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Star Business of the Month

Bush Grub: Star Business of the Month – December 2013

November 22, 2013

Client: Ben Bartlett

Business: Bush Grub/Claws and Jaws

Description: Edible Bugs, Animal Education and parties.

Telephone: 07946034660

How to keep in touch with Bush Grub:

www.bush-grub.co.uk
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The idea for Bush Grub came about so I could offer a ‘unique treat’ of tasty edible insects to children at my animal experience parties run through Claws and Jaws.

In the first year I only had a limited range of stock and was only selling around 10 items per month. But after the first years trading, I found opportunities started knocking on Bush Grub’s door. But without time and money it was difficult to make the most of them. Cue…Gary Bartlett (my Dad) who could not see these opportunities wasted so joined me full time to provide Bush Grub with the investment and time it deserved.

One opportunity not to be missed was visiting the Brand Licensing Director at ITV who was thinking about how our products could work with the famous TV show – I’M A CELEBRITY…get me out of here! This really was the boost the business needed and that summer’s afternoon talking to ITV, was unforgettable and really did change everything.

2012 saw a big leap in sales and with our newly licensed, branded and designed products (by Clockwork Moggy) in hand we were set on selling in as many shops as possible. This was a real learning curve and talk about jumping in at the deep end I found myself learning all about meeting deadlines, packaging requirements, distribution, cash flow and that’s just the start.

This year left us a little bemused after last year’s success. So it was time to plan, plan and plan some more ready for the I’m A Celebrity and Christmas season 2013 – an extremely busy period for us. Along with this we had some more great news from ITV with four products listed in the hugely successful Text Santa charity event which aims to raise thousands by the end of the year.

So where are we today? Tens of thousands of packets of bugs have been sold, we are in huge retailers such as Menkind, Hawkins Bazaar, Littlewoods, Woolworths plus many more independent sweet shops and this has got us some fantastic national press coverage!

So whats the plan for the future? Well we would like insects to not only be a novelty food item, we would like them to be a part of the sustainable staple diet. So we are working hard alongside my scientific university dissertation to see insects introduced as a future food in the western world. Of course we also plan to continue sales of our great flavoured bugs and lolly pops!

If you dare – try them for yourself!

Business Tip:

“Be dedicated and persevere, nothing happens overnight unless YOU make it happen! Remember you are the boss, if you do nothing, then you get nothing from the business.”

Kent Foundation News

SLA Partnership chooses Kent Foundation for it’s Corporate Support

October 22, 2013

A boost for young entrepreneurs!

Two of the County’s leading charities helping young people reach their business and employment aspirations are to benefit from a major new sponsorship deal.

Recruitment specialists SLA Partnership are to give £6,000 a year (£3000 to each charity) to support the Kent Foundation and the Medway Youth Trust. The Maidstone-based company is also looking to back the organisation of a sponsored golf fund-raising event for the charities later in the year.

Welcoming the deal, Paul Barron, Director of Kent Foundation for Young Entrepreneurs said:

“This is a significant commitment by SLA to support our work and we are grateful to them for their commitment and generosity. As well as the money, their expertise in the job market will be invaluable in transforming ideas and initiatives into reality for those people that we engage with. Like all charities, we have to work really hard to find financial backing and I am delighted that they have chosen to back us at this challenging time.”

Medway Youth Trust’s Chief Executive, Graham Clewes, said:

“SLA’s support through their money, time and expertise is a tremendous boost for Medway Youth Trust and for our careers and employability work with young people in Kent and Medway. I am particularly struck by SLA’s desire for a long term partnership to help us in our work and I hope their lead will be an encouragement to other companies”.

Sarah Landry managing partner of SLA Partnership LTD had this to say:

“We pride ourselves on taking a thoroughly professional approach to our business, using our industry expertise and experience to provide candidates and clients alike with a service that is efficient and user-friendly. This is an ideal fit with the work of these two charities who, like us, look to encourage ways of achieving aspirations and ambitions. We focus on providing a quality of service to find a perfect match and I believe we have now achieved this with our sponsorship deal for Kent Foundation and Medway Youth Trust.”

Promote your business whilst supporting others!

To find out more about becoming a sponsor:

Call: 01622 694 341

Email: kent.foundation@kent.gov.uk

Star Business of the Month

Clockwork Moggy: Star Business of the Month – November 2013

October 22, 2013

Client: Carrie Stay and Neil Dickson

Business: Clockwork Moggy – Branding and Web Design

Description: Creative graphic design, unique web design and original illustration. Complete company branding to suit your needs.

Get In Touch:

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Telephone: 01634 388 916

Our partnership company was founded 4 years ago. We (Carrie and Neil) met at college with similar interests in Graphic design and illustration. We both worked very hard to achieve our degrees. Before Clockwork Moggy was founded, I (Carrie) was working for publishing companies on a variety of magazine titles from music to lifestyle, whilst Neil was working for a large publishing company in Surrey. We thought it silly to be working hard for other people when we had the experience and know-how to work for ourselves and fully let our creativity loose for our own clients. We decided to put the 9-5 lifestyle behind us.

Now, we know the name (Clockwork Moggy) isn’t the norm but as a branding and web design company, it was a must to stand out from any other design team, practicing what we preach! We often have many of our clients ask us where the name comes from and we can only reply with ‘the deep depths of our quirky minds’.

