcast. Hello, I'm David Markwell and welcome to the Business Village People podcast.  This is episode three of series two. Here we showcase unique stories from the companies, service providers and staff at the Business Village in Balsey, South Yorkshire. Well, if you're ready, let's go!  In this episode of Business Village People, we meet the mum who was so unimpressed with the quality of face painting her daughter received that she decided to wipe the wonky smile Off her face and do it herself. 14 years later, she's turned face, body and bump painting into a thriving business. We'll hear her story shortly.  Working alone can be very isolating. That's one of the reasons the business village began its monthly creative collective. A place to share ideas, listen to guests and chat, and we'll get the full story of what happens at a Creative Collective session a  little bit later on.  Donna Godfrey's business started with a Well, if they can do it, I'm sure I could moment and has since become a thriving venture. A company has achieved so much success that she's even been invited to the United States to train people in the art of face painting. Here's Donna's story. I used to work in finance, so I was doing payroll for, oh my gosh, years. I just fell into it. But what I'd found was like, I would go into work on a Friday and then I'd be like bouncing around the office going, Yay, the weekend's here. And they were all like, Donna, it's month end, get serious. Do you know what I mean? I was like, I just don't feel like this is my place and I'm not kind of fitting in. Um, and then  my daughter at the time just was into face painting. So we just queued up everywhere for it. And I thought, how hard is this? And bought a little cheap set and then. It's gone from there. Did she get a really dodgy face painting dump ones? Um, I think it, it varies where you go. Some places should have an hour. Well, I, I can do better than that. And we hear a lot of these stories with the students that come on my course as well and they get the same thing. They go somewhere and it's a bit naff and they go, how hard is this? I'm gonna give it a go. But then there is some people out there that's absolutely phenomenal. And like beautiful kind of artwork, so there's a huge variation in what you can kind of get. So what did you want to do when you were at school? When I was, when I was like primary school, I wanted to work at ASDA. That was like the huge aim. For some reason, I don't know why, but watching people kind of scanning, I was like, this is,  We're going back some time. So like till then we're like high tech. Um, but in high school there was a period of wanting to be a fashion designer, which I never even went into. Um, and I don't, um, thank God I did. Cause I have no idea about fashion now. So, um, I didn't really kind of have anything specific. Um, I just, I did a lot of retail when I left school. I've worked ever since leaving school though, always worked. Um, so I did a lot of retail, worked at some car garages on receptions. Um, I've even worked in an egg factory. It was like one of my first ever jobs. So I've always worked. Go on then, what were you doing there?  So it was a very thrilling job. Um, it was  weekends and school holidays that I'd do it and I literally had to stand in this like booth with a curtain behind me and then eggs would come over the factory kind of belt and they would go there would be a light underneath and my job was literally to look for cracked eggs and you would pull them out and put them on the shelf if any were cracked and that was all day just doing that.  Hated it.  But I wanted money. That's all I was bothered about was the money.  Your daughter had come back looking like Charlie Carolli, having her face done. And you thought, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do this meself. What did you do next? So I bought a little, um, Snazaroo set, which everyone can kind of get hold of from What? Sorry? Snazaroo. Bless you.  You can get them from like, Amazon, um, eBay, uh, some like, the range sells them. It's like the, the main at home kind of face paint that's safe to use. So I'd bought a little set like that. And I'd painted my daughter at home and I painted her as a tiger and it wasn't actually half bad. It was, it wasn't, it wasn't the best, but it wasn't half bad. But it was more the enjoyment of it. It was, I thoroughly enjoyed painting her and her reaction, Kind of after being done, just, it gives me goosebumps now just talking about it. That's the main part of our job that I love the most, is the kids reactions and even adults reactions. And it was just, it was, I just loved it. So I thought I'm just going to carry on playing. I went online and then you find there's a massive world of face and body painting that you You know, you wouldn't know unless you were in the industry. So we, I followed a few other people, got a few different tips, just kept practicing. And then a princess party approached me, like a party company, and said, would you do face painting for us? And I said, well, I'm still very new, and they were like, no, that's perfect. Um, and I did all the parties for them,  and just gradually got better and better, and then eventually was able to kind of do it on a much bigger scale like we are now. So how big is it at the present? There's only me, but we do subcontract to, gosh, probably over 20 face painters. And it's something that I'm really pleased that we do subcontract, because it still allows a lot of freedom for the subcontractors. So rather than bringing them in, um, kind of on an hourly rate, where it's much lower than what they could kind of get, uh, subcontracting, they can still charge their normal kind of fees to us.  And it keeps the community kind of together. We're all sharing work, in a sense, and things like that. But there's just me, uh, that kind of does all the admin. And I keep saying I'm going to employ somebody and then I go, no, I'm not going to, because letting go of anything is so hard. So hard. But yeah, so I'll travel up and down the country now as well, doing all the training courses and things. I might drag a friend along with me now and again so I can enjoy a nice pint at the end of the day. The training course, but that's probably about it. And your training courses are all over the country, aren't they? And, in fact, into Europe as well, aren't they? We haven't gone into Europe yet. I get asked. I'm asked to do it in America, and I'm asked to do it in Ireland, and there's been a couple in, oh, somewhere in the Netherlands, where. And I need to sit down and try and work about logistics, like, there's a lot of gear that comes with us. It's not like just a couple of face paints. The, I have an estate car and that is rammed when we go on tour. So it's just figuring out how can I get all this equipment over there cheaply, and still not have, like, to keep the prices low for kind of the training. So it's, it's a possibility, a possibility. Tell us more about the courses that you run. So, I was approached about, about 8 years, 9 years ago, um, by another facepainter who wanted to learn. And I said, um, yeah, sure, I'll, I'll, I'll show you. And I'd got another lady who'd asked at the same time, so I thought, right, there's two people that want to learn. I wonder if I can get a few more and kind of do it as like a group thing. So I'd asked around a few kind of beginner facepainters I'd seen in the area. And I think I got a group of about, what was it, six that joined and we hired, um, a room in a pub in Wakefield and set that up and we did this training course. Since then, it's kind of gradually then, we'll, we'll go for another one and we'll try and advertise it. And then people were joining and now people were asking for like Scotland, will you come to Scotland? Will you come to London? Will you come here? Will you come there? And I was like, well, why not just take it on tour and we'll, we'll cover the whole UK. And so we teach up to 20 people. on a Saturday, 20 people on a Sunday, come home, clean it all, then go off again and teach another 20 on a Saturday somewhere else and we're all over the place. So how do you teach somebody to face paint? So, um, you have to go through start very basics, uh, with face painting, it's all about line work.  It's a line, if you think of like a face paint, like a tiger design, the tiger stripes kind of on there. If you were to do very thick kind of lines, just very straight lines, it's quite dull and boring. Whereas what we're teaching is to vary the shapes and sizes of each stroke. So they look kind of thin going to thick, going back to thin again. They might have curves in them, things like that. Um, but it's a A lot of moving of the brush. It's not as simple as what it sounds. So we spend the first half of the class just focusing on that. One of the good things that we do in our course is at the beginning, I say, um, right, this is how the paints kind of work very quickly. Uh, you've got ten minutes to paint a tiger. So they've got no training whatsoever. They come straight into the course. They're all quite scared because they're in a room with all these other people. Um, so they have ten minutes. They have to paint a tiger however they think.  And then later in the day we, I teach them how to paint a tiger using the techniques what they've learned. So we have a really good before and after tiger. And the reactions of the people when they do the after one and they put the pictures kind of together, they're like, wow, look what I've done in just a day. And it is really amazing what they can learn in just a day. And are the practicing, I can't even talk, I'm sorry, I've dried out, are they practicing on each other? No, so we use, um, the first cast I did was on each other, um, and I just found that what that meant was one person was kind of sat there for a good 15, 20 minutes not doing anything, um, and the other person was kind of having a go, and then that person who'd been painted would have to wash it off in the kind of the toilets to then come back and have another go, and I was like, this just isn't working. So, um, we bought some practice heads. So they're like mannequin heads at what my daughter's cleaning at the moment.  Um, but they look freaky, like they're really weird looking. So those are really good because if they paint on those, it's got the same curves of a head.  But if they make a mistake they can wipe it off and just have another go, so it's a lot easier. The downside is having 40 heads to clean on a Monday, which I absolutely despise doing, so any volunteers who want to clean heads, you're very welcome to. Where do you get your inspiration from? For the faces? For the paintings? No, you can go online and you can find loads of design ideas and any beginner will do that, will find somebody else's work and they will just copy it. And that's what I did at the very beginning and it takes a good few years to find your own kind of style. Kind of theme and the way that I paint now is very kind of cartoon illustration. It's um, very cheeky as well  So I would go on to say if somebody had asked for a character that I've never heard before I'd Google it But I'd find like a cartoon of it or something like that that I can then recreate from that So I don't need to look at other people's designs now and copy theirs I would prefer something like a clip art or something like that  That's my inspiration to kind of put my own spin on things. But we get asked for bizarre stuff all the time, it's super cool. But you don't only just paint faces, do you? There's other parts of the body that you go for. We go for the full body. The full body? The full body. Right, I've had a look at your gallery online, obviously. Tell me about the M& M's. Oh, the M& M's!  So that was, um, that event I got given the theme was candy. Oh, okay. So, um, I had to do a full body paint surrounding kind of candy. And when I get a theme for a body paint, I'll again do the same thing. So I'm looking at clip arts and illustrations and cartoons and whatever else. And then very much with my personality, any body paint I do, I want it to be like stand out in a sense of,  Not the actual painting, but the, the story behind it. Like it's gotta be a little bit cheeky and a little bit silly. And it's just how I'd, how I've always done it. So m and m's on the boobs. Perfect. Put 'em there. Let's know. Better place.  Hang on a minute. Hang on a minute. Where'd you put the Tober on?  ? Well, this is it. This is, it depends on the model, I suppose, doesn't it? I'm gonna have, have they got some tops on or other? Naked. So they have, naked, they have, um, they'll wear a thong. A what? A thong. Um,  there is other things that they can wear, but they will have that kind of covered, and nipple pasties. So they're like circular kind of stickers that go over the nipples, and then we paint over them. Because we can't have any pictures with exposed nipples on in the UK. In other countries it's absolutely fine, but for us it's not. So although it is, they're very naked, the main places are kind of covered what needs to be.  And is this like a big competition? So yeah, some of them are competitions, some of them are just for fun.  Some of them are just kind of to express how you're feeling at the time. We did a lot of it kind of, uh, when lockdown, you were able to kind of be with so many people. We started doing that just as a way of kind of expressing and, you know, how we were feeling. So a lot of them were quite deep and depressive kind of body paints because we couldn't do his job and we were all stuck at home. So, um, but yeah, the, the competitions are really great fun. It's not a competition where it's,  aggressive or anything like that. It's a very supportive competition. Um, they'll have a newbie kind of category and uh, they say advanced but if you've done a body paint comp you go straight into the advanced bit, you know, next category. And you'll see the beginners kind of so nervous and shaking and everything else and then all the other advanced ones like myself will go around and we're like, you're doing amazing, why don't you try this and why don't you try that. Um, And then at the end when they'll do, all the models will do a catwalk to a specific song around the theme of the body paint. Um, and the winners will get announced and everyone's cheering everybody. There's nothing like, there's no negative side to the competitions at all. It's very much just promoting kind of each other and supporting each other. What's life like at the business village?  