Business Revival - In Gloucestershire

On this final edition of 2020,  Cheltenham M.P.  Alex Chalk gives us his frank view of how the town's businesses are coming through the economic shock created by the pandemic. It's a patchy experience for the town but the unemployment figures suggest Cheltenham has greater resilience than many of its counterparts elsewhere in the U.K.Alex also discusses what could and should be happening to the town's High Street  as the retail sector continues to suffer and also about how cyber innovation will be hugely important to Cheltenham's recovery. Listen in for Alex's response to questions from the town's limited company directors who feel government support programmes have passed them by.                                                                                                                                *Wondering how to make your own business podcast? Then why not investigate all our free resources to help you on your podcasting journey. Download Made4U Podcast's "Ultimate Podcast Starter Blueprint" right here!  Listen to our "Podcast Launch Pad" podcast by Serena Gay Join this friendly community Facebook Group to ask questions and learn from other podcasters.  Made4U Podcasts launches and produces podcasts for companies and organisations to help them attract a profitable new stream of clients - enquiries to Serena at info@made4u-podcasts.co.uk. 

Chun Kong owns The Mayflower Restaurant in Cheltenham.  His family opened what is now one of the town's premier eating venues decades ago in 1982 and Chun is an old hand at preparing his much-loved Cantonese-style cuisine business to survive economic shock.  Since then, he has steered the business through economic downturns every decade or so and now has his own hard and fast rules for ensuring survival. Find out what they are on this week's podcast.                                                                                                                                                                  *Wondering how to make your own business podcast? Then why not investigate all our free resources to help you on your podcasting journey. Download Made4U Podcast's "Ultimate Podcast Starter Blueprint" right here!  Listen to our "Podcast Launch Pad" podcast by Serena Gay Join this friendly community Facebook Group to ask questions and learn from other podcasters.  Made4U Podcasts launches and produces podcasts for companies and organisations to help them attract a profitable new stream of clients - enquiries to Serena at info@made4u-podcasts.co.uk. 

Lorrin White is CEO of Bamboo Technology - a sizeable group based in Cheltenham offering business communications and cyber and threat intelligence services among their offerings. The company was in the enviable position at the start of the pandemic crisis. It found that, overnight, it had become THE most important contact in their clients' address books.  Lorrin has made the most of this silver lining by beefing up her internal communications systems and concentrating with new-found enthusiasm on social media  - principally through educational posts.  She has introduced new working practices during lockdown that have proved so popular with the workforce, that they will be kept on as a permanent feature.  Listen to the edition for more.                                                                                                     *Find out how to make your own business podcast and download Made4U Podcast's "Ultimate Podcast Starter Blueprint" right here!  You can also join our friendly community Facebook Group to ask questions and learn from other podcasters.  Made4U Podcasts launches and produces podcasts for companies and organisations to help them attract a profitable new stream of clients - enquiries to Serena at info@made4u-podcasts.co.uk. 

Catherine Mountain started listening to her followers on social media during lockdown and was fascinated by what she heard. The experience prompted her and her business partner Tim (also her husband) to entirely revamp their marketing strategy. Catherine and Tim run the Gloucestershire multi-media content production company Evenlode Films and Productions. They have sterling film backgrounds at the BBC and in live event and music production. Catherine is responsible for some truly creative ideas for spectacular lighting events but the onset of lockdown meant work ceased on their projects.   Suddenly, she had the time to really study what people were talking about on social media and on this podcast episode. She tells us what happened next as a result.                                                                       Find out more about how to make a business podcast. Download Made4U Podcast's "Ultimate Podcast Starter Blueprint" right here. You can also join our friendly community Facebook Group to ask questions and learn from other podcasters.Made4U Podcasts launches and produces podcasts for companies and organisations to help them attract a profitable new stream of clients - enquiries to Serena at info@made4u-podcasts.co.uk

