In 2018 Find Us On Web created a digital hub which enables businesses and their people to connect through an online directory. FUOW also provides our users with access to free online speed networking events, conferences, publications and loyalty schemes. 80% of FUOW’s ser- vices are free. In an ever-evolving digital world, we feel our service fulfils a need to support busi- nesses and help them establish long term commercial connections.1
FUOW is created by business for businesses. Stakeholders both internally and externally actual- ly come together to form new ways to help our local communities. We didn’t even have to ask a few, most wanted to come together to help in anyway they can.
Here are ten testimonials that we’re happy to share with you:
“I have no hesitation in endorsing FindUsOnWeb for the work they do for small business on the Isle of Man. Santosh, and his team, are tireless in their endeavours to give assistance to local entrepreneurs wishing to build businesses, often start-ups
The regular breakfasts, bringing together the heads/owners of many of the Island's ventures that are likely to be responsible for the Island's future growth, are held in high esteem, as is the individual coaching supplied by Santosh at these events. This is only one of the innovative ways that support is forthcoming.
FindUsOnWeb is an asset to the Isle of Man that should be treasured.”
Dougie Elliott FCIB, Chartered MCSI
"We were excited by the announcement that there would be a new event to recognise accounting professionals and businesses so were very keen to be involved from the outset. It was then great news to be contacted by the team at Manx Accountancy Awards to inform us we had been nominated by a number of clients for the Start up practice of the year category.
The awards evening was fantastic and very well organised by Santosh and his team, all of our team and guests had a great evening. We were honoured to also collect the award for Start up practice of the year and would fully support the event next year!”
Lee Astin BA FCCA, Managing Director
“It was a pleasure to attend to Manx Accountancy Awards 2020. The organisers did an incredible job in moving the venue from the Comis to Laxey Glen Gardens in less than 24 hours: one could be forgiven to think the event and venue had been organised for months at the new venue. It was a great evening: fantastic food and well organised. Good to see so many people in attendance and a pleasure to see some of my colleagues attending the event also. Congratulations to my colleague Adam Clucas for being shortlisted as a finalist for Accountant of the year, facing stiff competition from 20 or so other finalists.
From my own perspective, it was an honour to receive tax adviser of the year!
I hope this event becomes part of the calendar for the future: let’s see many other firms embrace it as an evening to recognise of the achievements of accountants and tax advisers on the Isle of Man.”
Paul Hotchkiss, Managing Director (Hotchkiss Associates)
‘I'd like to thank Santosh and the team at Find Us On Web for an amazing evening which recognised the often-forgotten Accountancy services in the Isle of Man. It was really great to connect with other professionals over delicious food and drink. It was wonderful to be part of the first Accountancy Awards Evening and here's hoping there are many more.’
Catherine Pulman, Assistant Chief Officer (Income Services)
“Great networking meeting this morning!
A few familiar faces, and a few new ones which is always good to help expand and spread the word for my business... that way I get to help more people achieve their health and fitness goals, which is what I love doing.. Reshaping Bodies, Reshaping Lives :-)"
The Firm Slimming & Health Clinic, Sindy Lambert
“Find Us On Web is a great way to promote your business and meet other like-minded business owners! The Isle of Man Trade Shows have a wide range of products and services to promote and are an ideal way to raise visibility for your brand and do something different! There are free events every month to help the business community come together and support, network and engage. It is free to list your business on the site and promote offers or specials. Highly recommend the events and registering for Find Us On Web!”
Jessica Jones Online, Jessica Jones
"Always very friendly and helpful.
Am excellent free service to meet new contacts and strengthen small businesses."
Not Just Travel, Emma Birks
“Really loved these consistently organised networking events every month . Appreciate the efforts made by Find Us On Web team on a regular basis and keep us all engaged locally. Happy to meet such a large variety of local businesses on a regular basis. Highly recommend. Thank you”
Visualytes, Nagz
“Great way to meet lots of different local business people!”
Ability Plus Limited, Anne Marie Hanna
“It was really pleasant and useful meeting with people from Find Us On Web and all participants. I found new connections and some inspiring ideas for growing my business. Thanks a lot for this special”opportunity.”
Mira - Wellbeing Coach, Mira Reiss
Partnerships were built during COVID due to us volunteering with other businesses . These interactions allowed us to meet local businesses that we may have never connected with as we are still relatively new. Due to our business being built for businesses and specialising in networking, we managed to create a community that developed into so much more during COVID. This community we created became a lifeline for local businesses and like minded people. Through their connection to us, those small businesses forge everlasting business relationships. FUOW has not only offered networking services during this time but also a chance for social interaction and support. This helped save businesses money, when every pound had to count. It also gave a chance for businesses create plans to survive and function after COVID and also allow them to build further partnerships . The outcome of our work during this period has been vast.
