My partner and I are excited to welcome a tiny new addition to our family in November; I begin parental leave on 1st November 2023, and will be back to work in early April 2024.

What does that mean if you want to work with me?

Please consider me completely "off-grid" from 1st November until 2nd January 2024 . You can still hire me to run your operations and projects from 8th April 2024

From 3rd January until 4th April, I'll be monitoring emails around once per week . If you have immediate needs in this window, please leave me a message and I'll endeavour to support any requests in a timely manner, subject to the baby nap schedule at that time!

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My little purple book

I’ve been networking, on and offline, for more than a decade. I know good people.

I want to help people, particularly fellow small business types, but the thing is... it takes up a serious amount of time

Early morning breakfast meetings. Community lunches. Late-night networking events. Consistently showing up. Following up. Discovery calls. Connection requests.  1-2-1 meetings. In fact, my "being helpful" referrals were regularly taking me 1-2 hours after each meeting. That's a lot of time, emotional labour, and - cutting to it - money coming out of my small business. For more than ten years

So I’ve had to make things a little more self-service now. Below are my go-to’s - people, places, stuff, communities, events, causes and motorsport-specific stuff. These are all people I’ve worked with or things I’ve been a part of that I’m happy to recommend. They haven’t asked to be on it, and like a Nando’s Black Card, you can’t request to be a part of this either.

Just reach out directly to them and tell them I sent you! 

I’ll update this list from time to time, so you can always check back later now you have the secret link. All I ask is that you don’t publicly share this link; you probably know by now I’m big into privacy, and this list wasn’t set out to be a replacement for the Yellow Pages.

I'm not an uber-cool influencer, or an affiliate, that makes money off recommendations. So if I've sent you in the way of someone/thing/where awesome, maybe you can send me a virtual Earl Grey in a couple of taps. I’d really appreciate it.

If there is someone more specific you want me to introduce you to, and you can’t find them via search engines or social channels, then please do still ask.

