News Archive

There are two FREE meetings available for you to help you start your own business or boost the profits of your existing business: 

Millipod is sponsoring a Business Meeting with Strawberries and Champagne on Thursday 3 June, from 6 - 9pm at Howfield Manor Hotel, Chartham Hatch, Canterbury CT4 7HQ, welcoming the international Managing Director of Juice Plus+ - Mr Shay O'Brien Jnr - as guest speaker. 

This event is open to anyone interested in starting their own business without investment, and with full back-up and training.  This could be the perfect 'Plan B' for anyone who already has a client base but would like more income and security, or who would like to offer further benefits to their customers.

Juice Plus+ is a Virtual Franchise business with an unrivalled success story to tell, and offers a perfect model for anyone who wants to explore the best aspects of network marketing.  The parent company is more than 40 years old, with its inspirational founding management still in place.  It operates in over 20 countries, has more than 17 top academic endorsements of the Juice Plus+ product, and a rapidly increasing business (turnover more than $7bn). You can see more here.

Millipod is very happy to offer the opportunity to learn more about the health and well-being sector to any members who may want to attend. Email for further details.

Millipod is expanding into Hampshire this Spring.   Long-standing Millipod member and florist Kathryn Goddard is moving to Andover and will be running Millipod meetings in her new neighbourhood.  As an experienced networker she is looking forward to taking Millipod's friendly face with her and finding new members for our network. 

At the same time Millipod is planning two exciting new events to be held in the summer near Canterbury, details TBA.

This week's Millipod newsletter has gone to well over 500 smallbiz readers with details of 13 face-to-face meetings coming up and several other hints, tips, ideas and special offers.

Sign up for FREE today to join this thriving community of home-based entrepreneurs.

Millipod's style of networking is successful, popular and easy. Tell us about yourself - your business, your services, your ambitions - and we will tell hundreds of other smallbiz entrepreneurs.  They like to hear how things are for other traders - what works, what causes problems, what the latest chat is. Our weekly newsletter hits the spot.  You can be in it too.  Just ask.

You may like to know - Channel 4 News sent a TV crew down with their Arts Correspondent Nick Glass, to record a lengthy feature about Millipod member Henry Dagg and his astonishing new creation, the Sharpsichord.  This beautiful pin-barrel harp was commissioned by the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDAS) for their headquarters at Cecil Sharp House, Regents Park, London - hence the name.  

You can already see it and hear the Sharpsichord on YouTube - just put Henry Dagg into the search box - but the Channel 4 camera crew were quite rightly smitten by the whole project and spent a lot of time interviewing him and recording the instrument in high quality detail.

He has heard the item may be going out tonight (though there is never a guarantee on a news programme of course).

So, do look out for it if you can - and I'm sure Henry would be willing show people round his workshop to see it for real, by arrangement.

Millipod is not happy with the decision to phase out chequebooks.   The ability to create and authorise a payment with no more trouble than the use of a pen on a slip of paper is literally invaluable. 

It is flexible, simple, convenient and traditional and whatever the banks may say about cost and modernisation, they are once again forgetting who they are there for - namely THEIR CUSTOMERS and particularly micro-businesses who are so strongly represented in Kent. 

Moreover the number of people moving to self-employment is steeply on the up as 'employment' as such melts away, and many many businesses rely on cheques to trade.

This decision will also affect school and charity events, money gifts sent by post, and of course the vital backup when a card or a card-reader malfunctions, which is not unknown - one restaurant near here tried and failed to operate 3 cards recently due to a faulty reader and my trusty chequebook saved the day.

The use of cards requires expensive, heavy, impractical scanning machinery - why not keep it simple?    I guess they will say eight years is a long time and the technology will be in place to deal with this problem using mobiles phones but why not keep it simple? 

Luddite?  I don't think so.  Electronic records may yet prove to be our undoing.

Still, we wish all our readers and their bankers a HAPPY CHRISTMAS and a peaceful and prosperous 2010.

One of our members is looking for new bigger premises for her flooring company, and asked for an introduction to a commercial property estate agent. She had a reply with a recommendation within FIVE minutes of her request going out in our weekly newsletter and was very pleased and impressed with how speedily it worked.

Then we had a request from a member running a gite in Italy - looking for a reliable printer here in the UK to create and help dispatch fliers and posters for her. She had SEVEN replies within the first day of her message going out.

This is the 'corporate' strength of Millipod. We pool resources and ideas to strengthen our own businesses both individually and as a group.

Micro-businesses like ours probably face difficult trading conditions in the coming year, so networking and collaborating like this are an essential habit and could make all the difference.  Join us NOW - it's FREE till the end of 2009.

Ooops! It's rather a long time since I updated this page - not because there was nothing to say but because I've been so busy.

I went to an international business conference in Venice last month and took some holiday at the same time, coming home to a pile of work and hundreds of emails to sort out. 

There was also the www.iconsatoare.org exhibition for which I was on the committee. It's fascinating to take part in in voluntary projects like this, to see how business skills can be so transferable and to do more networking. Sadly the show is over now but the memory of those gorgeous images, sent from all over the world to adorn the tiny church of St Peter's, Oare, will live on.

Our members are really geared up for Christmas and this week's newsletter is full of events, offers, ideas for presents, workshops, art projects and more.  You can enrol for this weekly bulletin for FREE up to the end of this year.

Membership continues to expand, not just in numbers but in reach. We are an international group with readers in Australia, Spain, the USA, Italy, France and South Africa.  Ideas are not bounded by national boundaries and the pleasures and challenges of running a small business from your home are universal - hence Millipod's unique appeal. 

See you at the East Kent Women in Business Late Night Shopping and Business Meeting at the CCCU Enterprise Centre, Hall Place, Harbledown, near Canterbury on Wednesday 14 October from 5.30 to 9pm.  Entry £5 - raffle with proceeds to charity.

Membership is steadily growing. People like our weekly newsletter.  For instance, we received this heartening message from one of our members this week:

"I'd just like to say how very much I/we at the Queens Hall enjoy your weekly (freebie!) Millipod newsletter. Always something there to get the little grey cells shifting, very useful contacts, interesting events and invariably an amusing anecdote to lift the spirits!"

What more do you want?

Despite the summer holidays, there's as much going on in the world of micro-business as ever. 

Our membership is growing on a month by month basis, and the newsletter continues to win plaudits from readers and other networks as you can see from our Testimonials - which are all unsolicited.

This week's edition covered various art galleries, an historic venue in Ashford, several charity events, office space to let in Orpington, free training advice, various meetings, a music festival, a request for sales/admin help, offers of free staffing, a petition, and more.

Why not sign up NOW to get the Millipod newsletter for FREE?  Click on Join Here!

The mighty Sunday Times gave Millipod a wonderful and completely unsolicited testimonial this week - in an article about networking journalist Sally Jones singled out our weekly newsletter and described it as 'sparky'.

Hoorah!

It's great to be recognised!

Millipod members are engaged in such a wide range of commercial activities - from engraving to web-design, from book-keeping to catering, supplying training and flowers and homeopathy and accommodation and holidays and deliveries and gardening and legal services and lectures and jewellery and yoga and music and so much more. . . .

Why not sign up for our FREE weekly newsletter to discover all these entrepreneurs - and let them know about YOUR services?

Our weekly newsletter continues to amuse, inform and send out timely warnings to hundreds of entrepreneurs who use it to market and promote their services.  This week we have arts adventures in the woods, a marketing seminar in Tunbridge Wells, an invitation to submit evidence to a government review, FREE online business-training, details of the new European mobile-phone charges which come into effect today, details of various networking or motivational meetings, and a lady who looks like a caterpillar.  What more could you want?
 

Millipod was able to send out a timely alert to its readers last week, warning of a card-cloning fraud emanating from the shopping mall at Eurotunnel's Folkestone departure hall.

We heard of two people in Kent whose cards had been cloned and were able to help warn other people in our network.  This followed a similar incident a year or so ago, involving the petrol stations on Bluebell Hill.

At that time - we have just heard - one of our members was on holiday in Canada with her family.  Her brother-in-law found that two of his cards had been cloned with fraudulent transactions being made in Nigeria and Australia while he was in North America.   He was able to stop the cards thanks to Millipod's alert.

Why not join us today?  We pass on useful information, including perhaps details of your business, in a timely and focussed way - to help you become more profitable and more secure.

This week's newsletter has plenty of activity - from beauty treatments to a new geek gathering, FREE workshops, FREE books, a brilliant PR success story from one of our members in Italy, invitations to lunch and other networking events, business advice and much more.

You can get all this for FREE by signing up -- you can read the news to look for goods or services you need or use the newsletter to promote your own business. 

Join here today!   For FREE!

As a result of our weekly newsletter service, we do from time to time receive message of thanks and congratulations from our readers.

In the last few days, readers have thanked us for the jokes and timewasters we publicised, news of events, ideas for promotion, referrals and legal or statutory updates. 

This is not a sophisticated technological operation but a matter of excellent contacts and communications. We have bright ideas, we know the right people and we share our knowledge.

If YOU want to take advantage of what we're doing and getting - SIGN UP TODAY to join Millipod.

For some technical reason which I do not understand I was not able to send the newsletter out this week to our 500 readers - so I am including all the information in this part of the website for you....

Can you help?  Millipod member and writer Alex Horton lives in Faversham at the moment but she’ll need to move when her current lease ends in mid-July. Her requirements are:  a flat or house with two bedrooms, within striking distance of the north Kent railway as she works in Whitstable, rent around £500+ a month (absolute max £600).   Her son attends the Canterbury Steiner School. She can offer impeccable references so if you can help please contact her on: orca@care4free.net or ring 07791 468633.  Thank you.

Natural Pathways forthcoming events are as follows:
Childrens Mini Survival Adventure (3 hours)  Wednesday 27 May, 10am – 1pm
Fun Wildlife Day for the whole family, Saturday 13 June
Flint Knapping Day  Saturday 13 June – Adult course but children over 8 can attend if with a grown-up,
Fire & Shelter Day for the whole family, Sunday 14 June, 10 – 4pm
Discovery Adult Bushcraft/Survival Skills and Nature Awareness Weekend Friday 19 June – Sunday 21 June
And of course if you have a birthday coming up why not hold a Woodland Party…..
People who have been on these different Days have told me how wonderful the experience has been.
Details on www.natural-pathways.co.uk

Excellent news from Faversham. A new arts centre will be opening in the town later this year, in the old Frank and Whittome building fronting Abbey Street and going down Quay Lane. This enormous old joinery shop will offer gallery and studio space, workshops, a cafe, meeting rooms and so on.  The team at Creek Creative who have achieved this (complete with some SEEDA funding) have been working on it for nearly 2 years. They get possession of the building in June and it opens its doors in September.  Among the first fixtures are a meeting about the 2012 Olympics and an art competition with £3,000 of prizes. More information on www.creek-creative.org

Hannah Joyce sends information about a networking workshop in Folkestone on Sunday 31 May from 6 – 9pm at The Bar Below, The View.    Tickets £25 per person or £40 for two.  The workshop will help you clarify your vision, overcome challenges, make changes, find your purpose, be motivated and inspired….etc.   Email events@aimachievers.com  for details.   Please mention Millipod.

We all get alerts warning us about various dangers such as viruses which will destroy our hard drives (sounds like the menopause to me), and mostly these are very very out of date, but occasionally one turns out to be worthwhile reading….This is one such: a woman was in the loo in John Lewis @ Bluewater with her handbag on the hook in the cubicle, when a hand reached over and took her bag.  She reported it to the head of security who informed the manager. A couple of days later she had a call (from the manager, apparently) and went to retrieve her bag. Of course, the staff at the shop knew nothing about it and while she was there her house was burgled with no sign of forced entry.  The wonderful www.snopes.com confirms this as a recent true crime.   So the moral is, when you go to the lav in a public building, hang your handbag round your neck.   

Congratulations to Andrea Hefford and the team at Vida Architectural Interiors, now based near Tunbridge Wells. From time to time they send out a very classy-looking email to their contacts list and the latest shows one of their present projects and also lists what’s in the pipeline:  collaboration with two companies delivering theatrical community projects to address the growing ‘Boarded Shop Window’ syndrome, extensions and renovations to Grade II listed buildings in Brighton, Rye and Surrey, and collaboration with a well-known B+B in East Sussex for new bedrooms and a guest meeting room.  Email design@vida-ai.co.uk if you want guidance about remodelling your space.   

Swishing is the thing these days… and Alice Chambers in Horsham has an event on Thursday 14 May from 6pm. You drop at least 3 things off the day before (clothes and accessories you no longer want) and get one ticker per item. Then at the Swishing party you can exchange each tickets for a new item.  It costs £10 to take part and a donation goes to charity.  Email Alice on alicechambers2@googlemail.com for details.

Over many years I have had the pleasure of helping promote the work of the musician Henry Dagg, maker of sound sculptures and saw player.  You may remember his musical railings installation, at which virtuoso percussionist Evelyn Glennie starred.  His current project is a commission from the English Folk Dance and Song Society - a Pin Barrel Harp to be installed in their garden at Cecil Sharpe House in Regents Park. You can see 6 short clips revealing this truly amazing instrument on Youtube.  Every click helps! Thank you.

FREE smallbiz accounting software is available for you to download here     The site says it’s complete, there's no charge, no obligation and no time limit.  I have not tried this personally as it looks to be for PCs only and I am on a Mac, but it could be good for loads of people.

If you want to see a truly weird picture, and try to identify a lot of famous and infamous people, click here…

Please keep your news coming in!

Best wishes

Griselda Mussett

Hundreds of people every week read the Millipod newsletter to find new customers and suppliers.

This week's edition has news of a speed-networking event in Tunbridge Wells, a pensioners' Open Day in Canterbury, a Power Workshop at Harbledown, a flint-knapping course and a family fire and shelter day in the woods near Canterbury, a new flea market at Faversham, a change in VAT which will affect small businesses trading in the EU, an auction at Bobbing, a recruiting campaign in our region from Juice Plus+, a free marketing guide to download, a flower-arranging workshop at Iffin, an anti-polio campaign in Medway, a fantastic gig in Maidstone, 2 blues weekends in Kent and France, free opera in Italy and an update on the mOare Music Festival later in the year.

All this excitement comes from small independently owned and managed businesses - micro-businesses - who are members of Millipod.

You can join for FREE and read the newsletter each week, or become a Star Millipod Member for just £120 and use this effective and profitable tool to market YOUR business to our dynmic network.

Just click on Join Here

Despite the terrifying forecasts from the pundits, we find that down here in the leaf-litter of the economy, things are going rather well at the moment.  There seems to be little fall-back in orders, for instance.

This may be because Kent is not dominated by big corporates, but has a high proportion of home-based and micro-businesses and we have much lower overhead costs.

Also many people are feeling flush because mortgage costs have never been lower and (despite last night's tax hike) even petrol seems cheap compared with a few months ago.

Many of our members will be feeling cheeful at the 2020Kent Business Show at Detling - why not come and find us?

Our weekly newsletter goes out to hundreds of smallbiz readers each week - full of information about what they are doing, new services they are offering, training courses and workshops which they might find useful, networking events run by ourselves and other organisations, and even (sometimes) jokes or time-wasters.  We include charitable announcements from time to time, and items which will help busy parents run their families.  For instance we have details of an activity day for younger teens in Canterbury this weekend where they can learn lots of outdoor skills like camping, first aid, navigation and map-reading.  We know that information like this can be just as important as, say, sales training to a home-based entrepreneur.

Millipod is an extraordinary group of people, sharing knowledge and contacts to make life simpler, smoother and more profitable. Working from home we don't have the benefits of being in a large organisation, so by pooling our resources we can feel less isolated and become more motivated and content.   And have some fun along the way.

You can enrol here for FREE to get the newsletter, or pay a subscription of £120 to become a star member... with all the PR and marketing benefits normally deriving from a much bigger account.

Millipod members are meeting for lunch this Thursday 26 February at the Three Mariners, Oare.

Email for details if you would like to come and meet up with us.

