Search Engine Sensation

Claire & Arnie - What is the Connection!

Well the connection is Chester-Le-Streets own John Citrone aka
Mr Universe!

The Power of Networking!

Networking is all about who we know! It is not always about the person we are speaking directly to and if they want to buy our products or services, but more about who they know!

It’s all about looking out for opportunities for others as well as ourselves.

This is exactly what happened when Claire met Joe Mulcahy from Tree Free Pages www.treefreepages.com via Durham Business Club. Joe spotted an opportunity for Atomic Web Solutions. Joe happened to know that John Citrone, was looking to re-develop his Peakbody web site. The web site sells fitness nutrition products online.

John was born and raised in Chester-Le-Street and has won countless body building titles from the age of 17 as a junior Mr Britain, right up to the current day where he has recently been crowned Masters Mr Universe in the over 50 category at the age of 60.

However this wasn't John's first success in Mr Universe, he has won a total of 8 Mr Universe titles, 13 world titles and cemented his place as a legend among body builders, when he was honoured at the 2000 body builders hall of fame!

John actually trained a young Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1960’s and Arnie even came to Chester-Le-Street to do some training sessions with John! In a gym above Citrone’s Ice Cream Parlour!

John also appeared on Blue Peter with John Noakes blowing up a hot water bottle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lxh2cK-NeI

I wonder if anyone can remember this iconic Blue Peter episode?

How to expand business by stepping outside of our comfort zone!

A good friend of mine asked me along as his guest to an event at the Professional Speakers Association which was to be held in Leeds.

 

The main speaker for the evening was to be a guy called Alan Stevens and he was to talk about media & social networking.

 

Of course this really interested me and although it’s a long drive to Leeds, I thought why not!  I hadn’t seen my friend Geoff for a while so it would be a good chance to catch up with him and listen to what Alan had to say about twitter and the likes.

 

The group is run by professional speakers and supports and encourages those aspiring to speak professionally. 

 

We arrived at the venue and were soon joined by others.  At first I felt completely out of my comfort zone as I didn’t know anybody other than Geoff.  But soon I got chatting and ended up making many new connections. 

 

Afterwards I got thinking how beneficial it was for me to attend a networking event that was totally out of my comfort zone and geographical area! I was made to feel very welcome and learned so much during the event as well as making some great new contacts.  I will certainly visit again sometime!

 

It’s an excellent way to expand your business into new areas.  If you are looking to pick up new business for your organisation try some networking outside of your usual area, both geographically and business.  For example if your business is engineering why not pop along to a retailer focussed network – you never know who you might meet!

 

Claire

 

www.atomicwebsolutions.com

http://www.geofframm.com/

A Brand New Experience!

I was at a business event today, ‘Creating & Keeping Customers in Tougher Times’.  During a table swap session, I spoke to a guy on another table and he asked for my business card.

He looked at the branding and said 'You got out of a car in front of the hotel this morning and it had that branding on it'  He then thought again and said 'What I also really liked was the fact that you got out of the car, went around to the passenger side, opened the door and gave your young son a cuddle before leaving'.  For that reason, I'd be really interested in working with you!'

Wow!!!

'Branding' does indeed go much deeper than a logo and in ways we just don't think about sometimes :)

It’s really all about experiences! And it just goes to show it doesn’t take that much to create good ones!

www.atomicwebsolutions.com

Click on the link to read more about brand http://www.searchenginesensation.com/brand.asp

Dave Glynn

Eddie's Ices

Waiting to cross the road on our way to a meeting with Durham Business Club in Chester-Le-Street last week, an ice cream van passed us ‘Eddies Ices’! We soon realised that it was  Eddie Izzard's support team – great brand idea! A gimmick that also serves a purpose.

 

Eddie Izzard is attempting to run 43 marathons around the UK, quite a task! All in aid of sports relief. 

Lucky for me the ice cream van pulled over so I crossed the road to take a photo then we headed up to the club for our meeting!