It's super nice. I haven't been in this week cause I've like, just festival season is manic, but it's. It's so much better here, like how it was. So I was working from a little office in my garden. My husband built me a shed cause he hates glitter. So he's like, get it out of the house and put it in the shed. And coming in here though, you literally can switch off from everything else that kind of goes on at home. So like the dog and the postman come in and a noise outside that you're like, who the bloody hell is that? You know, anything, at least here I can focus and literally focus. And. As well, like I've already been chatting to kind of certain people thinking, oh, they could help with, you know, with this, with this side of my business. So like my website, I need to have a chat with them. And then social media, I can have a chat with them and  It's people you can trust because you know that they're here because they are doing the same thing you want to do. They just want to grow their businesses. They're not some cowboy that's, you know, you've just found on Facebook or whatever. You can definitely trust everybody here and if you're ever stuck with anything, you've just got to drop an email and somebody will help you. I can have people contact you. Email is the best way, so, uh, but if you go on our website, all those details are there, so it's donisfacepainting.  co. uk You can find us on Facebook. Instagram and TikTok. You down with TikTok?  Yeah, baby.  TikTok has been amazing. Really? In what way? Honestly. So I, I currently advertise on Facebook and Instagram for the training courses. Um, I think so far this year, I think I'm up to about 13 grand in marketing costs, what I've gone out. Obviously that's targeting specific kind of people that would book our course. TikTok, free. I haven't had to pay a penny. And that is literally it. automatically targeting the people that would want to book on my course and they have. So probably about 15 percent of people who've booked on our course have booked through TikTok and I haven't had to pay a penny for it. Unreal.  Unreal. And it's just, it's, it's a lot of fun though. The only thing is I go into TikTok comas on a night regularly, so. I'm up at one, one o'clock thinking hey, what am I doing? I've got to go to bed and get off TikTok. And what kind of content do you put on TikTok? I thought you were going to ask what content am I watching then? But no, that's the total opposite. But yeah, my content, it's hard to find time to do it. But when I do, a lot of it is, the ones that do really well is when I paint my own face. So, you'll see from start to finish. What are you laughing for? Because I just had an image of you getting a great big roller. Straight over with emulsion, painting my face, that's all. If only it was that easy, like, bosh, six quid, thank you. What's your favourite face you paint on yourself? I like it when I can do something a little bit scary, or like, gory or some kind of monster kind of thing, stuff like that I like. And what would you suggest for a round faced middle aged guy about 58 years old? What would you think? 100 percent drag queen. No way!  No way.  I'd set fire to your pants if you did that.  Well, I would be saying to you, what kind of things are you into? What do you watch on telly? I watch, I watch lots of stuff. I watch a bit of football. I like space. I like puppets. I like cartoons. So automatically there, you've said puppets, so I would be like Could you make me look like Fozzie Bear? What's Fozzie Bear?  You don't know who Fozzie Bear is? No, hang on.  I'm gonna Google. Is it from, um, Rainbow?  No. Who's Fuzzy Bear?  I'm gonna Google it. Wacka Wacka.  Fuzzy Bear. I've got a green friend. Oh, right, a vague, that's a bit before my time, I reckon. What's that offer?  Muppet Show. Yeah. Vaguely. I did watch Muppet Show. How old are you? 21.  Yeah, shut your face.  42. But, I do remember it, but I wasn't a massive Muppets fan. When I was a kid it was more Well, I've had enough now. If you're telling me stuff like that  But yeah, that would be doable. But I, with you saying like Puppets, I automatically thought like Pinocchio because I'd turn your face into kind of like a wood effect. Oh. And kind of, um Possibly like with holes and things like that and I don't know like big eyebrows again, the drag queen's coming out and stuff like that That's where i'm automatically kind of was drawn to them. Donna. Thank you for your time. Oh, thank you for me I'm, so buzzing. So yeah, thanks. That's been a nice chat. Thank you. I'll try my best  Now let's record it  Good morning, the Business Village, Holly speaking, how can I help?  Upgrade your workspace and boost productivity at the Business Village. Our modern offices are designed to meet your needs, from solo entrepreneurs to growing startups. You'll have access to high speed internet, conference rooms, a bistro, and a thriving business community with networking events.  Collaboration opportunities. Contact us today to schedule a tour. Call 01226 249 590. That's 01226 249 590. And start your success story at the Business Village.  This is the Business Village People podcast. Every month the Creative Collective meet at the Business Village in Barnsley. It's a great place for bouncing around ideas, teaming up on projects and getting answers to your burning questions. Caroline Allert runs the sessions. So the Creative Collective is a group of people who work within the creative sector in Barnsley and we get together and Second Monday of every month, and we talk about, uh, well it's like a peer support group, really. So what we do is we have a, a speaker each month, and we also provide peer support. A lot of people who work in the creative sectors, they tend to work on their own, a lot of the time. Um, they don't have, you know, colleagues or whatever. And so therefore, what I mean by that is having other people who you can get together with. Um, talk about problems or challenges you might have. It is one of the things I've found the first 18 months I've been working for myself. So the focus has changed recently, hasn't it?  Yeah. So what happened is, is that we had, um, prior to me, um, there was a lady called, uh, who ran a company called Ask Zoe, who used to do it. Um, and then the baton got handed over to me and I changed the format somewhat. In that I wanted it to be  more of a Q& A session with some of the professionals in the building because I think that sometimes you go to these events and you sat round and you don't really truly know the backgrounds about people and I wanted to know, uh, not pull them apart, that's the wrong, wrong way to put it. The backstory. Yeah. Why did you get that job? How did you get that job? I wanted to know more about that, you know, asking the questions that you don't generally get from, you know, standard networking, I suppose. Finding out more about the person, I think is interesting, their backstory. Yeah, 100 percent 100 percent like, um, for example, you know, some of the people that we've had to come and speak you, you good self included, I didn't know anything about your career or the background of it. So instead of going to a networking event and saying, Hi, my name is Caroline, I do digital marketing. Well, I had a career in publishing before I did do that, you know, I've I've published books. I've got two children. You know, I do it all by myself.  They're the things that make people interested, I think, not just I'm Caroline and I do ads. There's more to me than that. And everybody else, it pans out, obviously. So, who have you had at the meetings? We've had your good self. Thank you.  And what did you learn about me? What I learned about you, which was different to all the other people who, uh, interviewed me, Who's done it so far is as I learned that you wanted to do what you do now when you were at school And you're one of the only people I've ever met who you know if you like ask most people What did you want to do when you were at school and? They're never what they you know wanted to be but you are and that really really was interesting to me So, yeah, that's what I learned about you. Thank you. And what did you reveal about you? Oh, wow. When you were under the spotlight? Well, I've not done it yet. I thought you had.  No, I've done a talk about ads and I've done, uh, advertising tips, but I've never actually turned it on myself, actually. So, maybe it should be me next. I don't know. I think it should. We're all having a go at it. So, we've had you, we've had, um, Alex, we've had Kevin. Okay.  business development director here. So really just understanding the history of people, how the workplace has changed as well. And what did you learn about Alex? Because Alex is what, 22, 23, something like that. He's only a young lad and he's making waves already. Yeah. So what I learned about Alex, he's always been somebody I've always thought were  ace from the moment I met him, just because, um, you know, he is so young, but I don't go against him. I just think he's, um, so professional and so smart. He has to go in and get to know someone really, really quickly to pull out their essence of what their business is. I think that is a lot of skill for somebody as young as what he is. We've had Rita, Britain. Not the designer fashion icon. She doesn't like the word fashion, by the way. No, she hates it. Oh, it's one of my favourite songs.  Well, you're a big Bally fan, that's why. No, because she says if it's in fashion It's current of the time, blah, blah, blah. But her clothes that she  designs and manufactures with her team,  you couldn't be wearing them in 20, 30, 40 years time. Oh, okay. That's interesting. Because  they are so well made and so The material's so good. Yes, yes. I think, yes, how on earth could I have forgotten Rita? Um, because she's like, um, an icon round here, isn't she? And I think it was really, really interesting to say, well, how on earth did you even start? How did you become this girl from Barnsley and you became that? And like, literally, she talked about her school days, how she grew up and everything. So it weren't just a case of her business, it were, who are, who are you? Who are you? We aren't meant to sound like cheesy, do you know what I mean? Um, very, very down to earth, very inspiring lady, so yeah. Do you know that she used to live next door to my grandma and grandad on Honeywell Street in Barnsley? Did she? What, did you ever see her then, when you were young? No, no, I mean, she'd be about three or four, I think, then, then, then. It's a long time ago. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, um, apparently, according to Rita, Her grandad and my grandad would turn up swolled after a night out at the Honeywell in Ower every year and start fighting in the street. Sorry, for any non Basel listeners,  that's fighting in the street. Yes, having a set too. Having a set too. So who can attend the Creative Collective? Well, anybody who works within the creative sector.  Um, but we've had people rock up from all different sort of walks of life. I think it's just, yes, I suppose it started as a Creative Collective, but if you're like, on your own, or if you're working for a smaller business, or, you know, even if you just feel like you want to just sit down with a group of people who are a little bit,  Maybe eccentric, dare I say that word? People are a bit unusual.  You know, and sort of talk about, um, business from the perspective of not being a suited and booted sort of type of person. Then I think that, you know, we do throw the doors open to anyone. All are welcome, I think. Can I tell you what I got out of it? Go on. If I could talk. I think my voice is going. I'll shut up for a minute. Yeah, shut your face.  What I got out of doing it was  Realise how much stuff I'd forgotten I'd done  and the kind of skills that I've got and the kind of passion I had.  That's really, really interesting. Yeah. And I think most people who were there when you spoke, because it were like a discussion, really. Most people who were there, sort of, like, looked at you like Wow, I didn't know you'd done that, you know. It was interesting, everyone was just like leaning in looking at you, fascinated by it all.  You know, usually, I just, everyone's got a story, ain't they?  And that's, that's what I wanted to, to get at, you know what I mean? So if you actually got something from it, as someone who spoke and did the QA, that's amazing, isn't it, really? Yeah, yeah. I found it very kind of,  you know, get on with it, David, get back to it, get, get working again.  I do fall out with it every now and again.  We all do that, don't we? Well, yeah, yeah. That's why we need a creative collective. Yeah, that's what I mean by peers apart.  So, we know who can attend. When does it happen?  Right, so the next one is on the 8th of July. Um, and it's 30. You just have to book online. I always share it on my social media pages Uh on my facebook clear digital page and then so we do at the business village Last time we spoke you just rebranded your business and that'd be about a year ago. Yeah Yeah, um How's it going?  Really well. Um, I found that, uh, so since I rebranded my business,  because of the way that I approach that in terms of the way that the logo looks, the way that I present myself online, I attract different kinds of clients now. Mmm.  Perverts.  With any look.  No. Um. Mmm. Ha ha ha ha ha ha.  Um, no, I attract people who are bigger businesses. Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So I think that, um, without meaning to sort of beat the, the, the marketing drum again,  uh, the way that you present on yourself online is really, really key. I think, but I'm also, uh, evolving that as well.  I think that because of the way that things change all the time, like, short form video is more of a thing now. I think that, uh, I'm always looking to evolve it, but that's what every business should do. Because we're in a changing environment where digital media is concerned.  Well, thank you very much for your time again. You are.  How can people contact you? How people can contact me is, so go on my Facebook page which is Clear Digital or go on my website which is  cleardigital. co. uk or,  well that's it really.  That's it.  Ah, well stop then. Yeah, that went alright, didn't it?  It'll do.  For all the latest news from the Business Village, subscribe to our free newsletter at business village. co. uk.  Thank you for listening, and special thanks to my guests, Donna Godfrey and Caroline Aylott.  If you've enjoyed your time with us, please share the podcast with your friends. Your support helps us grow and reach more listeners just like you. I'm David Markwell, and this is Business Village. is a pod one creative audio production.  Never miss an episode of the business village people podcast. Simply subscribe and follow from wherever you get your podcasts. 