3D modelling & design

YSF Design

Ask for: Yusuf Islam

  • People
  • Motorsport

Accountancy

Wellers

Ask for: Christina Nawrocki

  • People

Cafe

The Yurt at Nicholsons

Ask for: Tami Battle

  • Places
  • Women in business

Connectors

Stäubli

Ask for: Matt Hawkins

  • Motorsport

Copywriting

Fierce Content

Ask for: Chelsea Groome

  • People
  • Women in business

Creative events & production

Amy Meadows Events

Ask for: Amy Johnson

  • Women in business
  • People

Drinks bottles

Hydrorace

Ask for: Dan O'Connor

  • Stuff
  • Motorsport

Electronics

DC Electronics

Ask for: Martin Dewey

  • Motorsport

Event

IWD Banbury

  • Events
  • Causes

Event

Business in Oxford

  • Events

Event

Venturefest

  • Events

Event

Formula Student

  • Causes
  • Motorsport

Events, networking and support

Customer Success Cafe

  • Communities

Events, networking and support

Digital Oxford

  • Communities

Events, networking and support

Oxford Independent Consultants

Ask for: Phil Walsh

  • Communities

Events, networking and support

The Circle

  • Women in business
  • Communities
  • Causes

Events, networking and support

The Oxford Collective

  • Communities

Events, networking and support

The Oxfordshire Project

  • Communities

Events, networking and support

Silverstone Technology Cluster

Ask for: Pim Van Barsen

  • Communities
  • Motorsport

Events, networking and support

The Motorsport Industry Association

Ask for: Fiona Aylett

  • Communities
  • Motorsport

Facilitation and coaching

Peptalk

Ask for: Mandy Spooner

  • People
  • Women in business

Facilitation and coaching

Walsh’s Learning to Achieve

Ask for: Phil Walsh

  • People

Fitness and sports performance

Boomerang Pro Fitness

Ask for: John Camilleri

  • Motorsport

Flight cases

5 Star Cases

Ask for: Keith Sykes

  • Motorsport
  • Stuff

Floristry

greenery

Ask for: Kate Ladd

  • Women in business
  • Stuff

Freelance community

Hoxby

  • Communities

Fuel cells

ATL

Ask for: Toby Jenkins

  • Motorsport

Health and safety

The Safety Elf

Ask for: Alison Thompson

  • People
  • Women in business

HR

Meraki HR

Ask for: Emma Browning

  • People
  • Women in business

Insurance

John Morgan Partnership

Ask for: Colin Jones

  • People

Jewellery

EF Jewellery

Ask for: Emily Fermor

  • Stuff
  • Women in business

Kids stuff

POP

Ask for: Sophie Powell

  • Stuff
  • Women in business

Local business support

Banbury Chamber of Commerce

Ask for: Yasmin Kaduji

  • Communities

Local business support

Banbury Women in Business

Ask for: Rebecca Peary

  • Communities
  • Women in business

Local business support

Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership - OxLEP

  • Communities

Local business support

South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership - SEMLEP

  • Communities

Logistics

Logicom Hub

Ask for: Sam Stretton

  • Women in business
  • People

Market Research

ACE Market Research

Ask for: Amanda Claesens

  • Women in business
  • People

Modern calligraphy and lettering

Illyboo Designs

Ask for: Illyahna Johnson

  • Women in business
  • People

Offices

Greatworth Hall

Ask for: Rosie Jefferies

  • Places

Paddock equipment

Paddock Space

Ask for: Dave Brookman

  • Motorsport

Paddock equipment

CES

Ask for: Ian Matthews

  • Motorsport

Personal brand strategy

Build your brand story

Ask for: Lucy Eckley

  • People
  • Women in business

Photography

Becky Moyce

Ask for: Becky Moyce

  • People
  • Women in business

Photography

JEP

Ask for: Mike Hoyer

  • Motorsport

Photography

Drew Gibson

Ask for: Drew Gibson

  • Motorsport

Placements and internships

Activate Learning

Ask for: Nancy Buckley

  • People

Placements and internships - Engineering

Oxford Brookes University

Ask for: Gordana Collier

  • People
  • Motorsport

Promotional merchandise

Chilli Promotions

Ask for: Jody Fletcher

  • Stuff
  • Women in business

Pub & restaurant

The Kitchen at Farnborough

Ask for: Jo Robinson

  • Places

Publishing

Kimberley Media Group

Ask for: Adrian Goodsell

  • Motorsport

Radio equipment

Autotel

  • Motorsport

Recruitment

923 Jobs

Ask for: Helen Wright

  • Women in business
  • People

Recruitment

Cameo Consultancy

Ask for: Hannah Nicholls

  • Women in business
  • People

Removals & storage

Jamie Briggs

Ask for: http://www.jamiebriggs.co.uk/

  • People

Safety products

Lifeline

Ask for: Alec Parr

  • Motorsport

Science communication and engagement

The Curiosity Box

Ask for: Renee Watson

  • Women in business
  • Stuff

Simulator interfaces

Precision Sim Engineering

Ask for: Simon Hodgson

  • Motorsport

Simulators

Cruden

  • Motorsport

Social media

Get Social

Ask for: Laura-Anne Williams

  • Women in business
  • People

Tea

Happy Larder Co

Ask for: Leanne Duffield

  • Women in business
  • Stuff

Team development, facilitation, and coaching

Team Flair

Ask for: Amy Reynolds

  • People
  • Women in business

Theatre, studios, meeting rooms, gallery and cafe

The Mill Arts Centre

Ask for: Emma Nooney

  • Places

Travel

Travel Counsellors

Ask for: Dawn Gascoigne

  • Women in business
  • People

Videography

Kingdom Creative

Ask for: Simon Harrison

  • People
  • Motorsport

Virtual administration

Admin Support and Solutions

Ask for: Christina Taylor

  • People
  • Women in business

Volunteering

Young Enterprise

  • Causes

Volunteering

STEM Ambassadors

  • Causes

Weighing equipment

EEC

Ask for: Derek Hodder

  • Motorsport

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