The Last Blog

The last Blog of 2011 and a reflection of  the year overall. 

It’s been a fantastic year, both personally and in business.

 Always Consult  is now in it’s third year and has gone from strength to strength.

  We now have a full range of great talented associates working alongside us including,  accredited business advisers, leadership and management consultants, health and safety specialists, web designers and accountants. All are wanting to support new and existing businesses to ensure sustainability and growth.

 At the end of March, we achieved one of our many business goals which was to become an accredited  leadership and management centre with the Institute of Leadership and Management. Under the ILM banner we can offer level 3 award and certificate in Effective Management and also level 3 in Business Enterprise.

We also have a full range of development programmes on offer ranging from stress management courses, train the trainer courses to leadership and management courses. 

In January(10th and 11th) we are again offering the Train The Trainer course for anyone who is or is thinking of starting up in business and will be presenting, training or facilitating. It’s  a two day accredited workshop which will greatly enhance presentation skills as well as ensuring any legal requirements are in place when presenting or  training. It’s fun and informative and the ILM accreditation gives the programme credibility.

 Since November we can now also offer City and Guilds programmes such as Career Guidance diploma at level 6, Advice and Guidance at level 3 and 4,certificate and diploma for the Children and Young People Workforce and the Training, Assessment and Internal Quality Assurance (TAQA)

To ensure we give a rounded service to all our clients and their business needs, we offer the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health programmes which include Health and safety in the Workplace.

 This year we have  helped over 150 people start up their own business and wish to continue the good work even though some of the funding has fallen away.  We are currently helping and supporting many people who are at risk of redundancy in a  large local company, by conducting face to face  meetings in the factory to support their business ideas.  The full Business Start up Courses for them should follow in the New Year. The area we are working in needs business entrepreneurs to get their new business up and running and becoming self employed if it is to survive the  downturn in the economy.

We are passionate about  supporting areas and people where  there are potentially a large number of redundancies looming, many of the people have fantastic skills which they can turn into a business idea- but many do not know how to start! That’s what we do well-help, support, guide and signpost to ensure confidence, skills and knowledge are high.

Our Boost the Business bite size workshops started in August and these were born out of a plea by many new start ups who felt there was little or no support once the business has started.   Those who attended loved the opportunity to buddy up with others to keep the focus on the agreed monthly actions. We will be re-vamping for 2012, so watch this space!

I’ve personally continued to learn and self development in 2011-proving yet again, learning has no barriers or age limit!  I have met new friends and valuable business contacts who will be with me in 2012.

 I will continue to reflect on what I  need to do to ensure I personally continue to grow and self develop  which in turn will enable my business to move to the next stage.

 The plans are already taking shape. What about yours?