Around this time of year we all start booking up for shows and exhibitions round the county or further afield, to take our goods and services out to a wider market place.  These outings can be expensive - not only the stand and brochure fees and insurance, but also the lost time away from your desk, and the commitment to that all-important follow-up for days and weeks afterwards.

Millipod can help in many ways: bringing you information about what shows are mostly likely to help YOUR business, hints on how to make the best of your opportunity, a printed guide for how to be successful, and even how you can do it all for almost NO money.

Sign up TODAY for our free NEWSLETTER and start to upgrade your business experience.

Our first newsletter of the year is full of useful information - special offers, courses starting, security warnings, local economic indicators and encouragements.  It's just been emailed to 450 micro-business entrepreneurs in the South East.  This newsletter is read, respected, liked and trusted, and has been for over six years.  Our creative and hard-working members have lots of plans and special deals and the best way to find out about these is to enrol for our FREE membership now.

In recent weeks Millipod has promoted dozens of training and networking events, helped members to find help for gardening, transport and book-keeping, helped to publicise art shows and theatrical productions, sought help for charitable causes,  congratulated members on their achievements, and much much more.  We've passed on tips, promoted the opening of a new wine bar and special restaurant deals in Kent, warned people about scams and frauds, and passed on many items of information of direct relevance to micro-business entrepreneurs.

As a result, we've had plenty of unsolicited testimonials and thank-yous from the readers of our newsletter.

You can sign up for FREE to read this brief, useful and focussed news-sheet by clicking on the Join Here button on the website.

Millipod members recently completed a survey about the recession with surprising results.   A massive 80% of smallbiz owners said they had not felt the effects of the recession, with only a few members reporting a downturn in orders.   Members felt the recession would last anywhere from 6 months to 2-3 years.  And most felt there were plenty of opportunities for them in the current economic climate as larger companies look to outsource their services - 'realising the benefits of using ad-hoc self-employed people as a much cheaper option' as someone put it.   We are an optimistic bunch!

And we're running a really useful Workshop on December 4th at Canterbury to help with Problem Solving, Project Management, Forward Planning, and much more -  The morning's course will be fun and very useful for just £12.  What excellent value!  And then, why not stay on for the classy Directors' Lunch afterwards? 

See our Events page for details.

Well it wasn't a hot hot summer was it?

But there's been lots going on - we've been approached by a Japanese company to supply them with names of companies making typically British goods - jewellery, furniture, crafts etc - and we're busy compiling that information for them.  Contact us if you want to be included.

We've been promoting businesses all the way through the British 'monsoon' - new Tango classes in three parts of Kent, an international nutritional conference at Runnymede this weekend, two Floral Workshops to be held this month and just before Christmas, a new Shakespeare production, a new way to save money and earn money, and lots lots more.

Sign up TODAY for our FREE newsletter - and learn all the local biz-buzz!

Why not come and meet Millipod at the Women in Business Show at Canterbury on March 12th?  The Show is at the Hall Place Enterprise Centre, Harbledown and is open from 5.30 - 8pm (free entry).  We'll be there along with 20 other smallbiz entrepreneurs - a great opportunity to do some shopping, meet other business people and make new contacts.  A great networking opportunity!

And Millipod will be joining forces once again with East Kent Women in Business and the members of Kent Wedding Ring for another  special networking meeting in Canterbury in May. 

Our venue will be the fascinating showrooms of lighting experts Prewer and Orsborne, and our guest speaker, back by popular demand, will be award-winning interior designer Andrea Hefford. This will be a very good meeting and a grand opportunity to meet new people to help your business prosper and grow.

Why not email for details today?   Click here!

We have had a great start to the year with members already offering so many discounts to other members that the money saved covers the cost of membership!  How good is that?

We've promoted training courses, business exhibitions, international projects, lectures, services offered by dozens of different small businesses, art shows, accommodation offers and loads more, mentioned legislation which might pose challenges to smallbiz entrepreneurs, and passed on jokes and other stuff.  All this happens in our popular weekly newsletter which goes out by email to our readers - and they love it!

We are involved in running events of our own - a Creative Writing day later this month, and a combined networking evening with two other organisations, in Canterbury, later this spring.

It's a great biz-buzz here in Millipod.

Join us today! 

We send best wishes to all our readers for a very happy Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous New Year.

We enjoyed a very successful Christmas Lunch meeting today. It never fails to surprise me the wide range of talents and services our members and their guests have to offer, and how many connections there are between them. Just by sitting and talking, sharing ideas, problems and contacts, I can see people doing business - quietly, gently, without pressure and with all the integrity and pleasure of a genuine networking experience.

We had a lovely lunch, lots of laughs and even more points of recognition - those 'Aha!' moments when you know someone's said something that applies as much to yourself as to them. 

We had a couple of draws with prizes given away, and wished each other well for Chrsitmas and the New Year.   Millipod has been going for nearly six years now, with the same fundamental philosophy and results: that if you are running a business on your own, however successful, it's always a good idea to come out and meet other like-minded people.   

It works if you work it.  We aren't expensive and we have a lot of satisfied members. Why not give yourself and your micro-business a really excellent Christmas present and subscribe to Millipod today?

This item is unusual - as the founder of Millipod I am going to blow my own trumpet.    I had the pleasure of dropping in on the Christmas Flower Arranging Workshop run last Saturday by Millipod member Kathryn Goddard at Iffin House near Canterbury. It was such fun and so creative.....   Here are some of the snaps I took:

 

Several if not most of the participants were there because they read about it in the Millipod newsletter - so it was win-win all round.   And tonight I started at a Level 3 French Business course at Christchurch University - and again several people were on the course because they read about it in the Millipod newsletter.  I find it gratifying and very interesting that a tiny support service like the Millipod newsletter has such positive, ongoing, economically significant and beneficial effects over such a wide range of services and enterprises.  If YOU join Millipod, we will help publicise and promote YOUR services and products. Our newsletter is read by hundreds of smallbiz readers and entrepreneurs all over the South East, and it is trusted and liked.  A membership fee of £120 brings you hosts of benefits, not least this quiet, effective and efficient marketing service.    Just click on the Join link. 

The next Millipod networking event will be our Christmas Lunch on December 11th at the Railway Hotel, Faversham.

Traditionally our members have found this to be a particularly friendly and beneficial occasion, meeting newcomers, renewing friendships and sealing new business deals.

Millipod consists of owner-managers, sole traders and entrepreneurs who make their own decisions, so the people you meet are the ones you can deal with directly, whether you are looking for services or offering them.

You are most welcome to join us - just click on our Events page and reserve your place. It costs £30 a head for a wonderful 3-course meal with wine. 

Don't forget to bring your business cards with you........

We've just sent out our weekly newsletter again - this edition has items on a vast range of topics, from FREE IT training, Christmas preparations, telephones, Wilderness Days, therapies,  fashion and charity shows, fundraising, opportunities for voluntary work at a very high level, improving your French language, and much more. 

The newsletter represents the living faces of hundreds of home-based entrepreneurs - a showcase of their services, offers, requests for help or information, items of general interest and even the occasional rant.

You can sign up for the newsletter for FREE, or you can include YOUR business services as often as you like by becoming a full paid-up member of Millipod.   Once you do that, you can also use our other services... 

For instance, we've helped one of our members find a fabulous panelled interior for a location photoshoot this week, and we've been looking for people to take up two vacancies on a subsidised Management Training Course at short notice.  We've been to meet members planning a series of workshops at a fabulous venue near Canterbury, and done successful PR work for a Kent-based charity which places volunteers in genuine community projects round the world.  There's no end to our talents, and if we can't do something ourselves, we know someone who can.  That's the beauty of networking....

Why not join us and add your strengths to ours?

Millipod is planning a business trip to Calais this autumn - to meet with other micro-entrepreneurs across the Channel. We plan to go in November, so if you want to join the party, get in touch as soon as possible.

It's amazing the things Millipod members get up to during the summer...the newsletter this week has details of members' courses for saving lives, surviving in the woods, helping athletes achieve optimum health through nutrition and learning how to paint in a beautiful garden.   On top of that we have an amazing half price ticket offer for Thanet's first live music festival at Quex Park in ten days time, and a warning about a vicious phone scam which is upsetting people.

People share their business news with Millipod and we pass it on for free to anyone subscribing to our newsletter.

It's a great system, so why not enrol today and join this thriving community of smallbiz entrepreneurs? 

We have been able to offer our readers a very excellent service in the last few days: practical warning against a vicious scam being worked on small companies by a so-called publisher, the chance to take up some training worth nearly £1,800 for FREE, and the offer of tickets for this weekend's rugby international between England Wales.  All this comes about because our members take an active interest, tell us what is going on, and share their information with the rest of the members.  What we say is: IT WORKS IF YOU WORK IT! 

Why not join in and share the benefits of being in this lively, generous, connected and cosmic group?  Just click on Join Here!

A new development for Millipod - we now have a SMALL ADS page!   Check it out HERE!    Yes, you can find all sorts of delicious deals here from Accountancy to Lonely Hearts!   Contact the advertiser direct if you see what you want, and if you have your own stuff to sell or advertise, just drop us a line.   Payment is £10 a month for non-members, which you can arrange very simply via Paypal.    Email for further details along with the copy for your ad.

Millipod is holding a Summer Garden Party again this year but for the first time we are combining forces with another very successful networking group for the occasion.
Kent Wedding Ring will also be bringing friends and guests along to our party on the evening of Midsummer's Day - June 21st - at beautiful Iffin House, just outside Canterbury.   The party will start at 6pm and finish by 8pm.
Guests will be able to wander round the garden with a drink in their hand, with strawberries and other delicious nibbles to eat. 
This kind of informal business event provides a perfect setting for networking in a relaxing and very enjoyable way, and has proved tremendously popular in the past.
Sarah Harman from Iffin House says she is keen to showcase Iffin as a venue for weddings and all kinds of business meeting as well as traditional bed-and-breakfast. Kathryn Goddard who runs Kent Wedding Ring says members of her network will come from across the region to see the venue and meet other wedding professionals.
Millipod says this will be a glamorous yet practical networking event. We will be distributing a list of all the guests to everyone who comes along, to help smooth the follow-up process.
To reserve a place at the party and ensure your details are on the Guest List, email  info@millipod.com  with Iffin Party in the subject line.  Cost is £10 a head payable on arrival.

Millipod has introduced an EXCITING NEW SERVICE for small business owners. Anyone subscribing to our FREE newsletter can now send in information for publication on payment of a low one-off fee: £10 for one item or just £25 for three exposures.

We know from experience that our busy readers often take a little time before they decide to sign up for a service offered by one of the members. 

So it has proved a successful and popular formular to include reminders in the newsletters - putting a simple description of benefits and costs in front of people one, two or three times - in order to get maximum take-up.

If YOU want to promote your business - whether it's design, therapy of some sort, deliveries, publishing, art, catering, admin or any other service - sign up TODAY for our free newsletter.  And email for details of how to promote YOUR business to hundreds of smallbiz readers in Kent.

The newsletter is also a handy source of reference for new ideas, tips, connections, back-up, expertise and informal friendly affordable support.

Why wait?   Sign up - TODAY!

www.millipod.com

From today, Millipod brings you news of the future - a page devoted to Your Stars.   David Cammegh - a delightful and entertaining medium and teacher - is a skilled astrologer and will be casting horoscopes for us each month.  His talks, workshops and presentations held in Kent in the last few months have been highly acclaimed and thought-provoking.

If you want to know more, or want to book a private consultation, you can contact him directly through the new Millipod Astrology page.

Millipod members are buzzing with activity this month...we have music, astrology, lectures, shows, meetings, training, and loads more on the schedule.

If YOU want to promote YOUR business activity, just join Millipod.  

You get our buzzy newsletter for FREE to keep you in touch with the creativity in the network, and if you sign up as a fully paidup member you can use this wonderful marketing tool to promote YOUR business.

Come to the next Millipod networking event - at Minnis Bay, near Birchington - on May 17th. Join us for lunch and meet lots of like-minded smallbiz entrepreneurs.  Click on our Events page for details and book your place NOW!

It's happenin'!

Now we have two ways for you to join! 

You can either go via the Join Here link on this website and use Paypal to subscribe, or you can email for details of how to set up a Standing Order - and pay just £10 a month.

This new service makes it more economical for small companies to buy into the Millipod subscription membership.

It's already proved popular with new subscribers: the first one replied within a few minutes of the announcement!

Millipod is pleased to announce a new service for paid-up members - a regular feature in our popular and successful Millipod newsletter. 

Each small business will be given a place in the spotlight, featuring what services they offer, their top tips, how they see things developing in their marketplace, what challenges they have faced, and more.

The newsletter goes out to hundreds of smallbiz readers in the South East and further afield, and is an effective marketing tool for subscribers.

Members will be interviewed by phone or visit, images collected, and a comprehensive description of their business put together before being emailed to the readership. This excellent promotional opportunity comes FREE to the members, and is another way in which Millipod can help boost a company's profits and success.

Millipod has been asked by a government department to find Health and Wellbeing Professionals to give advice and presentations to a conference of civil servants in London.      So, if you practice in or near South East inner London, this may be of interest to you.     The department is revising its advice about absence due to sickness, but wants to do this in a positive way - so they are seeking people who can talk about yoga, meditation, aromatherapy, healthy eating, blood pressure and cholesterol, head massage, and more.  Join Millipod to find out more - NOW!

The Millipod Networking Lunch today was rated a great success by all who attended.  Fourteen smallbiz entrepreneurs, some quite new to Millipod, shared an excellent lunch at the Anchor Inn in Faversham, and had the chance to promote their own businesses directly to the group.

It was really amazing the connections which were made right there and then - a photographer sat next to someone who is opening a photographic studio, a plant-nurseryman sat opposite a garden designer, an Inheritance Tax planner sat next to someone whose elderly mother-in-law needs just this advice..... and so it went on!

We are now planning our schedule of business events for the Spring - Receptions, Meetings, Parties and Workshops - in a wide variety of interesting locations and venues, including (if we are lucky) the plant nursery and the photographic studio we heard about today. 

And - a really special event - a Reception to be held in March in Tunbridge Wells, in a fabulous modern car showroom, with special offers on cars to buy or lease, and a presentation from Kent Police on Safety on the Road.  Watch this space for details!

NB.  If you are interested in Millipod bringing a group of prospective new customers to visit YOUR business, please contact us.

It is very noticeable how QUIET everything is, even though the holiday season is now 'officially' over.  Some retail businesses are shutting up shop early in the day for lack of trade.  The roads are empty.  Industrial units are still closed.  I don't know whether people are just plain exhausted or playing hookey, but they certainly seem to be extending their holidays into next week. For those of us working from home, that can be easily done, but the guilt does tend to creep in......  

One way to overcome any guilty feelings is to simply book in for our Networking Lunch next Wednesday 10th January - at the lovely old Anchor Inn, in Faversham. Details are on our Events page. 

That way, you have a firm business date in your diary to get things off to a good start for the New Year.  Come to meet lots of other like-minded entrepreneurs over a drink and a sandwich, make new contacts, find new customers, hear what's going on......

Our next exciting event will be a Christmas Lunch Party in Canterbury - on Friday 8th December.  Lots of networking, meeting decision-makers, lunch, a chance to hear excellent business ideas, and of course - a chocolate fountain!

Details on how to book on our Events page!

Millipod represents hundreds and hundreds of micro-businesses in Kent and the South East, and we are shocked at the scale of cuts to Eurostar services from Ashford.

These changes come about because of the opening of the new Ebbsfleet/Dartford hub.  The gains made by North Kent are at the expense of established services from the original station at Ashford.

Not only will there be far fewer services from Ashford, but there will also be a cut in direct destinations available to us...people will have to make changes and connections to get where they want.

Our members are protesting to Eurostar directly by email and letter, and also approaching Kent County Council to explain to our elected representatives what these cuts will mean for our businesses. 

What people don't realise is that Kent in particular - with its fragmented transport and tiny complicated ancient road systems - has a huge proportion of home-based businesses. We are not commuting to the great cities and centres to work.  We work from home.  We therefore need a local service, from the centre of our huge county, to allow the greatest number to reach this vital train service.

