It’s three weeks on from the #SBS2017Event and I’m only just writing our blog about the day. I’d like to say I’m writing this late deliberately but that wouldn’t be true…… but maybe by writing the blog a little after the event, it would force me to think about the things that are still resonating 3 weeks on. In true Top of the Pops style, here’s our top 5 ‘takeaways’ from the day:
At Number 5 – It’s a Celebration – on previous winners advice we were all ‘tooled up’ with marketing material in order to network, network, network. There is opportunity to do this but first and foremost, what struck me is this is a celebration. There is an atmosphere of excitement – so relax, grab a drink, have a chat to like minded people and soak up the atmosphere.
At Number 4 – Take advantage of the free ‘Expert’ sessions – they say in this life nothing is for free (except the meet the expert sessions!). We spent an invaluable 
30 minutes with the team at ILaw who helped us think through with a bit more clarity how we might structure the business going forward.
At Number 3 – The Sponsors deals and offers – you don’t need to attend the event to take advantage of #SBS sponsor offers but you do hear it first and from the horses mouth. We’re already taking advantage of the offers from Rymans, 123 Reg and ILaw but there are plenty more. We also got to hear first hand that the Shop #SBS is moving from a monthly payment scheme to a commission only basis (great news for us who have continued to actively promote Shop #SBS). Oh and this one you only get if you’re there in person – the goody bag at the end (who doesn’t like a freebie).
At Number 2 – The Speakers and Panellists – now this really was a contender for the number one spot and came a very close second. This is the 
point you drink lots of caffeine and pin back your ‘lug holes’. We were in for a real treat this time – in addition to Theo, we got to hear from fellow SBS and all-round top lady Jodine Boothby of Gummee who had us all in tears with her inspirational business journey from bankruptcy to global success.
We also had pearls of wisdom from current Dragon Den’s star, Deborah Meeden and owner of JML, John Mills in the question and answer session. My favourite sound-bites from the day, when asked for the secret of business success were:
“Persistence, persistence, persistence” – John Mills
“Momentum” – Deborah Meaden – (I’ve always maintained this is the key to success, although my mantra is much more crude “just keep doing stuff” – the sentiment being more or less the same)
At Number 1 – The Photo Opportunity – let’s be honest (and Kypros said it himself in the introduction) secretly (or not so secretly in our case), we wanted to see and meet the main man, Theo Paphitis – ex-dragon, serial entrepreneur and brain child behind #SBS. I was like a kid at Christmas waiting in the line to meet Theo. The saying a picture tells a thousand words is so true – we’ve had so much interest and positive PR from our #SBS win and winners photo with Theo. Thank you Theo for running #SBS and giving small businesses like ours a much needed boost. So, here it is in top spot, our photo – enjoy!
