Written in December 2014 – In 2013 I won a business award from multi millionaire and high street retailer Theo Paphitis, via his Twitter account. His 'Small Business Sunday' competition, shortened to the twitter hash tag, #SBS, is viewed by his 460000+ followers all around the world. As part of the ongoing prize package, I have had many tips and business progression advice provided by Theo and his successful high street retail teams. Recently I have been working with his website team to improve our own website and internet searchability. Our social media accounts have also been used in a new way to attract new customers. We are now on the magical page one of the 'engraved trophies' search term and I am still working on a few new projects. Another part of the prize will be pitching to one of his retail companies in a few weeks time. I have been invited to the ICC centre in Birmingham to meet his buying team. If they think my products are suitable on the day, I get a 'call back' to a longer and more 'dragons den' style of pitching at a later date. So Fingers crossed! – I have already done this with one of his other companies, – this is still in the pipeline, – so it will be slightly less stressful for me as I know what to expect from standing in front of his buying team. Back in July 2013, our twitter account had hundreds of 'congratulation' tweets and comments. Since then I have worked hard in all sorts of 'behind the scenes' areas. It is all aimed at progression and improvements. Numerous customers have spoken about it while placing orders, I also have an profile on his own website. – Please see www.lrbtrophies.co.uk for more details.

Theo Paphitis’ #SBS Hosts 8 Bootcamps in Partnership with NatWest
The 2025 #SBS Regional Business Bootcamp programme, delivered in partnership with NatWest, has officially launched across the UK. Following the success of the five bootcamps held in 2024, this year’s programme has expanded and will be hosted across 8 locations: Milton Keynes, Manchester, Cardiff, Leeds, Bristol,