A Christmas Message from StartUp Croydon’s CEO, Saffron Saunders
Just before you close down the laptop for the year, I wanted to send a quick message to wish you a very Merry Christmas.
Over the past 12 months, we have continued our good work delivering training and mentoring to individuals at the start of their entrepreneurial journey.
As the cost of living crisis continues, many people are now developing side hustles to complement their income, and we have facilitated many training sessions to help increase knowledge and confidence for our service users.
We have not done this alone, as we have so many contributors within our community – thank you to you all for your ongoing support, time and expertise.
Personally for me as CEO of StartUp Croydon, I have had a year of challenges and growth. Within our organisation, we have changed our digital perception through a new website, made huge changes from a personnel perspective and now a physical change with an incredibly modern new business lounge.
The business lounge space is a modern, open space for our tenants to use for informal meetings as a breakout space. It includes three private video-call meeting rooms, quiet space for 1-2-1s, a dining area and a coffee and hot drinks vending machine. Additionally, we now have a 12-desk co-working room for individuals to get their heads down quietly in a productive and inspiring space.
We had a soft launch of our space on Wednesday 21st Dec, and some of the comments from tenants included, “It looks like the future”, “An inspiring and relaxing space”, and “A welcoming and bright place to be proud of.”
This lounge will be available for our business community to drop in for informal meetings with either a membership fee or a pay at the door charge. Please get in touch if you would like to know more.
As we reach that time of year when we set new year’s resolutions to improve our lives. As part of our new podcast series, listen to local business coach Diane Thompson, as she is interviewed about setting goals and creating healthy habits to push forward your business in 2023.
Diane is an executive coach who has been a head teacher for the past 8 years and has always used her coaching and leadership skills within her previous vocation. She is now working with leaders to help them develop and fulfil their true potential, so please click here to listen to Diane’s podcast to help you feel inspired and to help set some realistic new year’s resolutions.
Diane’s top tips are:
– Own your excuses
– Set SMART new year’s resolutions
– Get started, there is no perfect time, just get started
In addition to launching the new business lounge, we are also launching our media lounge . This space is again a resource for the many entrepreneurs within our vibrant borough – read more about what you can use the space for here: StartUp Croydon Media Lounge.
I hope you have a well-deserved break over the festive period, and I look forward to helping you develop your business further in 2023.
Saffron