It is just over a year since Unite Ltd closed and I was made redundant. I set up Gomediate not knowing what the future held. I had never set up a business. It was the first time that I was entirely responsible for generating my income. It was a scary time and an exciting time. Twelve months later it’s no longer scary but it is still exciting. It’s no longer scary because it has been successful. I’ve pretty much hit my business plan dead on, which is a surprise as it was mostly guess work.
I have achieved what I envisaged which is delivering training several times a year with some mediation work in between, That’s exactly what’s happened in 2017 – 2018. I have deliver my three-days Mediation Skills course across the North East. I have delivered my one-day Introduction to Mediation Skills Workshop in Middlesbrough and Redcar. I have presented a 45 minutes session in Birmingham.
What has struck me is how much of my work has come from word of mouth recommendations and from people attending a one-day session going back to their employer and persuading them to buy in the training for other colleagues. This has led to much work than my attempts at email marketing. The 45 minutes session in Birmingham has led directly to three days’ work in Manchester which will be delivered later this year. It also looks likely that I’ll be off to London twice in the Autumn. This, admittedly, has come from email marketing, though this was one positive response to over 800 emails!
If everything that is currently in the pipeline comes off, I should achieve last year’s turnover about six months into this year. So, it has been worth it. I have to highlight the support that I have received from Enterprise Made Simple and from Redcar & Cleveland Council’s Business Growth Team Yes, I could have done it without them, but it would have been harder. I recommend them to anyone setting up or running a small business.