Networking is about so much more than finding your next customer. Here's why joining Shropshire Chamber of Commerce and building genuine relationships means so much to me.

When you run your own business, it's easy to feel like everything is your responsibility. But being independent doesn't mean you have to do everything alone.

There are things you do when you're first starting a business because they work perfectly well at the time. You keep everything in your head. You reply to messages whenever they arrive. You squeeze admin into the gaps between everything else and keep track of enquiries using a combination of your inbox, your phone and a notebook you definitely remember putting somewhere safe. When you've only got a handful of clients, you can usually get away with it. Then the business starts

Bathing in Business recently celebrated its first anniversary, and I’m incredibly proud to share this press release marking the milestone and everything this wonderful community has become over the last 12 months. A Shropshire networking group, which was launched to offer something different, has marked its first anniversary following a series of sell-out events. Bathing in Business was set up by business mentor Fran Ash, founder of Fran Ash Mentoring, where she provides inde

Nobody really tells you quite how many decisions you'll have to make when you run your own business. Some are big. Should I increase my prices? Is it time to take somebody on? Should I invest in this? Is this the right direction for the business? Others are ridiculously small. What should I post today? Should I reply to that email now? Which networking event should I go to? Do I need to change this wording on the website for the seventeenth time? Individually, most of those d

When you're trying to grow a business, saying yes can become almost automatic. Yes to the networking event... Yes to the collaboration... Yes to the meeting... Yes to the new idea that popped into your head at 10 o'clock last night... Yes to somebody asking if they can "pick your brain" over a coffee... In the early days, that can be incredibly valuable. Getting yourself out there, meeting people and being open to opportunities is often how you build relationships and discove

Running a business has a funny way of keeping us busy. There are emails to reply to, clients to look after, networking events to attend, invoices to send and social media to keep on top of. Before we know it, another week has flown by and we're already planning the next one. The trouble is, when we're constantly moving from one task to the next, it's very easy to forget to stop and ask ourselves whether the things we've been doing are actually moving the business forward. One

If I could wave a magic wand and help business owners stop doing one thing, it would probably be this. Comparing themselves to everyone else. It's something I've seen countless times through mentoring, and if I'm honest, it's something I've experienced myself too. You only have to spend five minutes scrolling through social media before it starts. Someone's celebrating their biggest month ever. Someone else has just launched a new programme that's sold out overnight. Another

There are certain conversations that come up time and time again when I'm mentoring business owners, and this is definitely one of them. "I know exactly what I need to do, but I just can't seem to get started." It doesn't matter whether someone's been in business for six months or six years. At some point, almost every business owner finds themselves staring at a task they've been avoiding for days, sometimes even weeks. The frustrating part is that they know it needs doing,

One of the biggest misconceptions about running a business is that once you've got the knowledge, everything else falls into place. In reality, most business owners already know what they should be doing. They know they need to follow up enquiries. They know they should post consistently on social media. They know they need to make sales calls, update their website, send invoices or finally tackle that project that's been sat on the to-do list for weeks. So why doesn't it ha

If you're feeling overwhelmed in your business right now, the first thing I want you to know is that you're not alone. Overwhelm is one of the most common things I hear from business owners, whether they're just starting out or have been running their business for years. It often shows up when there's simply too much competing for your attention. The to-do list keeps growing, ideas are flying around your head at a hundred miles an hour, and it feels like there aren't enough h

There comes a point in many businesses where you realise you're busy all the time, but you're not entirely sure what you're moving towards. You're working hard. The days are full. The to-do list never seems to get any shorter. Yet despite all that effort, it can feel as though you're spending more time reacting than actually progressing. It's something I see regularly when talking to business owners, particularly those who have been running their business for a little while.

When people talk about the challenges of running a business, they often mention things like finding clients, managing finances or trying to juggle everything on their to-do list. What doesn't get talked about quite as often is how lonely it can feel. And the strange thing is, loneliness in business doesn't always look like being physically alone. You can have customers, colleagues, family, friends and social media followers around you and still feel like nobody truly understa

Starting a business is exciting!!! But.... It's also one of the most overwhelming things you'll ever do. One minute you're full of ideas and enthusiasm. The next, you're staring at your laptop wondering whether you should be building a website, setting up social media, registering with HMRC, designing a logo, attending networking events or trying to find your first customer. The truth is, most new business owners don't struggle because they lack ideas. They struggle because t

Making the decision to get support in your business can feel like a big step. Not always because of the practical side of things, but because of everything that sits around it. The overthinking, the second guessing, the wondering whether now is the right time or whether you should wait until things feel a bit more settled. And then, when you do get to the point of thinking, “Ok… I’m ready to do something about this,” there’s often another question that follows quite quickly…

If you’ve been reading along over the past few weeks, you might have found yourself starting to think that mentoring could be something worth exploring. But even then, there’s usually still a bit of a question mark around what it actually looks like in reality. Because it’s one thing understanding what mentoring is, and another thing entirely knowing what it feels like to be on the other side of it. It’s Not as Formal as You Might Think One of the first things people often sa

It’s a question that doesn’t always get said out loud, but it’s nearly always there in the background. What if I invest in this… and it doesn’t actually change anything? Because when you’re running a business, every decision feels like it carries a bit of weight with it. Time, money, energy… none of it is unlimited, and you don’t want to feel like you’ve wasted any of it on something that doesn’t move things forward. It’s Not Really About the Money On the surface, it can look

At some point in business, most people reach a stage where they start to feel like they might need a bit more support. Not because something’s gone wrong, and not because they’re not capable, but because trying to hold everything on your own can start to feel heavier than it needs to. There’s only so long you can keep all the ideas, decisions and pressure in your own head before something begins to feel a little bit stuck. And when you get to that point, the next question is

At some point in business, most people realise they need some kind of support. Not because they’re not capable, but because trying to do everything on your own can get heavy. There’s only so long you can keep all the ideas, decisions and pressure in your own head before something starts to feel a bit stuck. The tricky part is not always recognising that you need support. It’s knowing what kind of support is actually right for you. Because there are so many options out there,

Networking can be such a valuable part of growing a business. It gets you out from behind the screen, puts you in the room with other people who understand what it’s really like, and reminds you that you’re not doing it all on your own. For a lot of people, it’s also where things start to shift. Confidence builds, conversations become easier, and suddenly you’re not just thinking about your business in isolation - you’re talking about it, sharing it, and connecting with peopl