Our Small Business Saturday Small Biz 100 Day – Wednesday 14th November
Aaaaaand breathe!
Phew! What a day!
Today was our Small Biz 100 day at the Hereford Business Solutions Centre, and nothing could have prepared us for how exhausting the day has been! In a good way of course!
We were up bright and early to make the most of our day in the spotlight, and what a day we had planned! We met Kim, Sophie, Kevin, Lauren and Lisa at the Hereford Business Solutions Centre at 8:00am so they could set up their equipment. The guys, on placements from the University of Gloucester, kindly documented our day for us. Why? So we can reach even more people and businesses who couldn’t attend today on Small Business Saturday in a couple of weeks.
What could we offer on our day?
Our day wasn’t about us. Instead in true The DM Lab style we flipped it on its head. Let’s make it about you instead! We put on a morning of talks that would help the attendees understand and action search engine optimisation techniques. Techniques they may or may not be aware of. Our business is all about helping others grow. So, today was just that all over!
We did find that more time would have been better but we hope that we offered enough to get you started or refine what you may already be doing. Having stepped outside (well outside) of our comfort zone for this pretty special day. Hosting and managing an event is not something we’ve done before, but we had a good crack at it!
There was so much to cram in and prepare for we shamefully couldn’t find enough time to welcome and chat to everyone. Needless to say we are very grateful for you attending and supporting us and as we stressed, if you have any questions from the event we couldn’t answer this morning, get in touch!
Small Business Saturday Bus
After packing away ready for the afternoon booking to arrange the room, we headed to Leominster to see the Small Business Saturday bus. So far, everything had gone without a significant hitch – something had to give. Lo and behold it did! Harvey, the apprentice, headed on to Leominster while we dropped off everything we had taken to the event back to the office. Bad move. We got stuck in the infamous Hereford traffic. Having not realised sooner the bus was leaving at 2pm, we were on Edgar Street at 1:45pm. Uh oh.
However…
Harvey had made it to Leominster and was waiting for us. In our desperation to get just a picture of the bus, we asked if he’d mind getting one. Some apprentices make tea, answer phones, deliver mail. Ours? We send him on a mission to take a picture of the Small Business Saturday bus! We do things differently here!
As we edged closer to the A49, we had to admit defeat. Soooooo joined the traffic going back into town. Got a text off Harvey. Then another. Then another. And another.
He’d been spotted and Pete grabbed him for a few words!
Terrified he’d said something wrong or misrepresented us we watched the video. Not a bad effort! You did well mate, considering we wanted a photo and you got us an interview! After he’d calmed down he was incredibly excited with the goody bag – now even we’re jealous!
As the day draws to a close, we’ve still got loads going on over on Twitter. Thank you emails have been sent, work caught up on and this blog almost finished, we can hand on heart say, we’ve had a great day! A very different Wednesday to our usual Wednesdays that’s for sure! Talking about our work instead of doing it…Oh and chasing buses and impromptu interviews!
Looking back on a brilliant day, we have a number of thank yous to mention…
Thank you to Small Business Saturday for choosing us as one of the coveted Small Biz 100. We really hope we’ve added value to our selection and will definitely be a very active alumni. Put us down for EVERY Blue Tie event. That was amazing! Thank you for the exposure and coverage today as well!
Thank you to Charlotte from the Hereford Business Solutions Centre for allowing us to use the Seminar Room. An excellent venue that we would highly recommend to others and will hopefully be using again for more of these perhaps?
Thank you to Martha from Send Cake! For the cakes for the attendees. Thank you for partnering with us for this, we hope you get a few sign-ups for the VIP Cake Club. Everybody enjoyed them that’s for sure! If you didn’t clock the VIP Cake Club details – have a look here
Thank you to Kim, Sophie, Lauren, Kevin and Lisa from the University of Gloucester for documenting our event. It’s not every day you get chosen as a Small Biz 100 so we wanted to make the very most out of it and these guys are putting together material we’ll be sharing of the event on Small Business Saturday.
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- Lisa
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- Kevin
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- Kim
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- Sophie
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- Lauren
Furthermore, thank you to the 22 people who attended.
Without your support for us this couldn’t have happened or been as successful as it was. From us thinking we’ve bitten off more than we can chew doing something as significant as we did today you guys made it special. We wondered if anyone would turn up. Thank you also to those who kindly let us know last night you wouldn’t be able to make it today (as scary / heartbreaking as they were as they came thick and fast at one point!). However we would have had potentially 30 people which for our first ever attempt at this sort of thing was incredible! You expressed interest and we’re really grateful for that in itself.
Last, but by no means least, thank you to our friends on Twitter who wished us well on our Small Biz 100 Day. Your tweets meant a lot and we’ll catch you soon at the House of Lords!
Have a smashing day #SmallBiz100 💯
— Rachel Hayward (@AsktheChameleon) November 14, 2018
Today's #SmallBiz100 are up bright and early and we have heard that they have some great plans for the day! https://t.co/jQPxblqnw7
— SmallBizSatUK (@SmallBizSatUK) November 14, 2018
#Herefordshire business @TheDMLab are today's #SmallBiz100 keep an eye on their feed today to find out all about what they do.. @SmallBizSatUK https://t.co/DS2UBwxTKz
— Rachel Jones (@RachelJHere) November 14, 2018
Enjoy your @SmallBizSatUK #SmallBiz100 day guys!! 😊
— #ShopLocal Club Card (@ShopLocalClub) November 14, 2018
New partners to ODOS Business Solutions, The DM Lab, hosting the ‘SEO For Beginners & Micro Moments’ event @TheDMLab @PrestigeCS pic.twitter.com/3Pqv8Y6TDe
— Andrew R Graham (@dodsyg) November 14, 2018
We're here with @TheDMLab for a masterclass on SEO! Ready for action! 🙂 pic.twitter.com/zuujK7dy27
— Eat Sleep Live Herefordshire (@EatSleepLiveHfd) November 14, 2018
It’s all going well @BSCHereford with @TheDMLab explaining SEO to #Hereford #Business after delicious cake from @sendcakeHQ great to see @Caplor_Energy @3fruityladies @ShootingReels 😊 pic.twitter.com/DLklitD5ec
— Charlotte (@BSCHereford) November 14, 2018
Today’s #SmallBiz100 is @TheDMLab, a design and digital marketing agency covering online and offline marketing. Find out more at https://t.co/TFc7pj7RRP@More_Organised is thrilled to be one of this year’s 100! To celebrate my 99 colleagues I’m sharing each of them on their day!
— More Organised | Decluttering & Organising (@More_Organised) November 14, 2018