Taste Jelly at new kind of business event
A NEW type of business event is sweeping across Shropshire as freelancers and homeworkers are given the chance to meet and enjoy the ‘office environment’. TheBusinessDesk.com’s Tamlyn Jones speaks to Jan Minihane who co-ordinates the monthly ‘Jelly’ meetings.
TWO IT freelancers were sitting in a New York cafe in 2006 complaining about being isolated and missing that feeling of being in an office environment and sharing their daily time with co-workers.
While enjoying a bowl of jelly beans on their table, Amit Gupta and Luke Crawford decided to launch a working event aimed at people sharing those similar isolated feelings.
The concept was born and four years later it has found its way to a hotel on the outskirts of Telford – one of four ‘Jelly’ events to take place across Shropshire this month.
The room contains self-employed people from all walks of life such designers, a Japanese translator, accountants, IT support workers and web designers, all of them keen to shed the shackles of their kitchen-come-office and enjoy a different working environment for a day.
The atmosphere is incredibly laid back, most of the 30 or so people here are wearing casual clothes and jeans, and unlike conventional business networking events, Jelly days are not meant to be a place to grease palms and secure business deals.
Due to the diverse range of employment backgrounds, it’s not always the case that the people here would be able to do business directly with one another.
But they might know someone who can….
It is estimated that around 80% of businesses in Shropshire are ‘micro-businesses’, those employing up to nine staff, meaning there is a massive potential audience for events like these in the rural county.
The Shropshire Jelly fraternity was set up by former chartered accountant turned self-employed business advisor Jan Minihane who also co-ordinates the Telford-based events.
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She told TheBusinessDesk.com: “There were 13 UK events when I held the first one in April. Since then it has grown to 50. It has spread really quickly.
“There’s an increasing number of people working from home but people generally go into it without thinking it through.
“All my clients, because I am a small business advisor, had the same theme that there are times when they felt very isolated and a lot of small business go bust because they don’t find the right support network at the right time.”
Jelly’s reach does not stop at daytime homeworkers though as there are also ‘5-9’ meetings aimed at those who run a second business on top of their main job.
Because of the philanthropic, free culture of Jelly – an optional lunch fee is usually the only charge – attendees are expected to adhere to a set of rules known as ‘Jellyquette’.
Members may not bid for business directly and bombard others will sales pitches.
Hosting venues such as hotels and business centres are generally given over for free so attendees are asked to take some time to look around and learn more about their surroundings
Jellyquette also requests visitors to spread the word as much as possible as the concept is, at its core, meant to be sociable.
Ironically, Mrs Minihane decided to set up Shropshire Jelly after being recommended a news story about it via that most social of mediums – Twitter.
“I read the article and went ‘oh absolutely, it just fits with me’ because I love bringing people together,” she added.
“If I can help one person find the right business partner for them in the future or help one person who’s going through a tough time with their business….coming to a Jelly meeting other businesses might give them a bit of inspiration to keep going, then for me it’s job done.”
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INFORMATION Upcoming Shropshire Jelly events: September 7 – Ludlow Food Centre September 8 – The Ironworks, Oswestry September 15 – Enterprise HQ in Coalport, near Ironbridge (also 5-9 event) September 27 – Food Enterprise Centre, Shrewsbury Sign up at: Eventbrite.com Shropshire Jelly Contacts: Website: wiki.workatjelly.com/Shropshire Email: shropshirejelly@yahoo.co.uk Twitter: @ShropshireJelly , @JanMinihane More articles in
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