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James Miller from UMi talks about how to digitally drive your online presence!

Digital Advisor, James Miller from UMi talks to Melanie at DBN about the FREE Digital Health Check available for North East SME's and shares 5 top tips on how to strengthen your digital presence!https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-9476m-142379fIf you enjoyed this podcast and have any questions for James you can contact him via the details below... T: +44 (0)191 716 0960 M: +44 (0)7741 091 196E: james.miller@weareumi.co.uk Sat Nav: weareumi.co.uk/satnav...

LANDMARK POST-BREXIT TRADE DEALS TO COME INTO FORCE IN MAY 2023 DRIVING ECONOMIC GROWTH ACROSS THE UK

Press release: 4th May 2023From: Department for International Trade, Department for Business and Trade, Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street, The Rt Hon Kemi Badenoch MP, and The Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP.The Prime Minister met with his Australian and New Zealand counterparts on 5th May 2023 for talks ahead of the King's Coronation.Benefits of ground-breaking free trade deals with Australia and New Zealand to be unleashed for British businesses and consumers later this mont...

EXPAND YOUR GLOBAL REACH WITH A KING'S AWARD FOR ENTERPRISE

Expand your global reach with a King's Award for Enterprise - Applications for  2024 are now openConsidered to be the most prestigious accolade presented to UK businesses, previous winners of the globally recognised award have reported benefiting from increased commercial value, greater press coverage and a boost to staff morale.This year saw 13 of the North of England’s top exporters receive the first ever King’s Award for the Enterprise International Trade category.&nbs...

BUSINESS ENERGY EFFICIENCY PROJECT (BEEP)

The Derwent Valley Partnership is offering local businesses the opportunity to become more energy efficient through a new ‘Business Energy Efficiency Project’ (BEEP), funded through the Partnership’s Towns and Villages Fund.By getting involved, businesses will be helped to better understand their consumption and carbon emissions, and how to reduce them through behavioural modifications, investment in more efficient equipment and appliances, and on-site renewable energy ...

DERWENT VALLEY AAP - BUSINESS REPRESENTATIVE WANTED!

Do you have knowledge of local business issues in the Consett and surrounding areas, and some time to spare to be involved in local decision making in the area?If the answer is yes, the Derwent Valley Partnership currently has a business representative vacancy on its Board and would to hear from you.As one of our partner representatives (representing the local business community alongside health, housing, fire and rescue, police, voluntary and community sector and the Council), you would be requ...

AMAZON PRIME DAY WEBINAR WITH CHANNEL ADVISOR

Channel Advisor - Prime Day 2023: What you need to know - Webinar DATE & TIME: Wednesday, 24th May 2023 - 16:00Our friends at Channel Advisor are holding a webinar on Wednesday 23 May at 4pm to help brands and companies prepare for the next Amazon Prime day.  The webinar will feature experts Mariko Davison, Chris Wollman and Maya Walker and will cover the below topics:Forecast and prepare inventoryCreate and optimise content that attracts shoppersMaximise profit through smart prici...

MAY NETWORKING MEETING AT LANCHESTER GARDEN CENTRE

We had such a lovely networking meeting at Lanchester Garden Centre this morning. It was nice to see everyone's smiling faces - the sun made a guest appearance too!It was great to introduce new member Carol Smith from County Durham Community Foundation and hearing about the great work that CDCF have been doing across our region. We'll be sharing more information about CDCF in our blog and newsletter in the next few weeks.Our next meeting is on Tuesday, 20th June (8:30-10:30) ...

'DO BUSINESS' NETWORK NEWSLETTERS 2022, 2023 & 2024

Newsletter - May 2024Newsletter - April 2024Newsletter - March 2024Newsletter - February 2024Newsletter - December 2023Newsletter - November 2023Newsletter - October 2023Newsletter - September 2023Newsletter - August 2023Newsletter - July 2023Newsletter - June 2023Newsletter - May 2023Newsletter - April 2023Newsletter - March 2023Newsletter - January 2023Newsletter - December 2022Newsletter - November 2022Newsletter - October 2022Newsletter - September 2022See you at Beamish on 20th September!Ne...

