TEESDALE business networking meetings are back up and running in Barnard Castle after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic.
The monthly events, organised by and held at Enterprise House, on Harmire Enterprise Park, are now into their 13th year and are proving just as popular as ever.
The meetings resumed in July when Chris Howell, of Howell Films, which is based at Enterprise House, gave a presentation on the company’s work.
Enterprise House’s Lynn Todhunter said: “It is nice to be back and good to see so many new faces.”
At the latest networking event, Barnard Castle-based acupuncturist and reflexologist Jill Marks gave an insight into how she measures her business success, a system similar to one used by the small Himalayan country of Bhutan.
She said: “Bhutan doesn’t measure gross domestic product; they measure gross domestic happiness and that is how I see my business. I don’t want to expand so I’m so busy I get stressed, but want to have a happy balance.”
Ms Marks originally started her business eight years ago with offices in Middleton-in-Teesdale.
She moved to offices at Enterprise House a year later but is now based at Castle Chambers, on Market Place.
She added: “I don’t do social media with my business as I just don’t like it.
“For me referrals are the best marketing.”
She said: “Something I noticed with the pandemic is that people are getting to the stage where they are not getting the treatment with the NHS and are more willing to look at paying for treatment with private practices.”
The next networking meeting is on September 14, starting at 9.30am.
The guest speaker will be former business advisor John Atkinson, who will be talking about life without European funding post-Brexit.
