I met with my EIR having read their background on the Connect Yorkshire website and noticing that we had some good synergies between our business journeys. I found the session to be incredibly useful! We had a good discussion and John Chalmers guided me and gave his thoughts on some of my challenges taking into account his experience of business. His perspective gave me great re-assurance and he shared information and useful insights into strategies and techniques which had helped him over the years. I took much enthusiasm from the meeting and would recommend to anyone in business to tap into this kind of knowledge as it is incredibly valuable.

Julian Harrison challenged us on our 5 year plan and gave us some really good ideas and suggestions on how we can build and create a more robust plan. He really understood the medical sector and was very quick to suggest new ideas and ways of working. We will certainly be inviting Julian back in to help us in the future.

Prior to the session with Gerald Jennings we were somewhat daunted & unsure how the session would be structured. We needn’t have, the session was very relaxed and we discussed various aspects of the business over a coffee. Gerald gave his opinion on an area in which we were unsure of how to progress, which was most helpful. He also had some very useful contacts who he is going to do an introduction to. We intend to meet again in a few months as he’s keen to see how we progress. To any member of Connect Yorkshire who is yet to have an EIR session, I would encourage them to do this as soon as possible.

I met with Carl Cavers for a couple of hours. He completely got the challenges I face with my business and also recognised the opportunities that I should be focusing on. He made some solid recommendations and ways to improve things that I will definitely follow up on.

What a great meeting!

I really appreciated the opportunity to pick Jeremy Schulmans brain, and to validate some of my assumptions. As the sole business owner with a relatively new team around me, the opportunity to talk with someone who has been there and done it is invaluable.

Those sessions are a big part of the Connect Yorkshire membership for me.

I met with Michael Bridge for a one to one mentoring session. Michael came thoroughly prepared and I immediately felt at ease talking to him openly about my business. He challenged me giving me an outsiders view of my company. The result of the session was that I felt passionate about implementing some new strategy into my business, both immediately and long term. It felt like I knew him and the conversation flowed, was relevant and practical. Michael researched my business and came with a plan, asked me what I wanted from the situation and offered me valuable insight in how to achieve my goals and aspirations for the future.

I had a mentoring session from Edward Naylor, one of Connect Yorkshires Entrepreneurs in Residence and found it useful and thought provoking. As a small business owner it can feel lonely at times and you don’t always have a sounding board or someone to run your thoughts by, and the session helped me cement some of my growth ideas for the business as well as reassuring my decisions to date. Edward took time to understand my business and asked probing questions to challenge my thought process and aspirations. I found it really beneficial to take some time away from the business and bounce ideas off of someone who has been incredibly successful in their field.

I was fortunate to have the opportunity of a mentoring session with David Smalley, I’d seen David on a panel at an event and knew that he was the one I needed to meet.  David was great! I wasn’t sure what to expect from the session but talking everything through David gave me some great ideas and left me reassured that we are on the right track with our marketing plans.  I would definitely encourage anyone who hasn’t taken up their mentoring session to do so, they are invaluable.

We loved having Janette Benaddi advise us; what a great lady.

Janette spent a morning with us and started by asking each of us about our long term plans and goals. We realised it was important to know what the other wanted to achieve and by when, even if our end games were different – especially if they were different. Janette shared some of her own personal and business experiences with us.

We discussed thoughts for growing the business, including how big we really wanted to grow, and issues that could arise along with options for dealing with them. Janette gave us good advice without being too prescriptive about what we should or shouldn’t do. She gave us pointers for things to discuss in more detail and we continue to have monthly discussions.

Thanks Janette

Peter Roberts was excellent, a thoroughly great person with a wealth of knowledge and I really enjoyed the time I had with him and found it very valuable. I hope that he found it enjoyable too. I have been in touch with him since.

Being able to have access to some incredibly experienced and successful minds in the North of England is invaluable. I have found completely new perspectives and uncovered new opportunities by being able to speak with selected EIR’s. I have found their ability to question your norm and push your thinking vital to the growth of the business.

It is a rare opportunity that you get to have this one to one time and I strongly advise members to take advantage of this unique opportunity.