While waiting at the crossing Eddie appeared running towards us! He stopped for a quick chat while I took his photo! I promised him that I would try and help raise some money for the charity and of course sponsor him myself.

 

That day he completed his 33^rd marathon at Ferryhill in Durham with a further 10 marathons to go.  I love the way he is making use of social networking web sites such as you tube and twitter to gather support and document his challenge and of course raise money during his run. http://twitter.com/eddieizzard

 

Please sponsor Eddie by visiting his site his web site www.eddieizzard.com

 

Read more on brand http://www.searchenginesensation.com/brand.asp

 

Keep going Eddie you can do it!

 

Claire and Dave Glynn

Business and Pleasure!

If you read the last article you will know that we enjoy spending time in Dalyan, Turkey! Dalyan is a small town set on the river next to ancient rock tombs.

 

We try to get out there 2 or 3 times a year as we have invested in a holiday apartment there.

 

We let the apartment out and have so far had it full each season.  I guess this is because we run this like a business.

 

The company that built the apartment maintain it and the grounds throughout the year and also take care of the cleaning in between guests’ visits.

 

We have a contact in Dalyan who’s business is car rental and airport transfers. 

 

We have everything in the apartment to make our guests stay as comfortable as possible and we take care of the marketing and bookings ourselves.

 

Like any business it’s all about having the right people and good communication and having people in place who can sort things out when they don't go to plan.

 

We have excellent feedback from our guests and already have bookings and enquiries for next summer.

 

http://www.searchenginesensation.com/team.asp

 

Claire 

Turtle Rescue!

We were recently on holiday in Dalyan, Turkey!

Dalyan is a small town with a close community and a very friendly village feel. It’s located on a river near to some ancient rock tombs. 

When we are there we often enjoy boat trips, either up the river to the lake and mud baths or down-river to the beach. This time we decided to go crab fishing and swimming.

The fishing went really well we must have caught about 20 between us.  Although Dave wasn’t having much success! That is until later in the day his line was really heavy and we all wondered what was on the end of it.  We couldn’t believe it as it came up to the surface we could see it was a ‘turtle’ and quite a large one too, it took the three guys to pull the turtle in. We were going to unhook it and let it go but soon noticed that it’s shell had been badly damaged by a boat propeller and worse, one of it’s flippers had a thick line around it.  The guys managed to get it on board and remove the hook and line we knew it needed care and called the turtle hospital, which is based on the beach and run by veterinary students from Turkish universities.

Full steam ahead - Captain Zac took the boat back to Dalyan where we were met by local  reporters and the hospital staff.

We visited the turtle the next day and found out that the turtle was 50 years old and would have surely died within a few days if we had just cut the line and let it go.  The turtle will be in the hospital for around 2 months and will then be released back into the sea.

So it turns out that Dave did in fact come back with the biggest catch!!! This is another great example of having the right people around who are able to react in an emergency situation and quickly make the right decisions, which in this case saved the turtles life! 

Oh by the way my role was photographer and making sure Tyler was safe – got some excellent pictures! We will never forget that day!

http://www.searchenginesensation.com/team.asp

 

Claire

Abandon Ship!

A friend recently asked me to be her canoe partner in a challenge to canoe the Caledonian Canal. We were to canoe 60 miles over 4 days from Fort William to Inverness here's what happened…..

 

After spending months training for the event we joined the group of walkers who were to travel with us. They walked the Great Glen Way while we canoed down the lochs.  A bus followed us along the way carrying all our gear from hostel to hostel.

 

It was hard work but fun with fantastic scenery and very liberating!  We kept our moral up by singing and having a bit of a laugh along the way! The weather on the first two days was kind to us, but that would change!

 

Things changed dramatically when we got to Lock Ness – we were all a bit more nervous as we knew it was a lot bigger and more open than where we had been.  More like the sea really but we soon got used to the new conditions and made good progress although there was a slight breeze developing. 