We had a tremendous meeting last night in Canterbury - the place was packed, lots of new people arrived, and our speaker was fascinating.
Andrea Hefford of Snappy Title design talked about consolidating her knowledge, taking risks, taking unpleasant decisions, and never letting go!  She is very focussed, very goal-driven, and knows how to apply herself. We predict great things for her as she continues to attract new patrons and contracts, large and small.
Our next meetings are at the end of November for a Business Valuation workshop, and our traditional Christmas party - this time, themed on Chocolate!
Do book in: places are limited for both events and they will fill fast!

October has been a busy month, with our newsletters crammed to bursting with information and special offers from our members.

And we have several exciting events coming up: our next NETWORKING MEETING is in Canterbury on Wednesday 25th, at C&H Fabrics - a great chance to meet other smallbiz entrepreneurs, find new customers, hear about new trends. Our speaker that night is award-winning designer ANDREA HEFFORD from Rye - so book your place now on our Events page.

We have three more events in the pipeline: all unique, all very good for helping small-business people be more profitable!

On November 29th we are running another Millipod WORKSHOP called 'What's YOUR business worth?' - helping people with their pricing, private and public valuation, and even exit strategies.   In early December we have an excellent Christmas event coming up, too - a CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN! - in a smashing Canterbury venue - again with great speakers, and of course our traditional pre-Christmas London meeting. Watch this space for details!

As Millipod matures in experience and reputation, we find our membership is growing and changing.  We now have two Universities in the membership - they joined via their respective Business Schools, because they knew they could reach a vibrant network of entrepreneurs through our lists.  The same reason has motivated one of the region's oldest established dealerships to join us too, as a Corporate Member - we will be revealing who, exactly, in a short while.

We also notice how other groups and organisations are copying what we do - running events along the same lines, billing speakers we have previously used, and generally following our lead!

All this is very exciting and rewarding - it is one of the pleasures of being innovative - that we lead, and others follow.

Why not join us to find new ideas, new customers, new suppliers, and new friends?   Think of Millipod as a flat-pack corporate experience.   If you need back-up, contacts, ideas, support, someone to talk to, expertise, or just a joke a day....we can supply all that, for a moderate sum.    What's more, the wonderful special offers we can negotiate for our members more than covers the cost of your subscription...so, in the end, you get all this for free. Can't be bad, eh?

In fact, just today, we have sent all our paid-up members a special discount offer worth £192 +VAT.  If you want to know what it is, you have to join us!

Go on, you know it makes sense.

One of our members asked if we could help her find an experienced book-keeper to prepare papers for a court hearing. We put the word out in our newsletter today, and by this afternoon, no less than EIGHT people had been recommended. 

Our member has been given this list of names and it has also been posted up on the Notice Board in our Coffee Bar - in the Members' Area of this website.

If YOU want to take part in this kind of friendly, professional networking, you have to join!  Click on JOIN HERE

As the summer holidays draw to an end, Millipod members are as creative as ever with their businesses and activities.  Member Katherine Gili has her sculpture in the exhibition titled simply 'Steel' opening at One Canary Wharf on September 4th, others are organising a Garden Party and Lunch in aid of Cancer Research UK, member Lindsey Agness of The Change Corporation is running FREE workshops in Canterbury and Sandwich to help people create the life they want, member Karin Hermans of Wood-You-Like has written and published a completely new kind of book - a business novel - describing how her flooring business in Charing has grown to be so successful, Sarah Harman at Iffin Farm is forming a new group offering support to artists, there are Family Weekends on offer in beautiful woodlands near Canterbury, where you can learn survival skills and tracking, make your own bivvy, and spend time out in the wild....
If YOU want to know more about any of these activities, then just send us an email....  and if you join Millipod as a full member you can contact any and all of the other members very simply via this website.
You can also have information about YOUR business promoted here, for FREE, whenever you want.
Ask for details.
 

Once again we find things go pretty quiet in the micro-business market as families go away for a well-earned rest.  However we know that there are many Millipod members still working away so we will continue to circulate items of interest in our newsletter and promote events or special offers to our members and newsletter readers for their benefit.

One very interesting ecological offer is still open and so far, we hear, only ONE Millipod member has taken it up, so maybe some more will respond to it during this holiday time. It is the chance to install a special wild-life unit at your home office....helping to promote biodiversity in your area.  This is a special offer for businesses, and if YOUR office is in your home, well so much the better.

You get over £60 worth of kit absolutely FREE with advice and support to provide suitable habitats for birds, ladybirds and solitary bees - even a batbox to fit under the eaves of a building. Even if you just have one outside  wall, or a tree nearby you can do a lot to encourage  our endangered wildlife and enliven your own environment at the same time.   For more information, contact Dr Laurienne Tibbles on  LAURIENNE.TIBBLES@ashford.gov.uk  for a visit. She will give you lots of support to get started on improving the biodiversity of your work place. 

If you join Millipod as a full member at the moment, you get a special 25% bonus....your £120 buys you not 12 months membership but 15 months.  This valuable extra benefit arises because Millipod is moving house during the summer and there may be a slight dropping off in service during that time. The extra membership time compensates for that, and leads us to create this special incentive for new members to join now.

You can read all about the benefits of membership elsewhere on the site, but in summary Millipod offers you a creative, dynamic and hardworking community of small-business entrepreneurs. We run friendly professional events where everyone you meet is the decision-maker in their business, we send information about our members' businesses via a newsletter to hundreds of readers, our website offers loads of back-room services and ideas, and we do our utmost to help you with any of your queries or problems - whether that's looking for a particular service or consultancy, or finding premises, selling stuff for you, or making you laugh with a daily joke. 

It's extremely good value for money, very effective, and commands respect in the smallbiz community in the southeast.  Why not sign up NOW?  Click on the Join Here button!

The Millipod Summer Garden Party yesterday evening was a thoroughly pleasant occasion, with perfect weather, a great crowd, lots of business done, and excellent conversation.

Guests gather for our presentation

We sampled some exquisite Chinese summer food prepared by Chanloo Smith, who runs cookery demonstrations. She brought along special noodles with boned and stuffed chicken....delicious. Another member, Maggie Ansell, ran a bric-a-brac stall: her speciality is property management - everything from house renewal to inventory-making for lettings, and that essential activity, clutter-clearing. We are grateful to her friend Frans van Dyke for running the bar, too!

Special thanks to member and surveyor Mike Lilford who stepped in at short notice as our presenter, and gave a fascinating talk about the process of repairing old buildings - guests were able to see how he had created working drawings of the house itself.

Mike Lilford gives his presentation

The evening ended with a meal in the Rose and Crown pub round the corner, with live music and excellent food.  Thanks to all who came and took part. Millipod strives to arrange events which are informal and yet professional - and yesterday's party was a perfect example. This is the ideal way for small-business people to do big business!

Bookings have been very positive for the Millipod Summer Garden Party, to be held this Wednesday July 5th at Stelling Minnis. Members and guests can meet up with old friends and find new contacts among other small-business entrepreneurs - all in the setting of a rambling old garden. Cold wine and soft drinks will be dispensed with some titbits to eat, and we'll have a presentation by a member on a very thought-provoking subject!  We've had parties like this for several years now and they are hugely popular - which is not surprising as they are informal, friendly, fun and highly successful!  if you'd like to come along, just click on our Events page and sign in (you pay in advance via PayPal).

At this time of year we find that for a lot of members, things do tend to slow down - end of school events are lining up, student children need to be moved into or out of halls of residence or lodgings, and then holidays creep up!

Nonetheless, Millipod will still be here - if you have any announcements you'd like to make to the smallbiz community in the south-east, let us know. Paid-up members use our newsletter service for free, but please ask for details if you are interested and not actually paid-up. We may be able to help.

This year's Millipod Summer Garden Party will be held in the late afternoon of Wednesday July 5th in the grounds of our new home at Stelling Minnis, an interesting village in the North Downs south of Canterbury.
Members are welcome to bring guests - you can see details on our Events page, and you have to book in advance to be allowed entry.
Like all Millipod's networking events, this will be a brilliant opportunity for you to meet other small-business entrepreneurs, to find new customers or suppliers, and promote your business to them too!
We advise you to bring plenty of business cards or fliers, and paid-up members can also set up a small business display if they wish, in the house.
As the garden is well over an acre in size and somewhat overgrown past the lawn, do please wear clothes and shoes suitable for muddy ground and shrubberies.

Millipod is a network of business people working from home and many are in what is known loosely as the 'creative' sector.  It's not surprising therefore that many of them are taking part in the South East Arts Open Studio project again this year, and we wish them all well for this marvellous scheme.

On top of that, members are running various events and courses as usual - First Aid, marketing, wedding-professionals networks, self-help and self-development classes, publishing, live gigs for their bands etc and they have properties to let in the UK and as holiday lets here and abroad. There's so much going on, different every week.

Why not enrol for our FREE newsletter and get the flavour?

Click on Join Here now!

So many of our members run their businesses from home, and things are quiet this week due to half term, but nevertheless Millipod members continue to produce fascinating work and services. For instance, our long-term supporter Joanna Wood was instrumental in getting Chris Beardshaw to design the garden for the wormcast company - which won GOLD at the Chelsea Flower Show, so congratulations to her for all her hard work behind the scenes. 

We are supporting the campaign to save Fordhall Farm up near Market Drayton even though they are not members, but we try to do our bit for the planet.  Closer to home, Hannah and Geoff at Natural Pathways are running some terrific courses in their beautiful woodlands near Canterbury: family events, woodland survival skills, and more. Do check out their website, and if you book in, please do mention Millipod. 

We have other great leisure offers on our Holidays page: this is where our members advertise their privately owned property for holiday-lets: Spanish apartments, French farmhouses, Italian villas, a cottage in Dorset, and archaeology holidays around Britain and Europe, plus more.    We have a lot of events of our own too...details going up shortly on our Events page, so keep an eye out for those!

Millipod members have been offered hundreds of pounds of discounts during the last few months, from members willing to generate new business inside the network. This ranges from the services of a virtual PA company to training courses - and we get these sorts of useful terms all the time from the membership.

We have also been able to warn our members - and the general readers of our FREE newsletter - about various email scams and credit-card frauds, including a massive cloning scam which is still mugging unsuspecting victims in Kent.

Our meetings generate lots of business leads for those attending - more dates are going up on the board shortly. We've found a wonderful artisan opportunity in northern France with free accommodation, we've advertised people's property to let in gorgeous locations, we've promoted special holiday deals, drawn people's attention to new websites and family days out, helped with marketing and PR, and loads more. 

The micro-business community in Kent is buzzing!  And Millipod is the best place to get in touch with what's going on!  Meet the DECISION-MAKERS in our network, and join the gang. Membership is just £120 a year for an energetic and pro-active experience...we can give you the sort of corporate support which every solo entrepreneur knows they need!  Click here to join now, online.

Do YOU have expertise in small-business finance?  Would you like to present your company's services at a seminar this summer?

Then contact Millipod.

We are planning a day-long workshop, for micro-business, covering every aspect of money and finance from insurance to debt management, pensions to pricing policy, fund-raising to book-keeping, tax to investment......

If YOU have a service which would interest our participants, let us know - ASAP!

We've had an interesting time in the Millipod office lately, with some excellent jokes coming in - and being added to the list which provides A Joke A Day in our Members' Coffee Bar, and some very good discounts available to members. The latest is an offer from a web-designer who can put together a business website for you, complete with everything you need to get your business up and running, and the discount he's offering is MORE than the cost of the Millipod membership fee......so, if you join, and take him up on his generous offer, you get 'two for the price of one', so to speak.

We have another networking lunch in a day or so - at Minnis Bay, on the beautiful north Kent coast - and bookings are coming in fast for that now. We've been promoting an excellent foodie fair with music, arts and crafts down at Sandwich this coming weekend, and the meetings of the Kent Wedding Ring - another network who specialise in wedding.  We've raised the profile of Kent Bygones - a wonderful local history magazine which needs supporters, we've mentioned one of our members who does Aromatherapy and is offering a handy discount to Millibods who go for treatment......

You see, the list of interesting smallbiz activity is endless. Each one of the businesses in our network is owned and run by REAL PEOPLE - who care about what they do and how they do it.  Kent is a great place for small business, and that is why so many successful smallbusiness people belong to the Millipod network. They find it works if they work it!

The next Millipod networking lunch is beside the sea at The Minnis Restaurant, near Birchington, on Friday 5th May.   The venue is a very groovy place with absolutely excellent food, and stunning sea views of course.   Please be there by 12.15 for a 12.30 start and we aim to finish by 2.30pm.     There is plenty of free parking nearby.   As usual, please do bring plenty of business cards along with you - we will make sure you get to meet a lot of new entrepreneur during the meeting.

We have two speakers for this event, both based in North Kent: Millipod members Daniel Morris of Kent Canvas and Joyce Sewell of Your Connection Ltd - they are both highly experienced business people and very inspiring to listen to, so we look forward to positive and informative presentations from them.

If you have not been to one of our networking lunches before, you will get a buffet lunch with soft drinks and tea or coffee to follow, short introductions from everyone present so you can identify the people you want to talk to later, you also get the chance to speak about your own business to the group (what an excellent marketing opportunity!), a lot of networking and the double presentation from our two speakers.  The price for this action-packed and valuable meeting is just £21 - unless you are a paid-up Millipod member already, in which case you get a discount and pay just £19.   You can book for this meeting on our website - click here .

Millipod's networking lunches are highly regarded by the members - the meetings are well-run, friendly, professional, and offer you an unrivalled opportunity to meet a roomful of decision-makers:  if you are looking for new business contacts - customers, suppliers, advisors, potential partners - this is the way to find them.

Book now!   Bring a friend with you!   We are looking forward to meeting you!

Millipod continues to sizzle  with interesting activities...enquiries from Japan about fashionable English goods to export, an Arts and Crafts Weekend, a Charity Concert in Canterbury raising money for the Alzheimer's Society, a company looking for an energetic PR company and a printer for two separate contract, someone offering ink for office printing machines at a stunning discount, a Wellbeing Day for Women in Buckinghamshire, and much much more.....

We pass on details of these potentially very profitable leads to our paid-up members as a matter of course.  We can tell the world about them too, but do not give you the details unless you join us for real!

We also send out alerts about scams and dodgy deals - several in the last few days.  The replies we get from our members show how convincing some of these would-be frauds can be, and how useful it is to be told what the latest dirty tricks are. Our members have many reasons to be grateful for our early and timely warnings.

As the Easter Holiday approaches, we wish you all the best and look forward to hearing from you.

Congratulations to Millipod members and interior design team Snappy Title who have been given the opportunity to provide a preliminary design proposal for the listed two-storey Grandstand at Phyllis Court. It overlooks the finish line of Henley Regatta and Andrea and Kate have fingers crossed that the clients decide to go ahead with the project to turn it into a very high-class conference and wedding suite. 

Snappy Title have also had a letter of congratulations from their MP following their recent award as best start-up business of the year.... 

They are very good at doing their publicity work too!

Millipod members were out in force at the huge Business Link 2020 show at Maidstone on Thursday - congratulations to all those who had stands there - they all looked very exciting and seemed to be doing good business.  It was heartening to keep bumping into our members in all the different marquees and corridors, seeing friendly faces among the crowds.

It was also very heartening to hear the Guest Speakers - particularly John Getty and Sir Digby Jones - extolling the central themes of Millipod's philosophy: that we need to work together, that we have something great going on here, that courtesy, common sense and commitment to innovation are essential to our continued growth and success in a changing and aggressively competitive business environment.

It was also noticeable that this year, fewer exhibitors were pressing heavy and expensive brochures and catalogues into the reluctant hands of visitors: a blessing all round. Who needs all that stuff?

Did anyone hear the item on this morning’s Today programme on Radio 4, about Games Theory?

A dry-voiced American professor was explaining how in many games activities  -  he cited chess and football among other examples, but also included commercial transactions  -  we have objectives of our own which are quite different from the objectives of the people we are dealing with.   He said we have to keep in mind what the other person’s objectives are in order to more easily achieve our own objectives. This leads to strategy and tactics and is particularly true in war, of course, which is what the radio piece was about, but it struck me that we could equally apply this analysis to networking.

