The Business Village People Business Village People

 This is a Pod One Production. For more information, visit podone.co.uk. This is the Business Village People podcast.  Hello, I'm David Markwell, and welcome to the Business Village People podcast.  This is Series 2, Episode 1. Here is where we showcase unique stories from the vibrant companies and service providers based at the Business Village in Barnsley, South Yorkshire.
Okay, let's go!  In this episode of Business Village People, we meet the woman who set up her business on her twins first birthday.  And now 20 years later, she's got the privilege of line managing her husband. And as for her twins well, they're going to have to fend for themselves. 
Plus, the Story of how circa 7,000 ambulances and control rooms across England, Scottish, and Welsh Ambulance Trusts are getting upgraded digital communication technology systems. All of these things are being delivered by a team based here at the Business Village, and we meet Dubai Bound Georgie Green. She's a PMO Analyst, working with the MDVS Team at the Ambulance Radio Programme.
 
And talking of acronyms,  FCS Associates is a consultancy practice with substantial expertise in public, private, charity, and society.  sectors. The clients include Sheffield City Council, Barnsley Council and the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority. The business was set up 20 years ago by Rachel Fletcher, registered the company on my twin's first birthday.
So it was a very bad mother and didn't do anything with them on that day because I was busy working. Uh, but I'd left my old consultancy company and decided that I'd stay. I don't know, I just wanted some better work life balance, and I thought, stupidly, that having my own business would provide that. I would say, since then I've been busier than ever, but equally, you're in charge of your own destiny, and you're in charge of what you want to do.
And so that's why I like my job. Having my own business, because it allows me to do the things I like to do. Why consulted? How did you get into that? I just fell into it, to be honest. I was very lucky. So, when I left university, I was going to join the police. I'd got a training, a place on a training programme.
I thought, that's fine. And then my dad found this very small advert in the local Sheffield Star. And, uh, they wanted consultancy. They wanted people to join a consultancy company in Sheffield that worked a lot with the European Commission. And my dad said, you like to travel, why don't you do that?  So I wrote to them, got an interview, as you did back then, and got the job, and it was amazing.
On the first day, well not the first day, the first week, I was travelling business class to London, going to meet some people. some, uh, people at that time who worked for the Ministry of Agriculture to talk about grants. And I worked there for ten years, I became MD, uh, really enjoyed it, did loads of travel, uh, did lots of work for the European Commission, I was, learnt a lot of stuff, you know, just worked with lots of different types of businesses on research, because I'd loved, I loved, I did a science degree, so I'd always had a love of science. 
And then, uh, I had twins and thought, can't really, or don't want to do this anymore. Want something different that will fit round my life. And, and so decided to set up my own business. And, uh, my brother said, sort of seemed to be family related. Never mind, I do get advice from others. But, uh, I was saying to my brother, I don't know what to do.
And he said, well. You've done, you've run that business, why don't you set up your own,  you know, contact a few people who you think you could work for and see what happens. And I was lucky, the first guy I got in touch with, he said, do you want a consultancy contract? Do you want a job? And I said, no, I'll do consultancy.
And he said, set up a business and we'll give you a contract. And that was my first contract. And I worked for them for 18 months. And

