Thoughtful event planning that tailors to the needs of every Member

15 May 2019 To Tracy & Hayley This is a testimonial that I write to thank you both for all you have given to me and to your chapter from my personal experience of your fabulous networking group. My personal life took a dramatic hit in April 2017 when I was diagnosed with Testicular Cancer, following surgery I had intensive chemotherapy and had major side effects from this which caused me to have not one but two T.I.A’s (Mini strokes). After a spell in hospital and a considerable amount of investigations I slowly started to recover and was released home, where the new life challenges began. During my recovery I was diagnosed with Anxiety & Depression which made me re-evaluate different aspects of my life and I decided to change my life for the better and make as many changes as possible. So after many cocktails, wine & desperados, my good friend and next door neighbour Robin and I decided to go into business together and buy the franchise Monopoly Buy Sell Rent Chester. We launched in January 2018 and I knew that for us to succeed we needed to network and find new contacts within Chester & surrounding area, I searched around for quite some time and didn’t really get any feedback from other groups. I connected with Tracey via Facebook Messenger which was great and I was invited to attend my first meeting in Feb 2018. I really enjoyed this experience and found Tracey and Hayley to be both welcoming and supportive. Once I had committed to attending the network meeting I became very nervous and started worrying about my ability to connect with a group of people and represent my business in the best possible way. Tracey & Hayley assured me that it was a very relaxed environment and that all I needed to do was be myself and make myself present within the meetings. Because of the strong and positive advice I was given during my first meeting, I have taken that into every Business Networking Event and more importantly I have utilised it within other aspects of my business. Since joining the networking group I have become a lot more confident with myself and how I communicate with other people and I have Tracey & Hayley to thank for that for making me feel welcome and helping me along my way. Thank you both, please give yourself a pat on the back. Kind regards Gavin Belton-Rose Director

Great Bear Distribution have been members of The Business Network Forum for almost 12 months and in that time I have met many interesting Owner Directors and Senior Managers of business. The Chester Business Forum meets monthly for a couple of hours at various prestigous Chester Hotels. Not only is there an opportunity to network with key decision makers in the region, it is also possible to present your organisation to a wider audience, on a one to one and if the opportunity allows as a formal seminar. My Company will in time I am sure be doing business with one or two of the key people we have met - this is a gradual process of confidence building ,and sharing of ideas and experiences. Equally many of the smaller companies and individuals can provide a higher degree of personalised service, something which has been lost and perhaps missed in a quest for business growth. I highly recommend any business to put a toe in the water and meet two highly motivated organisers and many like minded business networkers at a future meeting.... Go on try it - nothing ventured nothing gained.!

I just wanted to say thank you for organising another great lunch today. I cannot believe it is a year since I started coming to the Business Network Chester events. I really enjoy coming to the events and it is a testament to your enthusiasm and great organisational skills that they are such a success month on month. I tried a lot of different networking events before coming to the Business Network and never really felt that I got that much out of them, despite my efforts, but your philosophy of building trust and getting to know people is a good fit with my own thoughts on business networking and definitely seems to work. I have recently started to really feel the benefit of being in the Network and am very much looking forward to continuing to meet and get to know the other members over the next 12 months.