Networking is essentially an activity – and you could call it a game because it is voluntary – in which all the members of a network such as Millipod look for outcomes which are mutually beneficial, and when we find them we try to enhance or reinforce them.    Instead of steely-eyed protagonists glaring at each other, we see a scattered group of people thinking about what their shared aims are, in order to solve common problems.  

Our newsletter is one of the ways we enhance the chances of shared mutually beneficial outcomes: by the exchange of information, building up trust and reputation, helping members get to know each other.  This leads on to people making meaningful contact with members of the network to consult them for advice or to do deals with them, and so on.  Millipod has many different ways of helping people find other people – this website, our events (more coming soon!), 1-2-1 requests through the office, our marketing activities, and so on.

I personally find it a pleasurable and fundamentally honourable way to do business – reducing the stress of having to make ALL the decisions on my own, or worrying who to trust with confidential business information, even on a small scale. I also notice that Millipod members who actively use the network find that it does benefit them, and they often take the trouble to tell me about that, which is good.

 Perhaps this whole process of networking to share the benefits is an instinctive thing for some people, less easy for others – which is why I thought I would bring it out into the open like this.   I’d be pleased to hear what you think about it!

We are in the process of setting up dates for our next schedule of meetings now, so please keep an eye on our Events page. If you subscribe to our newsletter we will let you know when these are fixed.

We are planning to run our popular and successful networking lunchtime meetings at Birchington, Rochester, Tunbridge Wells, Dover, Canterbury and London.

These affordable events will interest anyone running their own business, and provide a simple and friendly way to meet other decision-makers.  If you are already a paid-up member of Millipod you can come along at a DISCOUNT price.

We are always looking for new and interesting places to hold our meetings.   If you run - or know of - a suitable venue for a meeting, please let us know.  We need an easily-accessible venue with plenty of parking nearby, a room to ourselves (up to 20 people), and a stylish but affordable buffet lunch with soft drinks and/or coffee.

We also organise visits to people's businesses - which combines business, marketing, training and a social element for all concerned, and helps the host business find more customers. This exciting scheme is available only for our paid-up members: why not ask for details?

Congratulations to Rye-based interior design team Snappy Title - who have won 'Best Start Up Business of the Year 2006', the business award sponsored by the 1066 Enterprise and HSBC Bank.  Snappy Title have been members of Millipod since very early days - you may well have met them at some of our networking events.

With a design background of over 17 years in film, TV and interior design, they have an impressive client line-up, including Brandshatch Place Hotel at Fawkham, Kent, the Nutfield Priory Spa at Redhill, Wagamama noodle bar in Brighton and many others. 

Due to complete next month is a new-build Orangery at the Phyllis Court Club at Henley on Thames, and they have more prestige projects lining up.

For more information, contact Andrea Hefford or Kate Iles on 01797 225453 or email info@snappytitle.co.uk

Millipod members held another successful meeting today in Covent Garden - and surprise guest Carole Stone "The Networking Queen" dropped in to see what we were up to.

Business-owners from London, Hertfordshire and Kent found new contacts and exchanged details: among those present were a psychotherapist, an occupational therapist, a corporate media trainer, IT specialist, corporate florist, tax accountant, virtual assistant...... and so many more.  These meetings really are special - small, purposeful, informal but highly professional.

Our presenter today was Millipod member Nicky Tolson, National Marketing Director for Juice Plus+, who talked about the vital link between nutrition and good health, and how to find and keep customers. Her talk was very well received. 

We are often approached by outsiders seeking to make presentations at our meetings but this valuable opportunity is reserved exclusively for our own paid-up membership. It allows an entrepreneur an unrivalled opportunity to pitch to a roomful of potential customers - who not only want to be there but have paid to be in the audience!

Future meetings are planned for London, Tunbridge Wells, Canterbury, Thanet, Rochester and Dover.  Please email for further details: info@millipod.com with 'Meetings' in the subject line. 

We are also planning a Wellbeing Show in the summer, for anyone working in complementary, holistic or therapeutic practice, or beauty products and associated services.  Email for further details: info@millipod.com with 'Wellbeing' in the subject line.

You don't have to be a member of Millipod to come to one of our networking lunches.... sign up - on our events page - for our next event in Covent Garden on Wednesday 22 March, and see how we work! Excellent networking, tasty lunch, and the chance to meet members, all for £21.
Our meetings offer a friendly, professional business forum for entrepreneurs, freelances, consultants, and people running businesses from home. Find new customers or suppliers, meet the decision-makers, pick up trends or advice....
Millipod is uniquely focussed on micro-businesses, so why not come and try it?

Millipod's numbers are steadily growing following our appearance at the Kent Women in Business Show last week, as people sign on for our FREE newsletters. Tonight, as the founder of Millipod, I was invited to make a presentation about the whole subject of networking at a prestigious meeting in Rochester: the launch of the Business Support Programme for Creative Students, at Medway's University College for Creative Arts. We met in the fascinating George's Vaults, the party included students and staff, local councillors, funders, trainer and business people - a heady mix! The networking round the tables was superb, and many present said they will sign up. It is clear that there is a great upsurge of interest in 'networking' these days, but the truth is you need to be in the RIGHT network to meet the right people. You need to meet the decision-makers, the strategists, the genuine entrepreneurs, to get maximum value from your investment of time and money in this game. Millipod - just about uniquely in the micro-business sector - offers you all three. Why not come and join in?    Griselda Mussett

Bookings are coming in now for our next event, a networking lunch in London - in Covent Garden on March 22, from 12.15pm.
We have found that these London events are very popular, even with our out-of-town members. £21 buys you lunch and some powerful and profitable networking with a wide variety of entrepreneurs......
Book in online via our Events page

We had a stonking day today at the Women in Business Show in Rochester. This was the second show organised by WIB in Kent, and it was packed to the gunwales with exciting businesses and interesting people. Millipod's stand mostly consisted of a TV set showing off what we do via a brand-new video, a compilation of footage and stills photos from the last year or so of our activity. Consequently a lot of our members appear in it, and as quite a few of them were at the Show today, they all came to look and see themselves 'on the telly'!

What interests me very much is how important it is to find the 'right' person, and how that is both very difficult and very easy. it could be that the person standing next to you is EXACTLY the contact you need for your business to move forward, but unless you actually speak to that person, you will never know. Clearly it also helps enormously when a third party - knowing you both - is willing and able to say: 'Hey, you two need to talk to each other, you have X in common' or 'You are both in the same line of business'.

I am happy to tell you that during the day, i found myself introducing such people several times....and off they went, deep in business conversation.

I love it.

This is what Millipod is all about.

If you want me to help introduce YOU and your business to people who need to know you, then you have to join Millipod. It's as simple as that.

Millipod members and newcomers had a very successful and profitable meeting yesterday in Faversham - at the historic Faversham Club.

Fourteen entrepreneurs from a wide range of business sectors met over lunch to hear a presentation about Asset Management: in particular how important it is to KNOW what you have available to you in your business life - not only the hardware and furniture, but all the skills and knowledge you have accumulated throughout your life. Running a micro-business means you have to utilise every resource you have, and the presentation by Maggie Ansell of The Ansell Agency was both provocative and inspiring.

By the end of the meeting deals were being done between participants all around the table, and other meetings and preliminaries set up.

This is the benefit of the Millipod experience: we get the RIGHT people together in the RIGHT circumstances and EVERYONE's BUSINESS BENEFITS as a result.

Valuable advertising space has been offered - free - to all our paid-up members by a magazine reaching 78,000 households in Kent. The editor, a Millipod member, is giving a free classified ad to any full Millipod member, or a discount of the same value for display advertising.  The magazine is sent to families with children of primary school age, and includes what's on listings and features of general and educational interest.  This is a fabulous opportunity for our members to promote their businesses to a wide new audience and we expect a healthy take-up of the offer.  The offer is only open to people who subscribe to Millipod...ask for more details if you are interested.

Millipod members continue to say how useful they find their membership.  Today, someone contacted us to say he has had four really useful leads through Millipod, and has made considerable progress in his business as a result - all in a matter of months. 

One of the huge benefits of Millipod membership is that each time you meet someone at one of our networking events, or contact someone in our Membership Database, you know you are dealing directly with the decision-maker in that business. No other networking organisation has such a high quality of contact in this area.  

You have more than likely had the experience of going to a so-called business lunch or networking event, only to find all the other attendees have just been sent there by their employers to drum up trade: usually these are estate agencies or law firms, and it can be a complete waste of time for a sole-trader to give up two or maybe three hours to end up in such an environment.  Very often, no-one introduces you to anyone else, and you stand around feeling silly. It can be so frustrating, especially for very small business-owners or start-ups, who think they must be doing the right thing going along to some officially sponsored event only to find that they get nothing out of it, and what makes it worse is, there is a tendency to be over-awed by all this, or to feel that somehow 'it must be something wrong with ME'!   But that is not the case at all.  It is just the wrong group of people to be mixing with.

Some people pay quite a lot of money for their businesses to be involved in things like this, which is just another waste.

If you come to a Millipod event - such as our networking lunch on March 2nd in Faversham - you will find a smallish group of people, all of whom own their own businesses, and if they are interested in doing business with you, then there is no-one to override them or make a supervisory decision against it.   You are talking - immediately - to the people who can do the deals.  That is the main benefit of the Millipod experience. 

I can promise you, the experience is enlightening!!!!  If you want to come along, click on our Events page and book online. 

If you are not a paid-up member you are welcome to come along once to see how it works....after that, you need to join properly as a full member.  Again, if you have already enrolled to get our FREE e-newsletters, and you're wondering what else you are missing, then come along.  I can tell you, you ARE missing a lot by not having paid to get full membership.....but more of that, another time.

Our next networking event is a Networking Lunch at the Faversham Club on Tuesday 2nd March, and bookings are coming in fast now, so if you want to join us, do not delay or you may find it is too late. You can book and pay online via the events page on this site.  There are just 16 places available at this event, so it will fill very fast, but every person there will be the decision-maker in their business - a very high-quality and high-value meeting.  Our speaker is Maggie Ansell of the Ansell Agency. Maggie is a Property Consultant and will talk about Asset Management.   If you are interested in speaking at one of our meetings, then you have to join as a paid member.

There are two ways you can take part in Millipod's networking activity: Step One is simply to register on this site to receive our popular e-newsletter. That is completely FREE.  Step Two involves you paying an annual subscription, and that gives you full and active membership within the network.  You get some valuable discounts and offers, you can put information about your business into the newsletter, and you get access to our exclusive Members' Area on this site. There you can browse the information put up by other Members, you can put pictures or graphics up on your own page, you can have links to your email and website, which of course all the other paid-up Members can see, and you have access to our archived newsletters and the Coffee Bar.  "Coffee Bar?" I hear you ask.  "What is that?!?"  Well, it's pretty cool, and very popular, but you'll have to join to find out more.

Millipod members have had various offers this week: including the chance of partipating in a new project being run by the University of Creative Arts in Medway. They have asked us to bring a group of small business people to the party. This is a new venture for them, and an excellent opportunity for our members to find new customers and clients in a creative environment.

We also sent out information about FREE online training courses being run by a major IT company, and a new website offering comparisons between all the major banks.

£750's worth of seminar training has been offered to Millipod members by a local firm of Chartered Accountants. The seminar, to be held in Strood next Wednesday morning will help the participants understand how their business can be run more profitably and paying less tax. 

The offer was made following our successful Smallbusiness Showcase last week in Canterbury. Places at the meeting would normally cost £75 per head, and the accountancy firm has offered spaces to ten free places to Millibods.  All our active (paid-up) members were emailed with the details this morning.  Reservations have to be made by end of business tomorrow (31st January).

For more details, please email info@millipod.com.

Millipod Showcase Exhibitors and Visitors said they had a great day: each stall-holder reported useful contacts made, and we had a steady stream of visitors throughout the six hours of the event.
The police were called early in the morning when a passing motorist thought someone was acting suspiciously outside the venue: it was yours truly trying to lash the showcase banner to the frosty railings.
However, things soon warmed up as the doors opened and the public came in.
We had 37 businesses on show, and during the day aproximately 150 - 200 visitors.

There was a steady buzz of interest all day long. New visitors were arriving right up till the last moment, and we had a visit from the Business Editor of the local paper who took photos and interviewed several people there.
Our speakers: Miranda Chapman, David Oliver, Jane Wallace and Kathryn Goddard, all attracted a strong and participatory audience and a lot of appreciation.
The venue proved popular: although the rooms were not large, there was a very good ambience and people appreciated the good parking and easy accessibility of the location. The cafeteria also came in for a lot of praise with an excellent menu very reasonably priced.
A video team were recording highights throughout the day - the plan is for this to be part of a forthcoming Millipod video.
We have already had a lot of very pleased comments in from people, and I will post these on the testimonials page in due course.
Thanks to all who took part, and to the team from Christ Church University who made it all run so smoothly. 
We have been invited to run similar Showcase events elsewhere in Kent, so if you want to take part (again) please let us know.
The whole atmosphere today was not one of 'hard sell' and competition, but of networking, sharing, pleasure, learning and enjoyment.
This is the way we like it.
Millipod needs continuing support to maintain this style of doing business.
If you took part today - as an exhibitor or visitor - think about joining us as an active member. 
If you want to come to more events like this, please let us know.

One of the NEW BENEFITS available to paid-up Millipod members is FREE access to the noticeboard in our Coffee Bar where you can

•     leave messages including promos for your business
•     ask for information or other help
•     advertise one-offs or domestic items
•     contact all the other members who are actively networking
  
•     comment, recommend books, concerts, leave jokes, what you will....

We have a new online booking system for our Events, using Paypal.    Clicking on our Events page, you will find details of the event with a button for more information.  That takes you to the Members' Login area and then to the payment pages.  This way you will get an automatic record of your payments, and it does away with the need for cheques or cash transactions on the day, which I am sure you will agree is a great improvement!

Thousands of businesses were affected by the 'outage' which started at 10.15 yesterday morning and lasted till 5.50 this morning. Apparently the power supply at Pipex in Docklands went down, and so did huge numbers of websites and their attendant emails.  Millipod was affected, as were dozens of members.

Congratulations to Millipod member Frances Rowley Beaumont for her very unusual Exhibition of Light Installations and stone carving at Prewer and Orsborn’s Light Gallery, 20 Burgate, Canterbury which is on till February 6th, every Monday – Friday from 10 to 5.30.  Well worth a visit!

Of interest to writers in the membership, I came across a splendidly pithy account of what it is like to get a book published, written by Margaret Attwood, and called The Rocky Road to Paper Heaven. It is also a parable about all the obstacles a project has to overcome to reach fruition, so worth anyone’s time to read.  You will find it on:  www.web.net/owtoad/road.html

Many people made resolutions at the New Year to lose weight or stop smoking, and may be struggling by now. Why not get help and make it easier!!!! Millipod member Marcia Tillman from www.lifeclinics.com offers Hypnotherapy, NLP, and Thought Field Therapy to help YOU to succeed. So ditch the diets (only 10% effective, and you are more likely to put on weight after), and ditch the patches (studies show Hypnotherapy to be 10 times more effective) and do something different. Remember if you keep doing the same thing you get the same results! Marcia regular assists Paul Mckenna on his weight loss days and other trainings - studies have shown that using the powerful combination of Hypnotherapy, NLP and TFT brings a success of over 70% for losing weight.

Several Millipod members own properties abroad which they are happy to let out at very attractive rates. These are advertised on the Millipod website: www.millipod.com/services/holidays.html      For instance, Tom Maddocks who runs his media training company in London has a lovely and luxurious apartment overlooking the Mediterranean near Casares between Marbella and Gibraltar – and prices have actually gone down this year. You will find a wide range of holidays and activities listed on the page, so why not make use of your networking connections and book up with one of them?

