11 minute read
Make Yourself at Home
MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME
A new city-wide initiative has been launched to support Sheffield businesses and build consumer confidence – unLTD found out more
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Sheffield City Council has launched ‘Make Yourself at Home’ – a new initiative to help support the businesses and communities of Sheffield.
The aim of the campaign is to give confidence to residents as they begin to interact more with various areas of the city and to support businesses in their economic recovery. It will be used to promote the city as a whole, as well as give businesses a toolkit they can use to communicate to their own customers.
The Council has consulted with private sector organisations through the city’s Sheffield Business Response Group to help produce ‘Make Yourself at Home’, alongside the council’s own Public Health and City Centre Management in order to align business recovery with essential public health messaging concerning Coronavirus (COVID-19).
Councillor Julie Dore, Leader of Sheffield City Council, said: “We want to create something that the people of the city, whether independent business owners, community centre leaders, cultural creators, entrepreneurs or individual residents, can understand, get behind and use to create a pride of place for Sheffield. We of course need to move forwards but we must also remember this is more difficult for some groups and individuals in our society. ‘Make Yourself at Home’ allows us to talk to and represent people from all walks of life, which makes it distinct from other, ‘Open for Business’ campaigns.”
Councillor Mazher Iqbal, Cabinet Member for Business and Investment at Sheffield City Council, said: “Sheffield businesses in all sectors need our support, and we are delighted with the positive feedback we have received in sharing this with some of them in the run up to launch. We are not a city that is just ‘open for business’ – we know it takes more than that because residents need to have confidence in order to get out again – and we hope ‘Make Yourself at Home’ gives them a friendly and genuinely Sheffield way of interacting with each other as we find our way through this crisis.” Co-Chair of the COVID-19 Business Response Group, and Managing Director of Counter Context, Alexis Krachai, said: “This is a really challenging time for many people and many businesses. The COVID-19 pandemic will change many things but it will not change the city’s ability to get through tough times. We are at our strongest when we work together. ‘Make Yourself at Home’ is all about supporting local businesses and communities as life gradually moves forwards – whilst remembering the safety and comfort of home. The more businesses and organisations that say ‘Make Yourself at Home’, the more we can help every business and every community back on their feet.”
Matt Bigland, MD of The Milestone Group who run a number of hospitality venues in Sheffield, said: “We have always said that all our venues need to make people feel as comfortable as they would in their own house – so as soon as we saw the ‘Make Yourself at Home’ concept we just knew it would work in the hospitality sector. It’s going to be really tough for us to match consumer demand with health regulations and still keep afloat, and that’s why something like this that makes us all feel like we are doing it together is really important for us and the city as a whole. And it ties in really nicely with a new app we will be launching very
shortly to help businesses reach more customers.”
An online hub for Make Yourself at Home has been launched on the existing Welcome to Sheffield website at www.welcometosheffield. co.uk/makeyourselfathome and will continue to grow over coming months to feature information guides, recommendations, guest articles and blogs, along with general support and cross promotion for businesses and organisations in all sectors.
A ‘Make Yourself at Home’ marketing toolkit is also available for anyone to download and use to promote their own business, organisation or community as part of the campaign. www. welcometosheffield.co.uk/ makeyourselfathome/toolkit
Director of Public Health at Sheffield City Council, Greg Fell, said: “It is great news for the local economy that
further businesses will be able to re-open from July 4th. We are confident that businesses have all the necessary safety measures in place to make sure cafés, restaurants, hotels and hairdressers can welcome the return of customers. “The further lifting of lockdown restrictions by the Government does not mean a lift to our local safety measures and guidance around the wellbeing of our residents and we will continue to keep a careful eye on the reopening of the city’s businesses to make sure this is done to minimise risk of transmission, both indoors and outdoors where people are gathered together. “If we continue to observe the social distancing measures in place and groups maintain their advised social bubbles, we are confident that the general public will be safe as long as we all remain cautious and continue to observe the
guidelines. This is essential if we are to prevent any outbreaks in the city.
“It’s important to remember that the virus is still in the community so we will see cases in Sheffield – however, businesses have well-prepared plans on how they need to respond to a coronavirus incident. This includes continued plans for testing, self-isolation where appropriate, and deep cleaning advised for affected premises. As is now standard practice, any positive cases will be followed up by NHS Test and Trace, with any close contacts of cases informed and advised to selfisolate.
“The council’s Public Health team continue to work closely with colleagues at Public Health England to manage the safe reopening of the city with appropriate safety measures in place to control any future infections in Sheffield.”
HELPING SMES BREAK RECORD SALES MONTHS – DURING LOCKDOWN!
