BusinessWorks Scotland would like to invite you and any Business Contacts you may have to our next Business Bites meeting in Aberlady. As the title suggests, we will focus our main discussion on how we ‘do business’ with each other in todays Multi-Level Communication Environment.

Can you imagine operating your business without Mobile Phones, Personal Computers (in any form), Data Reports at the touch of a button, and The Internet? Well, pre 1980, the only way you could ‘Connect’ with your clients was through Landlines, within a 9 to 5 mentality or personally visit your clients. Alternatively you could have a letter typed by ‘the pool’ and despatched with an expensive printed brochure which was usually out of date.

Do you Know the first and second names of your top 10 clients?

Do you ‘Like’ any of your Clients or Suppliers enough to recommend then to other people you know?

Would you Trust a new project to somebody you haven’t visited?

Please join our discussion in an informal yet supportive environment and use the opportunity to network with like-minded individuals.

For our next meeting there will be a Meeting Charge of £5 payable on entry. Any breakfast purchases are payable direct to Ducks.

We look forward to seeing you.

Following an excellent meeting at Ducks in Aberlady, we will be looking at more ways that can help your business, not just survive in these difficult times but be be one of the businesses that is doing well.

Everybody needs to create more business opportunities, meet more contacts and convert enquiries into sales. BusinessWorks can provide an environment for this to happen.

We hope that you can come along to our meeting. Feel free to bring along your colleagues or business contacts. Don’t forget, everybody can benefit from meeting someone new!

A charge of £10 will be made which includes Breakfast

We look forward to seeing you.

We realise that everybody needs to create more business opportunities and we can provide the platform to help you do this. We know that times are tough but as you all know, there are businesses out there doing very well. There is no reason why this couldn’t include you!

Come along to our first meeting in East Lothian and see what we do. Meet up with some new contacts and take the opportunity to tell others about your business. See what they can do for you and what you can do for them. As this will be our first East Lothian meeting, there will be no attendance charge. Normally this would be £5. The only cost to you, will be for any food or drink that you purchase.

You may be aware that we were offering a £100 discount to new members if they joined as a member of BusinessWorks, before the end of April. We have decided to extend this offer for a further month, so if you would like more details, please contact us by email or talk to us at the next meeting.

It is FREE to register but you will be charged £10 on entrance for the cost of venue hire and breakfast.

 The event will be held at The Sun Inn, Newtongrange, Midlothian  between 8am and 10am.

 It is FREE to register but you will be charged £10 on entrance for the cost of venue hire and breakfast.

Registration for this is free but £10 will be payable on entrance.

John Gargan at the Everest Base Camp

Come along and find out about his trip and the adventure that he had.

Miss Coco - Sarah Finlay

I’d like to say a Big Thank You to Sarah (AKA) Miss Coco for her inspiring insight into her handcrafted chocolate business. Around 18 people turned up for our first Businessworks event of the year at the very cosy Sun Inn.

Sarah Finlay graduated in geography from the University of Glasgow but now she is navigating her way along an entirely different learning curve, having decided to become a chocolate-maker.

The Cumbernauld-based young entrepreneur wasn’t entirely new to either chocolate making or commerce when she decided to launch Miss COCO. “I have basically just taught myself chocolate-making, and probably have bought every book there is going on the subject,” she begins. “I’d say geography is quite an open subject, for people with an outgoing nature and certainly I would describe that of my own.”

Miss Finlay, who was crowned Miss Earth Scotland 2009 has spent the last 12 months as an ambassador promoting environmental awareness for a clean, natural and healthy environment. Her experiences she says, have played an instrumental role in helping her define her Miss COCO chocolate brand.

“As Miss Earth Scotland, I’ve been taken to places that I would never have otherwise been able to visit and I’ve tried to infuse some of that glamour and sparkle in my chocolates. I use different-coloured chocolate and edible glitter to decorate my chocolates. There are also over 20 luxury varieties to choose from which are guaranteed to delight even the most ardent chocolate fans!”

Miss COCO recognises the importance of having an up to date website too, “keeping it updated means people have more than one reason to visit it on a regular basis. I write a blog and am in the process of adding recipes.

“It’s all part of developing brand awareness and what’s happening more and more is that I am coming across people who have already heard of Miss COCO and that has to be a good thing for business. I started in December 2009 but only really got going in March 2010 and while sales were initially a bit slow, they have started to really pick up and the increasing brand awareness can only help increase my sales further.”

Miss COCO chocolates are available to buy online at www.misscoco.co.uk. They are also available in selected boutiques throughout Glasgow and for weddings, events and corporate clients.

Our plan is to have a guest speaker at every event – it will always be an expert in their field or someone who has a story to tell.

Next time it will be Carol Wright from Springfords.

If anyone is interested in joining us please get in touch.

Our new website, which was developed with assistance from Ross Knight and Jim Divine, is an important addition to the BusinessWorks Scotland Networking group. Ross and Jim will give a quick presentation about the development process and run you through the website features. If you are considering building a new website, updating an existing website or are interested in learning about online marketing and promotion this presentation will give you some hints and tips .