This is the Business Village People podcast. Hello, I'm David Markwell and welcome to the Business Village People podcast. This is the podcast. This is series one, episode 12. This podcast showcases unique stories from the vibrant community of companies, service providers, dogs,  and entrepreneurs at the business village here in Barnsley, South Yorkshire.
We celebrate the success, encourage collaboration, and highlight the diverse businesses that call the business village their home. Finding previous episodes is easy. Just search for the business village people on your preferred podcast platform, and we should show up straight away. Click on the subscribe button and you'll never miss our episodes again.
Okay, let's go. In this episode of business village people, we have the privilege of meeting Craig Burgess from genius division and delve into his unique approach to leveraging LinkedIn. Try. We talk to HR consultant Trudy Morris about the upcoming changes to employment law that may affect you. She'll also provide you with details of how you can receive free human resources advice here at The Business Village. 
Our first guest is Trudy. It's Craig Burgess from the Design and Marketing Agency, Genius Division. I asked him why the company chose the business village as its base. We were here before, and we liked it. Then we wanted a bit of a change, we moved somewhere else. And then we wanted a little bit of a change and came back here.
Primarily because we like community, and there's been a hell of a lot of change here. It's renovated, been renovated a hell of a lot. It's totally changed since we last came. It's a much nicer place to be now versus Seven years ago or something like that when we were here tell me about genius division.
How did it start? What's the same? Well, we started 14 15 years ago now in James's back bedroom when there were just two of us I've always wanted to run an agency so as James and We both got a thousand quid together and we lived at home with parents at times  We both have a thousand quid and we said should we quit as jobs and we did and then every month since then for 15 years We've basically said well when we run out of money, we'll just go get a real job And it hadn't happened yet.
That's genius division. So what were you doing before you got into this game? So I were a graphic designer and a web designer. So were James. In fact, James was more famous than me. He used to design Arctic Monkeys websites. So he used to work for Arctic Monkeys. But we've both been tinkering with websites, branding, design, etc, etc.
Since we're both about 15 years old or something.  Much older than 15 years old now, um, and we just always wanted to run his own agency We had we thought we could do it better. You know that Bolshee Teenager young 20s thing we thought we could do it better than everybody else and can you yeah, we're not bad  What have you learned over the years that you've been working for yourself?
What I'm trying to say is I went to a  The meeting where you were talking, you were talking about customer services, and sometimes it's important to not work with certain people if it doesn't feel right, and I just wondered where all that came from. Well, when you work for yourself, you quickly realize that every bad client you have is a lesson that you should learn.
And when at that talk you were talking about, where I was specifically talking about how to handle clients, and not necessarily bad clients, but how to handle clients better, it all just comes from bad experiences. And not wanting to repeat those bad experiences with other clients, you know what I mean?
So I, I think when you, when you're running your own agency, when you're running your own business, that your first job is not the job that you advertise that you're doing. So I, you know, I call myself a, a graphic designer to my mum and dad because they don't understand what I do for a living. My job as a designer is not my firs

This is the Business Village People podcast. Hello, hello, hello. I'm David Markwell and welcome to the Business Village People podcast. This is season one, episode 10. The Business Village is a community of companies, service providers and entrepreneurs.  And this podcast It's all about their stories. We celebrate success, encourage collaboration and showcase companies who operate at the business village here in Barnsley, South Yorkshire.
 
And you can find other additions of the business village people podcasts  on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts from. Just search business village people and we should pop up and then press subscribe. That way you'll never miss another episode. OK, let's go!  In this episode of Business Village People, we discover how buying a touring caravan has resulted in one man owning four Volvos at the same time.
 
I'll introduce you to the woman who can sell you French real estate, a luxury car, teach you how to achieve Grade A on the piano and save the environment. And that's all before lunchtime.  Plus, you don't need pure imagination anymore. The business village has won its very own golden ticket because there's a real, proper chocolate factory opening on site soon.
 
And I'm sure that'll put a smile on every officer's wonker.
 
This is the Business Village People Podcast. Some breaking news now for you, and the Business Village is set to lose another of its leadership team. Jonathan Noble, the site's management accountant, has finally decided to put the abacus away and snap the end of his quill off. By the end of June, Jonathan Will have retired, giving him more time to polish his Volvos.
 
It means I'm looking after sending out the bills and getting the money in. I do like to think of it as more than just that. Getting to know the people is the main thing. Finding out if they have got problems and if there is a problem can we help with it. Working with the whole team of course. We support people and that's, that's what we give.
 
We give more than just a business unit to people. How did it all start for you? In finance, I started with Barclays Bank many moons ago, and then moved into accountancy. My bank manager was just sitting on their jobs and wouldn't, didn't want to budge. So I went into accountancy because my father was an accountant.
 
Moved from practicing to working for companies. I enjoyed far more, instead of auditing, actually working inside a company and trying to make a difference. It's a very difficult thing to do, uh, but a few times where you go into a business. Try to understand what, what they do and then gradually change it into something that's working a bit better.
 
Did you always want to work in finance? No, not particularly. I set off, I was going to go to, in those days it was a polytech in Bristol, to do charter surveying. But I got the job back. And in those days you got a job and, and drifted into it and that was the way it went, yeah. Do you regret not becoming a chartered surveyor?
 
Not particularly, no. I've, uh, had a much chequered career, seen all sorts of things. I can't just say isn't the, isn't the boring, uh,  existence that people think. There's a lot, it's all to do with the people. Yeah. Yeah, I've seen the good and the bad and the ugly, I think, the way, on my career path.  So we're in January now.
 
Is this a busy time of the year for you? It's getting busy, yes. Um,  from various reasons. Um, you're coming up to your year ending in March. Um, tax returns are all due by the end of January, so there's a couple of days yet for people to bring you up and say can you help with your tax return.  Desperate for a bit of help, that has happened.
 
The worst people are your friends, of course.  So, yeah. It's, it is a busy time. Um, and with my eye on the future now, I'm looking to try and make sure everything's ready and in place before I depart.  Well, let's just say that you're retiring, you're