Find Us On Web created a community for local businesses during COVID, not only did we offer free advertising for them but also our free virtual networking events. We also gave printers to local businesses to help them facilitate the demand during COVID, having to work from home. During the pandemic, we actually hired local people to work for us, supporting the local livelihoods. The community we created gave businesses hope and support during these dire times. Networking also allowed them to make contact and new leads with people from other businesses, most offering special discounts to their services!
We fulfilled the demand for jobs during COVID, we heard firsthand how business owners were left in a vulnerable position and a lot of the time they felt isolated during the pandemic. We advertised and promoted their business for free. The demand for support was large so was the need for a plan! Our networking events allowed them to think post COVID, and the new normal, how to pivot their business to improve revenue. Many businesses were close to closure, but thanks to our support, they’ve been able to get through the worst of it.
Initially we created this networking community in the hope of bringing local businesses together to support each other. We never expected it to become much more than that, but with COVID, It became clear how much of a life line it was. We covered the needs for social interaction, support, planning and much more.
Our vision is to become an expert business services provider globally and hold the best business advisory position offering a one stop solution the business growth needs of the local businesses by working with the businesses, for the businesses and by the businesses.
Personal challenges include the financial burden causing emotional stress, tying personal value to your company’s value, the perfection paradox, where we had to be quick on our feet. Reactive is the best way to describe it, we didn’t have time for the perfect plan, and we simply dived in and took few risks. By taking action and letting go of our need to always be perfect, we had the chance to swing for the fences.
Overworking ourselves was another big challenge to control. We worked exceptionally long hours, which led to burnout. Constantly on the run, we end up over- or under-eating, which can have negative consequences on your personal health and performance. We did not have the time to sleep or exercise as often or as long as we’d like. To overcome these challenges, we started exercising each day and schedule time to get a good nights sleep. In the excitement of starting a new venture, we ignored the feeling that the person we are about to pick does not have the managerial competence for the next step, and thus some new recruits lacked execution skills or had weaker strategic thinking.
Internally we were faced by challenges around money and resources, the company culture and getting right employees and work force in place in the given timeframe so that business is not impacted. Our internal culture consists of the values, attitudes, and priorities that our employees
should live by. The biggest challenge was to make new recruits understand the cultures and values behind the business.
Lack of business income affects the number of people we can hire, the quality of our offers, and the amount of advertising we can buy. To overcome these challenges, we heavily invested into this business before turning a revenue, with the idea to grow and expand the business. We tried to be on foot and engage with as many potential customers as we can in short span of time. We stuck to our company values and ethos whilst doing so, creating value for our customers. Most importantly, we put people before profit and raise a positive brand awareness to make a real difference in the business community.
The biggest external factors were the suppliers and the government policy which had a huge impact on our costs. With limited availability of venue and event suppliers, we couldn’t buy anywhere, and our negotiating room was limited. The effect of COVID-19 on the economy and event driven business was also one of the biggest external challenges we faced. We managed to handle this by changing our approach from physical events to virtual events and conduct monthly meetings over zoom and address customer needs via video conference.
Finding the right partner and building relationships with local businesses was another challenge, but we are always open to new ideas and new points of view with an ability to connect with partners and customers in our markets. We took a careful considered approach to new ideas, implementing those that fit with our customers business goals and discarding those that don’t address this challenge.
Our team is not large by any means but we all came together to come up with ideas to help our communities across the UK not just the Isle of Man. FUOW team volunteered their time to help where ever they could without a second thought.
To name a few things: supporting individuals, local businesses, free social interaction, business planning for surviving COVID and going forward.
We saved money for businesses due to connections made in networking or from free services we offered. It helped businesses keep locals employed and their livelihoods intact.
We spent a long time helping out local businesses, it was invaluable experience, especially for our team. Reputation grew due to what we did. With more users, our community was growing and financial goals were being met.
Here are ten testimonials that we’re happy to share with you:
“I have no hesitation in endorsing FindUsOnWeb for the work they do for small business on the Isle of Man. Santosh, and his team, are tireless in their endeavours to give assistance to local entrepreneurs wishing to build businesses, often start-ups
The regular breakfasts, bringing together the heads/owners of many of the Island's ventures that are likely to be responsible for the Island's future growth, are held in high esteem, as is the individual coaching supplied by Santosh at these events. This is only one of the innovative ways that support is forthcoming.
FindUsOnWeb is an asset to the Isle of Man that should be treasured.”
Dougie Elliott FCIB, Chartered MCSI
“We were excited by the announcement that there would be a new event to recognise accounting professionals and businesses so were very keen to be involved from the outset. It was then great news to be contacted by the team at Manx Accountancy Awards to inform us we had been nominated by a number of clients for the Start up practice of the year category.
The awards evening was fantastic and very well organised by Santosh and his team, all of our team and guests had a great evening. We were honoured to also collect the award for Start up practice of the year and would fully support the event next year!”
