I have to post this as I want to draw atttention to the blog article written by my cousin Gabriella Sholk – it is hilariously funny but you have to make sure you read it in ALL seriousness anyway as it’s great advice!
Blog
Gabby’s blog post – Social Media Gurus, Ninjas, Jedi’s or Consultants – a “reblog”
March 9th, 2010
Posted by Keren Lerner
Keren speaks
February 15th, 2010
Posted by Keren Lerner
It’s going to be a busy time for Keren, as she prepares to do numerous talks “all over the country” (well – mostly London!) to certain niche audiences. We thought it might be interesting to share a few details of this.
Wednesday 24 February 2010 – A Business Innovation
“Grow your Business” talk on Social Media with Abbie Tanner.
Tuesday 23 February 2010 – With New Venture Publishing, Perfect Online PR Masterclass with New Venture Publishing, alongside Jo Lynn from Splash PR
Saturday the 27th of February – Along with Tamsin Fox Davis from Enthuse Marketing, a talk on Social Media on to a group of professional Wedding Planners.
Friday 14th May 2010 – Keren is going to be doing a talk to a group of translators in York for the Institute of Translators and Interpreters.
If you would like more information about any of these events, please get in touch!
Not Just Food – an interview with Jane Milton
February 11th, 2010
Posted by Keren Lerner
We have been working a lot with food related clients – at the moment we are working on websites for a restaurant property manager, a detox smoothie/food delivery company, two catering companies, and a restaurant. We will be sure to keep you posted when these sites are launched, but the designs are looking really great!
On a related note, I recently met with Jane Milton from The Food Network and Not Just Food. The Food Network is an online social network for food related businesses (anything from wine makers to caterers to cupcake businesses to manufacturers of food and catering related packaging and goods). We met via Linkedin and Twitter and then in real life. The Food Network is a membership social site which allows members access to premium content. This is all available at a very affordable rate of £120+VAT a year.
a year.
Jane herself is an active blogger and regularly participates on Linkedin, Twitter and “real life” networking groups such as The Athena Network. Anyone who meets her will see she is a “force to be reckoned with”. I was so impressed I decided I owed it to the world to interview her and put this onto our blog for other food businesses to read – as we seem to be coming across quite a lot of these people in our networking and client circles.
Jane also provides specialist consultancy services within her business “Not Just Food” for those in the food industry, and runs a monthly networking event, ‘The Tea Break’ held on the first Tuesday of each month at Waterstones in Piccadilly. I would recommend that anyone in a food related business who would like to meet Jane and learn more, you attend one of these events.
Free Food Networking
10 to midday
First Tuesday of Every Month
5th View, Waterstones Piccadilly 5th Floor
(just look for the Food Network sign)
As we regularly get requests from potential clients who want to start a new social network themselves, we thought it would be useful to ask Jane some questions about how she managed to create one which is so successful. Below are some questions we asked – and Jane’s answers. We would like to thank Jane for sharing! We also have some pictures showcasing Jane’s work as well.
Jane’s Interview
How long have you been running the Food Network? It started about 11 years ago with me connecting clients and people I met on an Intranet and it mushroomed, so we added a website so we could place info about event, pdf’s on topics people often need help with, industry news and where members could have their own sites too to let people know more about their businesses.
What does this encompass?The Network is an online membership organisation, though we do offer quite a few features free to non-members, which helps food businesses connect and grow their business more effectively than they could without The Food Network supporting them.
Who is it for? Anybody who works within the food and drink industry, produces ingredients, products or retails products, caterers, and people offering services for food businesses eg distributors. We have producers, ingredient manufacturers, packaging companies, caterers, printers dealing in food labelling, legal experts with food knowledge, refrigeration experts and many more groups represented.
What type of information do members get? Members have their own site on the site, there are several forums to give them help and advice including one which comes direct to me so they can ask me questions and receive support directly. We connect members where we can see mutual benefit and post up the latest industry news, support for food businesses and run an events calendar. We also run events in conjunction with other groups on subjects that are useful to/requested by our members – these are most often free, and our members get the first opportunity to attend.
What advice would you give someone starting their own social network? that it takes a lot of work, people imagine you just put the site up and money comes in but it needs marketing, improving, developing etc all the time – in fact I think it needs more marketing than a physical business as otherwise people just forget about it. It has taken a long time to make it profitable but I still see it more as a marketing tool for my consultancy – a way to build relationships with businesses, rather than a big income generator.
An innovative kit with a meal in a baby pumpkin delivered on Halloween to journalists to promote Merchant Gourmet Beluga Lentils.
The less glamorous side of TV work – behind the scenes on a GMTV shoot in Tunisia – making sure all the food is organised for a chef to cook live on Lorraine Kelly morning show.
Fresh veg at Grand Cayman Farmers Market on recent trip to Cayman Islands to look at the food and learn about local dishes.
BBC Good Food Show Somerfield stand pulling in crowds – we designed and managed all aspects of this job including 180,000 food samples.
