Vanessa Lanham-Day  runs CProject, which is a small Surrey-based marketing and communications consultancy.  She works for a lot of financial planners and IFAs, as well as all sorts of SME businesses.

She describes herself as a “no-nonsense, practical marketer”, and says “Sorting the brand strategy and the big picture planning side of things is right up my street, but so too is the detail of implementation. I really enjoy getting stuck in and being part of my client’s team.”

Vanessa is currently working with Nigel Botterill and his team at the Entrepreneur’s Circle, and told me how she got to that point

“In 2003 I decided to cut my team right back and give myself the ultimate freedom of working on my own. It has been a really liberating experience – enabling me to try other business options, including building a property portfolio and owning retail knitwear business. I especially enjoyed building up our online knitwear business from scratch seeing customers grow from zero to over a thousand today.

It’s a very different marketing to business to business, and it has helped me support a number of retail clients as a result.
I recently have sold the knitwear business and am now really excited about working more closely with Nigel and his team Being a Business Growth Advisor fits perfectly with my interest in mentoring growing businesses and means I can offer my marketing experience to the people who really need it, without having to worry if they can afford me!

On a personal note, I’m married to the gorgeous – and very patient! – Steve. We’ve been together since 1978 but only married in 2003 – after I proposed to him. We tied the knot on our 25th anniversary in a surprise wedding! I love doing outdoor things and being in the gym – often to be seen on my road bike too. I may not be that talented but enthusiasm counts for a lot!

She’s a great candidate to speak to us at the Horsley Network this month as she’s been awarded the prestigious title of Business Growth Advisor of the Year for 2011 – due in no small part, I’m assured, by absolute passion for helping business owners achieve their potential and dreams.

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2012, A bright new year or gloom and doom?

by Claire Brown on January 3, 2012

Happy New Year to you all

2012 has started with some ferocious weather, and plenty of stories of financial doom in the papers. – But in this Olympic year, how are you and your business feeling?

After a fantastic 10 day break over Christmas, i’m ready to go back to work, but my son isn’t back at school yet, so instead of sitting at the computer all morning, we got up early and were at Wisley for just after it opened, to blow the cobwebs away, get some exercise and get inspiration flowing.

With the rain pouring down and the wind lashing the trees, we had the place almost to ourselves. During storms, we explored the Glasshouse rootzone on our own and in detail (ignoring the one way signs!), and choose Seed potatoes in the Plant Centre. In between the rain, we made it to the top of the fruit mound and had fantastic views out onto the empty gardens, and over the London storm cloud horizon.

Because we ventured out when everyone else had stayed inside, we were ahead of the queues, we got to see more detail than normal, and when the rain stopped, we got the best views. We did get wet, but nothing that a cup of coffee and dry clothes couldn’t solve.

I think that this year in business is going to be very much like a rainy day. It’s easier and more comfortable to stay inside and not get wet, but if you venture out you’ll be ahead of everyone else when the rain stops.

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Making the Media work for you

November 22, 2011

Our speaker last night was Ann Wright from Roughhouse media. With over 20 years experience as a Journalist and TV producer, she had some fascinating insights to give us on how to get yourself as a small business into a position with the media, so that your story and opinion is used. We learnt about [...]

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Why don’t you Buy goods and services locally?

November 14, 2011

Our last months survey gave us some great insights into the habits of local buyers. We asked about the main factors that would dissuade you from buying locally 70.6% of respondants said that insufficient range was something that made them look elsewhere 64.7% said that cost was and issue and the next most burning issues, [...]

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And the winners are….

October 18, 2011

Over the last few weeks, we’ve had a survey out to find out what Horsley people think about Buying Locally. We wanted it to be all about the best of the goods and services locally, what makes people buy locally and what makes them go further afield. We had some great and telling results, about [...]

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Blogging for your business

September 28, 2011

So you know that Social media is there to help your business get known, – you’ve been told that Blogging would be a good idea, but what is it? and how should you start? Our very own Fiona Humberstone is a blogging expert, and her stylish blog is full of ideas, but here is one [...]

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Social media – How do you start?

September 28, 2011

Our talk from Jon Machtynger last week was great, about the large amount of social media methods that can be used to help business’s communicate in efficient ways, – but if you havn’t started yet, – should you? – do you need to? – and how do you? – Thanks to Karen Skidmore of CanDoCanBe, [...]

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Social media – can what the corporates work with be useful for small business?

September 20, 2011

Our talk last night was by Jon Machtynger. As Lotus CTO for IBM, ( that’s chief technical officer, – or clever bod that does lots with information and computers to those like me who’ve never been had a corporate life) he is brilliantly based to give us an understanding of how a multinational corporation uses [...]

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Family Fun Day at Horsley Towers this Sunday 24th July

July 20, 2011

Those of you that have come to one of the meetings at Horsley Park over the the last few months, will know that that there are fantastic grounds surrounding the Conference and hotel buildings, and the De Vere team will be putting them to good use this weekend at their Family Fun day on Sunday [...]

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Horsley Towers, The Horsley Business Network Venue

July 4, 2011

Have you ever noticed that you see things when you walk places that you don’t see when you’re driving past? The Horsley Towers Devere Venue, is so well hidden that even if you walk along the Ockham Road South, you might well miss it But hidden behind the wonderful lovelace flint walls and cottages near [...]

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