Starting up on your own? This podcast explains how building a community can boost your business and help you feel connected.

Podcast

This podcast looks at the importance of building your community and how it can boost not only your business but also your wellbeing as an entrepreneur. It also includes&nbsp;tips on how to build your community if you hate the word networking and the thought of this makes you cringe.

&lt;p&gt;I&amp;rsquo;m Joanne Griffin, the retail product specialist and designer behind Arnold &amp;amp; Bird.&lt;/p&gt;

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&lt;p&gt;Wondering what a retail product specialist and designer does? Here&amp;rsquo;s the lowdown&amp;hellip;&lt;/p&gt;

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&lt;p&gt;I spend my time working collaboratively with homeware and gift brands to bring their creative ideas to life with a commercial edge.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Combining over 13 years of industry knowledge and design skills, I offer bespoke services that cover the full retail spectrum. From range planning and sales analysis to product design and branding, I work from a creative and commercial point of view to help develop brands and ranges that not only look the part but, that are intentionally planned to sell and grow your business too.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I&amp;rsquo;ll work to breathe new life and inspiration into your retail business and help you to translate and make possible your plans. With an intuitive and inspiring approach, together we&amp;rsquo;ll define your business needs and move you from creative overwhelm to commercial action.&lt;/p&gt;

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&lt;p&gt;Every retail business is different and so&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://www.arnoldandbird.com/services/"&gt;my services are entirely bespoke and collaborative&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;to create a meaningful experience that works for you and your business goals.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.arnoldandbird.com/"&gt;www.arnoldandbird.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="mailto:joanne@arnoldandbird.com"&gt;joanne@arnoldandbird.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/joanne-griffin"&gt;www.linkedin.com/in/joanne-griffin&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Product Development & Design

How a business community can help your wellbeing

This podcast looks at the importance of building your community and how it can boost not only your business but also your wellbeing as an entrepreneur.

It also includes tips on how to build your community if you hate the word networking and the thought of this makes you cringe.

The importance of building your community to boost your business & wellbeing

I'm a <a href='http://www.danmartinuk.com'>freelance content creator and event host</a> who helps small businesses and the organisations that support them. I have 18 years of experience as a small business journalist having interviewed hundreds of entrepreneurs from billionaires like Sir Richard Branson to the founders behind brand new start-ups. I've worked for a range of leading small business publications and support groups, most recently as head of content at Enterprise Nation where I was responsible for the prolific output of content on the company's blog and social media. I'm based in Bristol where I run and host regular events with the local small business community and have strong connections to major business organisations in the south west region. In total, I've hosted over 50 events; from intimate meet-ups to conferences with an audience of hundreds including events for international brands like Facebook and Xero. I'm also a big fan of podcasts having hosted Enterprise Nation's Small Business Sessions as well as lots of online events including Facebook Live interviews, webinars and three live web chats from inside 10 Downing Street. With my partner, I co-run Lifestyle District, a lifestyle blog focused on culture, art, theatre and photography.

I'm here to help. I'm volunteering free advice calls of up to an hour as part of the Recovery Advice for Business scheme, over the next 6 months. Please get in touch to see how I can help your business.&nbsp;

Freelance content creator & event host

Small businesses encouraged to 'lead the charge to net zero'

Government urges small companies to do their bit in the race to net zero.

