Keeping It Real - The Pitch 100 Manchester Bootcamp

Earlier in September 50 of the chosen 100 businesses out of 1000 entries congregated at The Studio in Manchester for an intense day of learning involving different aspects of running a business. These were tutored in the form of workshops covering Finance, Digital Marketing, Pitching and Learning how to pitch to and interact with investors.

Arriving early to a buzz of excitement in the room, well you wouldn't expect anything less in a room full of 50 entrepreneurs, all taking coffee and late breakfast in the trendy space of The Studio in Manchester, I scoured the room looking for a friendly face in the form of another contestant I had been tweeting to over the course of the last month.
Alas I could not see her and so engaged with my nearest other who happened to be a friendly warm Irish couple. I  downed a quick coffee for a caffeine lift.

The Pitch Competition grows year on year and what started as a small venture in Bristol has grown to be a nationwide competition inspiring entrepreneurs of all ages to enter and try to win an amazing array of prizes that gives business support worth thousands of pounds and the chance to receive business mentoring. Whether your business is trading or not and is under under three years old you are eligible to enter.

I thought I had prepared everything I needed however it soon became apparent (in the first workshop that just happened to be Finance my least favourite but absolutely necessary skill) that I was not as spreadsheet savvy as I thought and had completely missed out any Cash Flow forecasts! As an entrepreneur you come up with an idea and you think well I'll go and make it and you become so involved in the design process and your passion to create your idea or service that you can overlook the steps afterwards to turn that into a profitable business reality. Fortunately there are people around like The Pitch that are there to support and offer valuable information that will enable you to get to the holy grail of turning your idea into a profitable business and they do just that.

The day itself was well organised and ran very smoothly but as a contestant it flew by with your head bombarded by the information given in the well thought out structured workshops. Each one challenging you and your previously well rehearsed comfortable ideas quite probably reached based on research, your experience so far, others perceptions and previous entrants that you had searched out on social media.

I found the day very challenging, but also very real. I don't know how else to describe it. For me personally it was real, gritty, and surrounded by your peers making it absolutely inspiring and enlightening to meet and hear other people so passionate, and also successfully negotiating their way from that very first idea to fulfilling their dreams and making their business a reality.  

The array of diverse ideas from products through to services delivered was vast and if this is a snapshot of the UK and people's passion to create new business well I fear not for the future. People as young as 17 and as old as me (which I will not divulge) and older pitched, some in absolute fear and shaking but showing a stoicism and bravery to get their story out.

Listening, sharing,learning and all the time trying to be brave enough to take on board the changes necessary and then to Pitch to a room full of people was as I said challenging but each and every one of the people that pitched was successful in a personal way and I think we all came away having learned a great deal. I often question why I keep putting myself through these things. I mean really? was I thinking rationally at the time or is it just what I said earlier a passion?  but it is part of the journey and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Overall the pitch Competition so far has been a good experience, and for me personally has given me a real sense of direction and structure. I come back to the real perspective again, I came away more focused and have been able to look at the areas that matter most. A new structure to my Digital Marketing and a big thank you to Bridget McKone @Tekmakmarketing.co.uk and Constant Contact.
Also huge thanks to Mike Byrne from AVG for his workshop, I now know how to approach investors when I need to. The other two workshops were each as valuable in their own ways. One on how to pitch by the lovely and energetic Annette Kramer who focused us all and helped me to tell my story. Finally the Finance workshop with ICAEW, which made me personally reassess my direction and how I presented and used financial forecasts as a valuable tool.

 I would whole heartily recommend this to anyone who is new to business and looking for support and a chance to grow and learn even if you don't get through to the final the chance to network and interact and learn from the first stage is tremendous.
Thank you to everyone involved at The Pitch for this opportunity. www.thpitchuk.com


   

Kease and the City of Dreaming Spires

Here I am at the end of the week at The Oxford Summer School, looking happy and completely exhausted.

As I arrived at Keble College I looked around in awe, the view that greets you as you enter the quadrant is impressive. You find yourself surrounded by a serene beautiful set of buildings with the Chapel and lawns spread in front of you, making for one of those sharp 'intake of breath' moments and I have to say I felt like pinching myself. For a girl from Wigan, (where there is no Pier!) I felt this was the pinnacle of my journey so far.

The organisation was superb and we were quickly organised into small groups and allocated our room keys, identity badges and all necessary equipment: books ,bags and maps, needed for the week.

We sat nervously a short time later in formal business dress in the Lecture Theatre, surrounded by Retail Professionals of varying ages from a large selection of Retail Companies. We listened to the school officially declared open, and I wondered what the week would hold.

