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11.
January
2017.
In Good Company - Growing Your Business

 

IN GOOD COMPANY

Are you a marketer, creative or communications professional, running a small business or working freelance? Are you thinking about how to develop and take your business to the next level?

If growing a sustainable and profitable business is your goal, then the launch of ShereCatalyst could be very good news. It is a single source of everything a small marketing related business owner or freelancer might need to create a real increase in income and take their business to the next level.

The founders of ShereCatalyst have started and grown their own businesses and helped several others to do the same. Now their expertise and experience is available to others through ShereCatalyst. There are two ways to benefit, depending on the level of support required: Membership and Partnership.

ShereCatalyst MEMBERSHIP

Members receive benefits and support like those provided by professional trade associations and business networks. There is a raft of significant advantages, not least of which is the brand equity conferred by association with the ShereCatalyst brand. When a business joins, it is listed on the ShereCatalyst website within a searchable database that potential clients and the other members can access and ShereCatalyst promotes the database through ongoing activity including online and social media activity. Members can also use the social media content that ShereCatalyst creates to promote their own services.

Additionally, there is a monthly e-Newsletter provided to members containing latest business and marketing ideas that can be customised and then used by members to send to their own clients and, importantly, prospects. Members can also become ‘Accredited', which acts as a strong assurance to clients that they have met strict standards of professionalism and success in their service delivery.

And finally, as part of the ShereCatalyst community, members can access ShereCatalyst CPD resources that include seminars and training on a wide range of business and marketing topics.

ShereCatalyst PARTNERSHIP

Partnership goes further. Partnership provides all the benefits of membership, plus one-to-one support and guidance - a partner to assist you to grow, expand and move to the next level.

Partners retain full autonomy, with control and management remaining in the hands of the business founder. And the remarkable thing about ShereCatalyst is that in the partnership scheme, there is no up-front cost. Return on investment for ShereCatalyst is achieved through a profit-sharing arrangement which only comes into effect once profits in the business have grown to a pre-agreed level.

The founders of ShereCatalyst are experienced practitioners with over 25 years' expertise in the field of marketing, PR and communications agencies, including working client-side.

The ShereCatalyst partnership system provides bespoke, one-to-one advice and a step-by-step approach that starts with an in-depth analysis of the potential partner's personal and business objectives and current situation. Once a partnership has been established, the founders of ShereCatalyst help with areas crucial to ongoing business consolidation, from the sales proposition, through business development, making pitches, raising capital and building an effective team. In addition, ShereCatalyst can provide support with other aspects of running a business including additional staff when required as the business grows, tax, legal and employment advice.

John Foster (founder of Shere Catalyst) explains it this way:

"Making the move from a one-person consultancy to employing people, then really growing an agency and eventually creating partnership businesses, has been an enjoyable but occasionally a rather stressful experience. I could have done without the stress, but the result has been incredibly rewarding. Almost all the stress came from making decisions without a partner to bounce ideas off, or an experienced advisor by my side to input whenever I needed someone to turn to. It is from this background that ShereCatalyst was conceived. We now provide the potential for small business owners to have a partner, or just become associated to an organisation that has all the tools and expertise that are acquired through years of real-life experience."

Short-term resourcing

Attracting new work previously meant acquiring directly employed staff. Members and partners of ShereCatalyst, however, are able to draw from the group's existing resources of personnel and skills plus those of other ShereCatalyst members, so also expanding their skillset. This means you do not have to take on the added commercial responsibility of employing people and all the associated overheads, until the business can confidently afford it. When a member or partner buys from within the group, it pays for the time of the personnel at a significantly reduced ‘trade' rate.

When the time is right, ShereCatalyst can provide all the expertise necessary to help you in taking on new employees, including assistance in finding the right people, creating employee contracts, navigating the very tricky issues surrounding employment law, pensions contributions, PAYE etc.

HOW TO FIND OUT MORE

A series of launch events is planned for 2017, starting in February. For details of upcoming events or to find out more, including to download a free guide, please go to www.sherecatalyst.com or telephone 01483 203010.

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For press information contact Charmaine Kimpton on 01483 203010/07414 749973 or email ckimpton@sheremarketing.co.uk