 This is a Pod One production. For more information, visit podone. co. uk. This is the Business Village People podcast. Hello, I'm David Markwell, and welcome to the Business Village People podcast. This is episode two of series two. Here, we showcase unique stories from the vibrant companies and service providers of the village. Based at the business village in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Well, if you're ready. In this episode of Business Village People, we meet a clothes designer who would not be doing what she does now if it wasn't for an old chuffer puffing about at a railway station.  Plus, we chat to the Business Village's new chief executive, Martin Beasley. He was all set to join the RAF and possibly fly helicopters. But that dream ended when they found out he was from Rotherham.  Hello? David?  What?  It was just a joke, Kevin.  Yeah, I know. Okay. Okay.  Bye.  I've been advised to point out that the last bit is untrue. He wasn't allowed to play with the choppers due to a sports related injury. I just thought my reason was funnier.  Time to meet one of the newest clients to join the many companies at the business village in Barnsley.  In saying that, she's run her own designer clothing business in Barnsley since the late 1960s. Since then, Rita Britton has become renowned around the world as a straight talking business guru. A few years ago, she retired, but now she's back. I asked her why. I think it lasted, well, probably a month, but I was seriously thinking after about four days this is, this is a big mistake. I think me and my other half.  Or I probably would have killed him for not moving his breakfast pots off the table and putting them in the sink. So yeah, I thought, get back to it. Worked since I was 15. You know, you can't turn it off like a tap. And the other thing that you can't turn off, talking of taps, is creativity.  You can't, you know, you've only got to look, I was  listening the other day to the playwright. It looks like David, David Hockney. What's his name now? Alan Bennett. That's it. And he was in Westminster Abbey. And, you know, he must be eight, what, eight, five, eight, six years old.  And he, it's the same there, isn't it? Can't just turn it off. It's still there, it's still interested in who those people were in those graves and what their lifestyle was like. And it brings it to life for you. You know, you just think this is wonderful. And David Hockney,  you know, I think in Yorkshire we're an incredibly creative people. I really do think, maybe it's to do with adversity, I don't know. But, um,  When I used to work at the paper mill, which I did from being, what, 15, 16. And the girls there were incredibly creative. We used to go to jazz festivals at City Hall in Sheffield and, you know, it was just wonderful. So yeah, it were, it were great. I think creativity is knocked out of people  as they get older. by organizations and businesses and things like that and they're frightened to  actually have a go at  making something or creating something or drawing or coming up with a creative idea.  Yeah, I mean, I, I, I have come across that. But then on the other hand, um, I was working with a young student from Barnsley, but she's now working in London at Westminster College doing fashion. She came to see me in the shop and she wrote,  a mother with her and she brought her work with her  and then she, I looked at her work and I thought, you know, this is good. This is really good.  And she wanted to work with one of the London designers, a designer called Simon Rocher. And one of my guys who used to work with me as an assistant buyer.  Oh gosh, I could go on and on and on and on, couldn't I? He was from Glasgow, right? And he was a real Glaswegian, red hair, fiery temper, the old lot. He is now one of the most successful men in New York, James Gilchrist. He works for He's virtually second in command to, there's a source called Dover Street Market, I don't know if you've ever heard of them, but they are the most avant garde stores on the planet. And he works for them. So I sent her his work and he said, yeah, what, what, what she want to do? I said, she wants to go and do a placement with Simone Russia. Two days later, she got the placement. And I did it with a jewellery design and then I thought the jewellery was gobsmacking. I mean, no one could have sold it here. It was like, uh,  It's at  about 10, 15 grand.  And I sent it to James and said, what do you think of this? It's now in the New York store. So I'm still, what I find is that the people that I trained, and what he said to the jeweler who went to the store to place their jewelry in, he said, if Ree says, listen, or look at it, that's exactly what I do.  And I thought that was great because he's so loyal that if I say, look at this. So I do work with young people and people that I've worked with in the past, buyers. Um, I mean, lovely stories I have to tell. The first buying job he had with me was we went to Prada in Milan. And James had got red hair and very pale skin. And this was his first buying job. And we walk in there, because you can't help, if you come from Barnsley, you're Barnsley. Don't care where you are, won't show you.  So I'm walking down to go to our table to buy. And the shelves there,  and, On the shelf is a, is a, uh, uh, uh, a beret. And it's sequined. It's a sequined beret.  And I turned round to James and I said, You know that beret, if we took that beret, we'd have to sell that for 800 quid. And he sat across the table and he's looking at me. And he went even whiter.  And then he put his hand across his mouth because I knew he was going to be sick. And he made a dash for the toilet. And as he's dashing down the room, I went, James, not in the beret, for God's sake, not in the beret. And he, when he's setting on new  members of staff now in New York, he tells them that story. He's incredibly loyal to me.  So I still have, you know,  Get a hell of a lot of respect from the younger kids. I mean, tomorrow morning I'm going, um, I'm going to Barnsley College to talk to the  girl who's running the fashion department. So, I think I've still got things there, experience there that I can still  pass on.  And I think that's, that's great. And, and I suppose, you know, same with, I think that's great. I'm not saying I'm in  the same range of Alan Bennett or something, but he's on TV and you sit and you listen to him because you know he's going to be interesting. You know it. So yeah, I've still got a spark there. I love the job I do. I love it.  So tell me about your pots and pans at home and why it's turned you  to  get a unit down here at the business village. Well, to be honest with you, I've looked at how I've worked and where I've worked. I mean, I started off  selling clothes in my gran's business.  Back bedroom at home. I went to London, bought Mary Quant. Um, I'm one of the funniest, because I could tell you so many funny stories. I know, that's why I wanted to say that. I remember, I remember going to Mary Quant, and of course, oh Mary Quant, you know. And my dad, God love him, drove me there because, um, because I'd fallen down and broke my ankle.  And, and bless him, he'd done night shift at Redfins. It then got in the car.  At half past six in the morning, he drove me to London, he parked the car up and I had a nap in the car. I went to Mary Quant's  and they got models walking up and down, they'd all got Vidal Sassoon haircuts. And they served as Tea and cucumber sandwiches with the crust cut off. And all I can remember thinking is, Bloody hell, they must be hard up for money. If all,  If all they're going to serve is cucumber sandwiches.  What will me gran think of this?  And then me dad brought me home. And then he went on to do his night shift again. So why have you moved to the village? Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry, I'm digressing, yes. So, I suddenly thought, right, back bedroom, then we had Pollyanna in Market Hill, which was,  I didn't realise it, you're in the middle of it, and it was gobsmacking. I mean, I talk about Dover Street Market. We were the forerunner of Dover Street Market. But  for me, it was, it was a business, it was a job, and I wouldn't, I was never snobby about it. It was, it's coming from Barnsley, isn't it? How can you be snobby coming from Barnsley? Anyway, so then I had stroke. Heart attack,  um, bloody hell, pneumonia. I mean, God threw everything at me. And I thought, I've got to do it a different way. And I, and I took a much smaller shop down George Yard, and I enjoyed that as well. We had a cafe on the ground floor, um, with a guy called Martin who did the cooking, who was superb.  But then I suddenly realized that the heart has gone out of my chest.  Going and parking your car and going into shops. It's gone out of it. And whether I like it or not,  I have got to get an internet up and running. I've got to be able to add on all that we know. We've got the client base.  We've got to sell. on the internet and come kicking and screaming into this century. And that's what I'm about to do now, but I still want face to face. And what I love about this place is that I'm surrounded with creative people. You've seen it today. And the client just walked through the door and taking it.  I wouldn't want to be totally cut off, but I'm mean the middle of it, you know, I can see what IL's doing. What, and, and it's wonderful working with creative people. I mean, I've watched Azel over the last, she, I keep saying to her, she, you should be in a bloody Co.  Don't swear. Don't swear. This is not broadcasting, not the bbc.  You can say Knackers if you want to. Well, yeah, but, well, one. It's more on the BBC, a certain radio, and I've gone and apologized,  but yeah, I mean, I said to Isley, you should be out there teaching kids in colleges because she's so bloody clever. Um, and then, you know, we're getting, I'm interviewing  somebody on Tuesday that's coming in for a job who's come back from London and she's worked for some of the top designers in London and  Can't afford childcare down there.  And so, you know, we've got a big chance in Barnsley now. I mean, the young lassie who came to us and went, uh, uh, and, uh, and went to work for Simone Roscher. She wants to start her own business and come back to Barnsley to do it. And I think, you know, it's all out there.  I'm a teenager and I need to be quick. Where there's young people that you can help to set their business up and you can give them the advice that they need. Which would be don't do it the way that I've done it.  Well, you've learned from experience, haven't you? Yeah, and if you pass that experience on, that's great, yeah. So what have we actually got in, in your new workshop? What do you do here? Well, I mean, we, in the main, we will,  because I spoke to, what they call the young photographer, Alex, he's such a lovely lad, and I said, I can't get an old collection together, because I can't do it, because we'll sell it, as we're doing it, um, and so I'm working with him to do virtually one garment at a time, but I mean, all those, under that table there, that's all All the fabrics that we use, and a hell of a lot of them, when we're into the wools, most of them are from Yorkshire. We do incredible Woolsey. We never sing the praises of it. We really do some fantastic Woolsey and Cashmere.  And we've got, you know, we have got tweeds that we're using now that are from the same people that I know Chanel use. You can tell if I showed you the tweet, you'd know it.  So, even the people in Paris are buying their wools in Yorkshire or in Scotland. But we don't sing the praises of it. Well, how can we change that?  We've got to change a culture, haven't we? Well, I think it's also a model, isn't it? Because you've changed your business model. From, from having premises. Yeah, I mean, I have, and, and if I'm absolutely honest, I thought, well, I'll come in here, you know, I'll see how it works, see how I feel about it. I mean, at the moment, we've been in, what, short time, what, two or three months, Hazel? But, but, you know, I'm, I come in and I'm  completely at ease and happy with it.  And I think,  I'm,  it's nearly like my grand's back bedroom.  Going back to my grand's back bedroom, yeah. Well that's what, what, what I'm going to say, the word work should be, it should be enjoyable because you spend so much time doing it. Exactly, exactly. Yeah, you've got to earn the cash and that. Which one day I might do but you've got to you've got  to enjoy it. You've got to live but then  You know, I think if you if you're happy with what you're doing it It possibly shows in what the finished item is  And I can go under there. We've just got the new swatches from Japan for linens and I can go in and it's still a look at him and it blows me away. I think, God, that's absolutely amazing. Feel that. That's fantastic. Then I can go into the walls and.  And I think, you know, these are what we produce,  ten miles down the road, and, and then I can go in, I know it's in Lancashire, but we deal with somebody called Adamley Silks, and they are people who print on our silks, and they are, I know it's Lancashire, but. We'll put up with it for a sort of, you know, just a bit, actually. And, you know, I go, Azel went with me the other day, what were it like, Azel? It was fantastic, weren't it? I mean, she, you were in your element, weren't you? She wanted to die and be left there. She wanted to die and be left there, it was just so  Oh, it was Azel. Azel's chief machinist. We've got another two or three starting, but  What he doesn't know is not well,  yeah. And you realise they're not training them up anymore, that's the problem. That's the big problem, not training them up anymore. Maybe there's an opportunity then for an academy. You know what? What I've always said, David, is that if, if kids go to college to learn how to do fashion, and it's a three or four year course, the first two years should be dedicated to doing pattern cutting and making the garments. Right? Because they don't have to teach them creativity because they wouldn't be there if they weren't creative.  But they need to have the tools and know how to use the tools in order to make the garment. So yeah, let's, let's, you know, let's get them knowing how to use a machine, knowing how to cut a pattern. And that, to me, should be a two year course.  And then they make, they make their own, I mean I was just looking the other day, there was a designer called John Galliano, who, um, can't be far behind me in age, well he might be 15 years behind, but I was looking at his first outfit that he made, coming out of Central Saint Martins, and it is mind boggling,  mind boggling, you could put it on today, and, um, One of the things I truly believe in is, because Hazel was on today about Vinted, where they sell beer.  And I said, well, they couldn't sell mine because I wear them to death. I mean, I've got a coat hanging over there now that's got to be, that I wear, that's got to be 30 years old. So I buy it because I love it, and I love it even more as time goes on. So we've got to get rid of this old thing about  fashion.  Because if you change that to style,  fashion being disposable,  because it's bringing the planet down. You don't like the word fashion, do you? I hate the word fashion, no, because it's so fashionable.  And the business village has got a policy that allows dogs. Where's Reggie and Ronnie? Um,  uh, well they would live up to their name of the craze.  They are Scotties and they are nasty little bees.  So I don't, so we scrapped that idea straight off. You know, you can't bring Reggie and Ronnie into work because they're just nasty, nasty, nasty little  Glaswegians.  When I was doing my research on you, I read an article and there's a lovely piece that resonated with me about,  I'm assuming it's your granny that was the knocker upper.  