When Chiltern Relocation met Theo Paphitis
Chiltern Relocation was delighted to attended the #SBS Award last week at the ICC in Birmingham. For those not familiar with #SBS it stands ‘Small Business Sunday’, shortened to the hashtag #SBS on Twitter and was created by Theo Paphitis in October 2010.
Theo, best known for appearing on Dragons’ Den on BBC2, rewards small businesses that tweet him @TheoPaphitis and describe their businesses in one tweet. Every Monday night at 8pm, Theo reviews and chooses his favourite six who are then re-tweeted. As he has around 500k followers, this provides a massive boost to the chosen businesses. Chiltern Relocation won a #SBS business award in January 2018.
Since 2010 up 400.000 businesses have entered and only less than 1% has been selected. Winners are invited to an annual conference where they meet fellow winners, impressive sponsors and of course the man himself. The enthusiasm for the event was palpable as we entered the building, being among a select group of winners created a real buzz.
The sponsors to the free event were HP, Western Union, Square, Ryman, Robert Dyas, DHL, ilaw, Autumn Fair and NatWest. All winners could choose two of the sponsors for a free consultation. We chose NatWest to discuss their new business builder hub, and Google taught us about all the fantastic tools out there for business.
The highlight was getting to hear from the man himself. Theo bounced on stage and was very encouraging to all the businesses in the room. He stated that small to medium businesses contribute 50% towards UK GDP, however, emphasized the risk as 50% of new businesses collapse within the first two years.
‘What would happen’, he said, ‘If those businesses did not go under how much more money could be contributed back in to the system, employment, growth etc?’. This is his passion – he really wants to see businesses thrive.
The afternoon key note speaker was Sara Davies also of Dragoons Den fame. She created a multi-million pound business in the craft industry by selling an envelope folding device that her father’s friend made in his workshop. By taking the initiate of going on a shopping channel she sold 6000 overnight!
Our takeaways from the event were:
- Find a mentor and ask lots of questions
- Listen really hard in business and never be afraid to ask a stupid question
- Don’t overstretch yourself financially. Slowly build up capital then buy what’s needed
- Be resilient – always be nice. Never give up
In summary, we found the event from start to finish to be enlightening, friendly, helpful, encouraging and thoroughly enjoyable and I would recommend anyone thinking of applying for a #SBS Award to go for it. Maybe see you there next year!
