Meeting Theo Paphitis - SBS Winners Event

Yes this is me with the very lovely Mr.P! I am a huge fan of Dragons Den (especially Mr.P) but not once since making my very first bag did I ever think I would be stood within 20ft of Theo let alone posing for a photo holding my #SBS Winners certificate. If you didn't know, back in August I entered Small Business Sunday run by Theo on Twitter and won.

So on Friday we travelled up to Birmingham to attend the very first #SBS Winners Meeting. As soon as we pulled into the car park at Edgebaston Stadium I spotted Theo's Maybach!! The Chrome Mobile as he has aptly named it. Couldn't resist having my photo taken beside it :)

Walking in I wasn't sure what to expect but knew that there were a couple of people whom I'd met on Twitter but not in the flesh. So as we all mingled in the conference room we played the 'read the name badge' game.

Luckily enough we were stood just by the door (C and I, or Mr.Bagladee as he is slowly being referred to now) and as Theo walked through into the conference hall he stopped briefly to chat to a couple of people. One of them being me :D I introduced myself as Bagladee who made the 'Theo' Gingerbread men and straight away he said 'Oh yes, they were delicious' we both chuckled and he thanked me, said his girls loved them, that they had them on the tree and they are now safely packed away for next Christmas. He shook my hand and then shook C's too (which he was sooo chuffed about).

In the conference hall Theo gave the most inspirational and extremely warm and funny talk. He is such a genuine down to earth man. He talked about how and when SBS started and how surprised he was that it has grown to what it has now become. Theo then with the help of Chris Wheeler (also an SBS Winner) unveiled the Official SBS Website and what it will do for past present and future Winners. The whole point of SBS which Theo pointed out was not to 'endorse' our businesses but to give us all a platform to shine, the rest of the hard work is up to us. And rightly so! After that he took a Q&A session which was very entertaining and very insightful, some swearing included which made us all belly laugh. He even asked our opinions of SBS and the new website and what we would like to see from it all. At the end Theo received a standing ovation.

I'm sure I speak for all the winners when I say we thank him (and his team) from the bottom of our hearts for giving his time and dedication to SBS and the very special event he held for us all. He has created a commiunity of small business that will go on to support each other. The whole event was sponsored by Ryman's the Stationers and we even got a little goody bag when we left.

After the seminar we were each given the opportunity to have our Official photo taken with Theo holding our Winners Certificates (top photo). He was very charming and funny. 

I am going to treasure my photo and certificate for a very long time. I'm a small independent designer/maker who works hard and this moment so far has to be the highlight. It will be very exciting to see what will happen next for SBS Winners. So if you have a small business and haven't entered Theo's Small Business Sunday what are you waiting for!!! Get to it!!! You could be at the next meeting!!

Thank you Theo!!!

Hello

Hasn't it been a long time since I just sat and wrote a blog post on the spur of the moment?? For that I do apologise.

Since becoming an SBS (Small Business Sunday) Winner (thanks to Mr.Paphitis) Bagladee has taken a huge leap. Then there was the radio interview for BBC Radio Nottingham.....from then on every day has been filled with bag making adventures. I say adventures because no day is the same, from trade orders, commsions and website orders to christmas decorations by the bucket load and even working on some new ideas.

Even though I am exhausted I am thoroughly enjoying myself.

On the home front, at last after nearly five and a half years our home is almost fininshed. From completely gutting a 1935's semi detatched house, we have cleaned, stripped, plastered, painted, decorated, extended, built, planted, replaced every inch. You can definately say that we have put our heart and soul (blood, sweat and tears) into this house. The last thing to be completed is laying the turf in the front and back garden which will be done this weekend. I cant wait, I'm so excited to see it all finally finished. We will be able to sit back and enjoy our 'space' this is something that has been long awaited for both of us!!

I'm hoping to have a couple of days 'me time' this weekend...no sewing if I can help it. I want to make some cupcakes and get a little bit of house work done, then maybe veg out of the sofa and watch a film.

I hope you're all well out there in blogland. This is still my favourite place to come and 'escape' from it all. Bye for now, I will be back soon with a giveaway!! xxx

SBS Winner

Every week for about the last 3-4months I have been 'pitching' my little business to the one and only Theo Paphitis through Twitter. Every week I'd think of something new to write about bagladee and every week I would constantly refresh my BB to see if I had been retweeted.

For those of you not familiar with SBS (Small Business Sunday) Theo opens his Twitter name to a constant flow of 'pitching' tweets from hopeful business peeps 5-7:30pm every Sunday night. Then whilst Dragons Den is airing he chooses 6 of 'the best' and retweets their tweet.

For some weird reason this week I thought I'd not check because it wouldn't be me. Dragons Den had finished and me and C were watching Match of the Day. One email came through my BB, then 2, then 3.....until there were so many emails and mentions on Twitter my phone completely froze!!! Yep froze!! Jumping up and down and squealing "Its me, he picked me!!" whilst C was shushing me because I was interrupting the football. Once I had calmed down enough to explain he was thrilled I had been picked (first too). I'm still on cloud 9 and still cant believe it. Orders are coming in, my email is jam packed with enquires and I have gained about 300 new followers on Twitter.

Now I know Theo is never going to read this but if he were:

Dear Mr Paphitis, I really cant thank you enough for picking me this Sunday for SBS I am truly over the moon. It means more than you can imagine and gives me the encouragement to push myself that little bit further. You really made my forever. I have placed my badge proudly on the front page of my website (made by the lovely Tia of Whoatemycrayons) and will be forever grateful.

Many many thanks

Me xx