We love to see our members and visitors helping, supporting, and collaborating with each other.
We’ve seen business relationships develop and some excellent examples of collaboration that wouldn’t have happened if they had not been part of our In Business community.
We’re thrilled when we see our members grow their businesses through the skills they’ve acquired on our educational sessions and business skills workshops.
We’ve got your back!
Ian Earl, Co-Founder
Ian
“I particularly like helping people to connect so they can do business together or form collaborations.”
I started networking for the first time over 15 years ago, when I left the corporate world and moved into self-employment. At the time it was all new to me. Having been employed (in several industries and roles) and working as part of a much bigger team I had little knowledge of networking or about meeting groups of people outside of my work environment.
It was a revelation. I find the whole process of networking fascinating. I enjoy meeting new people. I find people interesting, and everyone has a story to tell. And I particularly like helping people to connect so they can do business together or form collaborations. Yes, networking does still happen, when people meet in everyday life, they are essentially networking.
Most of the groups when I started my networking journey were referral organisations.
‘In Business’ was born out of a desire to be more than this. I recognised that often it wasn’t just about passing on someone’s name, telephone details and saying, ‘these people are expecting your call’. It’s about people working together, collaborating, supporting each other and being part of a business community.
My biggest thrill is helping people new to networking and business. I enjoy seeing them develop into confident networkers, easily communicating with other business owners and seeing them grow, both as business owners and as individuals capable of fulfilling their ambitions.
Tracey Earl, Co-Founder
Running a business should be easy, given that you are passionate about what you do and that’s why you started your business, am I right? But that’s not how it feels when you first start out.
You’re good at what you do but there’s so much to learn, so much to do as a business owner, things like, your accounts, the marketing and your sales. Who’ve you got covering your back or cheering you on?
Whilst running my own business for over 20 years, I realised the pressure and responsibility it brought, along with the sheer pleasure and satisfaction. So, I understand why you decided to take the plunge to create an empire of your own.
I also know that you can’t ‘go it alone’ and support is essential. The desire for Ian and I to create a community of like minded business owners who could help and support each other, was sparked when I sold my business. I took a step back and realised that there’s so much more to running a business than being good at what you do.
Tracey Earl