Jon Asquith, MD of ActionCOACH Sheffield, has been working with UK SMEs for more than 15 years. Here he shares with unLTD how his local focus and pro bono stance has been a ‘revelation’ since lockdown, helping dozens of companies with free strategy sessions
I’m a local lad, born in Rotherham but have ended up travelling the UK supporting SMEs in their growth and development – and after working with more than 1,000 companies in the last 15 years, I made the decision to support my local community in 2019.
The vision is to help and empower 100,000 people in the next ten years and help transform the Sheffield economy.
This pro bono stance has been a revelation since lockdown first started, as I’ve been able to help dozens of companies with free strategy sessions, along with a free monthly call with guest speakers talking about sales and mental wellbeing.
I also launched ‘Sheffield Steel, The Lockdown Interviews' with business owners from the region to discover how people have been adapting and changing how they do business in these unprecedented times.
The idea was to share some insight, fun and muchneeded good news. It all felt a bit doom and gloom and from working with owners of companies in the region and seeing what they had been doing, I thought we needed to share a positive message – we’ve built up more than 20,000 people watching the YouTube series.
The feedback from Sheffield City Region companies across has been fantastic and it’s so rewarding to know I have helped.
Gerry Arcari. founder and
MD of Vivid Creative:“Jon has been our rock during lockdown – helping us stay calm and focused on strategies to succeed. The results speak for themselves – we have had an incredibly strong trading quarter – in excess of the previous quarter before lockdown! We are now focussed on growth across all service areas and are actively looking to recruit new staff. Jon is now pivotal to our growth – he’s incredibly talented and gets the best out of you and your teams, he’s a ‘must have’ addition to any SME business looking for growth.”
Karl Austin, director of KDA
Web Services:“Deciding to work with Jon wasn't an easy decision for our collective ego, but it has been a revelation. We've got more done on our business in the last three months than we had in the last three years.”
Wez Little, operations
director of ControlPoint:“Jon has become an integral part of our business, providing unrivalled insight from his vast business experience, and from within the group of small business clients Jon has built up. If I had to sum up Jon in a sentence – he is ‘Insight Man’, your SME business superhero.”
ActionCOACH Sheffield is all about helping you achieve the business you want, that third eye to offer perspective, confidence, skill, and perspective.
Has your business taken a dip due to lockdown? Are you on the up and want to keep on climbing? Have you perhaps lost your way a little and need some direction and guidance?
If you answered YES to any of the above, get in touch for a complimentary business strategy session to help you re-focus, give you impetus and improve your business.
Tel: 0114 358 2788 Email: jonasquith@ actioncoach.co.uk sheffield.actioncoach.co.uk YouTube: youtube.com/ c/jonasquith
LOCKDOWN LESSONS ON A ‘BUZZING’ PROPERTY MARKET
With house prices holding their own and new stock coming on to the market, Rochelle Gilburn, founder of Gilburn Investment Group, shares her lockdown business and life lessons – and how she can help you build a steady income through property
I never could have predicted how lockdown would affect my business. I expected it to be a lonely time of isolation. Being a widow with two young kids and running a business was never going to be an easy task.
However, we made it – my children are now back at school, and I managed to keep the business going, despite the difficulties.
I have done more networking and built more relationships over this time than I would have without quarantine. Zoom has become my new coffee shop and I’ve added the buzzword ‘Voffee’ to my daily vocab. Meetings have become more relaxed with children and pets stealing the spotlight!
With everything slowing down, we’ve been given a taster of what life could be like if we didn’t have to work long days. Many of us have been fortunate enough to enjoy the time off in the sun with our immediate family. It has shown us a new way of living.
I’ve had a lot of people contacting me over the last couple of months who have realised that they want to make sure they can retire early, that they have a bit more money in their pocket every month, and can enjoy their lives.
How can I help?
I’m not here to advise you on your finances, but what I can do is help you to come up with a plan to build a steady income through property. I can bring you the right property deals that will give you the required cashflow to help reach your goals.
I manage the process from start to finish so that you can sit back and relax. I’ll find the properties, project manage
the renovation and put you in touch with the best solicitors, mortgage advisors and letting agents.
The buzz around the property market
Since we got the nod from the government that estate agents could open back up and viewings could once again take place, there has been a real buzz around the market.
House prices are holding their own and a lot of new stock is coming on to the market. There are still a lot of people out there looking to buy.
The majority of the deals I source for my clients don’t come from estate agents. I have access to properties that are not on the market which means my clients get the best possible deals without the competition.
When is the best time to invest?
The answer to that question is always now – there’s no time like the present.
You could wait until house prices fall, but when will that be and what will your excuses be then?
There are always a million reasons to wait before you do something, but while you’re waiting, that money in the bank earning 0.01% could be generating you an income.
