Wednesday was East Anglia Family Business Day 2018 – celebrating all that is great about family businesses in the area.  So lunchtime was spent networking at the English Whisky Company which is based in East Harling.  I’ve know Andrew Nelstrop who runs the business for many years…ever since I started Breckland Orchard. Our paths have […]

On Tuesday I too a momentarily pause of breath to stop being a Posh Pop entrepreneur, and change roles in to a Dragon instead!  I was working with the Year 10’s at Sawston Village College on their Young Enterprise project.  Working in teams of 6 or 7, each team had been tasked with raising money […]

A few weeks back I had a really lovely night at the Hole in the Wall at the latest meeting of the Grub Club.…….run by Vhari Russell [aka the Food Marketing Expert] and Kelly Moulson [of Rubber Cheese].   The aim of Grub Club  according to their website is:  A food networking club based in Cambridge, […]

I was completely thrilled to be asked by Country Living to be a speaker at their forthcoming Country Living Fair to be held at the Design Centre, Islington in March. As well as lots of lovely things to see, do and buy they are also running a Business Zone, offering advice to would-be-entrepreneurs. I’m speaking […]

I was a guest at a Book Launch today…..one where the book authors are both business friends, great mentors and cornerstones of the Cambridge business scene. Namely Ed Goodman and Ann Hawkins! They’ve written a book called New Business, Next Steps, which was launched at Heffers Bookshop in Cambridge tonight! The evening was a lovely […]

I just adore the fact that no two days are the same at Breckland Orchard, it’s one of the joys of running my own business and its anything but predictable!  Today has been one of those mad days that you get to the end of and think ‘Wow’. I started the day making some tags […]

It’s pretty daunting starting your own business…..probably more so a food business as there are just so many rules and regulations that you have to abide by [labelling; branding; food hygiene; ingredients; shelf life etc].  I may have started this journey a few years ago, but I’m still learning every single day! There seems to […]

I spent yesterday at Cambridge Business Lounge, at their CBL Live event, which takes place quarterly.  Its a kind of mini-entrepreneurial Festival….whereas if you’re a music fan you might head for Glastonbury, this is the equivalent for small business owners and entrepreneurs.  A chance to socialise, listen to great speakers, eat some great food, drink […]

The very bestest thing about being an entrepreneur?  Having no two days the same………and today certainly was one of those!  I went to Parliament with 50 other business owners from Norfolk – all with a BuyLocal agenda.  We were there to meet a selection of the Norfolk MP’s, to speak to them and to get […]

I was invited last Thursday to be a ‘dragon’ at Brundall Primary School.  I joined 6 other ‘dragons’ to put the budding entrepreneurs of Year 6 through their paces. We heard 7 pitches in total – ranging from T-Shirts to fitness videos.  And if truth be told – they were just amazing!  It was hard […]

Just back from the 2012 NAFDMA Conference [NAFDMA = North American Farmers Direct Marketing Association].  I was there on a study tour arranged by Taste of Anglia/via Landskills East.  As I wrote in  a previous blog, it was an unbelievable opportunity for a small business such as mine to see what the Farm Shop market […]

I did my first ever Breakfast Meeting presentation just before Christmas – entitled ‘The Mother of All Decisions – lessons from Big Business that I’ve taken into Small Business’!  I was speaking at the Very Early Lunch Club run by MENTA.  The Lunch Club is actually SO early that it takes place from 7.30 – […]