What No Rugby?

I was expecting a nice day off and a trip to Ponteland to watch Matt play for Middlesbrough RUFC colts but after a pitch inspection it's off. Matt's probably more disappointed as he was planning a Saturday night out in Newcastle with mates but declined as he had a rugby match on Sun - impressive dedication. I'm secretly quite glad as his formerly knackered knee is a little swollen, may have been overdoing the gym this week.

So a bit of work and general business doings and then I'll watch the Heineken Cup on Sky Sports.

It's been a busy week but largely of meetings and catching up on admin and planning. It was also the week when Peter switched from being apprentice and general dogsbody to Small Business Manager (and better paid general dogsbody) - great to have Peter on a permanent basis, he'll play a big part in our growth.

Another thing playing a big part in our growth is BNI. I've never had a January where I'm not concerned about being able to pay wages and all bills - well this is it. Obviously we're not awash with cash but I have no worries this month and one thing BNI has done so far is remove any deep troughs in activity, there's always something ticking over. I expect over the year to have given a significant amount of business to my fellow members and as it runs on the Givers Gain philosophy that will only be good for us, we all grow together.

We had our first BNI meeting of 2014 over breakfast on Wed, great to see all the folks again, we've got a great set of people at Links Chapter and always good to see them. That very evening most of us went to BNI training at the Riverside Stadium - not only does BNI generate business it provides lots of free training to help you run your business better and also get more from BNI. Great event and got to meet lots of people from other chapters also resulting in a bigger personal business network.

If you've not been to our BNI chapter come a long and have a look and see how we can help you, we are especially looking for an IFA, electrical contractor, florist and photographer who we can pass business to.

OK so rugby hasn't started on TV yet so time to put some quotes together. A busy week next week with meetings with some other businesses and public sector organisation, hopeful of some decent sized contracts from them.