Lee Astin BA FCCA, Managing Director
“It was a pleasure to attend to Manx Accountancy Awards 2020. The organisers did an incredible job in moving the venue from the Comis to Laxey Glen Gardens in less than 24 hours: one could be forgiven to think the event and venue had been organised for months at the new venue. It was a great evening: fantastic food and well organised. Good to see so many people in attendance and a pleasure to see some of my colleagues attending the event also. Congratulations to my colleague Adam Clucas for being shortlisted as a finalist for Accountant of the year, facing stiff competition from 20 or so other finalists.
From my own perspective, it was an honour to receive tax adviser of the year!
I hope this event becomes part of the calendar for the future: let’s see many other firms embrace it as an evening to recognise of the achievements of accountants and tax advisers on the Isle of Man.”
Paul Hotchkiss, Managing Director (Hotchkiss Associates)
engage. It is free to list your business on the site and promote offers or specials. Highly recommend the events and registering for Find Us On Web!”
Jessica Jones Online, Jessica Jones
"Always very friendly and helpful.
Am excellent free service to meet new contacts and strengthen small businesses."
Not Just Travel, Emma Birks
“Really loved these consistently organised networking events every month . Appreciate the efforts made by Find Us On Web team on a regular basis and keep us all engaged locally. Happy to meet such a large variety of local businesses on a regular basis. Highly recommend. Thank you”
Visualytes, Nagz
One very specific example is the recent Manx Accountancy Awards. A prestigious black tie event celebrating accountancy firms on the Isle of Man, scheduled for 4th December.
When our MD Santosh Kumar arrived on the Island in November after being in isolation for two weeks, he discovered that nothing had really been organised, so he put his team into action.
Santosh was on the Isle of Man, there was a small team in India, Rachel was in Bournemouth and Kevin and Sara on the Isle of Wight. All relevant literature had to be produced, this included time tables and information on the judges along with multiple vouchers. All of this was designed on the Isle of Wight, printed in Yorkshire and delivered to the Isle of Man in a very short period of time. Multiple roll up banners were produced, some in India, some on the IoW, printed in Southampton and delivered to the IoM and the main stand for the event also needed designing which was organised by the events company on the IoM and produced on the IoW. It was in our opinion, a logistical feat!
The initial venue pulled out 48 hours before the event, Santosh, using his many contacts, managed to find a new venue, refigure the stand and organise new menus etc. It was then up to the team to inform all the guests of the new venue and timings. Due to illness the main speaker had to pull out, so immediately a new speaker was found and prepped.
The event was a huge success thanks to a massive effort from the team across four different locations and two countries - how about that for teamwork!
All departments have daily morning meetings via Zoom. If any department requires assistance the other departments will jump in to give a hand. Every department also makes use of additional technology such as WhatsApp, Skype etc.
A good example of working across departments is our monthly networking events, which we currently run about five per month. A couple of days before each event we phone all existing clients to invite and remind them of the event - which can be up to one thousand calls. Each department jumps in to split up the calls to reduce the workload.
Teamwork is key to the companies success, and is very much a big part of the companies core. The most important thing at FUOW is that everyone feels a part of the team and and are open to contribute to any activities.
We are all team players and for that we are all recognised and rewarded equally.
There is no reward and bonus scheme as such. A successful event rewards all the team.
FUOW has only been running for a couple of years. The team has had to learn their roles as the company evolved. This has consisted of building a huge database driven website, allowing clients to produce their own mini website within the site.
Many of the team had little or no contacts, so a big LinkedIn campaign was made, and is still running in order to grow our contacts.
During the pandemic we have had to restructure the way we do business, moving our networking events online, which now take place over Zoom. We have also created our own mini version of Zoom for internal use. This also includes our local trade shows which can no longer take place, we instead created a virtual trade show which will be launched early this year.
FUOW is a global business connector network, its purpose is to help clients grow their business. It does this by having local speed networking events which are free to attend. It also runs local trade shows which will be held virtually. The head office is based on the Isle of Man and this was the first area where promoting local business occurred.
As part of local support, we held the Manx Accountancy Award night promoting accountancy firms on the Island. We also make sure we support as many local charities as possible by sponsoring events and promoting them through our many channels.
As well as helping grow local businesses we also try to support them as much as possible. A good example of this is when one of our customers on the Island sadly lost her shop due to COVID, we helped her by providing legal and financial advice for free. When she initially started her business, we gave her a free stand at our local trade show.
Every business that becomes a member of the FUOW community, is offered a free printer, a free advert in our online BUZZ magazine and free attendance at any of our networking meetings.
Additionally, during the initial phase of the pandemic, FUOW set up help hubs across the Island to assist those in most need, including individuals and charities
Our customers are very well informed about our team members and are in regular contact with them, before, during and after networking meetings. We have been able to connect multiple businesses with each other to enable them to grow and create leads. Last year alone, FUOW expanded into new regions across the UK, thus growing the team. As the team expanded, the knowledge sharing between the team members became greater.