This Months DBN Big Conversation

Everyone was wearing their best smile at our Zoom networking meeting this morning!Thank you to everyone who joined our 'Big Conversation' with David Kelly and Gary Scott. We got to hear about that everyone has been up to over the past month. In these smaller meetings you tend to hear more about the nitty gritty of what people actually do, which is always great.Our next Zoom meeting is on Tuesday 6th June - book your place HERE...

Mary Jallow, Utility Warehouse

Meet DBN member Mary Jallow who is a self employed consultant for Utility Warehouse. Since registering as a self employed consultant, Mary has saved her customers anything between £50 to £500 per month!  In this podcast Mary talks to us about why she loves her job and how networking has helped grow her customer base.https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-8rb3h-14225df...

APRIL 2023 NETWORKING MEETING

This months networking meeting was held at Citizens House in Consett.Thank you to everyone who contributed to our group discussion including Joanne Puckering, PhD, Ann English - Create Intrigue, Paul Sparks, Sharron Harrison, Owen Weightman, Tony Liddell, Moira Barnes, Carrie Dennison and Estelle Spring.  It's lovely to hear about all the positive updates about what's going on in our business community.Superstar shout-out goes to Ann English - Create Intrigue who told us about the launch of...

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRIME MINISTER

A message from the Prime Minister Hi there - is there anything you’ve ever wanted to ask me?  Well, now’s your chance.On Monday 24 April I’ll be answering questions from the business community live on LinkedIn.One of my top priorities as Prime Minister is to grow the economy.  And you - the British businesses, entrepreneurs, innovators and young people inventing the future - are at the heart of that.Click here to attend and ask me a question.Speak to you then,Rishi SunakThe Prim...

Interior Designer Lorraine McGill from Willow and Maine talks to us about growing her business

Meet one of our newest DBN members, Lorraine McGill from Willow and Maine Interior Designs. Lorraine started her business in 2018 and grew it while she was employed in a full time role for a North East IT business. Now, four years later she is working in her interior design business full time! In this podcast Lorraine talks to us about growing her business, some of the projects she's worked on and what her future plans are for Willow and Maine.Listen to the podcast HEREWebsite: https://www....

Maximising Your R&D Claim: The Secrets To Securing More Funding

So, you’ve filed a research and development tax claim - nice work. Better still, your claim was successful and you’ve received R&D tax relief. But what if we told you that you could have received more?Lumo Tax have written a blog giving you the secrets to optimising your R&D tax claims and helping you to maximise the amount of funding you’re entitled to. With some strategic tweaks to your internal processes and operations, you could begin reaping the rewards sooner than you think!...

EMPLOYMENT LAW BREAKFAST SEMINAR - SWINBURNE MADDISON LLP & BUSINESS DURHAM

DATE & TIME: Tuesday, 25th April 2023 - 8:30-10:30VENUE: Swinburne Maddison LLP, Venture House, Aykley Heads Business Centre, Aykley Heads, Durham, DH1 5TSEMAIL: srs@swinburnemaddison.co.uk...

BIG IDEAS EVENT IS BACK!

This is the 3rd fully funded programme we have been able to deliver thanks to the team at RTC North and Supply Chain North East.The DBN Big Ideas event is an action-packed, two-day event full of 'BIG IDEAS' to help you think, create, focus, be inspired and innovative with your business!Packed full of bite sized interactive workshops, our programme is designed to get you thinking about how to work smarter within your business and to encourage growth, increase your profit, customer satis...

NATIONWIDE TEST OF EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM ON SUNDAY, 23rd APRIL AT 3:00 p.m.

Nationwide test of Emergency Alert system on Sunday, 23rd April at 3:00 pm.The UK Government are launching a new life-saving Public Emergency Alerts system in the UK, which will give the Government and emergency services the capability to send an alert directly to mobile phones when there is a risk to life.Alert systems such as this are already successfully used across the world and save lives.The system went live on Sunday, 19th March and you may have heard that there will be a national test of...