The Millipod Smallbusiness Showcase scheduled for January 25th is a sellout!  Every stand has been booked.  We have a list of companies who applied too late - their names are on a standby list in case someone has to withdraw. 
Now the task is to make sure we have enough visitors. Every exhibitor has been sent invitations to pass on to staff, customers, suppliers and not forgetting friends and family.
Our press release has gone to local papers and BBC Radio Kent - but we expect each exhibitor to alert all their contacts to let them know about the Show. With ample free parking and excellent cafeteria facilities at the venue - the Canterbury Christ Church University Enterprise Centre at Hall Place, Harbledown - this should be a good day out for anyone.
Exhibitors include a health and safety company, jeweller, textile artist, insurance and finance firms, building surveyor, various health and well-being specialists, web designer, graphics company, video production company and many more.
The Showcase features just thirty stands but we have attracted sponsorship from CCCU and South East Exhibition Services Ltd, and excellent bookings. We have four experienced and inspirational speakers too, scheduled to give presentations during the day.
We look forward to seeing you there!

You will have to wait a week for Microsoft to launch their security update...it will be released worldwide in 23 languages on 10th January. 

For more details see the very helpful MS page : http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/912840.mspx

Meanwhile, please take the greatest care in clicking on any links which are unfamiliar or dodgy in any way.  A week is a long time in politics - and also in computing, business and security. 

The Financial Times yesterday published a warning that anyone using MS Windows is at risk from viruses or spyware due to a flaw which allows hackers to infect computers via webpages, or even emails and instant messages. A security expert was quoted as saying that every Windows system shipped since 1990 was vulnerable. Microsoft said in a bulletin on its website yesterday that it was aware the vulnerability was being actively exploited, but it had not yet released an official patch to correct the weakness.  Macintosh computers are not affected. 
For more details, see http://news.ft.com/cms/s/0d644d5e-7bb3-11da-ab8e-0000779e2340.html

Anyone wishing to join Millipod for the first time, or renew membership, can take advantage of our special offer till the end of this year!
The membership fee will be £75 for solo businesses until midnight December 31st 2005.
Hurry while stocks last!
Hint - If your renewal is due early in 2006, it would be worth your while to renew now to take advantage of this offer!

Now that the new website is bedding in, we will abandon the old manual methods of adding people's names to the newsletter list.
If YOU want to get our snappy newsletters, please go to the JOIN HERE page, and add your details. That way, you will get the newsletters each time they go out...usually once or twice a week.  The more information you give us about the services you offer, the easier it is for us to help you promote your business. 
The newsletters will resume after the holiday period, during the first week of January. 
As a reader you can see what other smallbiz people are doing. If you then decide to join Millipod as a fully-subscribed member you can return to your profile to complete the payment very simply online via Paypal, and you can then have information about YOUR business included in the newsletters.

We are delighted to announce that our Smallbusiness Networking Showcase has another sponsor - the Whitstable-based exhibitions company, South East Exhibition Services Ltd.  The Showcase which is open from 10 to 4 on 25 January 2006 at the Hall Place Enterprise Centre at Harbledown near Canterbury, features more than two dozen micro-businesses from Kent, with four keynote speakers who will talk during the day about Building Business Confidence.

They are:

The Milllipod website has had a radical overhaul in the last month and now offers a range of new benefits to our members. You can now simply register to receive our FREE smallbiz newsletter: go to Join Here page.   If you want to become a fully subscribed member, you can pay your fee securely online (via Paypal) and then all your business details will be shown to other members who may be looking for your services. You can amend your details whenever you like and browse the other businesses at your leisure.   Check out our Testimonials page too: read what Millipod members think about the service...and these change every time you refresh the page. Our members find this is a useful way to promote their own services too.....        The advertisements on the site are randomly generated too, to keep the pages looking fresh: you can buy space here to reach a highly-targetted smallbiz market in Kent and the South East of England.

I’d like to say a special hallo to Shelagh and Roger Curtis, and to Paul Mandon-Gassman who have joined this week, and to Vicky Whitlock who joined last week.  We have so much going on at the moment, and that’s quite apart from the fun of getting the website to perform its fancy new tricks!  I will keep you informed about that as we go along, but for the time being, if your emails to me are bouncing back, can you try using     millipod@btinternet.com      for the next few days. Thanks.  

Kathryn Goddard from Kent Wedding Ring, is having a reception at the Chaucer Hotel in Canterbury on Wednesday 14th December from 6 – 8pm.  This could be of interest to anyone who supplies brides (and brides’ mothers) with services, or anyone who has a wedding coming up! If you would like to go along, please contact Kathryn asap on kathryn@boulevardflowers.co.uk    or even better ring her on 01227 264020


Gary Carmichael of A P Solutions has a very practical and interesting offer for Millipod members....this is a slightly edited version of what he sent me:

The Millipod website has been massively upgraded and now offers members a host of new features. You can log in to your own page, amend your profile details, and browse through the details of the other members.  This is a service the members have asked for and it extends the networking experience to help you find the contacts you need. Events are also bookable online - so that you can reserve a place at one of our excellent meetings or workshops, and pay for it, in one smooth operation.  If you want to subscribe, it is now a simple matter of joining online, to reach the full membership of the network. And there's more - this is only phase I of the upgrade, in the months to come you will find more and more benefits from Millipod's wesbite. Email for details.

Don't forget to reserve a space at the Millipod Smallbiz Showcase in January - a business exhibition for small and startup businesses at the Canterbury Christ Church University Business and Enterprise Centre, with full support and FREE visitor tickets. £50 buys a table and directory entry, and entry to the Speakers' Hall for our top presenters: Jane Wallace from the House of Colour, David Oliver from Ology and Kathryn Goddard from Boulevard Flowers...all talking about Building Business Confidence.

Spooky!!!!! Halloween is coming up.....and if you haven't yet bought a copy of "Ghost Stories from Faversham" - now is the time. It costs £8.50 (inc p+p) if you email the money through Paypal (www.paypal.co.uk) to payment@millipod.com or send me a cheque for that amount. Don't forget to let me have your postal address. The book has now been reprinted several times, as it is very popular, very readable, and very suitable as a present or loo-book. The new reprint contains an amazing photograph (long lost but now rediscovered)....showing a little dog walking along, and what looks like the ghostly half-draped body of a man - possibly a monk - lying in the ground near the old Abbey in Faversham. Is it really a ghost? Who knows. But this is the first such photograph ever to be published. The book will be featured on BBC Radio Kent this week, on Thursday evening at about 5.50pm, I believe.

Small business entrepreneurs in Mid and East Kent might like to book a stand at the Millipod SmallBiz Networking Showcase which is being held at Canterbury on January 25th 2006. The event is sponsored by Christ Church Canterbury University’s Enterprise Centre, and the theme of the exhibition is ‘Building Confidence’. The show runs from 10.30 to 4, with free parking, and excellent catering available. We have speakers for you throughout the day, and lots of networking, all designed to help you make a success of YOUR business, however small or new you are. You can also book in for one of our highly-acclaimed Selling workshops well in advance, to make sure you get the most out of your commitment to the Showcase. Preparation is the key! Showcase stands are booking up very fast, so reserve a place NOW!
Click here to email for details of the Showcase and the workshops.

Manor Barn at Thanington near Canterbury are starting a new NLP practice group – tomorrow evening! If you are interested in NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), or are a practitioner, or want to know more, do get in touch with them. It will be held at their lovely centre just outside Canterbury. The purpose of the group is to practice NLP skills and learn more from trainers, practitioners and other people at your level. Time: 7.15 for 7.30 start. Finish 9.30. The address is The Manor Barn, Cockering Road, Canterbury CT1 3UR. For more information ring Richard Murray 01227 456601 or email info@manorbarn.org.uk Their website is www.manorbarn.org.uk

We’d love to see you at our next networking lunch on Thursday October 20th, at beautiful Iffin House, again near Canterbury. The details are on the website. We’re having a presentation from Robert Francis, about how to stand and speak, which is something I know a lot of people feel really frightened about. He can show us lots of tricks of the trade to overcome nerves and get on top of the task. Email asap to reserve a place click here

A new venture..... Millipod is pleased to sponsor two young people setting off to Tanzania for a twelve-month period to work for the betterment of businesses and communities. They are graduates of Lancaster University, Nick Lomax (24) from Chester, with a BBA in Management, and Miranda Runnalls (22) from Faversham with a BA in Politics and International Relations with Economics.

Miranda spent her gap year in Tanzania and is now returning to work for an organisation called Finca International, who set up small loans to (mainly) women to start their own small businesses (www.villagebanking.org). They use a village banking system, where aproximately 10 people in a village meet weekly to adminster and guarantee each other’s repayments.

Nick is there for Roots and Shoots, a charity started with the backing of Jane Goodall (www.rootsandshoots.org), running afterschool clubs helping Tanzanian children learn about environmental issues such as beach-clearing, tree planting, and so on.

Nick and Miranda will be living in Dar es Salaam, and they will send us reports from time to time about their work. We may ask you for help in various ways once they get there..fundraising, money, contacts, etc.

If you want to know more or want to offer them some practical business support, you can email them directly on: mirandarunnalls@hotmail.com and nickl5@hotmail.com They may need fundraising help, or money, or contacts, or ideas.......

We have the first of our networking lunches booked for Friday 23rd September at our original venue, the lovely Anchor Inn, Abbey Street, Faversham. 12.30 – 2.30, cost is £15 for buffet lunch with coffee, email to reserve a place. Our speaker is Miranda Chapman of Pillory Barn Design and she will talk about Finding New Customers. These events are specially targetted at very small businesses – you get a nice lunch, a bit of business training, and a really useful set of new business contacts, who like you are looking for new customers and suppliers. You don’t need to be a member of Millipod to come along to these events...just email for details. Click here .

The next lunch is at a new venue, the Azzurra Restaurant in Maidstone on Monday 3rd October. We’ll have a different speaker but the same format...if Maidstone is more convenient for you, book in now to reserve a place. And why not bring some business colleagues along?

Millipod member Barbara Lammers who lives in Canterbury is studying for her fine art degree and also running a mosaics business - not only supplying a vast range of beautiful components but also running workshops. Perhaps you would like to join one of these Mosaic Workshops, to bring out your creative ability and enjoy all the therapeutic (and networking!) benefits of being in a small dedicated workgroup. You’ll be working with what she describes as ‘the almost edible qualities of exquisite, tactile, shimmering and irridescent mosaic tiles’. All tools are provided, and you get all the advice and help you need to work to the creative ability which suits you. The workshops run during October and November on Thursday evenings and/or Saturday mornings, no more than six to a class. The fee of £18 includes a kit, coffee or tea, biscuits and a marvellous two or three hours of therapeutic fun. You can purchase additional items to add to your kit if you want. Email her on: workshops@artfull.plus.com PS She’ll be running special workshops for children as we get closer to Christmas.......

Congratulations to Katherine Gili, whose work is included in a sculpture exhibition in Darlington called Fe2O5, sponsored by Corus and Arts & Business. The catalogue itself is full of photographs and exquisitely beautiful, and Katherine’s powerful writhing pieces make an unforgettable statement alongside the works of four other women artists working in steel (Charlotte Mayer, Victoria Rance, Almuth Tebbenhoff and Sheila Vollmer). The show is at the Myles Meehan gallery, opening on September 23 till November 5th, and then moving to Sheffield and other venues. It wouldn’t surprise me if this show goes on a world tour...it’s stunning. If you are up north while it’s on – go and see it!

Millipod is gradually getting back to work after the summer holidays, and members have sent in details of lectures, workshops, art shows, sales, open days, jobs available, and more....if YOU want to know more about any of this, ask for the latest edition of our newsletter to be sent to you (click here)

We are planning another networking lunch at the Maidstone TV studios at Vinters Park – the first visit earlier this year was so successful, and we are delighted that they are keen to have us back. It is likely to be held around the middle of November on a Thursday or Friday, so keep an eye out for the date.

We are also planning our first Conference – to be held in Canterbury and a chance for members to showcase their businesses, with some brilliant and inspiring speakers for you. As usual, we’ll try to keep it simple and family friendly – pencil this in for early December!

There will be two London meetings – one in the West End, and one a little to the southwest as we have so many members and contacts there, and of course a selection of events in Kent.

If you haven’t already subscribed for our FREE e-newsletter, please do – and then you’ll be the first to hear about our fixtures.

Millipod Hall is for sale.... Historic house in beautiful medieval street, 6 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 3 reception rooms, double cellar, offstreet parking, walled garden, loads of character, close to shops, schools, railway (65 mins to London), buses, navigable creek, sea, open countryside, and thriving community. Faversham is a stunning little market town 8 miles from Canterbury, and this house is in the best part of the best street. Ring for more information.

Great news from California...where (you may remember) our own Henry Dagg went to take part in the International Musical Saw Playing Festival.... In his own inimitable words

Having a great time here in Sunny Ca., just returned from the Bass Lake family cabin, recovering from being towed across the waves on a big inner-tube by a speed-boat @ 40 MPH.

Festival went very well, entered the contest, won first etc., Ruby did very well and sucked up hours of DAT to edit. Scheduled for some torture on the roller-coasters of Magic Mountain this afternoon.

Returning to Blighty tomorrow, which probably works out as the day after.

See you soon with lots of holiday snaps!

XXX
Henry

So – big congratulations to Henry – because winning this competition is like being a Gold Medallist at the Olympics for the musical saw! His reference to Ruby is all about the BBC being there to record it all for Radio 4.

Kent Wedding Ring is hosting a Special Event on Monday 5th September from 7 – 9pm, at Iffin House, Iffin Lane, Canterbury. Come along and spend a relaxing evening at this lovely venue, chatting and networking with wedding professionals and men and women from a wide range of businesses in Kent. The meeting is free to members but please let them know if you are planning to come so they can be sure to have enough eats and drinks. Email kathryn@kentweddingring.co.uk or call 01227 264020 no later than Monday morning

August is usually a quietish month for Millipod as so many people go away and theoretically I get a bit of time to catch up on admin LOL!...but the notices keep coming in, and I am happy to pass on the following from members who are promoting some their events and services:

First, Kathryn Goddard a Millipod member who (among other things) runs a networking group called Kent Wedding Ring has organised a very interesting event on Thursday this week – a Networking and Wine Tasting Evening at the Elham Valley Vineyard, from 7 – 9pm. This is a FREE event, but you are asked to support the Charity raffle during the evening – it is in aid of the Elham Valley Trust which supports adults with learning difficulties. As you may know Elham Valley Vineyard is situated in an area of outstanding natural beauty, and they produce some outstanding wines to match which of course will be on sale (cash or cheque only, no credit cards). I intend to be there, and hope to see you if you can come along. To find out more, ring Kathryn on 01227 264020 or email: kathryn@boulevardflowers.co.uk
The Vineyard is at Breach, near Barham, on the B2065 off the A2 Canterbury to Dover Road, just a few minutes from Canterbury. Their tel no is 01227 831266 and you can find a map at www.kentattractions.co.uk/Area3.htm

A Time to Heal are running a Healing Day on Saturday August 13 from 10 to aprox 5pm. The Healing Day is designed to relax your mind, revive your body and renew your spirit. It begins with morning meditation, then there’s a movement workshop, Jikikden Reiki and Indian Head Massage and lots more. The price for the whole day is £85 and includes all treatments, lunch and refreshments. For more information ring 07840 171699, or email info@atimetoheal.co.uk Their website is www.atimetoheal.co.uk

There’s a renewed interest in ghosts around Faversham at the moment, with Sky TV filming in the town as I write this. It’s a spooky coincidence, because I last week sent off a cheque to the printers for a reprint of my book ‘Ghost Stories from Faversham’. (This will be the fourth reprint – it has been very popular!) If you want to know more click on: winterwoodkent.tripod.com/
The books should be here by the end of the month if you want to order direct.

It is very gratifying that week on week now, we are getting new people joining and a lot of these are by word-of-mouth recommendation from existing members, so thank you very much for efforts telling people about Millipod and what we offer to smallbiz people. Keep up the good work!

Millipod member and photographer Tommy Candler has an exhibition of her new pictures open all this month at the Quayside Bar and Brasserie in Bell Lane, Sandwich (behind the Bell Hotel). The venue is a fun place with delicious food, sensibly priced, and of course it is Carnival time in Sandwich in August.

