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CONGRATULATIONS!

Huge congratulations to Nicola and Mike from all your friends at DBN.  The wonderful photo says it all! ...

BUILDING SELF-BELIEF LAUNCH IS A GREAT SUCCESS

Alongside their work in supporting schools, Christine and Peter Thomas recently launched Building Self-Belief, a charity which uses their skills in teaching to develop and deliver programmes where the arts, teaching skills and motivational techniques help to build resilience and self-esteem in young people. Christine told us "Our programmes are proving to be a great success and to celebrate this in full we organised a launch to ensure as many people as possible could share in our success. W...

IF THERE WAS EVER A TIME TO JUMP ON VIDEO - IT'S NOW. 2019 IS THE YEAR OF THE VIDEO . . .

From James Ibbitson at Visual Punch . . there has never been such a huge demand for video thanks to big social corporations rewarding businesses that use video with reach and clicks. Here’s why you should be using video in 2019: Video makes money – It’s an investment, not a cost. Video on a landing page can increase conversions by 80%. Imagine that. And get this… brands that use video marketing grow their year over year revenue 49% faster than brands that don’t.Getting video ...

CELEBRATE YOUR BUSINESS WITH THE FSB SMALL BUSINESS AWARDS

Last year DBN entered the FSB Celebrating Small Business Awards and we won . . . so if we can do it, you can too! The Awards recognise the best small businesses and the self-employed from right across the UK, from every sector and industry and from businesses of all ages and all sizes. They are the leading celebration of small businesses, shining a light on some of the best, most innovative and most determined small businesses. This is why we choose to keep entries to the awards f...

CONGRATULATIONS TO BeeMyHome FOR WINNING PRESTIGIOUS AWARD

BeeMyHome picked up the Silver Award for Best Regional Agency at the prestigious Negotiator Awards at The Grosvenor, London in November.The Negotiator Awards is the UK's leading awards programme and an award from The Negotiator is the highest accolade an agency or property company can receive. With over 750 guests, made up of company directors, senior managers and business owners the event is growing in popularity and stature every year. The Negotiator Awards was held at the ...

HAVE YOU HEARD HOW SIDEWAYS DISINHERITANCE AFFECTS MANY FAMILIES?

Brenda Beveridge talks to us: Sideways Disinheritance is when beneficiaries (often children) don’t inherit their intended share of an estate. Imagine that if you pass away and your partner re-marries and then passes away without making a Will, your children’s intended inheritance could pass to the new family leaving your children with nothing. Also, you could be in a second relationship and only have basic Wills in place, leaving everything to each other and then the children. If y...

HARNESS FUTURE TALENT IN YOUR BUSINESS

The team at FIRST are currently matching enterprising young people with far-sighted SMEs keen to harness future talent. The goal is to place highly skilled students in local SMEs in order to give growing businesses additional support with meaningful, short term projects. The working pattern is designed around both the student and businesses so, if you need an extra pair of hands, read on!  Businesses must be registered in Tyne and Wear, Northumberland or County Durham and have less than 250...

SUE IS THE TOPS!

Sue Smith has achieved a top three ranking in the Gateshead and Durham areas for hypnotherapy. Sue, who has therapy centres in Stanley, Washington and Gateshead, will be adding this accolade to national awards she has already won for hypnotherapy. Sue is a Fellow of the APHP and a Champion of the CNHC and ran a successful Wellbeing Expo at the Greenhouse last Autumn. Sue told us "I have now been recognised as a top therapist in the 'Three Be...

DBN at Beamish Museum

Great video by James from Visual Punch taken at our Festive Meeting last week - thanks James!...

FIRST Face to Face Ltd

The team at FIRST are currently matching enterprising young people with far-sighted SMEs keen to harness future talent. Please see below for more information and get in touch with Zoe (zoe@firstnetwork.co or 07715 547 148) if we can help you fill a temporary talent gap. PLACEMENT OUTLINE: Businesses must be registered in Tyne and Wear, Northumberland or County Durham and have less than 250 staff, and/or a turnover of less than €50MThe placements are 30-50 unpaid hours which can ...

We've gone cardless to make it easier for you to make payments to DBN

We have joined GoCardless to give you more choice when making payments to DBN. Once you complete the GoCardless direct debit form we will be able to take 'one off' payments for your annual membership fee and renewals. You'll find the link on your renewal email or the Join DBN page on our website. Of course we can't take any payments without your permission and GoCardless will notify you 3 working days before any payment is taken. You can still pay us using BACS...

Neil and Kieran join forces to win autism friendly museums contract

Media Arts have joined forces with autism campaigner and blogger Kieran Rose, AKA The Autistic Advocate, to win a contract with Colchester & Ipswich Museums. The collaboration will see Neil and Kieran work together to identify possible trigger points for autistic visitors at two sites and produce a video walkthrough that will be available to watch prior to their visit to help them navigate the best route through the museums.  Neil and Kieran first met in January 2018 through a DBN spon...