No other platform or membership scheme provides as much support and as many services to their members – for free! When the pandemic hit, FUOW had to devise a way to ensure that all these support services remained in place as they are more important than ever before. As such, all the monthly networking meetings moved online. The website was developed to enable all members to easily schedule appointments utilising the bespoke, internal webinar feature.
The latest development is a virtual conference/exhibition tool. This development will enable members to showcase their businesses to larger audiences.
Due to our business being all about businesses our whole structure is based on collaborations. This makes the whole ethos of FUOW virtually unique in its approach to business. Internally we create a strong team, then we do the same to help other businesses and our clients.
Here are ten testimonials that we’re happy to share with you:
‘I have no hesitation in endorsing FindUsOnWeb for the work they do for small business on the Isle of Man. Santosh, and his team, are tireless in their endeavours to give assistance to local entrepreneurs wishing to build businesses, often start-ups
The regular breakfasts, bringing together the heads/owners of many of the Island's ventures that are likely to be responsible for the Island's future growth, are held in high esteem, as is the individual coaching supplied by Santosh at these events. This is only one of the innovative ways that support is forthcoming.
FindUsOnWeb is an asset to the Isle of Man that should be treasured.’
Dougie Elliott FCIB, Chartered MCSI
“We were excited by the announcement that there would be a new event to recognise accounting professionals and businesses so were very keen to be involved from the outset. It was then great news to be contacted by the team at Manx Accountancy Awards to inform us we had been nominated by a number of clients for the Start up practice of the year category.
The awards evening was fantastic and very well organised by Santosh and his team, all of our team and guests had a great evening. We were honoured to also collect the award for Start up practice of the year and would fully support the event next year!"
Lee Astin BA FCCA, Managing Director
“It was a pleasure to attend to Manx Accountancy Awards 2020. The organisers did an incredible job in moving the venue from the Comis to Laxey Glen Gardens in less than 24 hours: one could be forgiven to think the event and venue had been organised for months at the new venue. It was a great evening: fantastic food and well organised. Good to see so many people in attendance and a pleasure to see some of my colleagues attending the event also. Congratulations to my colleague Adam Clucas for being shortlisted as a finalist for Accountant of the year, facing stiff competition from 20 or so other finalists.
From my own perspective, it was an honour to receive tax adviser of the year!
I hope this event becomes part of the calendar for the future: let’s see many other firms embrace it as an evening to recognise of the achievements of accountants and tax advisers on the Isle of Man.”
“Great way to meet lots of different local business people!”
Ability Plus Limited, Anne Marie Hanna
“It was really pleasant and useful meeting with people from Find Us On Web and all participants. I found new connections and some inspiring ideas for growing my business. Thanks a lot for this special”opportunity.”
Mira - Wellbeing Coach, Mira Reiss
• How sustainable is this standard of teamwork? How sustainable are the resulting benefits to your organisation?
This standard of team work is sustained due to our employees being partners. FUOW is everyone’s business. The team are encouraged to carve out their own roles that they enjoy, allowing them to utilise their strengths and develop new skills. As a result, everyone has pride and dedication towards their jobs because they essentially created their role.
This has shown to be an extremely effective way to keep the team not only motivated but inspired. Standards have only increased and that shows in our growth.
Due to having contingency plans in place it allowed us to gain stability fast when COVID hit. No events got cancelled as they all went virtual, ensuring that we still carried out our services without a drastic impact to our business community.
Find Us On Web provides a platform for business to showcase and network with other likeminded business owners.
We began by hosting face-to-face speed networking events in hotels, but due to the pandemic we have moved our operation online with monthly virtual events, free of charge.
Our events create a great way to gain exposure and recommendations from the local community. Businesses are able to promote their products in multiple ways - like through our virtual online networking events, trade shows, magazine publication, sponsorships, conferences, vouchers, award nights and much more.
FUOW put people and building connections foremost! With our multiple touch point strategy, we work closely with our members to offer support to help grow their business through advertising, website providers, national radio advertising, banner stands, annual conferences, PR, marketing and more.
Our objective and values are clear and straightforward! They’re to help entrepreneurs produce more leads, transformations, exchanges, customers and close on deals that help them grow. As our clients grow, we grow with them, as we make larger connections.
We are unique in the way that there are no other companies that offer so many opportunities through networking, trade shows, award nights and online publications free of charge. This helps companies grow and get reach and brand awareness without having to put more overheads on them. We help businesses to turn their ideas or ventures into powerful revenue machines with our proven strategic and tactical tools.
Personal challenges include the financial burden causing emotional stress, tying personal value to your company’s value, the perfection paradox, where we had to be quick on our feet. Reactive is the best way to describe it, we didn’t have time for the perfect plan, and we simply dived in and took few risks. By taking action and letting go of our need to always be perfect, we had the chance to swing for the fences.