She also, did she clean the railway stations? She did both railway stations, because we had two railway stations, with the one now that everybody goes to, which was the smaller of the two railway stations, and then where we've got the big car park, that was, um, the big, really big, and I can remember me and my cousin John, when we were off school, when we'd finished, we used to go to the railway station, because she'd start at six o'clock in the morning, and it was summer, so it was light. And, uh, and we'd go with my gran. And we didn't clean, we just boogered about with the, with the typewriters. You know, they used to have typewriters with really long things like that, and the typists used to complain that when they came in, they were all crossed over. And then they got those telephones that looked like daffodils, that you wind up and put to your ear. Candlesticks. Like this. Yes. Yeah. So, so, and John and I then used to go into the shunting shed  and there would be at least one engine in there and it'd still be cooling down and we'd stand and look at it. It was like looking at a giant and then all of a sudden it'd go, shh, like that and we'd both  jump back, oh, magic, magic, magic, magic day. Because when I was reading about that, that particular thing. It basically inspired you  about design and how things work. Yeah. And that, I love watching old steam programs because I'm a middle aged fat white bloke.  Um, and I love watching Locos. when they're set off going, just the design and the planning that goes into it. Yeah, yeah, well the engineering. I always, I've got a great soft spot for engineers, to be honest.  I really have. I don't think that we I always remember  being on one of  Tony Blair's committees. Forgive me.  Um,  I was on one of  Blair's committees.  And, uh, and I can remember at the time we were looking at education  and, and what we were saying was that, that we have, we, at that point we had 3, 000 engineers came out of university every year.  But, I'm not being awful about this, but we almost looked down on it. It wasn't like being a doctor or, or,  or being some high flyer. We never appreciated them.  And so there were 3, 000 engineers came out of university every year. And a lot of them, because of the low pay, would drift off into something else. At that point in time, BMW took on 3, 000 engineers a year.  And you'd think, you know, the, the, the Germans in a way looked at engineers and technology in a totally different light from how we view it.  So I'd always a great deal of respect for engineers. We can't, you know, whatever you look at, machines, With somebody in the other day servicing our machines. Wherever you look at, it's technical, innit? The car that you get into, whatever. Well, Rita, it's been lovely to, uh, chat with you.  It's been hard to get a word out of you, if I'm being honest.  But, uh, this On that tip. Ha ha ha! We've hardly scratched the surface, so I'd love to come and do some more recording with you, if that's okay in the future. Yeah, whenever.  Thank you for your time. Good luck with the business. Thank you, love. Good luck with yours.  Good morning, the Business Village. Holly speaking. How can I help?  Upgrade your workspace and boost productivity at the Business Village. Our modern offices are designed to meet your needs. From solo entrepreneurs to growing startups. You'll have access to high speed internet, conference rooms, a bistro, and a thriving business community with networking events.  and collaboration opportunities. Contact us today to schedule a tour. Call 01226 249 590. That's 01226 249 590. And start your success story at The Business Village.  This is the business village people  podcast. I'm David Markwell, a new chief executive was appointed here at the village. His name is Martin Beasley. Previously, Martin led the enterprising Barnsley team, a local government organization that provides local businesses with with support for new and established companies. So why did you want to move across town and join the team at the business village? I've worked with the guys at the business village for for quite some time and I know what's such a sort of great job to do here supporting businesses and with Adrian who's left the business village in in such a great state in terms of when he started and where we are now I just thought it was a great opportunity to sort of  Continue the great work he's done and come with the team and just to see if I can sort of look at what I can do to sort of add value to the, to the community here and the businesses and tenants. Where are you from? How did you get to where you are today? And why public service? I, I, I didn't choose public service by choice. So I, I'm originally from Rotherham, brought up in Rotherham. From school, I wanted to join the RAF. And that's what I always wanted to do. Weren't sure what I wanted to do in the RAF, just thought, well, something sounded really good, could travel, etc. So, when, I did quite well in, at school, so when I went to the careers office in Sheffield, they went, oh well, because you've done so well, why don't you come in as an officer? But you have to go to university, uh, to go in at that level. And it'll save, um, having to work, go work your way through the ranks, so.  Went to college, went to university, came back out, said, yeah, I've done my degree. Like, right. So they sent me off to Cranwell for officer recruitment, applied to go into the intelligence branch, but quickly realized that that wasn't for me. When you go for officer admission in the RAF, well, some years ago, you actually don't know if there's actually a job available. So what they do is you go through a series of tests. If you're successful, you sort of last to the next day. So you get there on a Monday. do a load of tests. If you're successful, you call your name out, your state will choose you, so on and so forth, till there's about 10 year left on a Friday. I got a letter back, went to, back to the careers office and said, oh, we've got two, two jobs for you. So you can't be a, an intelligence branch because there's no vacancies, but I weren't suitable for it anyway. So they offered me to be a PT instructor.  Because I did a sports science degree and thought I was fit, uh, I know quite fit then, not now. Oh, an helicopter pilot. Well at the time I couldn't even drive a car. So I think, I ain't driving a 50 million pound helicopter. So, uh, I, they offered me, so I, I agreed to do, be a PT officer. And they, uh, so you have to go to Guy's in London for an extra set of medicals. And then they soon found out I'd dislocated my shoulder quite a lot of times doing sport. And they basically, like, red rubber stamped me, reject me. So, and then from there, I've always worked from being eight, cleaning cars, to working in pubs, doing shutdown at the steelworks, working at, like, conveyor belts for Northern Foods while I was at college,  anything to earn a bit of brass while I was studying, and I just thought, well, I've got to get a job doing something, so I just went straight down to a recruitment agency, got a degree.  Et cetera, et cetera, this is what I can do. And they went, well, you've got two options. There's a job available as a data analyst at T Mobile in the Durham Valley. Or there's this organization called Objective One, which is a, which is a, like a government quango, which is dealing with European funding. And I thought, that sounds interesting. And that was it. So that was sort of my first step into economic development. And what, was it interesting? Yeah, because I had to go in, well I didn't have to, but I went in as a, started at the bottom as an administrator in the business and enterprise team. So we were involved in lots of projects to support all sorts of organizations, businesses, everything from supporting the creative industries, supporting graduate startups, universities, spin outs, a lot of the work which has Being done on the AMP, the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership at Portway, I supported a lot of businesses on there like Castings Technology, TWI, Talasys, lots of companies doing R& D, so it is a, it gave me a really good introduction to economic development and business support and I was able to work on lots of different varied projects and that sort of gave me a flavor for the, for the industry really. So, Did you miss the chance of becoming a pilot or working for the RAF? Have you ever thought, well You know, things happen in a certain way, so just accept it and get on with it. Yeah, I think, yeah, I mean, looking back, yeah, I think I should have, I should have prompted to go for the, the helicopter pilot role, but ultimately I'd have been failed on my medical anyways. Consequently ended up having about three operations on it, so, like, from a, uh, a ministry of defense perspective. They're never going to invest six figure sums in training when the physical condition.  So when you're on my so when you've got pin in your shoulders pinned. Yeah. So so no, I don't regard. I mean, I've I've worked in some great. I'm luckily I've worked every place I've worked. It's been great. It's been, uh, really interesting work and I've worked with lots of really good people who are, hopefully, a lot of them think of me as a friend and that's been the biggest bonus. So you come to the business village from Enterprise, Barnsley? Yeah.  What did you do there? So Enterprising Barnsley used to be called Barnsley Development Agency. So when I came to Barnsley Council from an organisation called Renaissance South Yorkshire, I was asked to lead a business support programme, which had a number of different partners delivering lots of different business support activities. So at the time it was Bebic as an organisation who was doing Delivering incubation support for businesses who were, who were new businesses and they wanting to grow and they needed space to be. So obviously BB was obvious for that. There was the Barnes Rob Chamber who had a number of consultants who offered, uh, business advice, but also at the time we had University of others field who used be based in town, who were doing graduate entrepreneurship program. So I was asked to like program manager, all of that. And the project was really successful. We got another big wedge of money from the eu. to continue that activity and Enterprising Barnsley as a program received that much positive PR that everyone started referring to BDA as Enterprising Barnsley to the point BDA was scrapped as a name and it became Enterprising Barnsley. My former boss at the time, he left, so I was successful in applying his role as group leader. So group leaders are sort of the  manage big teams at the, at the local authority. So yeah, I managed the enterprising Barnsley team, really successful. We, the, the team covers everything from the launchpad program to running the digital media centers, to providing key account management, sports business, dealing with inward investment, property inquiries, the team sort of grew from about eight to nine people to about, there's about 30 staff there now. And also the reputation of teams. so positive that we get to deliver a lot of activity for other local authorities as well. So, um, not only do we deliver programs in, or the team used to deliver programs in Barnsley, but also across South Yorkshire as well. What are you most proud of, of your time at the enterprise in Barnsley? I think for me, I mean, the, the, the sort of,  sort of pinnacle of how our work was during COVID the team responded really well to what was we appreciate and empathize what was really difficult circumstances for private sector businesses but whilst some I appreciate some businesses and some services went into furlough mode we went completely the other way. Um, we were flat out for seven, eight months, working 12, 14 hour shifts every day, trying to support businesses, trying to administer the funding, which, it was interesting, Boris used to come on the TV every night, and then that's when we'd actually find out what we were going to be doing the following day, because, um, some people might not know that government don't exactly talk to local authorities a lot of the time about what they're going to do, so, you know. for the staff to react so quickly and be so agile, but also  support the amount of businesses we did during that intense period. I think that's probably the proudest moment, watching everyone sort of get stuck in and try and work as a collective. And what can the business village expect from your tenureship? I think for me, it sounds a bit cheesy, but it's about, um, I think evolution, not revolution. I think Adrian's done a fantastic job. I think when Adrian came in, I think the,  The business village was about 60 percent occupancy, and I think we're up to about 92 percent at the moment. There are some projects in the pipeline, so we want to continue to redevelop the spaces. So tenants feel like they're getting value for money in terms of the rent they're paying, but also look at how we can continue to support businesses here to sort of become more successful and making sure that they've got the right support they need.  I suppose it's survive and thrive. I think my background is a lot around external funding. So I think that's something obviously I want to look at in terms of can I look at accessing money over and above the profit that business centres make to support organisations  here. Business villages are not for profit. So all the money we do make comes straight back into the census to try and make them better for everybody. So, so, yeah, so I think I've, I've got some things I'm identifying. I'm still in that, that scoping mode at the moment. Receiving, not transmitting. I think there's like the hard and the soft. So the hard stuff, I can look at spreadsheets and look at figures and look at numbers, but it's the soft elements. And I appreciate there's a lot of people here and especially  within the team who've worked here for quite a long time. So I'm not egotistical enough to come in and give it the, to tell them how they're not doing everything right. So I will be obviously in listening mode and seeing what I can do to add value and help them do their jobs better. I expected. The first day he turned up they changed all the parking spaces  and redecorated it and  set fire to this. Yeah, that's the first thing.  My old parking space with my name and my own office, but yeah. I live at,  we live at Donnerth and I come on Junction 37 and I see this big sign that says Barnsley.  A place for possibilities. Yeah, yeah. What does that mean? I think it's where anybody in the Barnsley can, can thrive. And they get that, given that opportunity, whatever they want to do in life, they get that opportunity to do it. So, I think it's part of the, the council's overall inclusive economy perspective where,  where anyone has that opportunity to be successful in whatever they choose to do. I think that's what it's all about, that strap line's all about. Do you think the council and other organisations do enough to get younger people interested in entrepreneurship and working for themselves? I know my former colleagues in employment schools do quite a lot to try and do that. I mean, the challenge has always been, is a lot of young people, it's all about the art, sort of the art of the possible. And if their window is to see someone driving a van or someone working in the shop or  Being a but whatever it may be and if that's the the trades they see in the jobs They see and they don't realize actually there's a which aren't I'm not saying those about John I'm just saying in terms of a restrictive view on what jobs are and they don't see the whole panacea or what what they can Do obviously then they'll have a restrictive view of what of what they can do when they get older in terms of work wise So I know the council do try and engage with local businesses and regional businesses to try and provide those opportunities for young people. My biggest bugbear around this, around social mobility, is transport. I think that's a massive issue. If you're young Jenny and Johnny who live at Royston and you want to get a job on the advanced manufacturing park on the edge of Rotherham, how do you get there? It's like a three hour journey on a bus, it's just not feasible, so for me, I do think that's something which, and the council can't, can't do it on their own, they need national and regional support with this, it's, what can we do to make sure we can improve social mobility for young people so they get a better understanding and, you know, Better opportunities. Martin, thanks for your time. Yeah, not a problem. Good luck with your new job. Thank you, I'll need it.  For all the latest news from The Business Village, subscribe to our free newsletter at business village. co. uk  Thank  you for listening and special thanks to my guests. Rita Britton and Martin Beasley, if you've enjoyed your time with us, please share the podcast with your friends. Your support helps us grow and reach more listeners like you. I'm David Markwell and this has been a Pod One Creative Audio production.  Never miss an episode of The Business Village People Podcast. Simply subscribe and follow from wherever you get your podcasts. 

