Tag: Love Your Business

Scottish business club announces new annual charity partner

GRASSMARKET COMMUNITY PROJECT ANNOUNCED AS THE NEW CHARITY PARTNER AT NETWORKING CLUB, ‘LOVE YOUR BUSINESS’ 

Grassmarket Community Project has been announced as the latest annual Charity Partner at business networking club, Love Your Business, which has attracted over 4500 attendees and 220 guest speakers since it started in 2018, including the Californian eco-entrepreneur Paul Tasner from PulpWorks. 

Love Your Business, which runs monthly at Black Ivy Hotel in Bruntsfield, was founded by Michelle Brown from the eponymous PR agency which she started in 2014. The aim, which continues today, is to help start up and growth businesses to share skills, contacts, referrals and support each other.

Speakers who have shared their entrepreneurial and personal journeys over the years, include Chris van der Kuyl, the chairman and co-founder of the video game company 4J Studios, Social Bite co-founder and motivational coach, Alice Thompson, and former Scotland international rugby player, Scott Hastings. 

This month’s speaker on Thursday 26th March is Laura Thomas, the founder of the luxury lifestyle brand, Laura Thomas Co., who will be sharing her inspiring journey around setting up the business 12 years ago and opening her store in North Berwick four years ago. Her products are 100% natural and chemical-free and the packaging comes from recycled coffee cups and clients include Balmoral Estate, Old Course Hotel in St Andrews and Ballintaggart Hotel.

Over the past seven years the networking club has also supported a different charity each year with a percentage of ticket sales and marketing support.

These include Make 2nds Count, Support in Mind Scotland, now Change Mental Health, Epilepsy Scotland, Invisible Cities, Fighting Against Cancer Edinburgh, Carers of East Lothian and last year, Scottish Action for Mental Health, SAMH.

This year’s partnership with Grassmarket Community Project will help to raise even more awareness of the much-needed emotional and practical support they provide for vulnerable people in the city to help enhance their life skills, develop confidence, increase their resilience and encourage self-reliance and independence.

The charity, which was founded 23 years ago and has 33 staff and 116 volunteers, offers everything from a befriending service and employability and training guidance to 25 free weekly activities like woodwork, gardening, meditation and literacy classes and runs a community cinema.

They also have a Coffee Saints café onsite in the Grassmarket and behind St James Quarter, a Tartan Shop with their very own tartan, and hire out event space for corporate events and weddings.

Helene van der Ploeg, Chief Executive Officer at Grassmarket Community Project, said: “We are honoured to have been chosen by Michelle to be her Charity Partner this year.

“As a charity incorporating social enterprises, we really value this partnership, which will help build vital networks among businesses and increase our profile through Michelle’s extensive marketing knowledge and skills.

“This will make such a difference in helping Grassmarket Community Project have a powerful voice for the thousands of people in our city, struggling with complex challenges and living in poverty, barely able to afford the essentials of life.”

Michelle said: “When I first learnt about the Grassmarket Community Project, providing emotional and practical support and services for people in the city who are struggling, I knew immediately I wanted to partner with them to help raise even more awareness of the great work they are doing.

“I’m really looking forward to working with Helene and the team to ensure more people know about the support they can get and locals and visitors to the city know about their tartan shop, café, venue hire and cinema screenings to help keep the charity going in the long term.

“Thanks to everyone who has bought a ticket for Love Your Business over the years and helped to support every Charity Partner.

“There are still tickets left for the networking event on the 26th March with my very special guest speaker, Laura Thomas, who has a wonderfully inspiring story to share.”

Tickets are £20 and available on Eventbrite, link, https://bit.ly/4sCXXTt

Edinburgh business club announces new 2024 Charity Partner

Scottish monthly business networking club, which has attracted over 185 guest speakers including rugby legend Scott Hastings and 5th generation owner of Bon Accord Soft Drinks, Karen Knowles and over 4000 attendees, announces its new charity partnership for 2024 as Carers of East Lothian, (CoEL).

Love Your Business was founded by Michelle Brown, of the eponymous PR agency which marks its 10thanniversary this year, to help start-ups and growth businesses to make connections, share contacts, exchange referrals and ideas, and also find new collaborative opportunities.

Speakers over the years who have shared their inspiring entrepreneurial journeys, business insights and learnings also include Marie Owen, founder of LS Productions, Alice Thompson, co-founder of Social Bite and Chris van der Kuyl, the chairman and co-founder of games developer 4J Studios.

The aim of the networking club, which started in Black Ivy in Bruntsfield in January 2018, and ran online during the pandemic, is also to support various charities and social enterprises to help raise awareness and donate a percentage of funds from tickets sales from the events. Organisations also receive PR and marketing support for a year.

These include Make 2nds Count, Support in Mind Scotland, Epilepsy Scotland, Invisible Cities and Fighting Against Cancer Edinburgh. This year Love Your Business is partnering with Carers of East Lothian, CoEL, which was founded 26 years ago to provide much-needed support for people who are caring for someone.