OUR 'BIG CONVERSATION' ONLINE MEETING

Great to see everyone at our 'Big Conversation' online meeting this morning.... just look at all those smiling faces!Our Zoom meetings are another way to network with fellow DBN members when you are unable to attend our face to face meetings.Thank you to Gary and David for being wonderful hosts 😀Take a look at our meeting line up for the coming months HEREJo Long Ann English ★ Create Intrigue Jan Cook Trish Guy 3D Virtual Spaces Owen Weightman Mary Jallow David Andrew Kelly Coral Sirett Gar...

April Networking Meeting at Citizens House, Consett.

Our next face to face networking meeting is on Tuesday 18th April atthe newly refurbished Citizens House in Consett.Join us for some speed networking, bacon butties and tea/coffee from 8.30 am to 10.30 am. We also have new member announcements, guest speakers, funding updates and much more!Make sure you book your place here: https://bit.ly/42PiE29In the meantime if you'd like to find out more about Citizens House in Consett take a look at this video they've created to highlight their facili...

FREE Content Creation CoWorking Session with CDC Enterprise Agency

Hey, Small Business Owners!Do you want to get all your content planned and created for the next month?Do you need help exploring ideas and would love to support other businesses?Would you love to network with other local business owners?Would you enjoy free tea and coffee (and possibly biscuits)?Then come along to our free Content Creation CoWorking Session. Bring a laptop, phone or tablet so you can create your content. Pick the brains of our team and other attendees to get your mar...

DURHAM COFFEE - LIMITED EDITION CHARITY COFFEE

Our Honduran Charity Coffee is our newest limited edition coffee which directly gives back to our community.  In the case of our Honduran Charity Coffee, 20% of each bag sold is being donated to the Poverty Hurts Appeal.Poverty is becoming a harsh reality for more and more families and individuals across County Durham.  The region now has the highest rate of child poverty anywhere in the UK, limiting the hopes and opportunities of thousands across the county who have so much to offer.&...

DERWENT VALLEY PARTNERSHIP AREA - MAY 2023 HALF TERM

Holiday Activities with Healthy Food (HAWHF) – May 2023 – Derwent Valley Partnership AAP.Funding is available for face to face activities for children young people and families during the May half term holidays in 2023.The scheme aims to support local community groups and organisations based in the Derwent Valley Partnership AAP area to deliver enriching holiday activities during the May holidays including healthy food.Please note we cannot fund individuals or profit making organisations.App...

Welcome to DBN Willow and Maine Interior Design

We are thrilled that Lorraine McGill from Willow & Maine Interior Designs has joined DBN as a new member 🎉Willow & Maine is and interior design and styling consultancy based in Ryton. Lorraine has been running her business for 4 years now and she has turned houses into beautiful homes all across the North East!Take a look at some of her most recent projects on her website: https://www.willowandmaine.co.uk/Be sure to give her a follow on Linkedin ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorrainem...

Our March Networking Meeting

It was lovely to see you all again this morning, we certainly had lots to talk about!Thank you to David Hardy DipPFS for his presentation about planning for retirement. His informative visuals certainly helped us to understand the importance of having a plan in place for retirement! David has kindly offered a free consultation to any DBN member who'd like discuss they pension plans with him.Also, it was lovely to see Andrea McGuigan from Business Durham. Andrea and James Miller from WE ARE UMi k...

Robson Print Celebrates 50th Years in Business.

We had a great evening at Hexham Abbey last night celebrating Robson Print Ltd 50th Business Birthday 🥳Special thank you to Sharron Harrison and the team for organising such a lovely night and to John Young from Logi Firewalking for showing us what you can achieve when you focus on mind over matter 👏We have no blisters on our feet this morning but they needed a good scrub last night as they were black 🤣Happy 50th Business Birthday Robson Print 🥳 Here’s to many more successful years...