Overworking ourselves was another big challenge to control. We worked exceptionally long hours, which led to burnout. Constantly on the run, we end up over- or under-eating, which can have negative consequences on your personal health and performance. We did not have the time to sleep or exercise as often or as long as we’d like. To overcome these challenges, we started exercising each day and schedule time to get a good nights sleep. In the excitement of
starting a new venture, we ignored the feeling that the person we are about to pick does not have the managerial competence for the next step, and thus some new recruits lacked execution skills or had weaker strategic thinking.
Internally we were faced by challenges around money and resources, the company culture and getting right employees and work force in place in the given timeframe so that business is not impacted. Our internal culture consists of the values, attitudes, and priorities that our employees should live by. The biggest challenge was to make new recruits understand the cultures and values behind the business.
Lack of business income affects the number of people we can hire, the quality of our offers, and the amount of advertising we can buy. To overcome these challenges, we heavily invested into this business before turning a revenue, with the idea to grow and expand the business. We tried to be on foot and engage with as many potential customers as we can in short span of time. We stuck to our company values and ethos whilst doing so, creating value for our customers. Most importantly, we put people before profit and raise a positive brand awareness to make a real difference in the business community.
The biggest external factors were the suppliers and the government policy which had a huge impact on our costs. With limited availability of venue and event suppliers, we couldn’t buy anywhere, and our negotiating room was limited. The effect of COVID-19 on the economy and event driven business was also one of the biggest external challenges we faced. We managed to handle this by changing our approach from physical events to virtual events and conduct monthly meetings over zoom and address customer needs via video conference.
Finding the right partner and building relationships with local businesses was another challenge, but we are always open to new ideas and new points of view with an ability to connect with partners and customers in our markets. We took a careful considered approach to new ideas, implementing those that fit with our customers business goals and discarding those that don’t address this challenge.
Our team of regional directors are growing by the day in many areas, bringing the community together in person and virtually with speed networking events on a monthly basis.
With that said, we’re only getting stronger, taking our members along with us as on our trusted platform.
We work with business stakeholders to understand and help with their inspirational growth plan and enable them to achieve their objectives targeted within the next 1-3 years.
We started in one area and have grown to ?ve more during a national lockdown which is an achievement andone that we are proud of. Moving everything online was agreat move, asnot only can we do 100% of our work, but we’re reaching new members who could possibly not a?end our events previously.
FUOW have all the right components to make sure the business continues to be fruitful with many points of contact, networking events, support and guidance to make members more successful in their journey with us.
Here are ten testimonials that we’re happy to share with you:
“I have no hesitation in endorsing FindUsOnWeb for the work they do for small business on the Isle of Man. Santosh, and his team, are tireless in their endeavours to give assistance to local entrepreneurs wishing to build businesses, often start-ups
The regular breakfasts, bringing together the heads/owners of many of the Island's ventures that are likely to be responsible for the Island's future growth, are held in high esteem, as is the individual coaching supplied by Santosh at these events. This is only one of the innovative ways that support is forthcoming.
FindUsOnWeb is an asset to the Isle of Man that should be treasured.”
FUOW was created from the ills myself and many partners had with the struggle of connecting with other business. Nowadays, businesses are so pitted against one another as competitors and we wanted to change that outlook entirely! We wanted owners to see the benefit of support- ing one another and forging business relationships.
We have created a community within the local community that supports each other, helps them save money by providing special offers, provides them with social interaction and much more. Especially now, with COVID, these relationships go much further, and I believe they’ll be here to stay. To keep being sustainable, we monitor our environment and are always ready to adapt with what comes next. Staying ahead of the curve to ensure us and our members will be successful and persevere.
Our business is literally built on partnerships. At FUOW, we’ve made it easier than ever to con- nect with like-minded business owners, or those seeking help with any of their problems. The community we created saves time, money, and most importantly, lets them grow. The local community has shown their appreciation to how much we care - the charity work, donating, lend- ing a hand, we’ve built valuable relationships. Collaborating with local businesses has been suc- cessful for us, and for those that are part of our large network, and may that continue.
Find Us On Web helps businesses to grow through the use of multiple tactical tools, 80% of which are free for its customers. These tools include speed networking, trade shows, award nights, The Buzz Magazine, conferences, speaking engagements, local deals, media promotions and PR & loyalty programs.
There are currently over 360,000 businesses registered with Find Us on Web, all of whom can utilise these services to achieve more connections, more savings, more transactions, more leads, more profits, more sales, more conversions, more customers and hence, more growth. We created this community that is growing daily and instead of seeing businesses as competition, FUOW wanted businesses to come together to collaborate. This innovative idea proved to be successful where like minded people join our free networking events to share their business ideas and create new leads. Even when the pandemic hit, we already had a contingency plan in place and took everything virtually. This has allowed businesses to still be part of the conversation and community, without having to spend more money.
