The Guildford Business Hub 2023
The Guildford Hub was relaunch in a revised format on 2nd February. The first full meeting was held on 16th February. In this new guise, the Hub meets every 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month (1st Thursday only in December) at the wonderful Hideaway Café in Guildford.
Members are encouraged to arrive early in the café for informal networking and to grab a drink and possibly a cake or pastry before the meeting starts promptly at 10:00.
What to expect from Hub meetings
The Hub is all about providing a supportive, inclusive and friendly place to help you build, grow and run your business the way that suits you and your personal objectives.
- Business Skills
As for the meetings themselves, the first meeting will introduce the Hub, its objectives, the plan for the year and the membership options. There will be plenty of time for questions, and if time permits, a session on simplifying LinkedIn for your business.
Thereafter our twice-monthly meetings will take the form of 90 minute workshops on specific topics to help you build, develop, market and run your business. Each workshop will have a workbook and will be a practical session where you can take away actionable steps to implement in your business.
There will also be additional online workshops and how-to sessions with a Resource Portal for members.
- Accountability
You will be encouraged to buddy up with another Hub member and share the top three things you are going to do in your business before the next meeting. You will be encouraged to book a one to one with your buddy before the next meeting to check in on each other’s progress.
- Support
You will be encouraged to set quarterly goals for your business. All members will get a 45 minute 1:2:1 with Allen each quarter to check in on those goals and help you identify and solve any challenges to achieving them.
There will be a members-only LinkedIn Group where you can post questions and get support from fellow members and from Allen.
There will also be a WhatsApp group for sharing social media post links and other information.
- Networking
The Hub is not a networking group, nut whenever a bunch of business people gather they will network. The Hideaway Café provides the perfect environment for informal networking before and after the Hub meetings.
Core Content Programme by month
Each month is designed to develop core business skills, building on previous months' sessions.
It all starts with knowing who your target customer(s) are and the journey you want to take them on. To know how to acquire them and get the right volume progressing through each stage of that journey you need to understand some key numbers in your business.
Branding and design will be key components of attracting the right customers. As will the use of the right images and video. In May and June, we’ll be looking at your virtual shop window(s) – your website, LinkedIn and Google Business Profiles. We will probably run virtual sessions on the core social media platforms around this time (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube etc.)
We will also look at tried and tested marketing techniques like email marketing, lead magnets and print advertising. These are often overlooked in the digital age but equally often provide a reliable source of cheap, quality leads.
But whatever the marketing you need to be able to write great content.
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Know your target customer(s) | Feb | |
| Customer journey | Mar | ||
| Know your numbers | |||
| Getting the right images | Apr | ||
| Branding & Design | |||
| May | |||
| Video for your business | |||
| Google Business Profile | June | ||
| Websites | |||
| Email marketing | July | ||
| Lead magnets | |||
| Print marketing | Aug | ||
| Writing great content | |||
| How to grow | Outsourcing | Sept | |
| Hiring a VA | |||
| Your first employee | |||
| IT | |||
| What does your business need to give you in 2024? | Oct | ||
| Understanding cash flow, your P&L and your finances | |||
| Mental health for entrepreneurs | Nov | ||
| Sales for non-sales people | |||
| Getting ready for 2024 | Dec | ||
By September we’ll be looking at how you can start to grow your business, possibly without directly employing staff, but also talking about that first hire.
This is the time when the robustness of your IT starts to be tested. And in parallel, we will run a virtual session on business processes. Well-documented processes are key to successful expansion, hiring, and outsourcing.
It may seem a bit early, but October is a good time to start the process of thinking about 2024. We’ll talk about your personal goals for 2024 and what your business needs to do to enable you to achieve them.
That will require getting to grips with your business finances so that your business can deliver the profits and, more importantly, the cash flow to fund your lifestyle for 2024 and into retirement (your today money and future money).
Self-care is an important part of being a successful entrepreneur and with your head potentially spinning from all the numbers, now is a good time to have that time-out. We’ll finish the year with a look at selling and sales techniques. We’ll learn from 2023 and prepare to make 2024 an even better year.
Missed a meeting or joined mid-year?
We’ve got your back!
The Resource Portal will have the slides, handouts, workbooks etc. from all the face-to-face meetings. Wherever possible, an online version of the live session will also be made available. All the additional online sessions will also be recorded and made available through the Portal.
Additional Virtual sessions
We will also run virtual sessions, based on member demand on social media platforms, online advertising using Google/Facebook/Instagram/TikTok /LinkedIn. Google Analytics, entering awards, business processes etc. And for those with aspirations of one day selling your business and retiring, we have a virtual session on what needs to be in place to achieve the best price in any sale.
The Hideaway Café
Hidden away behind York Road car park, the Hideaway Café is a non-profit social enterprise that provides wonderful drinks and food in a quiet backwater of Guildford. We will be using their meeting room at the end of the café for our meetings.
The address of the Hideaway Café is Allen House Pavilion Eastgate Gardens Guildford GU1 4AZ
If you are driving in for the Hub, York Road is the best car park and is charged at £3.60 for three hours. Perfect for pre-meeting networking, the hub meeting, and a 1:2:1 afterward.
Membership Levels
Standard Membership - £49/month
What you get:
- 2 in-person business skills workshops per month
- Workshop workbooks
- Online resource hub access
- Accountability buddy
- 45 minute 1:2:1 with Allen every third month
- Ad-hoc additional online workshops
- LinkedIn & WhatsApp Groups
What a non-member would pay over a quarter:
6 x £30 for the meetings plus £100 for the 1:2:1 £280 vs £147 for you. And they wouldn’t get the accountability, the resource hub or the LinkedIn & WhatsApp groups.
And they can’t get pay as you go as non-members will only be allowed 2 paid visits before they have to join, assuming there is space any way
VIP Membership - £89/month
What you get:
- 2 in-person business skills workshops per month
- Workshop workbooks
- Online resource hub access
- Accountability buddy
- 45 minute 1:2:1 with Allen every month to work with you on your business
- Ad-hoc additional online workshops
- LinkedIn & WhatsApp Groups
What a non-member would pay over a quarter:
6 x £30 for the meetings plus 3 x £100 for the 1:2:1 £480 vs £267 for you. And they wouldn’t get the accountability, the resource hub or the LinkedIn & WhatsApp groups.
And they can’t get pay-as-you-go as non-members will only be allowed 2 paid visits before they have to join, assuming there is space any way.
Try out the Hub
| Your first visit to the Hub is just £10
Scan the QR code for upcoming events or click Hub Events |
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