Being inspired with Jonathan Sands – An Evening with Business Link

Last night I was lucky to meet with marketing and design professionals for an evening with the Chairman of Elmwood, Jonathan Sands, courtesy of Business Link.

For those of you not familiar with Elmwood, they are an international brand design consultancy based in Guiseley, West Yorkshire. Founded in 1989 with only a handful of clients, their days working on small local campaigns from their Yorkshire base now seem a distant memory. The Yorkshire agency has successfully expanded to operate on a global scale, with offices in Melbourne, New York, and Singapore. Their client portfolio boasts successful partnerships with Walmart, Nike, Durex, and Cable and Wireless, to name only a few.

The ‘Being Inspired With…’ events organised by Business Link are a valuable opportunity to learn more about key figures within the industry and with Elmwood being one of the agencies we regularly recruit with I was keen to finally meet the man behind the company, who has lead the agency to win over 100 national and international awards and to recently be voted one of The Times UK’s Top 100 Best Companies to Work For.

Here at Network Marketing we regularly attend marketing events to ensure we keep up to date with the industry. Unfortunately, due to the demands of deadlines and last minute campaign changes, it can often be the case that turnout at the events is lower than anticipated. However it was a full house at the Great Victoria Hotel last night.

After being welcomed to the event with an impressive array of refreshments (a great selection of Taylors of Harrogate tea and cookies- keeping it local, I was impressed!) and a brief introduction to Business Link, Jonathan Sands led us in to his world of Elmwood. The presentation covered not only the history of the agency but how they have approached the current economic climate to ensure growth, not failure. It was inspiring to hear positive messages about the business world today, as opposed to the doom and gloom presented in the media on a daily basis. Jonathan was passionate about the ‘recession’ being an exciting business opportunity, not an excuse for failure. Brave words but incredibly refreshing and Elmwood’s phenomenal expansion over the past few years is evidence that positivity in these times goes a long way.

We were also given the opportunity to experience the ‘culture of Elmwood’. As a recruitment consultant who regularly works alongside the agency, this was a valuable insight. Jonathan injects his belief of growing and retaining talent at Elmwood and it was great to hear that the agency spend more on learning than they do on marketing- an area that I personally feel too many companies fail to embrace. As a young professional myself it was a comfort to hear that fellow graduates and young talent are given a chance to grow and flourish. One particular point that stuck in my mind was that Jonathan purposely let his junior staff present to judges to be considered for the Yorkshire Post’s ‘Best Company to Work For’ Award in 2008, which they subsequently went on to win.

At Elmwood, relationships are placed at the heart of everything. Jonathan stated that he wanted his clients to be their best friends and in times were there is competition in every corner it is these strong relationships that will deliver results. Unfortunately we see so much aggressiveness in business every day- it was refreshing to see good old-fashioned kindness being championed.

At the end of the evening we were treated to a light buffet and the chance to network with the other attendees. The place was buzzing and the presentation had clearly been well-received. All in all it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening and I did actually come away feeling ‘inspired’. I would truly recommend people take a look at the Business Link website and check out their events programme for autumn- http://www.businesslinkyorkshire.co.uk/events.

And as a final point to all my fellow Network Market-ers, I am proud to say that Jonathan Sands declared his love for Derby County last night- my home team! We may struggle on the football front, but we have inspirational fans 

By Helena Krzeminski

Network Get Fit With Out-Fit

Following a really busy few months from the NM team an executive decision was made that we should all be “treated” to an afternoon out orienteering in Roundhay Park and post action food and drink at the Roundhay Fox. I think everyone was in agreement as to where the real treat lay in these two elements to the day.

The first part of the task was to all meet at the carpark at Roundhay park for 2pm sharp – surely with what was planned for the rest of the afternoon an inability to do this would not bode well yet I regret to report not all were on time. When we had full attendance we had to prepare ourselves through a simple warm-up which turned out to be far from simple. After much leg-kicking arm throwing and hugging ourselves we were ready for part one of the event.

We were split into four teams of three, each of which we were told had a mix of brain and brawn, although I’m sure I class as both!! This team environment also got our competitive spirits going, which in all honesty doesn’t take much encouragement.

The first task was, in my view, a mini version of the Worlds Strongest Man Atlas Stones event except instead of weights from 100 – 160kg we were to carry 12 – 40kg and instead of putting them on pillars we ran with them in a relay race style – so in essence probably not much like said event after all. Each team completed the course and there time was recorded with the quickest team supposedly having a head start in the second and main event – the fastest team consisting of Dan Kondras, Jonny Duke and Jeannette Hirst.

After this we were given some much needed recovery time whilst learning how to map read. Each team was provided with a map of the park and a number of questions which had numerical answers which could be put together to provide co-ordinates of various points within the park where we could find clues leading to a final answer.

A clever twist meant the slowest team in the warm-up event were given a 90 second head start and each team set off in 90second intervals with the fastest team leaving last as they had the pace to catch up. We had 2 hours in which to get to all check points and record the relevant clue at the point before returning to the base camp to finish. All teams set off on their way to lakes, statues, trees and other landmarks around the park and as far out as Oakwood Clock.

Just 59 minutes later the winning team of Helena Krzeminski, Emma Thomson and Tom Fordham returned having SUSSED IT! and got to all 10 landmarks to record the relevant letters and symbols which ingeniously spelt SUSSED_IT! After a while the three other teams slowly started drifting in one having not made it to all check-points, one having not been able to use a map and one that spent 30 mins looking for a check point which didn’t exist due to a slight technical glitch with a co-ordinate from the answer to an initial question.

Celebrating finishing the task with water and a tracker bar we all discussed the fun and frolics that were involved, conducted some post match interviews (which hopefully will never be broadcast) and then were ready to hit the Roundhay Fox.

The usual Network Marketing couple of quiet drinks and a sophisticated meal followed and off we all went for a well earned sleep oblivious to the aches and pains that lay around the corner when we woke.

It was a great afternoon and delivered above and beyond expectations. Big thanks go out to Phill and the rest of the Out-Fit team who we’d recommend to anyone looking for an outdoor orienteering / team building event and congratulations again to the winning team on the day of Helena, Emma and Tom.

See the videos here!

http://www.youtube.com/user/NetworkMarketingJobs#p/a/u/0/Nm-MoGV14QI
http://www.youtube.com/user/NetworkMarketingJobs#p/a/u/1/nOy9nIFIRmk