 This is a Pod One Production. For more information, visit podone.co.uk. This is the Business Village People podcast.  Hello, I'm David Markwell, and welcome to the Business Village People podcast.  This is Series 2, Episode 1. Here is where we showcase unique stories from the vibrant companies and service providers based at the Business Village in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Okay, let's go!  In this episode of Business Village People, we meet the woman who set up her business on her twins first birthday.  And now 20 years later, she's got the privilege of line managing her husband. And as for her twins well, they're going to have to fend for themselves.  Plus, the Story of how circa 7,000 ambulances and control rooms across England, Scottish, and Welsh Ambulance Trusts are getting upgraded digital communication technology systems. All of these things are being delivered by a team based here at the Business Village, and we meet Dubai Bound Georgie Green. She's a PMO Analyst, working with the MDVS Team at the Ambulance Radio Programme.   And talking of acronyms,  FCS Associates is a consultancy practice with substantial expertise in public, private, charity, and society.  sectors. The clients include Sheffield City Council, Barnsley Council and the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority. The business was set up 20 years ago by Rachel Fletcher, registered the company on my twin's first birthday. So it was a very bad mother and didn't do anything with them on that day because I was busy working. Uh, but I'd left my old consultancy company and decided that I'd stay. I don't know, I just wanted some better work life balance, and I thought, stupidly, that having my own business would provide that. I would say, since then I've been busier than ever, but equally, you're in charge of your own destiny, and you're in charge of what you want to do. And so that's why I like my job. Having my own business, because it allows me to do the things I like to do. Why consulted? How did you get into that? I just fell into it, to be honest. I was very lucky. So, when I left university, I was going to join the police. I'd got a training, a place on a training programme. I thought, that's fine. And then my dad found this very small advert in the local Sheffield Star. And, uh, they wanted consultancy. They wanted people to join a consultancy company in Sheffield that worked a lot with the European Commission. And my dad said, you like to travel, why don't you do that?  So I wrote to them, got an interview, as you did back then, and got the job, and it was amazing. On the first day, well not the first day, the first week, I was travelling business class to London, going to meet some people. some, uh, people at that time who worked for the Ministry of Agriculture to talk about grants. And I worked there for ten years, I became MD, uh, really enjoyed it, did loads of travel, uh, did lots of work for the European Commission, I was, learnt a lot of stuff, you know, just worked with lots of different types of businesses on research, because I'd loved, I loved, I did a science degree, so I'd always had a love of science.  And then, uh, I had twins and thought, can't really, or don't want to do this anymore. Want something different that will fit round my life. And, and so decided to set up my own business. And, uh, my brother said, sort of seemed to be family related. Never mind, I do get advice from others. But, uh, I was saying to my brother, I don't know what to do. And he said, well. You've done, you've run that business, why don't you set up your own,  you know, contact a few people who you think you could work for and see what happens. And I was lucky, the first guy I got in touch with, he said, do you want a consultancy contract? Do you want a job? And I said, no, I'll do consultancy. And he said, set up a business and we'll give you a contract. And that was my first contract. And I worked for them for 18 months. And then that went on to lead to other things. And, and I'm still doing it.  What would you describe is the role of a consultant? I think there's many descriptions, some positive, some negative. Um, I think it's listening, it's helping, it's supporting. I suppose it depends what you're consulting on. So when you're working with small businesses, which I do a lot of now,  it's provide, and particularly small businesses who often don't have others to talk to. If you're senior in a small company, it might just be you, or you're in charge. So you can't show your insecurities. You have no one to bounce ideas off. And so I think being that person who they can talk to about what they want to do, where they want to go, and give some honest advice, because I am honest. I do, you know, I don't, I don't always say what people want me to say. say what I do think is right, which has worked for me so far, um, sort of, uh, but um, but no. So I think, I think it's listening. I think it's helping. Uh, and then consultancy we do more broadly for like the public sector. It's, it's reviewing initiatives. It's, it's coming up with ideas and, and I like that because I like thinking about things and then coming up with solutions, whether that might be a responding to a tender and coming up with a, a sort of, because it's creative writing. People never think this. They think when you're writing grants or, or writing public sector tenders, it's boring and it's not. It's, it's coming up with ideas of how you can do things and what you could create in the future. And that's what I like about it. So give us an example of a project that you might've worked on recently. Yesterday I met with a, a  business in Barnsley, really nice. Um, nursery that, um, it's all outdoor provision for young children, which I think is really inspiring because, um, they are providing something which others aren't where the marketplace hasn't traditionally provided. So I think that's really good. And we've just had a series of meetings. We've talked about their growth plans.  I've looked into what funding they can bid for, and I think that's important. Because people sometimes come and they'll say to me what grants are there? What's out there? And that's the wrong way around. It needs to be what do you want to achieve and therefore what do you need to do that? And funding is part of that. It's not the only thing, the grant funding. And so then it's helping them identify that that funding bid for it. And, and then just talk about implementing it and, and even just the future, you know, once they've done this, what about year two? What, what even is their long term sort of plan for, um, succession, which you wouldn't think about traditionally at the beginning, but it is important to think about that, to think where, where ultimately do they want to go with this business? Because if you see, If you set off in the right way, building the right structures, then the end point, you'll get there. Whereas if you just sort of, um, have no vision, no view of where you want to go, then often people just go around in circles and never really go anywhere. They're busy, they might be busy, very busy, but that doesn't mean they're achieving anything. How much is,  in running a business, how much is luck and how much is hard work?  I think there's a lot, a huge amount of luck. I absolutely do. Yeah, it's um, but you do make your own luck. Uh, you know, I've, I've always thought say yes to things and that's why I'm partly here today.  I was thinking why did I say yes, but you, you do, you have to push yourself out of your comfort zone. You have to say yes, you know, because. You just don't know where things go, and one, and that's what I found in my career with the business. One thing leads to another, and if you, if you only take things that you're 100 percent confident with and comfortable with, then you'll stay there. Whereas if you just think, well, actually, I could have a go, and really, no one, I've realized, no one really knows what they're doing. You know, we all pretend, we all pretend that we really do, but you talk to lots of people, you know, and I talk to lots of business owners, and they'll tell you privately that they uncultivated. Confident and they, they, they feel very insecure about the, you know, the what they've done. And that's totally normal. And I think it's normalizing that it's okay to think that it doesn't then mean that it's, you should stop. Yeah. It just means that you accept that's how you feel. But just have a go. What's the, what I often think, what's the worst that can happen? And, and then the other thing I think to myself is how much, and this is maybe doesn't work well with podcasts, but how much do people really remember when you do some.  So then at the end you'll think, oh I can't believe I said that. And then I think it's 20%. They only retain 20%. So I think that the 20 percent that they'll have retained will be good stuff. The 80 percent that I've messed up, they'll totally forget. So maybe I'm naive, but that's how I decide that I'm going to deal with it. Because otherwise you just never do anything. You just keep going round and round in circles. What plans have you got for the future for the business?  I think at the minute we're doing lots of public sector delivery, which I'm really pleased and, and, and, um, what's the word? Really, it  allows me to work with lots of different businesses, businesses that often can't pay us, which is really nice, because those that often can pay you don't always need, particularly with something like business start up, they're not the ones that need the help, because they can, they can access it already. So, uh. I really enjoy doing the work that I do for Barnsley Council and Sheffield Council and the Mayoral Authority because it allows me to work with people and to start them on that business journey.  Next year, I mean certainly funding mechanisms will change so we have to keep up to date with that because as funding and grants change we have to adapt what we can do but um, over the last few years we've been developing a lot more activity with charities so we run a really uh, Um, I wouldn't say really great, but I think it is. We do a charity hub, which we do three times a year, which brings charities together. Uh, and we do a charity of the year, where we do 35  hours of free grant writing. And, and, I like that. The team like that. We enjoy working with charities and social enterprises because we're able to make a difference. And, uh, and make a difference outside the sphere that we normally operate in. So I think continuing, if we can, continuing doing what we do with businesses, but then perhaps building further on what we do with charities and social enterprises. Rachel, how can people get in contact with you? Our website, fcsassociates.  co. uk. There's lots of free, lots and lots of free resources on there. So if you're interested in grants.  We do a bulletin that you can sign up to and you know, you just get a free weekly bulletin every week. We don't chase you. It's 3, 000 people signed up. You know, we're certainly not chasing all those. But just get in touch. We've got on our website, we have a grants map, which is good. So if you're in a locality, you can look at that locality and see what grants are available to you.  Um, but you know, our, my email address is on there. I'm on LinkedIn. Just get in touch and, um, and, you know, ask, ask the questions. It's a question that, um, that you're wanting to, to understand, to see how me and colleagues, it isn't just me, um, it's, uh, my husband works for me, uh, I don't know if he'd say he works for me, we work together, but he did join my business and I'd like to remind him of that. Okay then, hang on a minute, hang on a minute, you've not told me, I wish I'd known that before and how does that work? Uh, to be honest, very well, really well, yeah, we've worked together now for 10 years, uh, it, I, I think he's, he's brilliant, he's the best employee you could have. Because he is 100 percent dedicated to doing the job. Uh, what he isn't very good at is being managed.  By, by his wife. Uh, so, as I say, we work together. Uh, we don't, he doesn't, we don't, we have separate roles. It must be, the performance review every year must be wonderful. You've not done the dishes. Uh, it's ongoing. It's an ongoing performance review, that's why it works. You don't pick your socks up. Yeah, no, that's why it works really well. But I do think, in some ways, it is, for me, for us, it works well because  the business and the family are all in one, you've both got the same priorities, they're both the same vision, there's never an issue if I've got something to do or if he's got something to do because we're doing it for a reason, we're doing it because it's our business. Uh, but my sister in law also works for me, uh, we've been working together for 12 years and she's fantastic. and then my best friend from university. Uh, she came on board about six years ago. Uh, and I think I'm so lucky and I say that a lot because I've got a team of people that I know will try their absolute best. Uh, you know, they say don't work with family. Yes, there are always challenges. But when you know that you're working with people where if there's a problem they'll do anything they can to help and because they, they care about you and they care about the business then it works really well.  So yeah,  I'm sticking with that. But the kids aren't coming on board. I draw the line at my children joining the business. I think they need to go out and make their own plans. And then maybe come back, but we'll see.  Rachel, you've been an inspiration. It's been lovely to chat to you. Yes, you have. No, you have. You have. I love how focused you are on that. So, thank you for your time. Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. I thought it would be horrendous. It's not been that bad. No, Not being that bad at all. Thank you very much. Where do I send the bill to?  Good morning, the Business Village. Holly speaking. How can I help?  Upgrade your workspace and boost productivity at the Business Village. Our modern offices are designed to meet your needs. From solo entrepreneurs to growing start ups. You'll have access to high speed internet, conference rooms, and more. A bistro and a thriving business community with networking events, workshops and collaboration opportunities. Contact us today to schedule a tour. Call 01226 249 590. That's 01226 249 590. And start your success story at the Business Village.  This is the Business Village People podcast. Now, if you've ever had to make a 999 call for the ambulance service, whatever happens after ending the call may be of little interest to you. However, one team at the Business Village is responsible for keeping all the digital data and communications flowing between the hospitals and the ambulance crews. Georgie Green works for the ambulance radio program. She's been  Hi, I'm Georgie Green. I'm a Programme Management Office Analyst with the Ambulance Radio Programme. I'm also responsible as the Mobile Data and Vehicle Solution Relationship Manager. Or in other words, you work for A R P S W A E F T. PMO with MDVS? We, the Ambulance Radio Programme, so ARP, we're hosted by Southwestern Ambulance Service. So they provide us a channel for all of our funding and everything we do as an organisation and look after us. PMO is the Programme Management Office, so we have a head of that looks after all of us. as a central team within the program. Um, and then we support all of the, the various bits and pieces and departments. And then MDVS, Mobile Data and Vehicle Solutions. For the NHS. My favourite one at ARP because we, you know, we work in the, the ambulance sector is NEANAS.  So it's the National Educational Network for, for ambulances, I believe. But that one tickles me every time. Tell me about what you actually do at The Business Village. Uh, The Business Village is one of our three offices. Um, so as a program nationally, we are delivering crucial technology systems to ambulance trusts um, across the UK. Uh, so one of the main programs, the control room solutions that's going to Scotland, Wales and all English ambulance trusts. And then the mobile data and vehicle solutions is going to all English and Welsh, Welsh ambulance trusts. Can you explain that to me as a lad from Barnsley, what, what, what, what is the control room data analystic RSPCA? So, So, So, The control room solution is a new LIFEx application, um, so that's used as critical communications between the emergency control room dispatchers and operational crews in the field. So it integrates with various systems depending on how a trust operates. Um, eventually when the mobile data and vehicle solution program is then also implemented at the trust. They can go one or the other first. They'll talk to each other. So LIFX will be used as a dispatch system to dispatch the vehicles to the jobs, which will then use the tablets and the system that we've developed and the hardware and the software, um, to give them the information for the jobs and the patients, basically. So it's all communications. Very much so, yeah. Radio communications and data communications. Yeah, absolutely. How did you end up in Barnsley? Um, so I've lived in Barnsley all my life. Um, So far. Yeah.  Grown up in Barnsley. Always had jobs in Barnsley. Um, got made redundant from my last role and kind of fell into my RP. Um, and I'm six years with the programme this year. So it's, um, a fantastic place to work for, like I say, we're national, we travel quite a bit. Um, I was fortunate enough to be a recipient of the British APCO Ian Thompson Bursary Award this year. Um, so as part of that award, as a young person in technology, I'm going to Dubai, um, to the Critical Comms World Conferences over there in a few weeks. Um, so the, the opportunities and, and the work that's, that's been done there. been presented my way since I've joined the program has been absolutely top tier. So whereabouts in Barnsley are you from? So I'm, I was born in Darton, I live in Mathwell now, I've just moved here. Do you go to Darton High School or Darton College? No, I went to school in Wakefield. Oh,  Quags! No, no, I went to Kettlethorpe, so I went to school in Wakefield. Near the Asdors. Yes.  