I launched MINT Business Club in 2019 having initially run it as Savvy Solos Business Club for a couple of years before that.
My aim was to get business owners in a room together, learning new skills, supporting one another, keeping each other accountable and totally nailing self-employment and small business ownership.
We’d meet a couple of times a month and keep in touch via the Facebook group between sessions.
Then, of course, 2020 happened and our transition to an online community happened literally overnight (read all about that here).
MINT was suddenly now only online
For a while, we delivered training every day which was a lifeline for many in our community.
Eventually, as we got used to our ‘new world’ we settled into a schedule of once a week training with a mix of networking, target setting, reflections and mentoring along the way for the whole membership and our bootcamp accountability groups went online too.
We felt the pressure along with every other business owner, trying to be innovative and create opportunities to support our members and make sure MINT survived.
With our fab partners NEL and Valued, we switched delivery of our fully-funded training Let’s Talk About Money online and it worked.
In the background, we partnered with ITEC North East which saw 100+ MINTies and others access digital marketing certifications and funded training.
But go big or go home became a bit of a mantra, and MINT won a contract to deliver the Government-backed Kickstart scheme, started working in partnership with Zenith Training on the BEST In programme and had to expand our team! (read all about that here).
What did we learn above all else?
That we need to keep evolving, accept change and look for diversification.
And now, after everything we’ve learned, we are ready to finalise the MINT membership starting this September.
From September, this is what MINT is going to look like:
For Community Only members:-
- On the first Tuesday of each month will see Suzanne, our membership and training manager, lead an intention setting session using one of our own planning worksheets.
- Once a month, we will reintroduce our face-to-face, get-togethers which will be open to everyone in our MINT membership community. They will take place in different locations across the North East (dependent on restrictions) and will be relaxed and informal.
- Funded training will continue with both Let’s Talk About Marketing & Let’s Talk About Money and be open to all MINT members as a priority, taking place on a Wednesday or Friday morning via Zoom as we need to record the sessions.
In addition to the above, our Learning Members will get access to:-
- Following the Intention Setting on the first Tuesday of the month, every other Tuesday will remain as formal training on Zoom which will be recorded and available on playback and will cover one of the 6 pillars of MINT: MINDSet (i.e. YOU!) Foundations, Money, Marketing, Sales and Growth
- Half-day events (like our recent Let’s Talk About Planning) will happen once a quarter, and as soon as the restrictions are lifted will be face to face.
- Business Bootcamps. Places are allocated on application and are strictly limited. There will be an opportunity to apply to join a MINT Business Bootcamp in November 2021 to start in January 2022.
** Anyone who has joined MINT as a Community-only member will be given the opportunity to upgrade to a Learning Member.**
Our pride in what we deliver and the ongoing support that the MINT community offer one another is extraordinary. Our focus will always remain on you, our members, growing in confidence and growing your business to what you need it to be.
For less than £10 a week, that’s what I call a MINT offering!
If you’re not yet a member, why not? You can sign up here.