Find Us On Web’s vision is to become an expert business services provider globally and hold the best business advisory position. To offer a one stop solution for business growth and needs of the local businesses by working with the businesses, for the businesses and by the businesses.
Like us, and many others, this year has been particularly challenging. We quickly adapted to overcome any hurdles to ensure our clients never had to suffer. Our business revolves around people meeting people, and ideas being created.
No other platform or membership scheme provides as much support and as many services to their members – for free! When Covid-19 hit, FUOW had to devise a way to ensure that all these support services remained in place as they are more important than ever before. As such, all the monthly networking meetings moved online. The website was developed with members in mind so that they could easily schedule appointments utilising the bespoke, internal webinar feature.
The latest development is a virtual conference/exhibition tool. This development will enable members to showcase their businesses to larger audiences.
It was developed out of the necessity to be able to continue to provide the business tools that FUOW are committed to in order to support our members. The team identified the requirement and, in collaboration with all the stakeholders, set about developing a bespoke system to create the new virtual environment.
All these actions have enabled FUOW to grow and help customers to expand their businesses in
spite of the pandemic. Moving activities online have actually enabled people to connect further afield than they would have previously been able to. From the initial launch on the Isle of Man in December 2018, FUOW now covers regions including Southampton, Bournemouth, Isle of Wight and Jersey – most of which have been developed since March 2020. As a result of the online platforms, FUOW is looking to expand by an additional five regions per month throughout 2021
Like with all start ups, we wanted our passion to come to fruition, so growing our network was essential. A venture like this can pose questions for business, whom have contacted us initially, they were skeptical and questioned our motives due to the lack of fees included. Most businesses realised quickly the benefit of FUOW and the opportunities gained through joining our community.
Growth and covering more areas due to demand was also difficult as we have strict deadlines with businesses to ensure they meet their goals. With COVID, we had to ensure we did not allow our services to be anything but 100%, so we set our contingency plan into and made our events virtual. The biggest factor to overcome was the lack of face-to-face contact for training etc.
It quickly also became a very competitive environment, however through regular online communication with the expanding team members and the collaborative effort of everyone involved, the challenges were met and exceeded.
In addition to the new regions that developed last year, the number of monthly online networking meetings increased from 2 to 6, reaching and supporting far more businesses than before. Our customers have increased and the number of customers and regions they are now connected to has expanded. All of which has improved our sales and profits.
Within the organisation, we have expanded the team across additional regions throughout the UK thanks to the idea of virtual events, we’ve been able to keep overheads to a minimum. The number of registered customers has also increased exponentially thanks to this and the services we offer are far more wide ranging.
Not only are all the innovations completely sustainable, but they are growing to offer far more functionally and benefits to all the members compared to anywhere on the market. This growth has also allowed us the grow our task force, so each region has a business manager . Ensuring we are fully functional virtually has allowed us more stability than most businesses, for example, our workforce can work from home so we therefore have less overheads. Being innovative and thinking outside the box is what inspired this organisation in the first place. We’re growing fast because we adapt and have plans in place, whilst monitoring the situation. Research and development is ongoing to improve our services and evolve them.
FUOW’s core objective is the success of our clients, we want our customers businesses to flour- ish. We share our knowledge and marketing know how to help businesses grow. From start-ups to larger established ventures, we aim to be the first choice and a ‘one stop shop’ for any busi- ness who needs to enhance their marketing strategy. Our primary value is to provide a great service for a relatively low outlay. Our customers know they can rely on us for support when they need it. We work towards increasing sales and optimising leads. Marketing is a key element for any business and we give our customers the tools they need to achieve their goals.
We hold regular online team and group meetings to allow everyone to have input into the way the company moves forward, we’re nothing without our brilliant team. FUOW employs independent thinkers who are encouraged to carve out their own path in the company whilst utilising each persons skills to there maximum.By allowing this, we’re able to create an environment our staff enjoy and want to represent FUOW because they help develop its creation.
At FindUsOnWeb, we strive to provide our clients innovative & smart ways of promoting their business. We want to cut through the noise to give them the tools they need to connect, network and grow through our multiple channels. We provide to many local businesses, large or small.
We immediately identified the issues that would arise from not being able to organise larger events during lockdown - we quickly had to find a solution to remedy this. But it wasn’t only our clients that felt hardship, it was also our staff. At FUOW, we ensured our teams remained engaged, healthy, effective and productive in their new working environment, despite having to manage everything and everyone remotely. We had to empower our team, give them hope and appreciation, which fortunately helped us grow even more, with locations in the Isle of Man many dotted around the UK. With so much doubt, we developed a customer-centric mission and consistently reinforced that vision of leadership, ensuring that everyone at FUOW is on the same page! By doing so, our team was able to provide better customer experience.