The charity was chosen to highlight the role of carers and the support they need, as figures show that three out of five people will become carers at some stage in their lives and 1 in 10 is already fulfilling some sort of caring role, (Carers Trust).

Many aspects of caring can be rewarding, but caring can also have an impact on the health and wellbeing of the person providing the care. The free services CoEL offer include information and advice for carers, as well as peer support groups, grants to support carers to take breaks from caring, counselling, workshops, training and events.

Michelle said: “We’re delighted to be supporting Carers of East Lothian this year, which is a cause very close to our hearts.

“The outstanding work they do to support people who are caring for loved ones including family members, friends and neighbours for over two decades is highly commendable.

“The charity is dedicated to making life a little bit easier for carers, whether it is supporting them to take a break or signposting them to grants and legal advice, which is why we are honoured to be helping them to raise even more awareness of the great work they are doing and raise funds too.”

Jessica Wade, Chief Executive Officer of Carers of East Lothian said: ‘’We are absolutely delighted to be chosen as the Love Your Business Charity Partner for 2024.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for us to raise much needed funds for our work with local carers, as well as benefitting from Michelle’s valuable expertise to help us reach every carer who needs our support across East Lothian.”

Tickets for the next networking event on Thursday, 29th February at Black Ivy in Bruntsfield are £20 with 10% of all tickets going to Carers of East Lothian.

Ticket link – https://bit.ly/42jaDmm

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Former SRU wellbeing coach announced as guest speaker at business anniversary event

Love Your Business networking club, which has welcomed 185 speakers and over 4000 attendees since it launched in 2018, celebrates its 6th anniversary with the announcement of this month’s speaker on the 25thJanuary as Ben Scott, former Scotland Men’s Rugby Wellbeing Coach, who worked with the team to help bridge the gap between wellbeing and performance.

The club, at Black Ivy in Edinburgh, was launched by Michelle Brown, founder of the eponymous PR agency which marks its 10th anniversary this year, to help businesses make connections and build relationships, exchange ideas, referrals and contacts, and hear from inspiring speakers every month, sharing their entrepreneurial journeys and business insights.

These include Chris van der Kuyl CBE, Chairman and Co-Founder of 4J Studios, developers of the multi-award-winning Minecraft Console editions, former co-founder of Social Bite and business coach, Alice Thompson, California based environmental entrepreneur Paul Tasner, founder of PulpWorks and Michael Welch, OBE and CEO at Tirebuyer.com.  

Also, Rachel Hanretty, founder of the award-winning Mademoiselle Macaron, which sells over 35,000 macarons a week, has a turnover of £1.2m and landed an order to send her meringue confections to the Barbie film set.

This month’s guest speaker, Ben Scott, specialises in health, wellbeing, performance and personal growth and was head-hunted to become Scotland’s Men’s Rugby Wellbeing Coach in 2021 to enhance the squads individual and collective wellbeing, on and off the field.

Having suffered from physical and mental challenges as a teenager, Ben embarked on a journey to discover the answers he needed to overcome them, which involved completing various courses, including a five-year master’s degree in Chiropractic, a three year postgraduate in Functional Neurology and a postgraduate diploma in Clinical Hypnotherapy.

From January 2021 until April 2023, he worked with the team during a time that became one of their most successful performance periods, breaking many of their records, and seeing them rise two places in the World Rugby Rankings. 

Ben, who continues to coach elite athletes in person and online, and also helps patients at Morningside Chiropractic, will be sharing the story of his career journey and the ‘4 Pillars of Wellbeing’ to help business owners get 2024 off to a positive start, professionally and personally.

Michelle said: “I’m delighted to welcome the wellbeing coach, Ben Scott, as the speaker at Love Your Business this month, whose advice on ‘purpose, potential and performance’ will help business owners to get 2024 off to a flying start.

“For the past six years so many speakers have given up their time to share their inspiring stories with us and learnings along the way and provide valuable advice for businesses which always leaves everyone in the room inspired and motivated.”

Ben said: “Being asked to speak at the Love Your Business networking event this month is a great opportunity for me to share insights on how our wellbeing effects our performances, both personally and professionally, and to highlight ways we can overcome our challenges, so that we are better able to fulfil our potential and reach our goals.”

“I’m really looking forward to celebrating the 6th anniversary of a club which has brought so many people and businesses together to share their knowledge and experiences, in what is such a fantastic achievement for Michelle.”

Over the years the networking club, has also supported various charities and social enterprises, including Make 2nds Count, Support in Mind Scotland, Invisible Cities, Epilepsy Scotland and Fighting Against Cancer Edinburgh, FACE who have received proceeds from ticket sales and marketing support.

Love Your Business networking club runs on the last Thursday of every month, from 11am till 1pm. The first event of the year is on the 25th January.  

Tickets are £20 plus booking – https://rb.gy/e8vefk.