Wednesday 4 April 2012

When Silver Birch Crafts Met Theo Paphitis

Having done my press release i thought i would share with you the amazing day Maryann from One Stop Pamper Shop and I had.

When we arrived at the Small Business Sunday (#SBS)  Inaugural Event at Edgbaston Stadium in Birmingham, we were welcomed by the lovely people at Ryman's Stationery who sponsored the event and immediately felt at home.  We were given our name tags and went straight up to the Meeting Room where there hundreds of businesses all chatting and networking.  The buzz in the air can not be easily described, it was electric! Not only were we going to be having a speech by Theo Paphitis himself but to meet the Ladies and Gents that we chat to on Twitter was just as exciting.  I quickly found Kelly And Kev from Piddley Pix who i have chatted to for a long time and have had quite a few of their artwork on display at home.  After having a quick chat with them, we walked round trying to find other people we chat to.  Next meeting was with a lovely lady called Martina from Sparrow Primitives which was lovely as i have spoken to Martina for a while now on Twitter.   While in the meeting room we managed to meet up with Fiona from Coombe Mill and met some very lovely local people too which was amazing!

While we were milling around and chatting the man himself, Theo Paphitis arrived and was very luckily able to say Hi and shake hands with Theo.

Thankfully Fiona from Coombe Mill managed to catch this photo.

At 1.30pm we were all invited to go through to the conference room where we were busy tweeting and still trying to find people.  We are all still very surprised we didn't crash Theo's twitter page and twitter itself!

After a quick introduction by Kypros from Ryman's Stationery, Theo Paphitis arrived on stage to a huge round of applause.

After chatting to us for nearly 2 and a half hours (was supposed to be 1 and a half hours) and enduring lots of banter and laughter, it included a question and answer session with Theo, where he was very open and honest about where he started and how he achieved the success he has had with Ryman's Stationery and lots of the other businesses he is involved in, some through Dragons Den!

We were also introduced to Chris from Metal Frog who has created a fantastic website especially for #SBS Winners which can be found here Theo Paphitis sbs. It gives all the past winners and a few tips from Theo himself about entering #SBS

After all the chatting we had the chance to have a Official Photograph with Theo, which considering there were 300 businesses in attendance at the Event it was no mean feat!  We managed to catch up with a few other lovely twitterers while we were waiting, including Susan from Dottie Designs, Sam from Funky Goddess who if you have a girl coming up to an age of periods is a fantastic idea and gift!


Below are just some of the photo's that were taken on the day officially and non officially!










Press Release - Leighton Buzzard Based Small Business meets Theo Paphitis!


4th April 2012

Leighton Buzzard based firm received a business boost from TV Dragons’ Den star Theo Paphitis.
In June 2011, Sarah Smith, owner of Silver Birch Crafts, tweeted Theo about her business during ‘Small Business Sunday’, an initiative set up by Theo that runs weekly. As a result of this Sarah was one of the 300 business who went up Edgbaston Stadium in Birmingham to meet the Dragon’s Den Star.  Sarah Said “It was a absolutely amazing day, not only did we have a inspiring talk by Theo, which was only meant to last an hour and a half, he chatted to us for nearly 2 and a half hours and answered questions from us with humour and inspiration, we also got to have a quick chat and a photo taken with the Star.  I was very lucky to be accompanied up to Birmingham with my friend Maryann who is also a Small Business Owner and runs a company called www.onestoppampershop.co.uk in Colchester, Essex.”



Theo re‐tweeted Sarah’s message to his 230,000 followers and as a result, www.silverbirchcrafts.co.uk has gained a considerable amount of followers and extra orders for their business.

They are also profiled on a new website www.theopaphitissbs.com that is exclusive to Small Business Sunday winners.
Sarah also said, “I’ve only been in business for 2 and a half years and creating all my bags and personalised gifts in a spare room is very hard work.  It is great to have support from Theo because it’s been tough trying to raise our profile and Theo has recognised the hard work and helped spread the word about what we do to his followers.”
Anyone looking for a re‐tweet from Theo should tweet him about their business on Sunday
between 5 PM and 7.30 PM and include the hashtag #SBS. Six lucky businesses are retweeted every week and then invited to enter their profile on the new website. This is done free of charge and the new website is sponsored by Ryman Stationery, where Theo is
Chairman.

Silver Birch Crafts, 25 Meadow Way, Leighton Buzzard, Beds  07530 283835
For further information, photos and product samples, please contact Sarah Smith
07530 283835 or email Sarah on silverbirchcrafts@ntlworld.com
For further information about Small Business Sunday please visit www.theopaphitissbs.com.