 

After a while the breeze got worse and soon developed into a 25mph wind blowing head-on into us.  There were waves with white caps, pretty scary especially when you are at the front.  We fought to try and stay head on – we knew that if we were side on we would capsize and the current would take us!  We couldn’t afford to miss a stroke either!

 

It was getting pretty dangerous!

 

I quickly came to the conclusion that we should get out and the rest of the team agreed – there was a log cabin on the land next to us it seemed like it had been in the same position for 10 minutes – therefore we must have been in the same position too.  We just weren’t going anywhere!

 

The guys in front pointed to a pier up ahead.  But none of us could make it and we docked up nearby on a remote pebble beach and made plans to get back to civilisation.

 

A parallel can be drawn here with the business world - you need to be able to make good decisions quickly and make the necessary change, as factors change! Going on the same course doing what you have always done could spell disaster. You need to read the ‘climate’ and adjust where necessary even if it means pulling out, dropping a contract or changing direction completely.

 

Of course having the right people around you who listen to each other and are supportive is also crucial.

 

Click here for more on this subject http://www.searchenginesensation.com/team.asp

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Claire

 

Going Down!

Well what can you say – no one likes to see TWO north east teams going down from the Premier League to the Championship.

 

Even sadder to see it all go down to the last matches of the season - if Hull lose and Newcastle draw this would save them from being relegated! etc 

 

Far better to have a tight team who play consistently well throughout the season.

 

Looking on the bright side – now it’s time for a good clear out and to build a new team that will hopefully get them back up there.

 

Similar to business – it’s all down to the people, good management who bring out the best in their staff and of course an excellent team who always do their best consistently!

 

Read more on teams within businesses http://www.searchenginesensation.com/team.asp

 

Claire

Not just swanning around

It’s not every day that you come across a swan in an Ikea bag!

 

Rather strange we thought!

 

We then learned that the swan was with a lady from the wildlife conservation trust, she explained that they had recently found this particular swan in the River Tyne – not the best of homes for a swan, particularly a 15 year old one with arthritis. 

 

The swan had then been brought to Chester-Le-Street park but then needed some further one-to-one care because of it’s age and condition, which is why it had been placed in a swan carrier and then inside the Ikea bag.

 

This swan needed a bit of extra care and support (in this case because of it's age and condition) - we can relate this scenario to business.

 

When all is going well we may need extra help and advice on expansion, but in tougher times it is even more important that help is there from sources such as colleagues who have been through similar experiences and organisations such as One North East or Business Link, not just in terms of funding and grants - but advice and guidance, or even something as simple as altering their procedures to make their services as streamline as possible.

 

After some help and attention, the Ikea Swan will very likely fly once more, but if business support organisations don't do what is really required at the sharp end, there will be many businesses that won't be so lucky.

For further information from such organisations please click on the link http://www.atomicwebsolutions.com/links.asp

Did they ‘Beat The Boss’ ?

Claire Glynn, Creative Director of Atomic Web Solutions is featuring on BBC programme Beat The Boss this Thursday afternoon.  The programme starts at 17:15 on the CBBC (Children’s BBC) channel and the programme runs for 30 minutes.

 

Beat The Boss pitches three budding entrepreneurs against three business people.  Both teams have to design a product for the children’s market, the prototypes are then created by a manufacturing company and judged by 20 children.

 

The winning team leave the BBC London Studio in a Limousine, the losing team go to the bus stop.

 

The BBC researchers found Claire by doing a Google search for ‘award-winning north east business women’ – so featuring highly in the search engines not only brings business, but can also land a TV appearance too.

 

Will Claire be travelling in style or taking the bus?  Leave your predication below.

 

Watch the programme this Thursday CBBC 17:15 or set your Sky Plus and watch later to find out.

 

Dave Glynn

 

http://www.searchenginesensation.com/search-engine-marketing.asp