Clockwork Moggy has developed significantly in the last 4 years, not only in terms of our client base but also in the variety of projects we have worked on. From packaging graphics for a company that sell flavoured bugs (yes, real ones!!) to ecommerce stores to help businesses grow and sell online as well as a fair few branding projects for small to medium businesses.

We love design and strive to keep on developing as a company and keeping up with the latest technology and design trends is a must!

Business Tip

‘Always strive to be the best you can be. Whatever your chosen career path’.

Star Business of the Month

Sleeping Giant Media: Star Business of the Month – October 2013

September 22, 2013

Client: Anthony Klokkou

Business: Sleeping Giant Media

Description: A digital search and social agency. Aiming to get more relevant traffic to your website so that your customers can find you online.

Get In Touch:
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Telephone: 01303 240715

Anthony Klokkou – Client Services Director at Sleeping Giant Media a specialist search and social agency that uses their vast range of digital know how to convert online traffic in to paying customers. Anthony grew up in an entrepreneurial family and has always had a positive attitude towards self employment. Along with his rich base of skills and strong work ethic was the prompt to start Sleeping Giant Media.

The company was set up in response to a gap in the digital search agency market. There was a need to develop an agency that delivered, integrated and maintained service delivery to its clients. Customers are very much at the front line of the business and they define themselves as the original specialist within this market, within Kent. The combined team at the business offer the tools, knowledge and expertise to deliver outstanding customer service.

High quality service is part of their growth strategy and they base this around everything they do. The moral of the story is that a happy customer will not only stay but will refer new customers. Anthony is ensuring the business is set up to achieve and is very much in control of client services. He believes in the staff ensuring the right training, management and motivation are in place to achieve great results. Growing a business can be challenging but Anthony is confident that he and the team can grow the business further.

Business Tip

“Good business relationships are worth their weight in gold, there are very few problems that can’t be overcome if there is a solid relationship in place, so never underestimate their value and never ever burn bridges!”

Star Business of the Month

DigitalBeans: Star Business of the Month – September 2013

August 22, 2013

Piperis Filippaios – Managing Director at DigitalBeans specialises in Digital Marketing with a strong focus on Search Engine Optimisation. The business which was originally called uTargeting was founded when he was just 22 and he has been working hard at it ever since. A very creative and hardworking individual showing true entrepreneurial spirit with his resilience to face any business challenge.

DigitalBeans was developed in response to supporting companies to grow their business online. Traditionally it started out with small companies and sole traders but the company is now increasingly serving larger clients ranging from manufacturers to shopping centres. The company’s success was recognised in the 2013 Kent Excellence in Business Awards receiving the status of Finalist in the Young Entrepreneur of the Year category. The company is evolving and always takes into consideration any changing trends and adapting their services to meet these needs.

There is plenty of ambition with both DigitalBeans and Piperis. The aim for the company is to grow the business and size of the team, alongside growing other ventures Piperis is already involved with. Piperis hopes to be able to maintain this momentum and grow the number of companies he is involved with over the coming years.

Business Tip:

“Take the plunge and create your own future”

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Success Stories

This Art Of Mine – Create something to be proud of!

July 5, 2013

Client: Gemma Blacker

Business: This Art Of Mine

Description: A friendly arts and craft studio set in the Kent countryside. All ages and abilities welcome.

Telephone: 01622 735 312

Website: http://www.thisartofmine.co.uk/index.html

How was This Art of Mine launched?

This Art of Mine was launched in 2010. The start up costs were funded by personal loans from myself and my other business owner Kate. We put in a lot of hard work to get it up and running, visiting many suppliers, designing a website, numerous trips to Ikea and buying our first lot of stock. After two months of planning the doors were open for business.

What is This Art of Mine?

This Art of Mine is an arts and crafts studio where customers can attend craft workshops, art lessons and courses. Teaching all the workshops and courses is an expert team of staff and for that extra sparkle the occasional guest tutor. The main crafts on offer are ceramic painting, jewellery making, sewing, knitting, t-shirt, bag designing and watercolour. The studio is inspiration in itself residing in a beautiful converted barn in the heart of the Kent countryside. The fantastic scenery and relaxing atmosphere come at no extra cost.

Are you creative yourself?

Yes I’ve always loved doing arty crafty things and I’m so lucky that I can now do a job I love full time.

Where do you see your business in the future?

I would like the studio to be one of the top tourist destinations in Kent with the studio to be renowned for it’s teaching. Anyone then wishing to improve their art and craft skills would immediately think of This Art Of Mine.

Pigs with Personality? Find out more…

What support have you received?

Gemma is linked with a Business Mentor and said “My Mentor has been really great. Although we are very busy, we catch up on a regular basis to evaluate how things are going and to set some future actions.” Developing a marketing strategy involved Gemma spending time in her Mentor’s own company, shadowing the sales team helped her to understand different elements of business.

The NETFORCE 2 mentoring project was selected as part of the France (Channel)-England cross border European cooperation programme INTERREG IVA co-financed by ERDF. This project was launched in January 2011 and ran until September 2013 in Kent and the Upper Normandy region. It gave the opportunity to test new tools to support the entrepreneur in their journey to create a new or take over an existing business.

Business Tip

Keep on top of your admin and remember to take a break from the business once in a while so that you can reflect on where it’s going and come back with loads of exciting ideas to take it forward.

Tag: Kent

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