Chiltern Relocation Attends Winners #SBS Event with Theo Paphitis and Touker Suleyman
As a winner of Theo Paphitis’ #SBS initiative, Chiltern Relocation was invited – alongside fellow winners – to attend the annual #SBS Event in Birmingham to meet entrepreneurs and enjoy a wide range of inspirational talks.
Chiltern Relocation won a #SBS business award in January 2018 when we tweeted Theo. 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.
Of the 450,000 tweets that Theo has received since 2010, only 3,500 have won, making Chiltern Relocation part of a select group of like-minded entrepreneurs. Since 2010, #SBS creator Theo Paphitis, has hosted an annual event just for #SBS winners which sees hundreds of winners come together for an unparalleled day of networking and must-have advice.
Chiltern Relocation spent a day in Birmingham at the event last week and felt very positive and uplifted following the numerous talks and drop-in sessions. One of the most interesting was listening to Rachel Watkyn, MD of Tiny Box Company, who was a successful Dragons Den applicant. Rachel talked about how her business started, what happened after the Dragons Den investment, challenges and successes and key lessons learnt.
Theo Paphitis also welcomed TV Dragon Touker Suleyman as his feature guest to talk about his ups and downs and how he overcame various setbacks (and company liquidations) before learning from his mistakes. Touker struck gold with his acquisition of Hawes & Curtis for £1 and he transformed the company from a turnover of £600,000 in 2001 to £30m in 2014.
Attending other talks throughout the day and popping in to various breakout sessions enabled Chiltern Relocation to connect with other like-minded business owners and learn from their experiences, in addition to telling our story. Chiltern Relocation started from a kitchen table 17 years ago when Sharon identified a gap in the market for a bespoke service for buyers. Since then, the business has grown enormously winning a number of awards along the way. Theo Paphitis’s endorsement of our success has been a fantastic boost and Chiltern Relocation appreciates all the business advice in addition to the retweets from #SBS community. When we started out social media hadn’t been born and now it is a major driver for all business.
Theo’s key pointers from the event were:
- To ensure that cashflow is prioritised
- Just get out there and speak to people – you never know where connections or ideas will come from
- Really listen and never be afraid to ask a seemingly silly question
