You can find a decent local supplier by asking three people you trust, or by losing an afternoon to Google and review sites.
This is the part of the network that gives you the three people.
The supplier search that takes seconds, not an afternoon
Filter the directory by sector, service or keyword, and read full profiles. Every one is a Colchester-area business that went through the same check you did.
You are choosing from people other owners already work with, which is a different exercise from reading reviews and hoping. Contact them direct from the page.
Skip the approval dance
Spotted someone worth talking to? Message them. There's no request to be accepted, no credit to spend, no wondering whether it arrived.
Every member has agreed to be reachable by other members. That's part of joining, so conversations start the same day instead of the following week.
Ask the question you can't ask on Facebook
Discussion spaces are topic-based rooms where members compare notes on the parts of running a business nobody warns you about. Which accountant. Whether that supplier is worth the risk. What you should be charging.
Ask, and the answers come from owners who solved it already. No algorithm deciding who sees it, no ads, no strangers wandering in.
Colchester's business diary, in one place
Members run breakfasts, workshops, open houses and meetups constantly, and they're scattered across Eventbrite, Facebook and half-remembered inboxes. The calendar pulls them together.
Browse what's coming up and RSVP, or list your own and reach every member directly. If you already run a group, this is another place your dates get seen.
Finish the thing you keep not finishing
A challenge is a time-boxed group with a shared goal. Launch the newsletter, land five clients, ship the new service. You work on it for a few weeks alongside other owners doing the same.
You post progress, swap what's working, and get to the end. It isn't a course and there's no coach. The thing holding you to it is other people doing the work at the same time.
Bring in the people you would already recommend
Anyone can apply to join, and a person reads every application. If you would vouch for someone, invite them straight through instead and they skip the review.
You hold five outstanding invitations at a time. Enough for real word of mouth, small enough that the standard holds. The network is worth more to you when it's full of people you would have recommended anyway.
Anyone can apply. Everyone gets checked.
There's no open front door. You apply and a person reads it, or a member vouches for you. Both routes end in the same place, which is a network where you can assume the person messaging you is a real local business.
There's a code of conduct and it's enforced. That's most of what you are paying for.
Apply or use your code · £9.95 a month · Cancel any time