From this point on, every second of every minute of every day was taken up with, listening, learning, practising, interacting and lots of changing of clothes! 

To say that I experienced both the worst and the best week of my life is absolutely true and it is very difficult to put into words how much you can take from this incredible course - I have to make reference to my sponsor here and a huge thank you to The Mall Corporation and their Retail Factor competition that gave me the opportunity to attend here. 

As you would expect, the standard of the course content was very high and you are exposed to real life challenges that you face when running a retail business.  Dealing with all aspects of people; merchandising, money, marketing (the one I particularly enjoyed) and space planning. The specialists that visit the school during the week are inspirational and informative and it was a privilege to have the chance to listen to these people. The course is designed to draw these skills out of you and there was more than one occasion when I felt very challenged, but the strength you draw from inside yourself allows you the chance to develop in a safe environment, and if you do push yourself the rewards that you gain make you feel fantastic by the end of the week!  

There were ups and downs, tears and laughter and very, very tough tasks - such as singing in the Karaoke night, definitely a personal challenge from someone tone deaf! The week rolled by in a wonderful sweep of lectures, and I listened, practised and learned within surroundings that made you feel like you had stumbled into the set of Harry Potter. A personal highlight of my week (and there were so many) was listening to the sermon in the Chapel on Sunday morning, an oasis of calm and a moment to enjoy a beautiful rendition of The Irish Blessing that rounded off a lovely service. 

I could rattle on about merchandising, finance, marketing and all those absolutely necessary skills that we all need to run a successful business and develop and move forward in the future, but this is a personal glimpse of my experience. Before I say bye for now I would like to express a huge thank you to everyone at The Oxford Summer School for a week that has met my personal objectives and enabled me to learn new skills and given me the confidence to continue on my journey of developing, producing and bringing a new product to market.

p.s A great big shout out to Group 17 and our Group Director Tom, and other fab team members, KK (Kathryn), Natalie, Donna, Rocia, Jacob, Evonne and James (aka The HeeBee Geebies!)

  

Oxford Summer School

This week I was enriched with the tapestry of your lives.

This week I have fought back tears of anxiety with feelings of fear for the new and unknown.

This week I have sought solace in the Chapel.

This week I have sung without the fear of being heard.

This week there has been a shift inside me that has opened a new door.

This week my screen size has increased from a Commodore Pet to a 50” Samsung.

This week I had the courage of a child to play a game long forgotten

“I’ll be the catcher! Turn around and fall”

I turned around and fell and you caught me.

Sue Seddon

Kease Keyring

Pitching To Win! - The Pitch 2014 Competition

Just this week I found out that I had made the quarter final of The Pitch 2014. This is fantastic news, I did enter the competition last year, however I was naive in my entry and quite frankly it was too soon for me to have all the information or have learned enough information about my product, business and customers and so this year twelve months down the line, and more focused I decided to enter again.

Founded in 2008 it is Britain's biggest small business competition. The first part of the competition short-lists 100 businesses who are then invited to attend a boot camp where they will  receive coaching and mentoring to hone their pitching skills.
Alongside this, every short listed entrant receives a personalised 'Profile Pitch Page', which you can use to attract voters to vote for your business.This is a Digital Marketing Award run within the second stage of the competition and will be decided later on in the year at The Pitch Final.

Here is our link to that page I would love your support!

http://www.thepitchuk.com/shortlist/kease-keyring/360

This will come on the back of my trip to Oxford Summer School in August, the prize I have been awarded
by The Retail Factor Competition. I am so excited to be attending this wonderful course which is a management development course designed specifically for retail. (You can find them on Twitter @OSSretail )

I look forward to blogging all about the experience which has been given to me by The fantastic Mall Corporation who promote and inspire new business in the UK through their yearly competition, and a big thank you to Lorraine Jones the Manager at Blackburn Mall, Sara Jones the National Operations Manager all the people who work there (including all the Vicky's!) for their help and support during and after The Competition and Paula Holden at www.icgonline.co.uk for help with the press release.
Here is the Link for The Mall's Corporation Company Website:
http://www.themall.co.uk/business/about/our-people/

It has been a fantastic first year in my business journey I have learned and continue to learn lots of new skills and have met some great people from all different aspects of business from designers, manufacturers, retailers, managers, entrepreneurs (who have become and will remain friends).It has not been easy and I don't expect that it ever will but overcoming the challenges are part of this journey and I have been fortunate to have realised the opportunities that have arisen and then taken them.

I will leave you then with my head full of ideas to make the most of these opportunities and a quick couple of days away  to Barcelona with my now newly qualified journalist/PR Media degree celebrating son!