Jane sharing her marketing expertise with food businesses at Speciality and Fine Food Fair 2009
See also:
We are a Business Supporting Penny On
February 8th, 2010
Posted by Keren Lerner
Top Left Design is now supporting a charity called Penny On. It’s a simple scheme which allows people to donate 1 penny extra whenever they are out shopping. Within retail outlets, barcodes are setup and the cashier can scan the extra barcode when the customer indicates they would like to participate. The extra penny goes towards good causes.
Penny on is the single most brilliantly simple way of enabling effortless giving at the point of sale. It supports local and lnternational sustainable initiatives that align with The Millennium Development Goals. The eight MDGs break down into 21 quantifiable targets that are measured by 60 indicators.
- Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
- Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
- Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
- Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
- Goal 5: Improve maternal health
- Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
- Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
- Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development
By focusing on the retail sector Penny On is maximising its scale and influence with the public as a whole.
As a Business Supporting Penny On, Top Left Design is now playing a role in providing working capital. This will mean that when consumers are invited to add a penny on when making a purchase, this money will go directly to invest in local and international development.
It was very easy to sign up – we invested a small amount of money and we are going to help spread the word via events and social media.
If you would like more information on how you can help out, please Get in touch.
Be sure also to Visit the Penny On Website.
Only the English Could Have Invented This Language
January 24th, 2010
Posted by Keren Lerner
This was sent by email so we thought we would share! (author unknown)
We’ll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,
Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men,
Then shouldn’t the plural of pan be called pen?
If I speak of my foot and show you my feet,
And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn’t the plural of booth be called beeth?
Then one may be that, and three would be those,
Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But imagine the feminine: she, shis and shim!
Let’s face it – English is a crazy language.
There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger;
neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins weren’t invented in England ..
We take English for granted, but if we explore its paradoxes,
we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square,
and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.
And why is it that writers write but fingers don’t fing,
grocers don’t groce and hammers don’t ham?
Doesn’t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend.
If you have a bunch of odds and ends
and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?
If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
Sometimes I think all the folks who grew up speaking English
should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.
In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?
We ship by truck but send cargo by ship.
We have noses that run and feet that smell.
We park in a driveway and drive in a parkway.
And how can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same,
while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?
You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language
in which your house can burn up as it burns
down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out,
and in which an alarm goes off by going on.
And, in closing, if Father is Pop, how come Mother’s not Mop?
Getting Your BNI Ducks in a Row
January 7th, 2010
Posted by Keren Lerner
BNI is great – Keren has been an active member for 7 years, and has seen all sorts of people from all sorts of businesses come through the system. Many left without seeing the benefits, but there always seemed to be a correlation of INPUT and OUTPUT. Our business here at Top Left Design is built on referral and we still can track a majority of our incoming enquiries back to people we wouldnt have met if it werent for Keren’s membership at BNI.
The best members of BNI have a good attitude. This means they HONESTLY believe in BNI and understand that nurturing relationships takes time, effort and good intentions! Givers gain and all that!
My top eleven tips to make your BNI membership a sure-fire success!
(Important – these tips work for ANY breakfast group of a similar nature to BNI!)
- Come every week
- Have a clear speaking voice and a clear message when you do your 60 seconds
- Be specific in asking for referrals
- Consider who your introducers would be in your business – parallel companies who can partner up with you – and ask for those as well as direct referrals.
- Make an effort to help their fellow BNI Members – by making introductions, giving advice, giving feedback – and avoid conflicts if you can!
- Spend time helping the running of the chapter itself – by taking on roles like visitor hosts/commitee members or leadership team roles.
- Be welcoming to visitors and follow up on them – you may be the only one in your group who does so, and they may come back to visit again because of you – or become a good contact for you.
- When receiving a referral, no matter how small it is, make an effort to follow it up.
- Have regular 1-2-1s with other members.
- Spending time preparing your 10minute speeches, and doing a good job with this opportunity.
- Attend training, at least until you feel you are comfortable – there are plenty of great ideas given at the BNI training days, plus great networking with members of other chapters.
- Try subbing and seeing how other BNI groups run – it really helps to expand your network and make the most of your membership.
And even with all this, you have to have a good attitude and believe in BNI. Then it works wonders!
As a bonus for reading to this point, here are some 60 second specific tips for you – FREE!
BNI 60 second tips:
- Don’t sell TO the group – you are asking for introductions to THEIR contacts
- Stand up to do your 60 seconds and also for the rererral/contributions part of the meeting too
- Remember – the referral part of the meeting another chance to market yourself, so make an effort to speak clearly and be specific there too!
- If you are doing your 10 minutes that day, the worst thing is to say “I wont bore you with my 60 seconds” – the 60 seconds part is another time to promote yourself and you need to make the most of it! A very common mistake.
- Use your memory hook (also known as a tagline!)
- Be specific when asking who you need to meet and why – as for specific companies or sectors
Related links
Hook Line and Sinker – secrets to a great memory hook
Networking – combining online and offline
BNI Mayfair chapter website
Our Xmas Newsletter
December 13th, 2009
Posted by Keren Lerner
Many of you regularly receive our newsletter, and if you don’t, well we can easily add you to our mailing list! Just send us an email with your details and we will add you.
