The Salt Seller – Lenni Smith

The October talk at The Robin Hood Tavern Lenni Smith, The Salt Seller, told us of her experience as a business woman and her time spent negotiating banks and managers whilst importing containers filled with Himalayan salt from Pakistan - and and that her horse salt lick blocks are extremely popular. She also gave us generous samples of her wonderful table salt.

And the feedback from the group at Lenni's talk?

• WONDERFUL!
• Lenni is a gem (of salt). Very interesting and persuasive talk. Great talk, just a shame that more people did not enjoy...
• Lenni talked about so many facets of salt that would never occur to most people. Fascinating, and certainly makes me want to try it (her salt) both inside and out!
• Wow! I wish more people could have heard this wonderful, nourishing talk. A feast for the body. A feast for the eyes.

Networking - 5 Easy Steps
Talk in The Town on Thursday 17 September, Sharon Leighton

"Very enjoyable, new people. Inspiring!" Carol Fisher

"Very Lively and useful talk. Good evening." Wilma Allan

"Excellent. Helpful" Liz Barker

Helen Atton, Life Coach and MONEW committee member, was inspired by Sharon's presentation:

When I first heard the term 'Networking' several years ago I hadn't a clue what it meant. I didn't want to reveal my ignorance so nodded sagely when people mentioned it and spent a long time trying to work out what on earth it actually is. I figured it had to be some form of business to business communication system.

Light has slowly dawned over the past couple of years and by the time I attended Sharon Leighton's MONEW talk last Thursday at the Robin Hood I had got as far as deciding that it was a fancy term for making contact with people. Sharon however, made me realise that networking is an awful lot more than that.

Networking is about making and keeping friends and new contacts in one's personal as well as business life.  Sharon aptly said words to the effect of 'If you go out to look for friends you'll find very few, but if you go out to be a friend you'll find many'.

In her illuminating and funny talk she described 5 easy steps to successful networking. These steps include:

• being genuinely interested in others
• smiling
• keeping the process simple
• being well prepared.

Sharon advocates the use of tools to help with networking, which sounded daunting until she explained the benefits of a decent business card, open questions, networking internet sites and much more.

The biggest impression her session left me with was the fact that Sharon herself epitomises the practice of good networking in her presentation style and manner. If I follow her example I'm sure I'll increase my business opportunities significantly and make many new friends.

Thursday 16th July 2009 Tessa Perry How to make your business more successful in two easy steps

Tessa Perry's professionally delivered presentation on market research and its benefits gave us the background to some reasons why market research is a vital cog in all businesses. Tessa illustrated the results of market research and how they are as invaluable to one man businesses, such as those run by many MONEW members, as they are to Sainsbury's or Microsoft.There are many ways to research consumer markets and Tessa gave us tips on how to get ahead of our competitors. Her talk gave us all cause for reflection regarding what to consider in order to market our businesses successfully, particularly the fundamental issue of establishing whether we are selling our products into the right market, or have the right products for our market! The evening certainly gave me food for thought with respect to my own business and the future plans we have for MONEW, and I'm sure Tessa's experience and knowledge will be valuable in helping us all to identify where best to concentrate our efforts.