&lt;p&gt;My motto in life and work is 'Meet people, make friends, and help them.'&amp;nbsp;Getting to know people is the best way of finding out what makes them tick in terms of goals, ambitions, dreams, interests and life in general. I help people by listening to what they need, suggesting ideas, sending links, making introductions, adding value, and offering relevant products and services, where appropriate. When friends have a problem, I love to help them fix it.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;My varied portfolio career means I have knowledge, experience and contacts in many fields. I am an expert in book publishing, media, mentoring, writing, editing, marketing, crowdfunding, sponsorship, social enterprise and commercial start-ups.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I'd love to get to know you better, so I can help you get to where you want to be.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Career highlights:&lt;br /&gt;
• Book trade professional since 1990&lt;br /&gt;
• Consultant Producer, YOU'RE BOOKED! (ITV book series)&lt;br /&gt;
• Pioneer, World Book Day UK&lt;br /&gt;
• Research Director, StoryCode (online recommendation engine for fiction, featured on BBC TV’s DRAGONS’ DEN)&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Current roles:&lt;br /&gt;
• Founder, CopyGhosting Publishing Services (editorial, marketing, PR &amp;amp; digital agency)&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;
• Editor &amp;amp; Development Executive, Insight Film Festival&lt;br /&gt;
• Founder, Jolabokaflod CIC (promoting Icelandic 'Christmas book flood' tradition)&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;
• Director of Crowdfunding, CrowdPatch CIC: free crowdfunding platform for social enterprise&lt;br /&gt;
• Founder, The Wisdom of Coffee: a network for Meetup gatherings &amp;amp; a community that shares best practice about business, enterprise &amp;amp; alternative finance)&lt;br /&gt;
• Founder, Smart Crowd Productions: integrated arts, media, business &amp;amp; alternative finance production consultancy&lt;br /&gt;
• Director: Corporative Sponsorship, SMGlobal Catwalk, Inc: global fashion events brand&lt;br /&gt;
• Social entrepreneur, 12R Prizes: solving social issues and commercial problems via sponsored cash-prize comptetions&lt;br /&gt;
• Mentor, Founders and Mentors: networking platform, comprising forum, communities and courses for mentors to help pre-launch founders launch start-ups successfully&lt;br /&gt;
• Social entrepreneur, 12Ronnies: hub that provides founders, inventors and creatives a toolkit for launching a startup successfully&lt;br /&gt;
• Co-founder, CrowdMall: virtual shopping centre for ideas that do not yet exist&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Charities:&lt;br /&gt;
• Chairman, Seeds Creatives (charity): runs the ‘Artist in Your Own Residence’ collaborative network mentoring scheme for creatives in all disciplines&lt;br /&gt;
• Director, Arts Centre Group (charity): membership organisation for arts &amp;amp; media professionals&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Committees:&lt;br /&gt;
• All-Party Parliamentary Committee for Crowdfunding (chair: Barry Sheerman MP): meets quarterly at the House of Commons&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Author:&lt;br /&gt;
• Six published books&lt;br /&gt;
• Two books in progress&lt;/p&gt;

Serial entrepreneur

Pre-launch founders, inventors & creatives

Signposting for advice, tools and resources for members wanting to start turning an idea into a business.

Sales Academy

&lt;p&gt;Statistics have shown the current attainment of &lt;a href="https://www.salesforce.com/blog/15-sales-statistics/"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;sales quotas is around 50%&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, and this level has remained steady for the last five years. Developing and evolving core skills like social selling, selling remotely and developing soft skills in communications, resilience and perseverance are fundamental for sales teams across the globe. Development of sales teams is critical not just f

&lt;p&gt;Passionate about delivering a professional, practical and flexible HR &amp;amp; Recruitment solution,&amp;nbsp;I&amp;nbsp;started Legacy Strategies in January 2016.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;My background is in HR, Recruitment and Learning &amp;amp; Development with over 20 years’ experience working for high profile companies and projects in the UK.&amp;nbsp; Having predominantly worked in the Construction, Civil Engneering an Rail industries it has given me a great platform from which to delvelop and support other industries.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I am passionate about getting people into work and also about supporting people into apprenticeships, having placed in excess of 200 people into apprenticeships it is something that i really do enjoy!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;If you have any questions or require any assistance then please do not hesitate to contact me.&lt;/p&gt;

Director

Sharron Clow

&lt;p&gt;Passionate about delivering a professional, practical and flexible HR &amp;amp; Recruitment solution,&amp;nbsp;I&amp;nbsp;started Legacy Strategies in January 2016.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;My background is in HR, Recruitment and Learning &amp;amp; Development with over 20 years’ experience working for high profile companies and projects in the UK.&amp;nbsp; Having predominantly worked in the Construction, Civil Engneering an Rail industries it has given me a great platform from wh

The importance of building your community to boost your business & wellbeing

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