A spot of brekkie and business networking
Charlie Kenny.
People buy from people – that’s the motto of a networking group that allows people in north Northumberland to try to grow their businesses.
The Weekly Business started hosting a breakfast club – Tuesdaybiz – at Alnmouth (Foxton) Golf Club last year and its popularity has recently spawned a second morning on Fridays.
The meeting organiser is Charlie Kenny, an Aussie who has been in the UK for nearly 30 years and now lives in Howick.
While living in Hertforshire, he started a similar group, before a move up to Northumberland, where his wife is from, led to the start of the Alnmouth group in February 2012.
“We started up a group here to get businesses mixing and talking to one another,” said Charlie.“It’s about growing your business through word-of-mouth referral.
“It’s getting people to talk behind your back in a good way.”
The sessions run from 7.15am to 8.45am with breakfast served at 7.30am. There are no membership fees and the only charge is £8 for breakfast.
The sessions are designed to be ‘non-prohibitive’, both in not charging fees and also in their relaxed format.
Having said that, there is a structure to the meetings and Charlie says there’s no point turning up just to sit around and eat breakfast.
There’s also no obligation to go every week, but as Charlie pointed out: “The more you are there, the more people get to know you.”
The new meeting on Fridays ensures that the groups are kept to around 20 people so that everyone has enough time and by autumn Charlie hopes that there will be a third breakfast session.
Already people are coming from further afield – Warkworth. Rothbury and even Berwick – and from all types of backgrounds, with everyone from ratcatchers to solicitors.
The group has a website – www.theweeklybusiness.co.uk, a Twitter account – @weekly business and is on LinkedIn as Alnwick Networking Group.
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Weather for Northumberland
Friday 24 May 2013
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