Maureen and Gerry Curson – also Millipod members - have recently started a new business called WSI-Keysites, which is the local office for WSI - a global internet solutions company that focuses specifically on small and medium sized businesses. WSI globally have literally developed thousands of different web sites and e-business solutions for clients and take pride in focusing on making a site work really hard to give the necessary return on investment.
Maureen and Gerry are also keen to establish regular, ongoing, relationships with their clients so they can keep you up to date with relevant technology and advise on how it can help to boost revenues, keep costs down, or provide superior service to your customers.
They offer a complimentary Internet Business Analysis, which is short diagnostic face-to-face interview that will help to identify the optimum internet solution to support your company's operations both now and in the year ahead.
If you are interested call 01233 740176.

TO LET
Office space , work shop space and yard space ideal for a small business in friendly well kept surroundings (clean toilets, kitchen etc) in the heart of the countryside near Molash (between Canterbury and Faversham). Friendly atmosphere.
Special price to Millipod members: from £50.00 per week per office or workshop unit including electricity, heating, lighting, and parking space for 1 car. Access day or night. Security man on site.
Yard for lorry parking negotiable .
Office furniture, telephone/computer points in the offices. Add a computer and you are ready to go!
The Workshops would suit builder, light industry, carpentry, Landscape gardener, Artist etc. Some racking available.
Contact Frances Beaumont on 0845 456 47 49 to arrange to view, or for more details
July 26, 2005

The school holidays are now upon us, and for a lot of members the pattern of work changes with offspring to look after. Millipod will be running during the holiday period, but at a lower level of output, so please expect fewer newsletters. However feel free to email or ring if you have a query.

Every now and then we get an offer we can pass on to you even if you have not yet joined Millipod....
If you are still wondering where to go for your summer break, Millipod member Tom Maddocks is offering a 15% discount for his family’s Spanish beachfront apartment to all Millipod members, and a 5% discount if you read this newsletter. The apartment is available after 17th August, and he says ‘It’s jolly nice there!’ so if you are interested go to our Holidays page and click on the link to the Gorgeous Mediterranean beachfront apartment. To get the full 15% discount, tell them your Millipod membership number. If you haven’t joined yet, then mention Millipod and say you’d like the 5% discount. And if Spain doesn’t appeal, do look at the other holidays on offer! They’re gorgeous too.
PS – It’s worth joining Millipod just to take advantage of this discount....you’d be getting the holiday at a fab price and your year’s membership thrown in!

We had an excellent meeting in Covent Garden yesterday, several people joined while they were there, two people discovered they had already been doing business for over 20 years, and we heard a scary presentation from Rob Goodwin about what happens if you don’t back-up your business data regularly, frequently, totally and professionally. Details of his talk are available to those who came along.
We are going to arrange a new meeting in south west London for members and friends in that area.
We are also going to run a Millpod conference in the autumn in Maidstone...email for more details

Millipod member Tracy White of Virtually Organised receives a beautiful summer hanging basket as her prize for being Millipod Networker of the Year. She earned a massive £1,500 through her Millipod contacts. Tracy offers PA services through the internet and can be contacted at Tracy White tracy@virtuallyorganised.com She is also the Chairman of the East Kent branch of Women in Business. The floral display was grown and presented by Vanessa Ehmann of Luddenham Vegetables which was the venue for a Millipod Networking Garden party last night. Sixteen members and friends from throughout Kent were able to discuss their business progress and Vanessa explained how she had made her business dream come true by establishing her market garden outside Faversham.
Contact her on: vanessa@ehmann.freeserve.co.uk

Our next business-networking event is in London on Tuesday 19th...lunch in Covent Garden. Book now to make new contacts.

Millipod is growing steadily in numbers and experience: after a very successful Salon last week, we are now having our first Garden Party on July 13th with a chance to look at how a teacher made her dream come true by starting a plant nursery and market garden. Then we are off to London for a networking lunch in Covent Garden on July 19th. Both these events are filling fast, so reserve your place now if you want to be involved. You don’t have to be a member to come along, but we know you’ll get more out of it all if you join in whole-heartedly! Email for details or to reserve your place.

We will be presenting a prize to the winner of our last competition at the Garden Party...the challenge was: whose business has made the most money out of joining Millipod? The clear winner reached a staggering £1,500 – not bad for a £75 subscription. The runner-up has made over £500 in sales, plus a contract which she says will lead to a great deal more in future. Details and pictures to follow.

We are running a new competition now – we’d like your nominations for the most awful website... bad design, clunky loading, poor graphics, muddling content. Just send in your suggestions!

Now that the warmer weather is here, don’t forget our excellent Holiday Offers selection for lots of interesting and charming vacation deals, all privately run by Millipod members. Choose from the South of France, Tuscany, Dorset, Normandy, Spain..... Contact the owners directly – click here

First of all, a quick report on Kevin Duncan’s Seminar. It was a fast-flowing and open meeting, in which he used handouts with lots of pointers from his book Running Your Own Business (with page references) and invited everyone to comment or react to the ideas. Some of course, were contradictory: such as ‘Don’t compromise’ and ‘Be flexible’, but there were good reasoned arguments behind these headlines. The main messages were all about being confident, knowing your own value, walking away from business if you don’t like the person, having a plan and sticking to it (but recognising that Plan B may be better than Plan A), and a lot more along these rather humane lines! The meeting had a brisk and challenging tone and seemed far too short to me. People left with copies of his book* having also contributed ideas for his next one.
I am fascinated by how ‘business training’ like this has moved so close to ‘personal’ growth work/counselling/therapy – perhaps this is most true for very small businesses, such as ours.
NB You can buy a copy of Kevin Duncan’s book for yourself if you scroll down to April 19th, and click through to Amazon. It’s a lot cheaper there than walking into a bookshop! It’s a brilliant, useful, readable, practical, funny and worthwhile buy! Becoming a best-seller, too!

Another trend I am picking up is that there are people out there looking for capital to expand their businesses. I get quite a few calls now from individuals who have developed a good idea but want to take it further, and want to know where they can get investors to look at it. At the same time, there are people looking to sell their businesses – maybe we should run a workshop on this whole subject. Several speakers I have heard recently have emphasised that this is how to make money...have the idea, create the business, show that it is viable – and then sell it.

Congratulations to Katherine Gili who as well as being a member of Millipod is also a member of the Royal British Society of Sculptors. She has some work in the RBS Inside Annual Show 2005, at 108 Old Brompton Road, London, SW7. The exhibition runs till 19 August, Wednesday – Friday, 11am – 4pm, admission is free. Nearest tube is Gloucester Road or South Kensington. (By the way, her excellent garden Plant Corrals will be available and on sale at our Summer Salon on 23rd. Have you booked your ticket yet? It’s open to members and non-members of course, plus guests).

I thought you’d like to know Millipod is getting it right.....a report from the USA on e-zine efficiency (email newsletters just like the Millipod mailouts), shows that sending shorter newsletters out more frequently works better than sending longer newsletters out less frequently, even if they are regularly timetabled (quarterly/monthly/weekly/etc). It makes sense, of course, which is why I do it: if the newsletter is short and easily digested, people read it straight away instead of saving it to read later (and then probably just dumping it without reading it). You build a closer relationship with your readers because you’re in touch more often. You get more opportunities to promote products and services. Are you sending a newsletter to YOUR customers? Talk to us if you want some guidance about how to do it. And are you using Millipod’s e-zine to promote YOUR business? It’s FREE to members!

Sioux Peto of LB Graphics who has just joined us via the Women in Business group in East Kent has made a very generous offer to all Millipod members. LB Graphics is a creative design and print studio based in Sittingbourne, with a complete range of services – advertising, promotional material, websites. They have loads of experience working with the small business market where they specialise. They are offering a 25% discount to Millipod members on all design work, so if you are considering getting some new work done, now is the time! Invest in your company’s future with design! Call Sioux on 01795 428150

Congratulations to Sheila Job, who is a Millipod member working in Oxfordshire as a homeopathic practitioner...you may remember we reported how she asked Millipod for advice in building a client base from a standing start when she first qualified. She successfully arranged to give a talk to a local women’s group, and while that produced several enquiries and some consultations, it has now led to further invitations to speak, and she’s also contacting the local Adult Education service to offer talks to them too. If you have business problems which you’d like some guidance on....just ask Millipod!

Bookings are steadily flowing in for our Salon on Thursday June 23rd in Faversham. This promises to be a really good event, in the setting of the brilliantly successful art show John Ward, Family and Friends at the RTBiz.com gallery – as featured on BBC on Monday night. Some members have taken up our suggestion of bringing a business contact along as a guest: it’s a great way to say thank you to someone, and open up a whole lot of new contacts for yourself as well! We’ll be open from 6.30 to 8pm and you get wine or soft drinks and a lot of introductions to other smallbiz people in this area. Have you booked your place yet?

Tax Return Problems or Tax Return Planning?
The 31st of May was the deadline for employers to issue forms P60 for the tax year ended 5 April 2005. By now, your banks will also have sent you details of the meagre interest that they gave you on your current account! And, if you're self employed, you will now have a rough idea of what your income and expenses were during the tax year 2004/05.
However, did you know that you don't have to do your accounts in line with the tax year? In fact there are good planning opportunities if you choose a different year end, especially if this is your first year in business. One of our members who is a tax accountant offers a free, no-obligation meeting. Ask for more information.

There is a small but significant group of members within Millipod who have French business interests: property to let, or interpreting and translating, or business consultancy of various kinds. If this includes you, I have FREE copies here of a completely brilliant little paperback for you, called ‘Stepping Across – a guide to life and work on the other side of the Channel’. This is produced by Canterbury Christ Church University College and it is packed with useful information and contacts, so even if you are an old hand at dealing with your affairs in France, or even living there, this will have almost certainly have new stuff for you.
Email for details: put French Book into the subject line.

Have YOU booked in yet? We have a superb and inspiring speaker for our Seminar and Lunch on June 14th: Kevin Duncan. You will find you take away so many good ideas from this meeting, it will really help you focus on how to manage your business and stay sane! And don’t forget the Millipod Salon on June 23rd.....there will be a lot of new people coming to that, which gives everyone an excellent opportunity to make new business contacts via Millipod’s famously popular and successful Speed Networking!!!!!!! Tickets for the Seminar/Lunch are £35 (non-refundable) and for the Salon £10 for members and their guests, £15 for non members.

One of the benefits of Millipod membership is that once you’re in, and you start to do business with other members who you’ve met at our networking events, you have no commissions or fees to pay. Zilch. Nada. Nuffink. It’s true we can and do act as agents for you, and will negotiate a price for that work if you ask us, but in the normal run of business, Millipod exists as a kind of clubhouse for you to browse around and find new customers and suppliers and do whatever business you like. Your annual subscription means there is literally no limit to the amount of money you can make from meeting other members. Good, eh? The only drawback is, we’d really like you to tell us about it! It’s good for our morale! And, whoever can report the biggest success story from a Millipod meeting wins a lovely prize. Don’t be shy, tell us what you’ve been up to! Little or large, we want to know! (Top figure so far is £1,500! Not bad for a £75 subscription).

And while we’re on the subject of success and money, how about this.......? Congratulations! One of our first corporate members was Rathbone Greenbank – specialists in ethical investing – and we are delighted to hear that they have won the award for ‘Best Provider for Ethical Investment in the UK’. Elizabeth Haigh, who heads the team, collected the award from the Euromoney Private Banking and Wealth Management Awards 2005, at the Natural History Museum. The award is based on the views of intermediaries, advisors and others in the investment industry, so they were particularly pleased to receive this award. If you are interested in ethical investment, or want further information on the services they provide do look at: www.rathbonegreenbank.com or you can call 0117 930 3000. They help to sponsor or otherwise support some very interesting events round the country: an Ethical Investment Seminar at Manchester Gallery this Thursday, for instance, the Funding Network Days (next in London on 24th September), and the Schumacher Lectures in Bristol in October.

Special New Competition
How much is Millipod membership worth to you? We are offering a wonderful summery prize to the person who’s made the most out of their membership...just tell us what you’ve achieved since you joined! What deals have you done? What have they been worth? £50 or £5,000? Tell us all about it!

Private Eye
And if you take Private Eye, scan through this week’s Eye Escape column...... you’ll find we’re promoting the fabulous holiday offers our members have advertised on this site. Check them out here

Anyone with French business connections, or plans, or interests....and I know that includes a great many Millipod members and readers.... might like to book into a Conference and Exhibition called Transmanche – The Business Channel, to be held at the Margate Winter Gardens on 26 May 2005. Entry is £10. This could be a really useful date for anyone doing translations, interpretation, letting their property or running holiday businesses in France. (Rather lengthy) details can be found on www.transmanche.org/pages/conferencexhibition.htm
STOP PRESS – anyone wanting to attend this can go HALFPRICE if you contact me, especially if you are able to help facilitate with interpreting, or translating on the day...could be a GREAT business opportunity for you, if you want to develop your client base transmanche!!!!!

Those who came along to the networking lunch at the Maidstone TV studios today were unanimous in their praise of the event (OK, I’m blowing Millipod’s own trumpet – but our thanks also go to Miranda Chapman of Pillory Barn Advertising, and Glyn Williams, Financial Director of the Maidstone Studios, for their hospitality). We had a tour round three of the studios and behind the scenes into the galleries, walking through the Art Attack set, into their new studio stage which will be the biggest in the UK (enormous! wonderful!) due for completion later this year, and then through the rehearsal for Ministry of Mayhem.... which of course will be live on ITV tomorrow morning at 9.25 – hilarious and impressive and exciting. We had a magnificent lunch, and the people who came along were starting to strike deals all round the table which was quite fascinating to watch. It was one of the best Millipod lunches to date... and as there are loads of people who couldn’t get there today, we are planning a second visit there soon!

We have two further lunch dates for your diary: Wednesday 18th May in Faversham and Tuesday June 14th at Brenley near Faversham: I will send details of these next week, as they are both a bit special.

Next Friday 13th May – there are still places left on the Mindmentors course for Business Computing and the Internet – these would cost you £110 but are subsidised by the EU through the Sepia project, so you can get in for FREE. They are run by Laurie Philp and Russell Bavington-Jones, and the workshop is not technical, but aimed at business people who want to get more out of their websites and computer systems. Please let me know if you are booking in, which you do direct by clicking on: www.mindmentors.co.uk/pages/ Please tell them you heard of this through Millipod!

In the drive for greater efficiency (ie more money and more leisuretime for you) Kedagh von Roretz says that for this month he can help with broadband for you.... at £19.95 a month with FREE calls to UK landlines 24 hours a day every day! This is an amazing deal.... ring him! 01795 538888 (nice memorable number for you). His email is: courthop@auditel.net

For a great deal on two brilliant books...scroll down this page to April 19th and click on the links: Millipod recommends this reading to help you get rich!

For London readers – here’s something for you: Genesis revival band IN THE CAGE have a gig in Putney at the Half Moon this weekend on Sunday 8th May at 7.30pm. Tickets are £10, available from the box office, 08700 600 100. The keyboard player is Millipod’s own Henry Dagg – a remarkably versatile musician and artist as many of you will know. There is more information on the band’s website: www.inthecage.co.uk and they will shortly have their CD on sale. If you want to find details of their other concerts, click the Live button at the bottom of their home page.

You may be fed up with people asking you to change your billing agency for electricity etc, but here at Millipod Hall we have just taken up an offer from Scottish Power and the Co-op to switch to Green Energy billing. We pay the same price as before, at the same tarrif, but all the power we use will be coming from a renewable source – they say it’s ‘clean and green’. I am not an expert on any of this, but if you’re interested you can check it out at: www.scottishpower.co.uk/co-opdividend or ring 0800 027 1979. Millipod has no interest in this by the way, but we like to support sustainable projects. The leaflet says ‘by switching across you will be helping to sustain the environment’.

