I thought last year was good, but this year was in another league. Our speakers included Chris Henning, the director of economic development at Nottingham City Council, Susan Hallam telling us about the latest in digital marketing, Tom Joule who grew his clothing brand from nothing to over £150m and shared with us how he overcame many of his growth challenges, Yorkshire Wildlife Park told us how they built their fabulous park from nothing to the visitor attraction it is today with over 500,000 visitors a year, and rescuing animals from all over the world, Richard Elwell showed us how to project-manage our minds, and Chris Barnatt – a futurist who delivered a spellbinding session on what lies in the future for the world and business.
I find there’s always one thing that sticks in your mind, that you take away to do something with. Mine was this. Mid-afternoon Stuart asked us all to write down the one main goal that we and our businesses were focussed on achieving. The thing that everyone in the business knew was the most important thing – the one thing we MUST achieve in the next year. I was completely stumped! Yes we want to launch the online programs, yes we want to stop the dividend tax, yes we need to sort marketing out and we want to grow the business, but where was the focus? (by the way, I still don’t know, but it’s on my list to work it out very soon!)
Stuart also told us that there had been some interesting research about goals. People who have lots of goals have been proven to achieve none of them, but if you have just one or two and focus on them you’re likely to get them. Guess it’s time to simplify things.
If you’re looking for a day that will keep the momentum going in your business, refocus on your priorities, have your mind opened by inspiring speakers and network with the East Midlands most ambitious business owners then stick this date in your diary for next year – 7th October 2016.