Last week I was invited to give a keynote after dinner speech at the Suffolk Chamber of Commerce annual dinner down in Ipswich – and for me that’s a 5-hour journey down (and then a 4 hour journey over to Manchester after, as I was presenting Morning Live the next morning). So, it was a challenge to fit it in to say the least! But someone there asked me ‘why’ I’d done it and I felt it was a pretty big ‘why’ so I wanted to share it with everyone.
I joined my local Chamber of commerce many many moons ago when I first set up in business – primarily to access the business support services, but also for the networking opportunities and to get involved in my local business community. And honestly, my membership of this group (and other business membership groups like this both regionally and specifically in our industry) were instrumental in both my personal development and the business development in those critical early years.
I can remember going to events just like that one last night and listening to people speak, other entrepreneurs who had been there and done that, and me hanging on their every word, soaking up every bit of advice and wisdom they would share. It had a profound impact on me and in all honesty, I wanted to take the opportunity to pay that forward.
Being totally honest – I get asked to speak at a lot of events and I can’t do everything (there just aren’t enough hours in the day or days in the year!). However, this was the first time I’d been invited by any Chamber of Commerce to come and speak to their members so I jumped at the opportunity to give back (even though it was a 5 hour journey) and hearing the feedback from the people in the room afterwards made it all worthwhile.
Knowing you’ve played a part in shaping someone’s entrepreneurial journey is honestly the most rewarding thing anyone can do. And standing up and speaking in a room full of entrepreneurs and businesspeople and watching the moment that what you’ve said has resonated on a deep level with them and knowing you’ve had a profound impact on their journey is still to do this day one of the most incredible feelings I ever get in business!