Customer satisfaction and customer retention have always been our top priorities, we’d be nothing without them! We ensure we get regular feedback, which gives us an opportunity to address any issues. We work directly with people, so we’re able to see what is what clearly and effectively.
Definitely improved productivity and sales. With our sophisticated systems at FUOW, we were able to manage our customer experiences which helped us understand them. During COVID we quickly adapted to our customers having a completely different mindset. Our customer service staff were able to reassure our customers, making them more open to new ideas, suggestions, products and even services which has helped us grow, not only as a company, but as a team.
FUOW is more than just a business connector, we thrive on committing ourselves in providing essential customer service to help businesses grow, both locally and digitally. We have had such an incredible response to our online networking events, helping businesses and individuals find new leads, drive more sales and make their livelihood grow in such uncertain times.
This was a time for deep listening. At FUOW, we reminded our teams to really hear what our customers concerns are and show them that we’re really there for them. How sustainable is our customer service you ask? It’s our team - as long as we maintain our spirits, keep conversations open, our team will be able to overcome anything, becoming stronger, working together.
Quite frankly, it has been a difficult year - not only hearing from our customers and how they had to pivot their way, but how taxing it was on our team. It meant approaching our customers with a different hat, and of course quickly coming to terms with the new normal. We realised the way we approached our customers had to change and continuously improve, as effective customer service counts for even more in a time like this. We ensured that every morning we had team chats, where our services team were able to talk over any issues, ensuring that they start the day happy, productive and safe. It’s become essential to communicate effectively, regularly and in both directions. It definitely was a learning curve, but with our grit and determination, we’ve persevered to today!
Due to the devastating news of the pandemic, the incoming lockdown, potential loss of business revenue, and their actual businesses, we at Find Us On Web had to do something to help our local community. Having had to cancel every single event we had ourselves, we thought, why not bring these events to everyone from the comforts of their homes? And that is exactly what we did. We moved everything online, and adapted on the fly, finding creative ways to change our operating models. At first it was difficult, but thanks to our brilliant team, we managed to secure a huge amount of interest, especially with many local businesses here, on the Isle of Man, and in the UK! Our platform connects businesses with other like-minded people, so through our virtual networking events, our members were able to gain more leads which has helped them create a revenue in these dire times.
The biggest problem with lockdown was the ability to have large networking events for businesses to share something about themselves, what products they offer, and how they can help you, or your business. We were always in demand for our networking events, but during lockdown, it was even greater, so much that we’ve had to expand our operation more in the UK to cover more ground. Not only did it give small businesses the chance to sell their services and help them stay afloat, but it was also a great way to tackle their fears and anxieties by having them mingle, talk and have a laugh.
Personal challenges include the financial burden causing emotional stress, tying personal value to your company’s value, the perfection paradox, where we had to be quick on our feet. Reactive is the best way to describe it, we didn’t have time for the perfect plan, and we simply dived in and took few risks. By taking action and letting go of our need to always be perfect, we had the chance to swing for the fences.
Overworking ourselves was another big challenge to control. We worked exceptionally long hours, which led to burnout. Constantly on the run, we end up over- or under-eating, which can have negative consequences on your personal health and performance. We did not have the time to sleep or exercise as often or as long as we’d like. To overcome these challenges, we started exercising each day and schedule time to get a good nights sleep. In the excitement of starting a new venture, we ignored the feeling that the person we are about to pick does not have the managerial competence for the next step, and thus some new recruits lacked execution skills or had weaker strategic thinking.
Internally we were faced by challenges around money and resources, the company culture and getting right employees and work force in place in the given timeframe so that business is not impacted. Our internal culture consists of the values, attitudes, and priorities that our employees should live by. The biggest challenge was to make new recruits understand the cultures and values behind the business.
Lack of business income affects the number of people we can hire, the quality of our offers, and the amount of advertising we can buy. To overcome these challenges, we heavily invested into this
business before turning a revenue, with the idea to grow and expand the business. We tried to be on foot and engage with as many potential customers as we can in short span of time. We stuck to our company values and ethos whilst doing so, creating value for our customers. Most importantly, we put people before profit and raise a positive brand awareness to make a real difference in the business community.
The biggest external factors were the suppliers and the government policy which had a huge impact on our costs. With limited availability of venue and event suppliers, we couldn’t buy anywhere, and our negotiating room was limited. The effect of COVID-19 on the economy and event driven business was also one of the biggest external challenges we faced. We managed to handle this by changing our approach from physical events to virtual events and conduct monthly meetings over zoom and address customer needs via video conference.
Finding the right partner and building relationships with local businesses was another challenge, but we are always open to new ideas and new points of view with an ability to connect with partners and customers in our markets. We took a careful considered approach to new ideas, implementing those that fit with our customers business goals and discarding those that don’t address this challenge
Our objectives were simple - help small businesses that have been hit badly by the pandemic. We had virtual networking events focusing on how businesses can help other businesses. A lot provided greatly discounted business services which was a lifeline. We also had discussions on how businesses can pivot from their traditional business model, and start something new to get new customers.