For our Xmas newsletter we usually have a VERY attractive special offer as well as a few added bits of news/summary information which we hope will be useful to you! We didn’t want you non subscribers to miss out – so we have decided to write this post! Please have a look at our newsletter and let us know what you think!
Athena Christmas Party
December 10th, 2009
Posted by Keren Lerner
Last night the TLD girls – Keren, Tina and Gemma went to the Athena Christmas party (Amy was in South Africa and we all missed her).
It was a brilliant event that included a Christmas Shopping Market and a Business Showcase Hall, where members exhibited their products, a business card draw and most exciting of all – a Fashion Show!
The outfits worn during the Fashion Show were all by Leny from Leny G Couture Design and the models were styled by Nicoletta from Pinkananas. The models were also treated to being professionally made up by make-up artist to the stars Sarah Jagger.
Our very own Gemma was a model for the evening and she says: “The modelling was great fun, we practiced our walks behind the scenes but I was still quite nervous when it was my turn to strut my stuff. The dress I was wearing was beautiful and had been picked especially for me by Leny and Nicoletta.”
Here are some pics:
Gemma - our very own model
While the models were showcasing the dresses Nicoletta was describing the dresses. This is what she said for Gemma’s dress:
“GEMMA wears FLOWER CHILD
A feast of sunny joyous colours that celebrate Gemma’s bohemian beauty with the flowery details cleverly scattered throughout this simple and elegant cut to add movement or create sleek lines. A fabulous combination of romantic nuances with classic chic.”
Modelling Montage with Nicoletta describing the dresses
Movember
December 1st, 2009
Posted by Michael Hobson
You may have noticed a suprising increase in moustache abundancy recently – and subsequently as we roll into December, a sudden lack of Tom Selleck look-a-likes.
Are you experiencing any unexpected moustache-withdrawal symptoms?
For anyone who doesn’t already know, Movember is an annual charity event, where for the month of November, men across the world grow moustaches and get sponsored for doing so – all in the fight against prostate cancer!
Think of it like the men’s version of the pink ribbon.
The Movember rules are simple:
- Each Mo-Bro must start November 1st with a clean-shaven face
- Then, for the entire month of November, each Mo-Bro must grow & groom a moustache according to these rules:
- There is to be no joining the mo’ to the side burns – that’s a beard!
- There is to be no joining of the handlebars on the chin – that’s a goatee!
- A small complimentary growth under the bottom lip is allowed – (AKA ‘The Tickler’)
It’s been an interesting month to say the least – Thankfully, Keren was very happy for me to participate, and even gave me my first sponsorship! This also meant that I couldn’t back out if the Mo’ became too much to handle!
The first week wasn’t too bad, since at that early stage you can get away with the stubble, though it can look a bit pathetic at the start…
But as the weeks went by, it grew. And grew some more. And that’s when the funny looks on the tube started.
However it’s a defining moment to be on a crowed tube, and see a random man across the way who is also sporting a ‘tache, looking slightly embarrassed. You catch eyes, and give “the nod”.. From one mo-bro to another!
By the end of Movember, my mo’ was huge and more comical than embarrassing!
So far I’ve raised £160 for the cause – much more than I thought I would when I started out!
And at last count, the UK has raised a total of £3,841,626! Almost 4 MILLION pounds!
Globally, Movember has generated £19,790,822 so far, and donations are still welcome!
See this page for the current tally
Here is a link to my donation page (with pictures!)
On Friday night (27th November) I went to the London Movember Gala Party in Battersea Evolution – and it was the best night I have had this year!
It was so much fun, the place was full of awesome friendly people, with such a great atmosphere, I had 2 great friends with me and it went on from 7pm to 3am!
There was an orange carpet outside (the colour of the movember site) – inside was funky 70’s music, 12 bars, photographers, cage dancers, breakdancers, raised dancefloor with camera men feeding footage to a big screen, mechanical bulls, dodgems, ping pong tournaments, poker, blackjack, roulette, goodiebags, and free photobooths (see a picture of me with 2 sexy “Mo Chicks” below!!
We still want your help donating so click to sponsor Michael and Top Left Design for Movember!
Our postcards – illustrated by Tina!
November 30th, 2009
Posted by Keren Lerner
We wanted to show you a set of 4 postcards designed and illustrated by Tina Webster. Tina works for Top Left Design (as you may have noticed on our Team page) and is also a freelance illustrator. She graduated from Kingston University in 2008 and her work has been featured in the Guardian, Supersweet Magazine and on the London Architecture Diary website. She has also taken part in a number of exhibitions in central London including a submission for Shelter House of Cards exhibition for Amelia’s Magazine, and the Coningsby Gallery and 93 Feet East
Her illustration style is mainly collage and paper cuts. She works by painting paper and then creating textures with objects such as folks, tissue paper and sponges. This gives her illustration work as 3D feel. Her work is suited to book illustration, editorial and advertising. The designs above form part of a series of 4 postcards for Top Left Design. They feature animals which we also use on our Twitter page background. The postcards will be sent to our clients and friends and the cards can be collected and then placed together to created one big image.
If you would like to find out what Tina is up to, you can Find Tina on Twitter!.
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