Asdors.  And then I went to college in Huddersfield, um, wasn't quite sure about what I wanted to do, um, deferred my uni offers. Fell into the last job I had before, with our ARP, and the rest is history, I guess. So yeah, six years they've been stuck with me. How does it work? It's all radio based communication, so making, our responsibility is to make sure that everything works and all the systems can communicate effectively. The trust can communicate effectively as well. Um, it's really important that the emergency responders have got that  mechanism to be able to continue receiving regular updates on a patient. You know, it'll start off, they'll receive a job at the initial phase where it's raised. The category could change throughout that call. So to have that live system update coming through is crucial for them to be able to to give the best care to the patient.  So the key part and the key components is just making sure it all talks to each other. You bringing the technology into all the ambulances in Britain? Yes. England or just? In England, so it's not Ireland, it's England, Scotland and Wales. So we're acting on behalf of the Department of Health to introduce these new systems. So we have national ambulances. plans on a page and national programs of delivery where we're working with each trust. They've all got their own nuances and all got their own individual, um, systems that are already in place. So we have to make sure that what they've already got, the, the control room and the, the computer aided dispatch systems, it's, it's got to all work with what we're trying to implement. A lot of it's becoming end of life. Um, so it's going to get to a point where it's, it's just not there anymore. So we're upgrading what they've got at the moment so that they've got a, a more, a more up to date, more modern, modern service. Um, some of the trusts that have had it more recently are absolutely loving it, and that's, that's using their words to quote it, which has, has been fantastic feedback, because it's been a real, a real push to get to where we are. We're, we're up to nearly 3, 000 vehicles installed with, with the mobile data and, and vehicle solution. We'll, we'll hit the target. The, the 3, 000 in a few weeks time and then I believe it's eight Trust Live with, with the control room solutions, all of which will be done by the end of the year. So we're, we're a really, really key point in delivery, but a really successful point today as well. So what are you doing going to Dubai? I applied for an award that the, uh, the British Apco, um, organization, um, put out in memory of somebody that used to work as part of that, that team of people. And the, the bursary is designed for, you know, young people starting out in their career and wanting to explore. All the avenues that they can go down with, with what they're wanting to do. Technology and what I'm doing is never something I kind of imagined that I'd be doing, but I've fallen into it and love it. So put my application forward, um, and I was one of three winners and I'm a big advocate for women in technology. And I was the only woman to be part of those three that won. So we then had a choice of other emergency services and critical comms conferences and events across the world, depending on how you want your career to or how you see your career to go. Um, and the critical comms world in Dubai is the, or I felt was the most appropriate to what I'm doing and how I'm wanting to progress really. So I'll be heading out there in a couple of weeks to, I just want to understand and learn more about how other countries and other organizations do what we're doing, you know, making sure that their emergency services have got that critical technology. And I think that  naively and through, you know, people not seeing that side of things, you pick up the phone and ring 999. and somebody's there and a vehicle turns up and a crew turns up, there's so much more that goes behind making that phone call and making sure that people can be responding to and receive the right treatment. Um, so it's, it's, it's a really rewarding job to know that that all behind the scenes thing is such a big part of, you know, just picking up the call and making 999 phone calls and not realizing that there's so much more to it. So yeah, looking forward to getting out to Dubai. What did you want to be when you were at school in Wakefield? Interior design. Um, so I just kind of got into my head that that going to uni was the right thing to do, because it was what all my friends were doing. And then fell into being a contract manager at my previous job, again through circumstance, and I thought, do you know what, this, I just don't know what I want to do yet, so I wasn't ready to commit to a degree. Unfortunately got made redundant, and then a few weeks later found The advert that they were going out for for just an admin assistant. So I very much started off as a travel and accommodation admin gal. Yeah, we were a much smaller team back then and we, we had a different office. We weren't based at Bebick. We were based at the digital center in, in, in the center of town. So what is the plan for the future for yourself? It's a bit uncertain. I've got a few ideas. Uh, I've got loads of fantastic role models in the program and outside the program as well. I think, um, head of our team, head of our program management office is Sumerawood. Would love to end up in a, in a few years time and I'm doing everything I can to, to learn and, and shadow my, uh, my seniors and colleagues in the team to try and get there. And what's it like working at the business village? The business village is fantastic and it's, it, you know, I'm a local, local girl to Barnsley. Um, so having, uh, an office like this. on, on your doorstep. Um, one, it means that we can look after suppliers, customers, trust anybody that comes to visit. We've got the mechanism to be able to do that. Um, I'm even more biased of the office now that I can bring my, my dog Fred in. Um, that, that initiative has been absolutely wonderful to, to be able to do that. And he's having him in the office. So, Fred is my almost two year old Cocker Spaniel and he's absolutely mad as a box of frogs. Um, but he's even more special because he was very unwell when he was a puppy and we nearly lost him. Um, so to be able to bring him into work and everybody share his wonderful personality is fab. Um, and it's nice to meet all the other dogs in the office as well because I know we're not the only one that that's welcomed a furry four legged friend in recently. So yeah, he's great. It's crazy but great. What's the plan for the future for the A. R. P. For the Ambulance Radio Program, so, um, we've just signed a, uh, handheld, handheld devices contract, um, so that's another program, um, that we'll be implementing over the next, uh, I believe 12 to 18 months. Um, lots on the horizon, um, we've, we've got, once the trusts are in service, it doesn't stop there. So, the, the systems need looking after, the trusts need that support and that ongoing reliance that they've got. that the system is, is fit for purpose and that we'll keep working and keep delivering the, the technology that they need. Um, so we, we, once inflammation stops, we don't stop. So it'll still be full steam ahead when, when we get up to, um, I think the, the full number of vehicles is 7, 000. So if  you, if you want a demonstration of MDVS systems, I can hook you up with our test team and we'll show you what we're up to. That'd be great. I know I could do a full podcast on that. Where would he go? Through all the systems. The director would be all over that. He'd absolutely eat you up for that. Uh, Dunc will be a very happy man. The more we can promote what we're doing as a programme and the, the fantastic, massive team of, of us, you know, it's not just the, the guys that get on the ground and the people doing the implementing. It's, it's commercial, it's finance, it's service, it's everybody. It's, it's such a big, massive team effort and it is genuinely one of the most rewarding things I've ever done. Okay, put the cue card down.  Have you got that tattooed on the back of your eyelids,  ? Yes, of course. I want a promotion  For all the latest news from the Business Village. Subscribe to our free [email protected] uk.  For all the latest news from the Business Village. Subscribe to our free newsletter.  That's it for this edition of the podcast. Thank you for listening. And special thanks to my guests, Rachel and Georgie. If you've enjoyed your time with us, please subscribe and share the podcasts with your friends. Your support helps us grow and reach more listeners like you. I'm David Markwell, and this. This is a POD1 Creative Audio Production.  Never miss an episode of the Business Village People podcast. Simply subscribe and follow from wherever you get your podcasts. 

This is the Business Village People podcast. Hello, I'm David Markwell and welcome to the Business Village People podcast. This is the podcast. This is series one, episode 12. This podcast showcases unique stories from the vibrant community of companies, service providers, dogs,  and entrepreneurs at the business village here in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. We celebrate the success, encourage collaboration, and highlight the diverse businesses that call the business village their home. Finding previous episodes is easy. Just search for the business village people on your preferred podcast platform, and we should show up straight away. Click on the subscribe button and you'll never miss our episodes again. Okay, let's go. In this episode of business village people, we have the privilege of meeting Craig Burgess from genius division and delve into his unique approach to leveraging LinkedIn. Try. We talk to HR consultant Trudy Morris about the upcoming changes to employment law that may affect you. She'll also provide you with details of how you can receive free human resources advice here at The Business Village.  Our first guest is Trudy. It's Craig Burgess from the Design and Marketing Agency, Genius Division. I asked him why the company chose the business village as its base. We were here before, and we liked it. Then we wanted a bit of a change, we moved somewhere else. And then we wanted a little bit of a change and came back here. Primarily because we like community, and there's been a hell of a lot of change here. It's renovated, been renovated a hell of a lot. It's totally changed since we last came. It's a much nicer place to be now versus Seven years ago or something like that when we were here tell me about genius division. How did it start? What's the same? Well, we started 14 15 years ago now in James's back bedroom when there were just two of us I've always wanted to run an agency so as James and We both got a thousand quid together and we lived at home with parents at times  We both have a thousand quid and we said should we quit as jobs and we did and then every month since then for 15 years We've basically said well when we run out of money, we'll just go get a real job And it hadn't happened yet. That's genius division. So what were you doing before you got into this game? So I were a graphic designer and a web designer. So were James. In fact, James was more famous than me. He used to design Arctic Monkeys websites. So he used to work for Arctic Monkeys. But we've both been tinkering with websites, branding, design, etc, etc. Since we're both about 15 years old or something.  Much older than 15 years old now, um, and we just always wanted to run his own agency We had we thought we could do it better. You know that Bolshee Teenager young 20s thing we thought we could do it better than everybody else and can you yeah, we're not bad  What have you learned over the years that you've been working for yourself? What I'm trying to say is I went to a  The meeting where you were talking, you were talking about customer services, and sometimes it's important to not work with certain people if it doesn't feel right, and I just wondered where all that came from. Well, when you work for yourself, you quickly realize that every bad client you have is a lesson that you should learn. And when at that talk you were talking about, where I was specifically talking about how to handle clients, and not necessarily bad clients, but how to handle clients better, it all just comes from bad experiences. And not wanting to repeat those bad experiences with other clients, you know what I mean? So I, I think when you, when you're running your own agency, when you're running your own business, that your first job is not the job that you advertise that you're doing. So I, you know, I call myself a, a graphic designer to my mum and dad because they don't understand what I do for a living. My job as a designer is not my first job. My first job is actually, you know, doing a good job for clients, customer service and dealing with customers, because if you don't have customers, you've got no work, you've got no money. So it all just kind of. Came from that you know knowing that you have to do it You have to do a good job because that's how you get more business And that's really how we've grown genius division over the last 15 years We've literally done no marketing until very recently and it's all been doing a good job for a good client Them telling somebody else And then them telling somebody else, et cetera, et cetera, for 15 years, and it's, it's gone alright. What are the current trends at the moment in digital design? Well, we're gonna have to talk about AI, aren't we? Because that's the thing that everybody's getting their hands on. Specifically, shout out to EBT.  Uh, it's the latest new hot thing.  And, you know, I saw this repeat, well, I didn't see this repeat, because I am a little bit younger. That I probably sound when design started becoming a commercial thing when we used to call it commercial art computers came around particularly apple macintosh  And everybody were crying the death of a designer at that point Everyone's going to do it on their own computer And ai is now doing that for a lot of a lot of creative industries not just design not just websites So people are now writing their website content with ai people are writing job applications with ai people are People Making images with AI. I mean, they just launched Sora the other day, which you can make video now. You just type a couple of commands. Please show me a Ferrari driving down a country lane in a rainy England and it makes a video and it's pretty damn impressive. So,  AI is the, you know, AI is the thing that everyone's talking about, but I don't see it as a particular Threat to what we do because people come to creative agencies for ideas. And the problem with AI is that you already have to have the idea in your head. You already have to know that you want a car in Rainy Britain, in England at at some point in 13th century.  If you don't know that, you still need to come to an agency. And also you don't want it to look like everybody else's stuff. So AI certainly is the thing. That's the hot topic on everybody's lips at the minute, but.  I'm not scared of it. Well, I'm not. I, I mean, I'm, I'm  quite dyslexic and, and it's really helped me a lot.  I, I, I write things initially, then I bang it into someone else and say, well, wordily, actually. I use wordily a lot, which I've discovered. And for somebody like myself, it is absolutely fantastic. Absolutely brilliant, you know, and I've got no fears about it because as you've said, you've got to have that initial thought, that initial kind of creative spark  to, to, you know, even think about what words you want or what, what can you see in your head?  And I've got. I've got no problem with it. I noticed on your website, one of the jobs that you've got advertising, it's a don't use chat, GPT, will know, how, how, how do you know people have used it?  Because it looks very generic, um,  so  basically you can use it to scan a job ad and then write a job application. Then it's basically I've not thought of that. Chuffy now, fire. All them years crying.  So it basically just says stuff like, Oh, I'd really love to apply for a job at Genius Division, and based in Barnsley in the UK, with your seven employees, and one female, and, you know, like that, basically. So you can just read, you can read it and you know it. It doesn't sound  human,  obviously because it's mostly robots writing it, and I think that's the big differentiator with AI. Right. That it, it removes that human touch. It's alright if, like you, you've written something already, and you're using AI to polish it up, because ultimately a human wrote it. But if you're starting from the beginning, where it's all written by AI, or created by AI, it's like that Uncanny Valley thing. You know, the, the way that animation, they purposefully make animation not look like humans, because people know that it isn't a human. And I think, in truth And instinctually people know that  something written by A. I. is not A. I. At the minute, although I listened to a guy who'd recorded a podcast with A. I. the other day. Was it a good podcast?  Well he'd used it, he'd done it as a test. Basically, so he uploaded four hours of his own podcast that he'd recorded to an AI model and then he spat out a 15 second,  um, example of what it can do and I couldn't tell the difference. What does worry you in your game?  Well, to find new work, to find new work, to  somewhat grow to some extent because that's how people see quote unquote success. And obviously we're coming out on the other side of a recession, even though we've been in a recession a long time but they were just calling it a cost of living crisis.  So all those kind of things make you  worry.  So constantly you're thinking where's next job going to come from and things like that. But that's why I've kind of started  pushing marketing. Because for 15 years, like I said, we've never done anything. And now for the first time ever, I'm actually trying to do something. I know it sounds cheesy to say I don't really worry about anything. But I think.  