At the moment as part of National Library Week, there is a free trial period at The Times Online, where you can search their archives for family information or other historical research. It is only open for a short time, but at the moment you can go to: http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/free4_tda and put in the password ‘Trial’ Then if you enter ancestral or place-names, they’ll take you to fascinating facsimiles of any articles or letters with that name in it, and you can print them off. Make use of the different search options (title, citation, abstract, entire content, etc) and also use the dates to narrow things down...there is so much in there. Fascinating and really useful if you are into genealogy or other research. Copyright remains with The Times of course.

We have just one place left at the networking lunch at the Maidstone TV Studios on Friday 6th May – which has proved very popular, and as you see nearly completely sold out a week in advance! Let me know asap if you want to come. For those who have already booked a place I will send out details and directions early next week.

The Millipod IT team are here to help us all out when these virus alerts come out, and they also offer a fantastic service if you need your PC checked out - whether you have a problem or not. We have many members who are relieved and delighted they called on this IT service: to clean things up, speed things up, check on updates for you or any upgrades you should be aware of. We charge £69 inc VAT for the basic check up, and everyone ought to do this at least once a year – especially as you get a report on everything they find, and you can call them if you ever have problems in the future. Book through Millipod. If you need ongoing work done, the hourly rate is £40, half-day is £145 and a full day is £295. It could be worth your PC’s weight in gold.

We are all reading a lot more about business these days: specialist newspapers, magazines and books. I need to immerse myself in the business culture, to find out about areas of business management and growth which I am hazy on, and to pick up the zeitgeist (the spirit of the times).

I have a stack of them here but I just wanted to mention a couple which I have found particularly good – inspiring, even! - readable, relevant and right! The first was given to me several months ago by Clive Lawrence and is called Rich Dad, Poor Dad, by Robert T Kiyosaki and it has altered my view of my place in the world irrevocably. Funnily enough, just as I was reading it, I was talking to another Millibod, Jeanne Symonds, and she had read it too and it had the same effect on her. It’s not ‘great literature’ but it is a very important book, and I urge you to read it. It is very thought-provoking. He’s written some sequels but the original is best. Time Warner paperbacks, £7.99

My second recommendation is a book in the Teach Yourself series, called Running Your Own Business, by Kevin Duncan. Published this year in the US and UK, it costs £8.99 p/b. This is the simplest, clearest, most sensible guidebook I have seen to date. The author has a background in marketing and advertising, including running his own business for the last 5 years. This shines out as the book is both lucid and practical. In fact it made me want to tell you about it, and if you want to buy either book, please just click on the link and you can order it straight away from Amazon and apparently at a lower price, though you’ll also have to pay for p+p.

Heard at the Business Link Complete Business Advice Day at Maidstone yesteday:

Larry Winget: “The secret of Selling is ‘Ask!’ The secret of Customer Service is ‘Be nice!’ and the secret of Success is ‘Do what you said you’d do!’” Also: “Shut up! Stop Whining and Get a Life!”

Kevin Morley: “You should be in pursuit of Excellence!” And “Businesses get bigger by buying other businesses. You buy a business, improve it, and sell it. A lot of people make a lot of money that way.” How many of us have exit-strategies for our business? If you would like to know more about this idea, we are planning a workshop on the subject soon, so please contacat us if you are interested.

Joanna Ames of ‘En Route’ Tours: “Things are changing very fast. 42% of holidays are now booked online, and a lot of high-street travel agents are in trouble.” A year ago she was booking her Paris tour customers onto buses, but is now using Eurostar as it’s cheaper.

Employment law has got VERY scary... did you know? If you are thinking of advertising for help, or writing a job description, for goodness’ sake GET ADVICE FIRST. The whole thing has become a minefield because of the various anti-discrimination laws. You can’t ask someone their date of birth, or whether they’re married or have kids..... and your interview questions have to be phrased with exquisite care. You can be sued so so easily.... Please be careful! If you want to find an employment law specialist, ask Millipod.... we have some contacts!

The Harvard Business School has been doing analysis over 40 odd years and they have concluded that in any business (or in the world as a whole) there are Movers and Shakers (3%), Steady Progress People (80%) and Plodders (17%). These groups have common factors: The Movers and Shakers know exactly what they want and they make a huge impact. The Steady Progress People have an idea about what they want, and the Plodders haven’t got a clue about what they want. Which category are you in?

We had a very successful networking lunch today, with another wide selection of businesses represented, ranging from a flooring company to medical insurance, and the emails are already coming in saying how useful and positive these meetings are. It's great when you find people making business connections right before your eyes, just because they've come along to a Millipod event. The subject of debt-chasing came up: trying to get people to pay you the money they owe you - and funnily enough more than one person in the room said that is a service they can offer to people. It seems it's easier to chase someone else's creditors than to hassle your own!

I happen to have here some very handy leaflets produced by the Inland Revenue called 'Support to Business' - and will send these to anyone who would like one till stocks run out. The pamphlets give details of their new FREE half-day workshops, which look extremely relevant to most of us whether or not we are employers: the topics covered include Statutory Sick Pay, Maternity Leave, PAYE, setting up a limited company, doing your end of year returns, Becoming Self-Employed, and so on. They also have a lot of contact numbers on the back. Email and I will pop one in the post for you.

For those who couldn't get to the MicroBusiness Marketing course yesterday, I thought you'd like a quick report on the day. We looked in detail at how the process of asking customers and potential customers what they want and need leads to improvement in a business's presentation of its services, or even to changes in those services, and then on to improved sales. The whole idea is to fine-tune the dialogue between the business and the marketplace, and Anne Ray certainly gave us a huge amount to think about and to work on.

It was really interesting to hear about people's businesses and what their aspirations are for those businesses: incidentally, we agreed to maintain confidentiality about what we heard, which led to openness and more insights.

Another fascinating aspect was the amazing number of potential business connections between the 10 people who were there - who knows what may come out of these meetings?

Lastly I was struck by the great energy of the younger people present, and their optimism and ambition, and also the strong confidence of the people who have been in business for a long time. I felt this contrasted with my own perhaps rather timid or cautious approach to my business! There is so much to learn! Watch out for further Millipod Training Days scheduled for 2005.

Congratulations to Millibod Henry Dagg for a barnstorming success with the world première of his new 30-player instrument The Ring Cycle at the Anvil Concert Hall in Basingstoke on Tuesday night. With coverage from BBC and Meridian TV, he delighted the audience, the players and the organisers with this amazing new invention - which we hope will attract new commissions for him. There will be a video of the concert for us to marvel at in due course.

ANOTHER WORLD PREMIERE FOR MILLIPOD

Henry Dagg, a founder member of Millipod and known as "The Man with the Musical Railings" (as seen on Channel 4's Richard and Judy Show) has another world première coming up. His astonishing new instrument, a 43-foot long, 30-player device called Henry Dagg's Ring Cycle, powered by one child pedalling on a bike frame, will make its debut in Basingstoke on March 15th, at the Anvil Concert Hall, played by 30 children from Bramley Primary School. We expect a lot of good TV coverage and international interest.

Millipod is at the WIB Business Show on Thursday 10th March at The Maidstone Village, Forstal Road, Aylesford Kent..... and we look forward to seeing you there! We have some special offers for you during the show - do come along to see us. There are 50+ small-biz exhibitors there, so it's a great opportunity for networking and making new business contacts. It's open from 10 to 4, and there's plenty of parking space. It works if you work it!

We're still taking bookings for our training day on Wednesday 16th... Marketing for Micro Business. We'll show you how you can expand your business, and create a detailed marketing strategy and action plan. Millipod training days really are different: not only much less costly than other training, but focussed on very-small businesses: so you get to network with other decision-makers. We also limit the number of participants so you get plenty of 1-2-1 attention from our course leader, Anne Ray - an experienced marketeer and trainer.
The course costs £110 (compared with £196 for other training in Kent).... but if you book at the WIB Show at the Maidstone Village (see above) you get 10% discount! Millipod members pay £75. Click here to apply.

Photographer and Millipod member Tommy Candler is part of a new Art Exhibition starting today in the Victoria Suite of a beautiful old place - The Queens Inn, Hawkhurst - from 10am to 10pm. The show runs till Sunday 6th March and if you go along and have a meal there this week and mention Millipod, you will get a free glass of wine! (Thank you to the team at The Queens Inn!) They are on the Rye Road at Hawkhurst Tel. 01580 753 577

Don't forget Swale Auctions are holding their amazing Monthly Household Auction this Sunday 6th March at 12 noon at Bobbing Village Hall (viewing starts at 10am). Given the current weather conditions, do telephone to confirm the date: 01795 590021. Their website www.swaleauctions.co.uk has more details.

Congratulations to Jennie Hulme at The Stamp Connection who has just completed a huge new order from an existing customer, with a tie-up to Sky TV Craft and Create Channel. Having just taken delivery of some logo-stamps for Millipod we can confirm that these are super products for any small business, family or individual.... talk to her about designs you might want on 01795 531860, or
email: jennie@thestampconnection.co.uk

We had a great lunchtime meeting in Covent Garden yesterday - sixteen small-biz people came to talk about their work, and made useful contacts.

We will repeat this event soon - ask for details.


Our next training day is March 16th:
Marketing for Micro-businesses in Faversham, Kent.
This is a short-day course, and gives you a marketing plan for YOUR business, all sorts of tricks-of-the-trade, increased confidence, better networking skills, and much much more. Marketing is the whole secret of success in business, and this is a highly-focussed practical package for anyone running a small business. No prior knowledge of sales or marketing is required.
Book early to be sure of a place - we are already taking bookings.
Cost is £75 for members, £110 for non-members - a very competitive price for an excellent training experience. Details on our Events page or send us an email.
If you would like us to set up this course elsewhere in the country, please ask for details.

It's proving very popular, but we are still taking bookings for our London networking lunch on Feb 24th in Covent Garden. If YOU live and work in or near the capital, do set aside the time to come to meet us for a working lunch! It's a simple and highly effective way to meet new contacts - possible clients or suppliers for your business - all in a friendly and professional atmosphere. We find that quite a few out-of-town members like to come to our London events, too! £6 booking fee + cost of what you order. Send us an email

EU jet have opened a MASSIVE SEAT SALE!
Every seat, every flight from Kent International Airport for 75p one way
Sale ends Midnight Friday 11th Feb
Travel until end of March 2005
No card charges when booked using debit card
Subject to availability, terms and conditions

Millipod says: Use it or Lose it!

As a result of new subscriptions and renewals, Millipod sent a further £40 to the Tsunami fund during January - thanks to all concerned. I'd be interested to know what charities members would like us to support.

We had an excellent Networking lunch today - 16 people all explaining what they do, finding new contacts, promoting their businesses.... These are such useful meetings, and genuinely inspiring. We all work so hard, and often in isolation, it really does you good to get out and talk to other small-biz people in a friendly, informal and productive atmosphere. We have another Networking lunch set up in London for 24th February, so if you are based in town, or have clients or suppliers there, why not reserve a place now? See our Events page.

Please also put a note in your diary - our next Training Module is Marketing for Micro-Businesses, on March 16th, in Faversham. This is a short-day course, and gives you a marketing plan for YOUR business, all sorts of tricks-of-the-trade, increased confidence, better networking skills, and much much more. Marketing is the whole secret of success in business, and this is a highly-focussed practical package for you. No prior knowledge of sales or marketing is required. Details, as above, on the Events page, or email for more details. Book early to be sure of a place. Millipod training is excellent value for money, btw... check out the prices (£75 as a Millipod member, £110 for non-members, £196 for a day with Business Link......... And our courses are exclusively designed for VERY small businesses, like yours. It really does make a difference)

Lastly, Alan Wood, who is part of the Millipod IT team, sent this in the other day: a warning about a new sort of scam, this time by post.

He says:
The "Data Protection Enforcement Agency" have sent me a form to fill in on penalty of a £5000 fine for non compliance.
They are telling me to register if I hold personal data on any living person - and guess what? - they want £135 registration fee as well.
This is a scam. See www.stopecg.org/dataprotection for more details.

We had a great time on Wednesday evening, at the mini-workshop on How to Sell at Shows and Fairs. Even experienced show-sellers said they learned loads of new stuff! Included in the price of the course was our new booklet and we have copies left if you are interested - price £7.50 inc p+p (The booklet is small - A5, 12 pages - but crammed with good ideas, plans, contacts, and ways to improve your profit). If you were not able to come to the course, why not email for a copy now, especially if you are planning to take a stand at the WIB show in March, or any other Fair?

We've also heard that the Jazzaid concert in Chatham on Wednesday night raised £3,800 for the Tsunami appeal, with an amazing attendance of 280 people! They boogied on till 1.30 in the morning. Well done to all concerned!

Alert E111
If you travel over to France or elsewhere in Europe, be aware that you now need a newstyle E111 for your health insurance.... The old ones expired on Dec 31st 2004. No longer can you have the whole family on one form - each person has their own! What's more, your new form is only valid till the end of 2005. Details from your nearest Post Office or check out www.postoffice.co.uk

Remember our Millipod Lunch in Faversham next Friday 4th at 12.30, at the Anchor! £5 booking fee. Places are filling fast. Email or ring for details asap! Why not invite a friend, client or supplier?

If you like JAZZ you will want to know about a massive gig - the JAZZAID CONCERT - at Chatham in aid of the Tsunami Fund on Wednesday 26th January, starting at 8pm till at least midnight, at the Tap'n'Tin, Railway Street, Chatham. Entry £10 on the door and Big Raffle. ALL SERVICES AND PERFORMANCES GIVEN FREE. ALL PROCEEDS GO TO THE FUND. They have fixed an amazing line-up. Confirmed so far:

BRANDON ALLEN - LUKE ANNESLEY - DAVE BARRY (drums) WINSTON BLISSETT - PAUL BOOTH - CHRISTIAN BREWER - KELVIN CHRISTIANE - MICHAEL COATES - QUENTIN COLLINS - SNAKE DAVIS - JOHN ETHERIDGE - LEON GREENING (piano) - DYLAN HOWE - ALEX HUTTON (piano) - PETE KING - ROLAND LACEY - PETE LONG - GEOFF MASON - JIM MULLEN - DEREK NASH - PATRICK NAYLOR - IAIN RAE - PHIL ROBSON - SEB ROCHFORD - ALAN SKIDMORE - MARTIN SPEAKE - ART THEMEN - SIMON THORPE (bass) - CHRISTINE TOBIN (voc) ENRICO TOMASSO - PETE WAREHAM MATT WATES - DON WELLER - TONY WOODS + more to come

For more details ring Col. Jazz on 07763 194650 or 01634 362704
Now, this coincides with our Sales Training Workshop in Faversham from 7 - 9pm, but you could come to that first and then whizz up the line to Jazzaid and catch most of it.


We're giving away one free complimentary ticket for 2, normal price £10, to go to the Destinations Holiday and Travel Show, held in London's Earls Court 3 - 6 February, or in Birmingham at the NEC 4 - 6 March. Send us an email pronto if you'd like it. If you are the lucky winner, we'll let you know so you can send a sae for it. As it says on the blurb: "it's Britain's favourite live holiday show, bursting with entertainment, special offers on dream destinations and expert advice from celebrities including Judith Chalmers OBE, Griff Rhys-Jones, Bear Grylls, Ben Saunders, John Carter.........."
You can also find great holidays on our Holidays page.... click here







To mark January 27, Holocaust Day, Malcolm Stokes has a photographic show opening at Georges House Gallery, The Old High Street, Folkestone, called Holocaust Day - a Quiet and Thoughtful View. Malcolm went to Poland recently, and these are some of the images he took at Auschwitz. Do go and see it. It's on till Saturday 29th.

If you are running any version of Windows, and IE, then you must run Windows Update in Internet Explorer. See:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS05-001.mspx

The other information we sent about Linux, Phishing, and the Tsunami fund-cheats, is all useful to know but the Windows warning is CRUCIAL!!!!

Congratulations to Millipod members Papa Theo, who are appearing in the February issue of 'Homes and Gardens', on page 61. The magazine is featuring their gorgeous Bellasole mirror... and they are offering it to any Millipod member at a really MASSIVE DISCOUNT - instead of £160 retail, you can buy it for £40 + VAT + carriage if they have to deliver it. You can see the mirror on their website www.papatheo.co.uk Many thanks to all at Papa Theo for this generous offer - just quote your Millipod membership number!