Gloucestershire author Sarah Townsend, shares her expert knowledge on surviving as a freelancer.  Sarah is a Gloucestershire-based copywriting expert and her new book "Survival Skills for Freelancers" is incredibly well-timed to help people reinvent themselves as entrepreneurs  following job losses caused by the pandemic. You can buy the book here If you're seeking to revive your career by working for yourself,  Sarah shares a whole host of practical tips to help you make the best use of available resources, to stay connected and to protect your mental well-being.   There's more about Sarah and her business here.                                                                          Find out more about how to make a business podcast and download Made4U Podcast's "Ultimate Podcast Starter Blueprint" right here. You can also join our friendly community Facebook Group to ask questions and learn from other podcasters.Made4U Podcasts launches and produces podcasts for companies and organisations to help them attract a profitable new stream of clients - enquiries to Serena at info@made4u-podcasts.co.uk

Welcome back to the second series of Business Revival - in Gloucestershire. This week, Christopher Price, Partner at Taynton's Solicitors in Gloucester is our guest. His revelations about the effect of the pandemic on the legal profession in this country come as quite a surprise.  Find out more about how to make a business podcast and download Made4U Podcast's "Ultimate Podcast Starter Blueprint" right here.Made4U Podcasts launches and produces podcasts for companies and organisations to help them attract a profitable new stream of clients - enquiries to Serena at info@made4u-podcasts.co.uk

This week the Federation of Small Business' Sam Holliday provides a sobering view of our region's business landscape. Sam is the Development Manager for the FSB's Gloucestershire and the West of England office and has many years of experience editing regional newspapers. He works to support thousands of members who run small businesses or are self-employed and no one could be better placed to know where things are heading. Sam reports on how the country's businesspeople are faring in the current climate with parts of the UK teetering on the edge of a new lockdown in October 2020. It's not all gloomy - Sam tells us there are definitely silver linings as the true entrepreneurs among us spot opportunities during these otherwise difficult times.  This is the last episode in the current series but "Business Revival - in Gloucestershire" will be back in November. Find out more about how to make a podcast and download Made4U Podcast's "Ultimate Podcast Starter Blueprint" now!

Laura Crabb is the founder of Boxtree Gifts - an online giftbox ordering company. Although still quite a young enterprise, Laura managed to keep it going despite having to furlough her staff during lockdown. She did so well in fact that her business ballooned and went from two employees to 10 - once a semblance of normality returned. Laura was in close touch with the mood of the nation during the worst of the lockdown as she handwrote the messages that relatives asked her to place in the boxes. On this edition of the Business Revival - in Gloucestershire podcast, she tells us how important communication with clients was to the success of the business. Our business expert, Gill Smith, of The Business Kitchen explores the power of listening to your customers as she examines Laura's survival strategy.Like to find out more about how to make a podcast? Download Made4U Podcast's "Ultimate Podcast Starter Blueprint for Small Businesses" now!

The very essence of an entrepreneur is to be able to see opportunities when everyone else is running scared. Gloucestershire's well-known craft beer maker Hillside Brewery and its Managing Director Paul Williamson are a prime example of just that. When so many of us dithered about how best to respond, Paul's imagination went into overdrive and he moved quickly to adapt to keep the brewery alive. Business expert Gill Smith of The Business Kitchen gives Paul full marks for his survival strategy.Like to find out more about how to make a podcast? Download Made4U Podcast's "Ultimate Podcast Starter Blueprint for Small Businesses" now!

This pizza-making entrepreneur only became one because COVID-19 brought her other income streams to a painful halt. But Rachael Willoughby is nothing if not resourceful and once she has a good idea, she moves heaven and earth to make it happen. She and her husband run a number of businesses between them but started "Papa Gees" during lockdown to make and sell authentic Italian pizzas to their immediate locality in Bishop's Cleeve in Gloucestershire.  The whole lockdown and pizza-making experience though has had a profound effect on Rachael's ambitions for the future. Find out how on this week's podcast edition of "Business Revival - in Gloucestershire" and the interesting spin our business guru, Gill Smith, has to put on it.Interested in launching a business podcast? Visit Made4U Podcast's website and download a FREE 8 week podcast launch planner to see how you can make your podcast dream reality.