If you have that attitude as a business person, that you are worried about these things, or at least you show it to people,  you give off kind of a desperate vibe.  And people can detect it when you're going for work. If you're desperately trying to find your next client, they can detect it. And somehow, I often find they don't want to work with you at that point. You have to just understand that industry, like all others, is ebbs and flows, and you just have to  You have to ride it, basically. That sounds really cheesy, doesn't it? No.  Yes, it does. How do you deal with, like, the stuff I see on LinkedIn? It just does my head in. Because it's like a different world where everything's perfect. They've had the most wonderful meeting and I can't believe we've sat down with such and such and exchanged business cards. It's been amazing. How do you deal with that? Because it just drives me crackers. In fact, I've had to come off LinkedIn. I deleted my account. I've, I've reset it up again, but I'm trying to be more professional. How do you deal with it? What, playing thought rugby and things like that? Is that what it is? Is  that what you call it?  How do I deal with it? Well Because you seem like a normal, balanced lad to me. You know, you, you, you're not full of BS, I don't think. Or maybe you are. I was watching the American business channels. We've got this It's this entrepreneur woman, a British entrepreneur, and she said, you've just got to be honest with yourself. And when I see a lot of the crap that people put on LinkedIn, I think, that's not honesty. I wouldn't want to work with you. For a long time, at least when we first started, you struggle with  confidence in yourself and that manifests as this fakery that you put out online.  And everybody goes through that point, but, like I said, we've just started marketing ourselves a bit more, and I went the complete opposite way. So I started making videos where I am just me, and I swear on them, and it's me talking in this exact same voice, and I don't pretend to be Alan Partridge or any of that thing.  And  Everybody who's seen them,  loves them because I am being myself. Good. Because ultimately people do want to work with people who are themselves. Everybody sees through this, it's the biggest lie in marketing that everybody tells themselves. That there's this, this idea of professionalism, quote unquote professionalism. That professionalism is wearing a shirt a certain way or wearing a shirt and tie and talking a certain way and all that thing. But really professionalism is doing a good job  and turning up upon time and doing what you say you're going to do, that's what professionalism is.  I think you've got to just separate yourself by taking the Michael out of it. I think it's um, you're holding a mirror up to it and people appreciate that, but it requires confidence to be yourself. It's that weird irony of it all, isn't it? When you're making a podcast or making a video or even writing something online, you become  You become all of a sudden very aware of every single syllable that you're saying and you dance, say certain things. You think, oh God, well I say that. Well that holds a light to what I'm saying, and X, Y, or Z client might think I don't wanna work with him anymore. Yeah. But it makes everything that you say very generic then, and nobody's listening. So you have to put your head above the, yeah, put the head above the pulpit, so to speak, and  be different. Not, not even try and be different just. be you. I think that that's what's more important.  Just, just being the same person who you are  in person as you are online, which is the thing that ironically that everybody struggles with. But then if you do that online and then somebody meets you in person, they go, Oh, yeah, you're the same person. If you do the opposite of that, they meet you in person like, who's this?  I'm going to swear again.  Who's this Alan Patrick? Who's this person who I saw online who seemed like someone I'm not, you know what I mean? It's, it's more complicated than it looks, I think. Okay. What, what have you got lined up for the future, Craig? Uh, I think I'm going to have some food in about an hour or two. No, I'm thinking in the next six months.  Uh. Get more jobs. Get, get more jobs, uh, make more money, do a good job for clients, um, that's about it, I think.  How can people get in contact with you?  Uh, you just go to geniusdivision. com It's probably the best place to see the kind of work that we do. And if you want to find me online, um, just go onto LinkedIn and search Craig Burgess. He's a wacky guy. Yeah, cringey this bit. You'll find me if you want to find me, that's the way I'll put it.  Good morning, The Business Village. Holly speaking. How can I help?  Upgrade your workspace and boost productivity at The Business Village. Our modern offices are designed to meet your needs, from solo entrepreneurs to growing startups. You'll have access to high speed internet, conference rooms, a bistro, and a thriving business community. With networking events, workshops, and collaboration opportunities. Contact us today to schedule a tour. Call 01226 249 590. That's 01226 249 590. And start your success story at The Business Village. This is The Business Village People Podcast.  Trudy Morris. This is an experienced HR consultant.  She'll be providing a free drop in session for companies located at the business village later this year.  But I wanted to find out more about the upcoming changes to employment law. Well, there's a lot of employment law changes coming up from the 6th of April. There are a raft of changes that, that, um, companies need to be aware of. There's um, new carers leave that's coming into force. There's neonatal care.  There's amends to the Redundancy Protection of Workers Act. Um, there's a Workers Act coming in towards the end of the year. And also, uh, changes to the flexible working rights to request flexible working.  There's also been some big case law last year, the Harper and Brazil Trust, um, case, which changed the way in which we calculate holiday pay, and that's coming into force as well. From January that's already taken place for some roles,  so there's quite a lot of change actually this year. Companies are looking at  pay issues around pay, obviously nationally. There's the cost of living crisis and people wanting more pay. There's also, um, a lot of issues around flexible working as well. People still want to work a little bit remotely. Companies are now wanting to get back to the normal before the pandemic. So, so there's, there's a little bit of challenge there for, for a lot of companies as well. And as a. human resources consultant. What's the hardest kind of issues that you've had to deal with? I mean, obviously don't give us names and numbers and things like that, but there must be some pretty difficult cases sometimes. Absolutely. Yes. I've, I've supported,  um, on a number of really difficult cases, you know, not least having to attend the employment tribunal. We try, we try and avoid going there, but of course, you know, inevitably there are times when, um, you know, some cases do go to the employment tribunal and it's about, um, putting the, the, um, side of the organization's case together very succinctly so that, um, they get the right outcome for it. But I think, I think for me, I've always been, um, someone that wants. managers to manage people. I'm very passionate about managers managing  and putting managers in the driving seat and making sure that  they have the skills and abilities to manage their people in the right way. So, um, my company Truvala is, is based on kind of the first part of my name,  True, true day. Um, but Valar is, stands for values, engagement, leadership, and relationships, because for me, that's what human resources is all about. You know, we, we should be, um, role modeling in, in our company, our values,  um, engaging our people, leading them. And obviously developing relationships along the way, which is crucial to the success of any company. So, so I suppose some of my challenges have been around the kind of upskilling some managers that actually, you know, perhaps would rather HR manage the situation for them. Um, and, and sometimes, you know, that can, can get a little bit. challenging in, in some parts. Um, but inevitably I've got a very good robust training program for managers that they can go on and they can come and attend, um, people management essentials that gives them all the skills, technical skills, um, to, to be able to be a little bit more confident in the way that they, they handle situations so that we, we don't get to the employment tribunal really that we, um, you know, we, we manage people, um, effectively, proportionately and fairly.  Okay, listen, I've got a little scenario that I've written and imagine I've turned up from my company, Podcast One Limited, and I say to you, Trudy, I've got this guy who works for us. Strangely enough, he's called Tarquin,  which is not a very popular name in Barnsley, but Tarquin's joined us from a rehabilitation scheme. for thieving scrotes, right?  I know it's all made up. Yeah. And he works in our stores department. Now two of his colleagues have, have been to me separately and they say they've seen Tarquin nicking stuff.  But there's also friction between the three of them. Two against Tarquin. What, um, what should I do?  Okay, so, I think initially, um,  it probably warrants a little bit of an investigation to find out what evidence there is of the, the thieving, you know, the nicking.  Um, because it might, it may well be made up if they don't get on. Um, but equally, um, it may, it may well have happened.  So what other evidence is there? So initial fact finding, an initial investigation into, um, you know, kind of what, what's happened and what's occurred.  Um, ACAS always says that we should deal with everything at the lowest level. That's fair and proportionate and best practice. So is it something that warrants, um, Some kind of suspension. Well, until we've done a little bit of fact finding and we really know what exactly has happened and we've got our evidence, um, to, to, to suggest that it has or indeed if, if it is, you know, a little bit of vindictive, we need to find that out first before we pr  proceed and, and do any kind of suspension.  But then it may well be, you know, we do need to do a suspension, it does look like it's happened and then we need to do a full and thorough investigation, taking any witness statements and,  you know, understanding the context of the relationship between the parties as well along the way. And it may be once you've done your investigation that there's no case to answer. And suspension is always, you know, just preliminary, we don't rely on that as it isn't a sanction in its own right. It's to, um, aid, you know, um, an unhindered  investigation so that, so that the person is taken out of the equation. If we can move them into another area, we might well consider that. But for something that's, um, potential theft, then I would say, you know, it's, it's right to, to, to suspend that person if there's enough, you know, information and evidence to point to the fact that Tarquin  has actually  done a bit of nicking. Out of that, is it okay to like, have cameras fitted, spy on people without them knowing? No, really, without them knowing, they should know that the CCTV camera, camera is there and they should be there for a purpose,  not to spy on your employees, but if they are there to monitor the building and, and also to, to monitor what's happening in the building, then, then, then that's fine and proportionate. In a lot of the schools, of course, you know, that I've looked after, they, they have CCTV and the, and the, that is there for the benefit of the, of the children. Children that are in school, um,  and, and obviously, you know, on that, you may well pick up that there's been some allegations, um, around a member of staff and a, and a pupil, and you can rely on your CCTV footage as part of your evidence of, um, as part of your investigation,  um, but, but yeah, and that's where you really, you would have your CCTV footage and you need to have a meaningful reason for it. So basically what you're saying is I should sack them all, sell up the business, and go and live in Minoka?  That sounds great!  Yeah, it does, it does. I could just do that now. You've got a couple of sessions coming up at The Business Village that people can get some advice off you. I have, yes. So they will be the 2nd of May.  So we're going to have them as Trudy Thursdays, um, so the 2nd of May, the 6th of June. And the 4th of July!  So I'll be in the, in the bistro, um, courtesy of, of Kevin, obviously he's, he's, um, enabled that to happen. And, um, yeah, I'd be happy to see anybody who wants to come and have a chat with me about any, any of the upcoming legislative changes that they might need some help and support with. Um, anything about, um, People, any issues, concerns, um, have been doing quite a lot of work recently with small businesses on updating company handbooks, employee handbooks  and rewriting some HR policies and procedures, particularly the ones that lead to dismissal, where there needs to be a procedure in place in order to affect a fair dismissal. I think that's particularly important for small businesses. Okay, Trudy, how can people get in contact with you?  So I have a website, so, um,  trula.co.uk, so www.trula.co.uk. There's a contact, um, page on my website or my telephone numbers on there as well.  Um, or hello. at truevolar. co. uk is my email address.  For all the latest news from the Business Village, subscribe to our free newsletter at business village. co. uk.  That's it for this edition of the Business Village. Village people podcast for more information about the village and how it could boost your organization. Visit business village. co. uk. Thank you for listening and special thanks to my guests, Craig and Trudy. And if you've enjoyed your time with us, hit subscribe and share the podcast with your friends. Your support helps us grow and reach more listeners like you. I'm David Markwell, and this is a pod one creative audio production.  Never miss an episode of the business village people podcast. Simply subscribe and follow from wherever you get your podcasts. 

This is the Business Village People podcast. Hello, hello, hello. I'm David Markwell and welcome to the Business Village People podcast. This is season one, episode 10. The Business Village is a community of companies, service providers and entrepreneurs.  And this podcast It's all about their stories. We celebrate success, encourage collaboration and showcase companies who operate at the business village here in Barnsley, South Yorkshire.   And you can find other additions of the business village people podcasts  on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts from. Just search business village people and we should pop up and then press subscribe. That way you'll never miss another episode. OK, let's go!  In this episode of Business Village People, we discover how buying a touring caravan has resulted in one man owning four Volvos at the same time.   I'll introduce you to the woman who can sell you French real estate, a luxury car, teach you how to achieve Grade A on the piano and save the environment. And that's all before lunchtime.  Plus, you don't need pure imagination anymore. The business village has won its very own golden ticket because there's a real, proper chocolate factory opening on site soon.   And I'm sure that'll put a smile on every officer's wonker.   This is the Business Village People Podcast. Some breaking news now for you, and the Business Village is set to lose another of its leadership team. Jonathan Noble, the site's management accountant, has finally decided to put the abacus away and snap the end of his quill off. By the end of June, Jonathan Will have retired, giving him more time to polish his Volvos.   It means I'm looking after sending out the bills and getting the money in. I do like to think of it as more than just that. Getting to know the people is the main thing. Finding out if they have got problems and if there is a problem can we help with it. Working with the whole team of course. We support people and that's, that's what we give.   We give more than just a business unit to people. How did it all start for you? In finance, I started with Barclays Bank many moons ago, and then moved into accountancy. My bank manager was just sitting on their jobs and wouldn't, didn't want to budge. So I went into accountancy because my father was an accountant.   Moved from practicing to working for companies. I enjoyed far more, instead of auditing, actually working inside a company and trying to make a difference. It's a very difficult thing to do, uh, but a few times where you go into a business. Try to understand what, what they do and then gradually change it into something that's working a bit better.   Did you always want to work in finance? No, not particularly. I set off, I was going to go to, in those days it was a polytech in Bristol, to do charter surveying. But I got the job back. And in those days you got a job and, and drifted into it and that was the way it went, yeah. Do you regret not becoming a chartered surveyor?   Not particularly, no. I've, uh, had a much chequered career, seen all sorts of things. I can't just say isn't the, isn't the boring, uh,  existence that people think. There's a lot, it's all to do with the people. Yeah. Yeah, I've seen the good and the bad and the ugly, I think, the way, on my career path.  So we're in January now.   Is this a busy time of the year for you? It's getting busy, yes. Um,  from various reasons. Um, you're coming up to your year ending in March. Um, tax returns are all due by the end of January, so there's a couple of days yet for people to bring you up and say can you help with your tax return.  Desperate for a bit of help, that has happened.   The worst people are your friends, of course.  