We saw an interesting poll result about how much time people took off over the Xmas holiday: 53.5% of those answering said they took a long break, and 46.5% didn't. I bet small-biz owners were in the latter group!

We're starting a new service to members this month: FREE guidance sheets. Look out for our first edition coming soon - all about Marketing! Do you know enough about where you are in your marketplace? Or where you want to be?

Why not book in for the next Millipod Sales Training Evening on January 26th... this is a two-hour mini-course in Faversham, from 7 - 9pm. It's fantastically affordable at £25 for you as a member, £30 for non-members, AND you get a copy of our How to Sell booklet to take away with you! This is a bumper-bargain price, and a great networking opportunity for you too! Our courses are all small and informal, and aimed to get your profits up!

Lastly, another round of congratulations to Millibod Henry Dagg, who managed to get himself onto BBC R4's 'Home Truths' a couple of times last month, talking about playing the musical saw. As a result, he's had enquiries from various programme producers to see if they can use him on their shows, and an order for a stack of his CDs. If you want to hear his amazing cutting-edge music, contact him at henry_dagg@hotmail.com The CD costs £10, cassette version is £8.

Bookings are coming in for our mini-training workshop from 7 - 9pm on January 26th in Faversham: this is a highly-focussed sales-training session, particularly useful for anyone taking a stand at the WIB Show in Maidstone on March 10th. Reserve your place now to avoid disappointment. The cost is £25 for Millipod members, and £30 for non-members - really excellent value! You get a free handbook to take away too!

Millipod wishes a Merry Christmas to all our members and friends! See you in the New Year.

Our debut Salon in Mayfair last night (9th December) at the fabulous IZO Gallery in Davies Street went brilliantly, as you can see! We were delighted that Carole Stone, aka The Networking Queen, called by. We will repay the favour by mentioning her new book "The Ultimate Guide to Successful Networking" which came out a couple of weeks ago, and would make a great stocking filler for Christmas. Published by Vermilion, at £4.99

Thanks to all the people who came along last nightand made it such a success. It was great to see people exchanging contact details, and finding new and old friends and acquaintances. It's amazing what you can achieve in a short time if you concentrate! And - if anyone is a football fan, do go into the IZO gallery and see the amazing series of paintings by the anonymous artist Immi: iconic, thought-provoking, and cool.

This London networking event was so well-received we will definitely be organising some more in the New Year, for our London members and their friends. Ask to be put on the list

The launching of our website is the big news this week! Thanks to the fantastic team at Nebulo Strata who have created such a cool site for us, and thanks to the members who have supported us by advertising their own companies... a real Win/Win situation, as these ads will be seen by hundred and hundreds of small-business people over the coming months. Do contact us if you want to promote YOUR business on the site - it's b-2-b heaven!

Getting a website like this up and running is not easy... it has taken a long time to achieve this site. It is designed to encourage people to join Millipod, and will develop as we go along: not least with an online subscription payment method in the New Year. It's Millipod's noticeboard for members and visitors. You'll be able to check details of our networking and training events, access newsletters, find Top Business Tips from experts, find short breaks and holidays, and loads more. Your feedback would be greatly appreciated!

A member has sent this in and you might be interested.... YTell's fantastic video phone, often advertised as this year’s best-selling contract phone, can be seen at www.3mobile.org. £25 a month includes 500 minutes for all UK voice calls – mobile, landline, wherever – effectively, he says, free calls. Buy one from 08700 747575 and also get YTell membership, with commission qualification for a whole year – includes £50 when your buddies buy the same phone!

We do have people in the membership, by the way, whose business it is to help you cut your phone bills, also gas, electricity, etc...... contact us for details. It really does work!

LATEST NEWS - What they say about us:
'Management Today' magazine (Dec 2 2004) 'Secrets of the Networkers'
"........But what if you live in a small town or in the country miles from
anywhere? Griselda Mussett, a former broadcaster, found this problem when she left
London to work from home in Faversham, Kent. So she started arranging
lunches for local people who were also home-workers. Eventually, she
discovered that so much networking and business was being done from her
lunches that she might as well turn them into a business. Now, for £75 a year, Millipod
members get a weekly newsletter, invites to events, cheaper services, training
days and so on. Of course, Millipod wouldn't exist if it wasn't for e-mail. And
e-mail is probably the greatest networking tool since the public school. According to....."

Hallo there and welcome to new members!

As the owner of a micro-business, you are probably aware of the huge growth in Exhibitions and Fairs as a way of doing business. Business-to-business, or direct to the consumer, shows offer an unrivalled way of reaching new customers. Whereas you might spend days, weeks, months trying to reach a buyer (or find a supplier) - at a show these people come to you, dozens and dozens of them. But how do YOU get your business onto a stand and start to trade, and how do you make the most of the opportunity?

Why not put your toe in the water by booking a stand in a SHOW FOR SMALL BUSINESSES on March 10th 2005 in Maidstone: the cost of a stand is just £75 which includes a sandwich and drink lunch voucher. IT WILL ONLY COST YOU £50 if you are a member of Women in Business and book your stand before November 30th - see http://www.kent.wib.org.uk for details. You have just five days before that deadline! There will be a lot of promotional work done through the KM group to bring people into the show, so why not take advantage of all that investment. Millipod will be there for sure! Whether or not you are a member of Women in Business, you can download a booking form at the WIB site. It doesn't matter what sort of business you are in, from therapy to design, fine art to hat hire, computer services to fashion items, from catering to copy-writing, you can promote your work and find more customers and clients - but ONLY if you are there! They are also running seminars and workshops throughout the day - another way for you to update your skills, contacts, and resources.

Millipod's extra contribution to the show is to help exhibitors prepare. We are running an Essential Workshop - How to Make More Money from Shows and Exhibitions on the evening of January 26, from 7 - 9pm, in Faversham. Millipod members can book in for £25, non-members pay £30. Preparation is the key! We get right down to the essentials of how to make YOUR show a success: boost your profits and your satisfaction. The Workshop is (of course!) another chance to network, and meet people who will also be at the Show in March. Whether or not you are booking to show at Maidstone in March, this Essential Workshop is an excellent, highly focussed and extremely affordable way to get some sales training......!!! Seize the day!

Hallo there,

A Millipod member has sent in this warning, which looks realistic enough, especially before Christmas if someone has managed to get hold of your card number and telephone number. It came from France but of course could happen anywhere..... The moral is, don't give your security number to anyone, even they claim to be your card company. I think this is an old scam but that doesn't mean people won't fall for it. This is why pin-and-chip will help improve security.

Griselda

The message is : -
Just been warned about this, and could potentially be financially fatal so close to Christmas.

Please pass on to all people on your mailing list. I got this from a contact in the Halifax Visa team so it is happening!!
Visa and MasterCard Scam. A friend was called on the telephone this week from 'VISA' and I was called on Thursday from 'MasterCard'.

It worked like this: Person calling says, 'this is Carl Patterson (any name) and I'm calling from the Security and Fraud Department at VISA.

My Badge number is 12460. Your card has been flagged for an unusual purchase pattern, and I'm calling to verify. Did you purchase an Anti-Telemarketing Company a device/any expensive item, for £497.99 from a marketing company based in (any town?)

When you say 'No'. The caller continues with, 'Then we will be issuing a credit to your Account. This is a company we have been watching and the charges range from £297 To £497, just under the £500 purchase pattern that flags most cards. Before your next statement, the credit will be sent to (they give you your address), is that correct?'
You say, 'Yes'.

The caller continues . . 'I will be starting a fraud investigation. If you have any questions, you should call the 0800 number listed on your card and ask for Security. You will need to refer to this Control number.'

They then give you a 6-digit number. 'Do you need me to read it again?'
Caller then says he 'needs to verify you are in possession of your card' (this is where the scam takes place as up until now they have requested nothing!). They then ask you to turn your card over.

There are 7numbers; the first 4 are 1234 (or whatever, as they have your number anyway).The next 3 are the security numbers that verify that you are in possession of the card' (these are the numbers they are really after as these are the numbers you use to make internet purchases to prove you have the card).

'Read me the 3 numbers.' When you do he says 'That is
correct. I just needed to verify that the card has not been lost or stolen,
and that you still have your card. Do you have any other questions?

Don't hesitate to call back if you do.'

You actually say very little, and they never ask for or tell you the Card number. But after we were called on Wednesday, we telephoned back within 20 minutes to ask a question. Are we glad we did! The REAL VISA security department told us it was a scam and in the last 15 minutes a new purchase of £497.99 WAS put on our card.

Long story made short. We made a real fraud report and closed the VISA card and they are reissuing us a new number. What the scam wants is the 3-digit
number and that once the charge goes through, they keep changing every few days. By the time you get your statement, you think the credit is coming, and
then it's harder to actually file a fraud report.

THE REAL VISA/MASTERCARD DEPARTMENT REINFORCED THE POINT
THAT THEY WILL NEVER ASK FOR ANYTHING ABOUT THE CARD SINCE THEY ALREADY KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT IT!!!!.
What makes this even more remarkable is that on Thursday I got a call
from 'Jason Richardson of MasterCard' with a word for word repeat
of the VISA Scam. This time I didn't let him finish. I hung up. We
filed a police report (as instructed by VISA), and they said they are taking
several of these reports daily and to tell friends, relatives and
co-workers so please pass this on to your friends................

Two Millibods have sent details of their work on show - do go and see these exhibitions if you are in Rye or Chelsea:

Andrea Hefford's work is on show at the Rye Art Gallery, Easton Rooms, 107 High Street, Rye (tel 01797 222433). The show is called "Merry Makers" and runs till January 9th. You may know this interesting gallery - they offer support to a wide variety of artists and always have good work on show and for sale. Their description of the show says: "Delight in this magical selection from the best of local artists and makers. The perfect place to hunt out an original piece of art, craft or jewellery this Christmas."

And Tommy Candler has sent to say she is part of the Open Studios exhibition at 'The Old Gasworks' at Lots Road, in Chelsea, London. The Private View is this Thursday 6pm - 9pm, though the exhibition is also on through to Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th, 10am - 5pm. She says "lots of Brilliant (natch) artists, fun sculptures, amazing photographs, interior designs....." She is with James MacConochie in THE DEPOT, room C4.

Millipod is always pleased to help members promote their work. All you have to do is let us know the details and we will circulate all the people on our lists with details of your show, or your new product, or even your old product.... Millipod is an important marketing tool for YOUR business, and a mention in this newsletter costs you nothing.

Don't forget to book up for our Christmas lunch on December 8th, or for the London Salon on December 9th. Both of these are excellent opportunities for you to do some marketing among the members - if you haven't tried a Millipod event yet, this is your chance: it's affordable, it's fun and it's 'ffective. (Do it because you're worth it!)

best wishes

Griselda

PS As I prepared this newsletter, an email arrived talking about 'entelechy' - which means:

1. Perfect realization as opposed to a potentiality.
2. In some philosophies, a vital force that propels one to self-fulfillment.

which pretty much sums up the Millipod ideal, don't you think?

Are you one of the lucky members who owns property in France or elsewhere, which you let out from time to time for holidays? Millipod is collating a list of these properties, as we get enquiries all the time, and we are planning to have a Millipod Holidays Page on our new website. Please ask for details if you would like to include your property in our list.

The Millipod Christmas Lunch is on December 8th in Faversham. £25 for three courses including wine. Please reserve your place as soon as possible.

You are not too late if you want to book into our London Salon on December 9th: £10 per person, and we have a very interesting group of people coming along. It is interesting how many people from out of London have booked to be there, as well as our members and friends in the capital. We will expect you between 6 - 7.30pm, but please let us know in advance that you are coming. Email for details and to reserve a place.

Millipod is running a mini-training workshop in January, following our successful day focussing on How to Make More Money at Shows, Fairs and Exhibitions. We are offering a cut-down version of the full course on the evening of Wednesday January 26th, from 7 - 9pm, in Faversham. The cost to members is £25, £30 to non-members. That fee includes a booklet for you to take away. This workshop has been arranged in conjunction with Women in Business, preparatory to their own show in Maidstone in March. The cost of selling at shows can be very high: in fees, stand costs, printing, staffing, cover, etc., so it makes sense to see how to maximise the return from your investment.

best wishes

Are you meeting all the regulations with your data storage? Are you losing money through inefficient administration, lost documents, etc? A firm called Audata (a Millipod member) is inviting people to attend a FREE half-day presentation in Maidstone on 17th November - they give you lunch as well! The two time slots are 9.30 - 1.30 or 12.30 to 4.30. Millipod has already bought one of their products - a brilliant indexing system for any document (paper or electronic), article, book, folder, or other item. Basically, they can save you hosts of time and money. Click on their advert to contact them directly, and mention Millipod. Hope to see you there.

And, after our virus warning yesterday, lots of you emailed or rang to thank us for the warning, and say you had downloaded your up-to-date protection, and one member emailed to say that last month, Microsoft Technical warned people using XP (not sure about Windows) that if they don't have Service Pack 2, they stand a good chance of being infected by 'malware' in only 20 mins on the internet. This is a good reason to be using a Mac, he chortles.

Here is a virus warning for you, a new version of MyDoom. See:
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.mydoom.ai@mm.html

If you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer, and have not updated your
Internet Explorer recently (within last month) you are at severe risk. Also
update your virus protection at the same time as MYDoom takes advantage of
this failure in IE.
The following versions are affected:
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 running on
- Microsoft Windows 98SE
- Microsoft Windows ME
+ Microsoft Windows XP Home
+ Microsoft Windows XP Professional
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional SP1
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional SP2
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server SP1
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server SP2
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server SP1
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server SP2
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Server SP1
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Server SP2
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Terminal Services
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Terminal Services SP1
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Terminal Services SP2 Microsoft Windows 98
- Microsoft Windows NT Enterprise Server 4.0 SP6a
- Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 SP6a
- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 SP6a
+ Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition
+ Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition 64-bit
+ Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition
+ Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition 64-bit
+ Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition
+ Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Web Edition


If you have Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 SP2 you are not at risk.

You can download updates from
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS04-038.mspx
If you want help, contact the Millipod IT team asap!

Last weekend I had the great pleasure of experiencing a kind of therapy called Metamorphic Technique. In 30 minutes I was changed from feeling tired and grouchy to feeling relaxed and peaceful. The session consists of soft touches on the feet, hands and head - it developed out of Reflexology, but has none of the pain which sometimes is sometimes associated with that treatment. For anyone in London this Saturday 13th November, some of the MT people are giving taster sessions between 1pm and 5pm at 17 Naseby Close, London NW6 (off Fairfax Road, between Swiss Cottage and Finchley Road Tube Stations).* Bus routes 13. 113. 82. 268. C11. and 31. The setting is a very friendly environment. Suggested donations £10. Just turn up!
*If you want a map.... go to http://www.streetmap.co.uk and put in the postcode NW6 4EY.

Christmas is coming (as we all know) and so the Millipod Christmas Lunch has been put in the diary. December 8th, in Faversham, £25 for three courses including wine and lots of choices for you for each course. Don't delay to book your place!

Our LONDON Salon is also booking up fast - December 9th at 6pm, at a gorgeous art gallery in Mayfair, just £10 a head gives you a buzzy hour-and-a-half to get to meet lots of other members and friends - can't be bad! Reserve your place today.

If you want some ideas for Christmas shopping, do look at www.papatheo.co.uk
the website of a company owned by a Millipod member. They commission and import the most lovely artefacts from Indonesia. They are a Fair Trade company and support a host of artisans and artists who make all their items for them: mirrors, candlesticks & lampstands, brackets, pillars, occasional furniture, terracotta pots. (They have just been told one of their mirrors is going to be featured in 'Homes and Gardens' Feb 2005 issue). They charge for delivery, or you can go and collect from their warehouse. If you are a member of Millipod, you can get anything from this site at trade price.... and the savings could cover the cost of your membership. As an example: the trade price for their Signorina mirror (95x85) which tends to retail at around £300/£350 would cost you just £99 +VAT so this really is good value. And of course they have a lot of items for less than that... the Mensa candlestick (40 cm) is £11 + VAT trade. Millipod works if you work it!