We work with business stakeholders to understand and help with their inspirational growth plan and enable them to achieve their objectives. We set out with a very simple idea, that ‘we’re all in this together’, and that, even from our inception, at FUOW, we believe businesses should be working together instead of pitting against one another.
FUOW contributed as a business by volunteering to help small businesses in the community that are struggling through these difficult times for free. By building partnerships with them, we inviting them to our virtual networking events where they can connect with other businesses that can help them to improve sales or even other solution. For example, like a web developer that can bring their business online so they can then sell their products, and keep their business running through this pandemic.
Within the organisation, we have expanded the team across additional regions throughout the UK thanks to the idea of virtual events. We’ve been able to keep overheads to a minimum, thus maximising our revenue. The number of registered customers has also increased exponentially, as many sought knowledge and help from other businesses during these hard times - with most of them being retained and attend our future networking events.
We offer businesses to engage with us and each other! Initially our clients can take advantage of free advertising on our online business register, they also benefit from a loyalty reward program and free marketing publications. Our trade shows and networking events are invaluable to our clients. After the emergence of Covid-19, the world changed almost overnight and forever! We were able to adapt our services to meet with the demand of virtual platforms for businesses and offer our clients to attend on-line speed networking events.
We are also very excited to offer virtual trade shows in the near future. We recognise that most businesses have been affected by the pandemic and many have had to change the way they work forever. We constantly strive to help our clients adapt to those changes and find smarter marketing platforms.
Personal challenges include the financial burden causing emotional stress, tying personal value to your company’s value, the perfection paradox, where we had to be quick on our feet. Reactive
is the best way to describe it, we didn’t have time for the perfect plan, and we simply dived in and took few risks. By taking action and letting go of our need to always be perfect, we had the chance to swing for the fences.
Overworking ourselves was another big challenge to control. We worked exceptionally long hours, which led to burnout. Constantly on the run, we end up over- or under-eating, which can have negative consequences on your personal health and performance. We did not have the time to sleep or exercise as often or as long as we’d like. To overcome these challenges, we started exercising each day and schedule time to get a good nights sleep. In the excitement of starting a new venture, we ignored the feeling that the person we are about to pick does not have the managerial competence for the next step, and thus some new recruits lacked execution skills or had weaker strategic thinking.
Internally we were faced by challenges around money and resources, the company culture and getting right employees and work force in place in the given timeframe so that business is not impacted. Our internal culture consists of the values, attitudes, and priorities that our employees should live by. The biggest challenge was to make new recruits understand the cultures and val- ues behind the business.
Lack of business income affects the number of people we can hire, the quality of our offers, and the amount of advertising we can buy. To overcome these challenges, we heavily invested into this business before turning a revenue, with the idea to grow and expand the business. We tried to be on foot and engage with as many potential customers as we can in short span of time. We stuck to our company values and ethos whilst doing so, creating value for our customers. Most importantly, we put people before profit and raise a positive brand awareness to make a real dif- ference in the business community.
The biggest external factors were the suppliers and the government policy which had a huge im- pact on our costs. With limited availability of venue and event suppliers, we couldn’t buy any- where, and our negotiating room was limited. The effect of COVID-19 on the economy and event driven business was also one of the biggest external challenges we faced. We managed to han- dle this by changing our approach from physical events to virtual events and conduct monthly meetings over zoom and address customer needs via video conference.
Finding the right partner and building relationships with local businesses was another challenge, but we are always open to new ideas and new points of view with an ability to connect with part- ners and customers in our markets. We took a careful considered approach to new ideas, im- plementing those that fit with our customers business goals and discarding those that don’t to address this challenge.
FUOW users receive marketing tools for free initially and they have access to our systems and business registry when they subscribe with us. We wanted to provide something extra to assist them on their way in the business world. Running any business can be a daunting and costly process, in particular when it is a start-up company.
We initiated a scheme whereby each registered user of our systems was issued a printer free of charge. Our core objective is to see our customers succeed, we like to support them in any
way we can. We felt that providing a free printer would be a helpful contribution to their business but would also send out a message of good-will and support.
Internally we encourage employees to create their own job role with full support and training. This allows them to create an environment that they enjoy and and play to their strengths - we see them as partners, they’re motivated and proud of the business we create. Feedback gives us an insight to how incredibly well this approach has worked.
Growth is another outcome, we’ve grown quite rapidly due to demand. During COVID our repu- tation proceeded us thanks to our help in the community and wider reach.
Our business is rather unique in that we offer the ability to bring business together, via our free virtual networking events. Similar services exist in the UK, but not to our scale, where we have 360,000 businesses that our members could potentially connect with.