So, yeah. It's, it is a busy time. Um, and with my eye on the future now, I'm looking to try and make sure everything's ready and in place before I depart.  Well, let's just say that you're retiring, you're not thinking about doing anything else, are you? Uh, work wise, I don't think so now.   I'd like to go to China and see my son in China. Generally riding my mountain bike, playing music and doing as much of that as I possibly can. And are you looking forward to that? Very much, yes.  Um, there's lots of things to do. Um, I've already seen a job list starting at home. Um, there's plenty of things to do, and we have a very old house, which is always in need of repair.   Um, but yeah, we're hoping to take it a bit easier, but do a bit more travelling. And now we're, now my mum's in her home and being looked after. Um, we should be far more free to, uh, to do this sort of thing. Yeah, it's quite tight, morning, noon and night, basically.  Where do you fancy going? Oh, just,  well, we'll start somewhere warm, I think.   I think we're probably going to  See if we can get to Corfu in, uh, not long after, uh, I retire. My sister's got a place that, uh, they hire over there. So we're probably gonna go with them.  Somebody told me that you've got a keen interest in motorcars.  Yes, I do. One particular brand? Yes, I've got a few Volvos, yeah.   How many? At the moment four. Why Volvo's? It was, it all came about when we decided we'd do caravanning.  Um, and we urgently  needed, found, found a really nice caravan that had no tow car.  Uh, ended up having to buy something to pull it. A caravan which in those days was basically a Volvo.  And from there on, uh.   That was it. Stuck to Volvo. They're  dependable, reliable and safe, so.  And, uh, the odd one with, they're quite, uh, fun to drive as well. They aren't a slow car, really, if you can buy the right one. Are you actually from this part of the world, from Barnsley? Absolutely Barnsley, through and through. Bread and buttered?   Yeah, bread and buttered. I was born at the Jessop in Sheffield. Oh, hang on a minute. It doesn't come with that deed harness. It was a cesarean. I think that's the only place. They did them in that, in that year, 1954. That was, uh, it was quite a new thing.  And yeah, first house was Holbart Lane, uh, two up, two down Gardner's Cottage.   Stone flag floors. I don't remember it all, but my mum tells me all about it. And then an outside privy. Yeah.  Then just around the corner to Westville Road  and then up to Pogmore up in Taylor Lane, and then, uh,  and then got married and lived at Hardsley.  And now we're just off Huntersfield Road, so  Arlesley's been the furthest out of town I've ever got.   So yeah, yeah, my sister escaped the Cotswolds, but yeah. So what are the plans for the future for you? Are you gonna still keep hand in business, or is it  I can't see it, I'm, uh  I've had enough of the deadlines. Life led by deadlines, it's, I've had long enough of that. I want to, uh, I definitely, I've got a neighbour who plays lots of guitars.   He's done the lot and, uh,  he's just bought yet another new guitar. So, uh,  he's a, he's a, he's a guitar teacher as well. But, uh, I'd like to spend a lot more time doing meals a year. Never miss an episode of the Business Village People podcast.  Simply subscribe and follow from wherever you get your podcasts.   Thank you.  Calling all grade A wonkers. You'll be pleased to know that the Business Village has its very own chocolate factory about to open. And it's just not about producing chocolate. It's about engaging children with engineering, production, and taking ownership of the creative process. I've been for a look around the factory and met up with its owner, Jamie Ashpole.   We are building a chocolate factory, which is all about getting kids involved in engineering. We'll create a pack chocolate's grown, how it's farmed, and then how it's processed. Then they'll learn about what machinery, uh Is used in the production of chocolate. And then they'll design a bar as a class, send us the designs, we'll create a 3D mold, and then, uh, they'll come across and make it,   it's a heck of a piece of equipment we've got in front of us. It looks like a, I was joking when I came here. I said it looked like a giant barbecue. Tell me what it is. So the, the, the chocolate process, we start off with liquid chocolate, about forty two, forty five degrees. We then call the chocolate down, uh, and every.   Chocolate is different. So we have multiple settings that we run with and then we slightly reheat we create crystals within the chocolate that when you snap a bar, it goes with a snap and it's the crystals that create that. So we've got tempering and then the long barbecue looking machine that you're referring to is the cooling tunnel.   So what we have here is a mini Pilot plant, but effectively the likes of Mars Cadbury's Nestle all have the same sort of equipment, but there's is obviously considerably bigger than ours. And how did you get into the chocolate business? Basically, what was working in the food industry and have been working in the food industry for about 20 T three years  started in the dairy industry and traveling the world, um, repairing machines, installing the machines, and then had enough for travel.   And then I was offered an opportunity with a German company. Um, and that was 13 years ago. I started with those guys and then had the opportunity of starting up my own company. 11 years ago, uh, JJ8PAC. Um, that's what I did. So,  um, we've grown ever since year on year. We've got a small team and we work for the likes of, you know, Cadbury's,  uh, Thorntons, CSM, Barry Calabell, all of the companies that most people have never heard of, but they contract PAC for the likes of us.   Costco,  Starbucks, et cetera, et cetera.  Wow. And all this is coming from South Yorkshire. It is. Yeah, absolutely. And did you set out as an engineer or a food person or did it, was it like a collision? No, I, uh, my, my first summer job was actually creosoting fences on the landfill site. Um, and where did it all go wrong?   I know.  No, I basically, I went to work for a company called Packaging Technologies, um, who made, um, filling and sealing machines, and they were short on site for Bisto Gravy, one job, so, uh, I was asked if I would go and be a gopher, um, for the job, and that was it. Ah, Bisto. Yeah, indeed.  What a great job making gravy.   Yeah, absolutely. So, uh, we were only doing the, the sealing, say the, uh, the cardboard tubes with the paper seal and the plastic cap. That was what we were doing on that particular job. Tell me why you've come to, uh, Barnsley and particularly business village. Barnsley was basically, um,  I moved up here 20 years ago ish.   Um, for work, um, and then all of my work went out to the Middle East, so I could have stayed down south. During my travels, I found that there are, you know, most engineers are my age, so pretty old, and we need, uh, we need the younger generation to come through. So, you know, I see my kids, I've got two 13 year olds, um, and they just, you know, sit and play the games, and, you know, they want to be YouTubers or whatever.   So I wanted to, you know, try and get them out of that and get the younger generation. Inspired into chocolate or not chocolate, but engineering, but what better way than with chocolate. So, and, uh, we were looking for premises somewhere to do it. And we reached out to Kevin here, um, came along and we, we got on well and they like what we're doing.   So that's why we're here. So how are you going to entice the kids apart from to get some chocolate? And now how do you convert that into getting kids interested in engineering? So this is just stage one. So we're going to start off small. We'll get, you know, the younger generation. So key stage one, key stage two coming in.   Um,  so we've got a local school shaft and or outward academy shaft and are coming in. Uh, there are pilot school just happens. That's where my kids go as well. They're going to be like our test case. It's just that initial spark to get them involved in the technology. And as you know, the Center grows, um, we'll be able to invest more money in new equipment, robots, et cetera, et cetera.   And then the kids will just have, you know, one of the greatest chocolatey technology experiences ever.  never really called that before. No, me neither. But I just, you know. And is there a possibility to develop this further than just. Within schools. Yeah. So we obviously need to make sure that it pays for itself.   So we're looking at, um, you know, chocolate experiences, people coming in, doing workshops. But then ultimately, we see this as a genuine innovation center. So we want to include the older students, you know, maybe getting the older students come to site and then teach the younger kids, you know, so, you know, Barnsley College and people like that.   But then we're looking at, um, Siemens, uh, sending their practices here as well. So they will be here for up to 20 days a year learning about real world applications of their equipment. But we want it to become an  innovation center. You've got a strong relationship with Siemens. How did that come about and what do they provide you with?   Um, so we've worked with Siemens for ever since I've Had J. J. A. Pack. Um, say any technology that they manufacture that we can use in the process industry will use. Um, and it's just been formed over, you know, 11 years of just  if I need something, you know, they'll get me something I need. We also have another innovation that we're using here.   We actually won an award for it last September where we can predict failure in machinery. So we use Siemens platform. Um, But it's all of our IP, um, so we, we'll monitor a machine 24 hours a day, and then, uh, we can start to predict, based on history, when a machine is going to fail, and, you know, stop people from losing 1.   8 million pounds. Have you thought of going on Dragon's Den? No.  Now, everything we're doing, we want to do ourselves. We're not looking for, uh, investors. We're looking for sponsors, definitely. Um, but we want to make sure that we're not influenced by one party. You know, we want all suppliers to be able to use this place as an innovation.   Um, Siemens are a massive part of our business and our history. Um. But we want to give everyone that has much experience in the engineering and electrical fields that we can. So where are you at the moment in the process of of kitting out this this building and  getting people in? So on the uh, 5th of uh, February we actually have the first call coming in.   This is when we make the promotional video. Um, from a production point we are, I would say, 99 percent of the way there. We've got a few more tweaks to make. Um, but on the 29th of February is when we have the, uh, main opening, um, which the managing director of Siemens Digital Industries UK is coming to, to open for us.   So yeah,  soon after that. And if anybody wants to get in contact with you,  how do they find you? Uh, sales at JJASnack.  com.   Finally, time to meet the latest recruit to join the support team at the business village, Florence Cooper Smith. She's working alongside business development manager Kevin Steele to produce social media and communications for the village. I caught up with her a little bit earlier in the bistro for a chat.   I've come in to basically help Kev with With everything Business Village related, started out, sort of, to help with social media, but it's sort of expanded everything. Like, every week's different. I do bits of writing. I'll, I write the newsletter every week. Edit things for the website. Do, like, help with blogs.   Yeah, obviously do the social media as well. And then lots of, sort of, admin stuff. Every day is different. Never know what Kev's gonna fire over for me to do.  What part of the job do you like the best?  I think the writing side, I've always liked writing. So any chance that I'm able to, like doing the newsletter every week is great, because I can look for things that have happened and yeah, make it, make it sound really, really good and fun.   So where did this interest in communications and marketing and social media come from? I think over the past I've, I've done lots of different varied jobs and I think it's just the part of those jobs that I've liked the most and definitely not having a small job description is, is great. I love doing lots of different things in a job and outside of jobs.   So yeah, when, when I can. Coming to work and not, not know what it's gonna be, like, I really enjoy that. Yeah, tackling new issues all the time. Now I found it very difficult to try and find any, any kind of gossip or info on you. I, I try and,  before I do an interview, I, I do my research and try and find a little bit, but I can't find anything on you.   Apart from what I got on LinkedIn. And it really surprised me. There's not a lot of information, but you are so talented, are you? I guess I have, like, done lots of different things growing up, yeah. And you're only 13. Yeah.  Tell me about the, uh, the, the, the Classically Trained Musician in you. Where did that come from?   I don't know where that happened. Well, both my parents play music, so they definitely encouraged me to do that when I was younger. I started in year four or something, I think I was eight, when I started playing piano. So that sort of grew, and ten years later I'd got two grade eights and a grade five theory.   And yeah, so sort of building up, working up the exam route and the performing route, like it. It was really challenging, but it's like definitely one of my proudest Achievements I've done is those credits and also you speak fluent French. I did it's um It's been a bit of a convoluted few years with it all  See, I was really interested in French when I was younger.   So is that really want to do it?  Yeah, learn it. I really like speaking it and speaking with French people, so yeah. So where did the real estate French link come from and the posh French cars selling stuff come from?  Um, with the real estate it was unfortunately my The university year abroad happened when Brexit happened.   Um, but I managed to get a month out in France, um, selling real estate.  And it was in, um It was in the Catalan area of France, so that was, like, an added, like, interesting part about it. My boss was, like, a very eccentric Catalan man and he didn't, he only spoke English when he swore. Oh, right, okay. So, um, he'd give me, I'd sort of help him out, um, with translation and expanding, yeah.   What was your French swearing like?  Oh, excellent after working there.   It's all building up towards a terrific career this for you in the future. You went to university at Manchester. And what did you study there? Yeah, so I did business and French. So, obviously the French side was doing everything to do with the language and the literature. Doing things like that. And then the business started quite, um, general.   And then throughout the degree I was able to  on different aspects of it. So towards the end, I was doing sort of lots of marketing, um, did a few sort of climate change modules, which is What I want to get into, so I was very happy to see that I could take those modules. And yeah, sort of strategy, communications, things like that.   The more creative side of business is what I'm, what I'm interested in. So you just mentioned it there a little bit about looking forward to, you know, what you want to do when you, um, reach the age of 15. He talks about the environment and how do you see yourself, your skills being?  Utilising a positive way to help the environment.   Yeah, I think it's one of my biggest passions, even just thinking about anything to do with wildlife. Conservation, just the bigger picture of the environment as well, is definitely something that I just want to be a part of. Even using what I'm doing here with, you know, the marketing, the writing, social media, can have such a massive impact  on an area like that.   That's why I'm so happy to be part of the Net Zero team here. And, uh, yeah, hopefully can get more involved in that.  Yeah, that'll make a nice sort of transition and,  and yeah, I would, I'd love to balance sort of the more, um, you know, laptop side work with getting my hands dirty and out in nature and stuff like that.   So yeah, ideally we'd have a mix, a mix of things like, like I said before, I love doing different things. So a mix of the more, yeah, the, the business y side and.  Sort of doing some volunteering, maybe, yeah. Okay, you've been here a few months now, as you say, is it?  Yeah, three months. Three months, yeah. Yeah. So are you getting to know the team?   On, on site. You've already managed to get rid of the chief executive. He's, he packed it as soon as you turned up. He said, I, I, I'm off.  Back to Australia. Yeah, yeah.  Tell us about, tell us about the team that you work with. Are they all good or, you know, is there something you'd like to smack it in with a frying pan?   I think, I think Kevin Steele should be the next to go.  Just kidding.  Um, no, absolutely loving.  Uh, working with Kev. Yeah, get on like house on fire.  Great stuff, listen. Thank you for your time, Florence. Um, it's been wonderful to chat to you and learn about you, and if I want to buy some real estate in France that comes with a luxury car that's eco friendly and has a piano with it, you're the person I need to find.   Absolutely, I can sort you out with all of that. Very unique. Thanks for your time. Thank you very much, David.   For all the latest news from the Business Village, subscribe to our free newsletter at business village. co. uk   That's it for this edition of the Business Village People podcast. For more information about the Village and how it could boost your organisation,  visit business village. co. uk  I'd like to thank all our guests on this edition, and thank you for listening. Please remember, if you've enjoyed the podcast, to subscribe and share it with your friends.   But make sure you subscribe. I'm David Markwell, and this is a Pod1 Creative Audio Production.