Parents everywhere felt the strain during the lockdown but spare a thought for adoptive parents of traumatised and neglected children, profoundly damaged by the cruelty of their early years.  Caring for them is exhausting, draining and must sometimes seem futile.Rosie Jefferies is the Managing Director of the Gloucestershire-based National Association of Therapeutic Parenting or NATP which provides advice, help and training to these parents and was herself rescued from a very disturbing family situation. Unsurprisingly, her organisation received a massive injection in terms of membership and income. How did it cope with the reverse of what so many businesses and organisations experienced and what is Rosie doing to capitalise on their growth? Interested in launching a business podcast? Visit Made4U Podcast's website and download a FREE 8 week podcast launch planner to see how you can make your podcast dream reality.

The Gloucestershire charity "Hope For Tomorrow" did more than keep its head above water during lockdown. While so many charities struggled to cope in the face of cancelled fund-raising events, "Hope For Tomorrow" not only kept funds rolling in but successfully rolled out its services to a far wider catchment area.  "Hope For Tomorrow" funds mobile cancer care units which take the treatment to the patient so they don’t have to travel miles to hospitals. It also means the risk of patients' contracting Covid-19 is significantly reduced.NHS Trusts throughout the UK cottoned on to this innovation during lockdown and the charity’s vehicles were much in demand.How did Fundraising Manager, Nikki Budding, maintain money-raising momentum?Our business expert Gill Smith from The Business Kitchen comments on Nikki's impressive achievements and on some of the common themes beginning to appear across this podcast's interviews. Interested in launching a business podcast? Visit Made4U Podcast's website and download a FREE 8 week podcast launch planner to see how you can make your podcast dream reality.

We should be thankful for people like Clare Seed of Tidal Training Direct. Her acute risk radar meant she acted quickly to prevent her business inadvertently spreading the Covid-19 virus through their popular face-to-face First Aid Training courses in Gloucestershire. But how do you cope for the future when operations are closed down and your business will be among the last to resume operations because of the nature of the business? Our business expert Gill Smith from The Business Kitchen has some suggestions.Interested in launching a business podcast? Visit Made4U Podcast's website and download a FREE 8 week podcast launch planner to see how you can make your podcast dream reality.

David Chalk, of Windrush Care, is proud that his thriving home care services business kept his vulnerable clients safer in their own homes than they would have been in residential accommodation. As he explains, none of his staff tested positive for Covid-19 and consequently not a single client was lost to the disease. David now finds Windrush Care is busier than ever and that this position is expected to hold for some time to come. His main headache though continues to be recruiting the right kind of staff to work in an industry that is notoriously underfunded and held in low esteem. Something has to change.Our business expert Gill Smith from The Business Kitchen weighs in with some useful ideas. Interested in launching a business podcast? Visit Made4U Podcast's website and download a FREE 8 week podcast launch planner to see what's involved

Nick Weston, CEO of Weston Aviation adapted quickly to the crisis created by the onset of the corona virus and the severe curtailing of air traffic. Now he sees the role of regional airports as vital in the recovery process because they offer a much more efficient and safer means of transport. But more expensive, surely? Well, not necessarily. Our business expert Gill Smith from The Business Kitchen offers some useful advice.Interested in launching a business podcast? Visit Made4U Podcast's website and download a FREE 8 week podcast launch planner to see what's involved.

Chris Hickey knows a thing or two about returning from the dead.  And he's applying his masterful HR skills to Gloucestershire businesses' employee issues throughout this crisis. Our business expert Gill Smith from The Business Kitchen gives her take on how Chris's company, Charlton HR, faced up to the challenge of the corona virus crisis.To find out more about Made4U Podcasts and the services it provides companies and organisations with launching and producing podcasts, visit our website here. 

A quick introduction to this new podcast focusing on business revival strategies in the UK county of Gloucestershire.