Colin writes to support North East charity

DBN member and author Colin Ellis (QC Ellis) is to donate 100% of the royalties from the book, "Stress, Anxiety And The Battle For Your Sanity: Use Mindfulness To Stop The Struggle" to a North East charity. Colin has written the book purposely for people the charity helps. Colin is offering a different approach and new insights because he has experienced the things he writes about.This first book in the series helps you understand the plight of people who are the casualt...

Beamish Park Hotel

Beamish Park Hotel has recently launched its new promotional video as part of Love Beamish and Stanley which is an excellent campaign aimed at showcasing independent traders in the area and the services they offer. ...

NORIKO REVEALS HER HIDDEN CHIGIRI-E ART

Noriko Matsubara launched her website this month to reveal her Japanese Chigiri-e art. Noriko’s picture book series ‘Bocchi and Pocchi,’ stories about a pair of socks, have been captivating preschool children with her soft colour pencil illustrations. Yet, few people have known about her other personality as a Japanese Chigiri-e artist until now. Chigiri-e is a traditional Japanese art created using hand-torn Japanese paper,” Noriko says. "I started practicing Chigiri-e because I wasn’...

A new service from Visual Punch

Making a professional business video has never been easier with a new service from Visual Punch. With so much technology at our fingertips, it is possible to take good quality footage on a smartphone but editing is a more difficult skill to learn. Let Visual Punch turn your footage into the video you really wanted to make!...

Local Estate Agency Shortlisted for National Award

BeeMyHome Makes the Shortlist! Regional Estate Agency of the Year Chester le Street based BeeMyHome, is delighted to be shortlisted for the Best Regional Agency category at The Negotiator Awards, to be held at The Grosvenor, London on 30th November 2018.  The Negotiator Awards is the UK's leading awards programme for estate agents.  An award from The Negotiator is the highest accolade an agency or property company can receive.  With over 750 guests expected, made up of company di...

Share your business news with DBN!

Our newsletter reaches over 500 local business contacts every month.  So if you're a member of DBN and have a story to tell, we'd love to hear from you. Don't worry about writing a "masterpiece".  All we need are the details and a photo and our award-winning reporter Peter Jackson will do the rest.  To contact us, drop an email to connect@dobusinessnetwork.com.  We want to help you shout about your business!...

The Land of Oak & Iron Needs You . . .

As you may know, the Land of Oak & Iron is developing a business toolkit to help achieve its vision of working with local communities to celebrate, conserve and enhance the Land of Oak & Iron’s natural, industrial and cultural heritage. Of course, the Derwent Valley is part of this area, and so the Land of Oak & Iron needs you… The toolkit will primarily be for tourism businesses based in, and operating within, the Land of Oak & Iron and its periphery. This includes cafés, accommodati...

Durham Business Opportunities Programme

Business Durham has reached the half way point in the Durham Business Opportunities Programme and we thought we would give you an update. Our first strand of support helped nurseries take advantage of the funded 30 hour childcare and has been a great success. We worked with 48 business to help hone their entrepreneurial skills. In Derwentside 14 providers were able to access the support. Over 1000 hours of support and 15 full day workshops have been delivered - all under fire of small toys and c...

The North East Small Loan Fund

Ambitious North East small businesses are being invited to apply to a new fund worth £9m to help them expand their operations and create new jobs. The North East Small Loan Fund Supported By The European Regional Development Fund has been specially designed to assist the growth of more than 300 actively trading SMEs by offering loans to businesses based in Tyne & Wear, Durham and Northumberland. Small Loan Fund Highlights: Typical investment range £10,000 to £50,000Terms of up to 5 yearsLoans...

Inside Dark Justice

Earlier this week Neil Jackson launched a new feature documentary project, Inside Dark Justice, in a Facebook Live that’s had 30,000 views so far.  Neil told us 'It’s a difficult subject, but one we intend to deal with sensitively and with a vision to encourage really vital changes to be made to the criminal justice system to keep more children safe from online grooming. The most important thing right now though is that we’re raising money to complete the film via a Kickstarter projec...

Congratulations Rachel!

DBN Member Rachel Locke of Arlo Private PA Services has won North East VA of the Year. Rachel recently celebrated 3 years since she set up her own business and all her friends at DBN are very proud of her achievement....

Business is blooming at The Green House

Dianne and Helen have been friends for a number years and over that time had often talked about starting a business together. Dianne told us; "We are both fully qualified Florists and have been in the business since we left school. So just over 2 years ago we decided the time was right and The Green House was opened. Stanley had to be the place to be as we are both from Stanley and have always lived and worked in and around the area". At The Green House Florist we offer professionally designed f...

FireFly New Media – Booklets & Brochures

FireFly New Media – Design – Print – Web Telephone – 01207 438 292 Email: sales@fireflynewmedia.com We’ve got you covered – Perfect Bound and Saddle Stitch #1 Tip – Brochures and booklets are used by our customers for presentations, company reports, magazines, hand-outs, and catalogues. Multi-purpose and versatile, these products are printed on a selection of vibrant paper stocks.  Choose between saddle stitched for brochures with a low number of pages, or perfect bound f...