Judgement Day

Time is a funny concept in business.  In one respect six months has gone in a flash and in another  so much has happened that the start of this competition seems to be an eternity ago.  But still, how is it May and more significantly competition judgement month already? 

 

So to the bottom line -  Socialite London doing?   I am delighted to say – things are amazing!  From the top:

 

Searcys:

OMG ~ The Gherkin!  10 short days after agreeing to host a Socialite London event at 40l30 it was 7.00pm and showtime.  170 Members of Socialite London and their guests arrived to enjoy a cocktail party without precedent.  I had the privilege of greeting all members at as they stepped out of the lift on the stunning penultimate floor of the Gherkin to a glass of champagne and  the most stunning room and view imaginable.  Without exception all members and guests registered delight – including one Ms Jackie Brennan of Fresh Ideas Events! 

 

The evening progressed into a memorable one for members and a landmark one for Socialite London.  Such was the success of the Gherkin we are in talks with Searcys to host future Socialite events at a number of their prestigious venues [Searcys venues include 40I30, Royal Opera House, St Pancras Champagne Bar, 30 Pavilion Road, Barbican Centre, Hurlingham Club... the list goes on] including hosting the Socialite London Summer Ball at 40I30 ~ the Gherkin on Saturday 13^th June!

 

That meeting:

 

The meetings culminating in that meeting went very well.  The meetings were at the invitation of a Fabulous Prospective Partner.  Initial discussions [flatteringly at the invitation of the FPP] were around options for a potential partnership but escalated to the point where the FPP was considering buying Socialite London outright with clearly enormous implications either way.
 

There were many rounds of meetings and challenges from the FPP which I answered comprehensively.   On any count business development heaven is very smart people challenging the current and future business of your business and entrepreneurial gold is challenging your business to answer the very challenging external questions raised.   

 

Polly was key in supporting and advising me through this negotiation however her most valuable advice was not to focus on ‘the negotiation’ to the detriment of the day job of running Socialite London.   This advice was key – critical even as the business models and strategies for a future with the FPP was hugely time and focus consuming.  To this end I asked that negotiations with the FPP be expedited to avoid compromising the future of Socialite London with protracted negotiation.

In conclusion, at the 11^th hour it looked like an offer would be made and provisional takeover dates were agreed.  Final negotiations were initiated but ultimately it was not possible to get to an agreement - this time.  I still adore FPP and never say never but not now.  Further to the decision not to proceed I sent FPP a note to express my gratitude for the opportunity of the discussions and my utmost regard and respect for the head of the FPP and her business.

 

But get me!  So much older and wiser in the commercial sense. 

 

And as one door gently closes, another  very elegant door opens.  Socialite London is currently in negotiation with an extremely prestigious organisation with a view to providing member services to their soon to be launched exclusive members club.

 

Along the way:

 

I am thrilled to have been able to return a small gratitude to Fresh Ideas Event and the wonderful Polly Gowers for the recent Social Business Event held in March.  Socialite London was able to negotiate a Fifteen Restaurant Gift Voucher for all delegates and for the competition winner to have a business lunch with Polly Gowers as guests of the fantastic restaurant and social enterprise that is Fifteen.

 

I love MAD women:

What a privilege to be part of this network! 

 

I will be forever grateful for my mentorship with Polly who is a bloody impressive business woman by any measure of business and personal success.  I am totally humbled by her time, vision and support for my business.  I am acutely aware that Polly could charge businesses tens of thousands of pounds for the consultancy and support she has given to Socialite London and dumbfounded that in the name of mentorship she has given it all for free.  Such generosity of time and character is beyond measure.

 

At the halfway point we were asked what we would like to ask our mentors.  I asked Polly if we could keep our mentor relationship going and I am so moved that she agreed without hesitation.  My dream would be to keep a monthly call, lunch or cocktail hour with Ms Polly Fabulous Everyclick Gowers and to my delight she has agreed.

 

I am also privileged to have had opportunity to spend time with Karen Hanton of toptable and her business.  Both Karen and her business are inspirations to me.

 

Along the way I have arranged for the mentees to get together at the Refinery for a sharing of challenges and initiated a mentees working session which was generously hosted by our fellow mentee Gina of Divine who decided to exit the competition and I wish her all the happiness and success in the world.

 

And finally, this Monday 11^th May  is going to be quite a day!  It is my birthday, the judging day of this competition and I have an afternoon champagne date with gorgeous Jo Haigh for a catch up.

 

As it’s my birthday I hope I win.

 

But did I succeed?

I look back with pride at what Polly and I set out to crack at the beginning of this competition.

In short summary we have identified:

 

Route to members:

 

                Prestigious event led offers in leading review and dining newsletters including toptable,               Square Meal, View London and My Village.  Events have to have a WOW! factor to create   the member traffic so the Mid-Summer Ball [250 tickets] and Summer Boat Party [340      tickets] are key events.

 

                We are currently attracting 100 to 200 new members a month on this strategy which is both        cost effective and delivering quality members.

 

Route to Partners:

 

                We have just issued a series of press releases through Food 4 Media offering brands, PRs            and journalists:

 

-           Founder membership promotions

-          Event sponsorship and product experience opportunities

-          Member offer invitations

 

Who are we?:

 

The tough nut is cracked:

 

-          Socialite London is a members club bringing exclusive invitations to your desktop.

 

Time:

My baby now 18 months old and full of ambition is very happily in nursery 3 days a week which gives me time to run Socialite London effectively as well as non work time with my gorgeous, happy, amazing little boy.

The decision to increase his nursery time from 2 days a week to  3 days was a big one and another area where Polly was a huge support as both a business firecracker and a mummy. 

 

Money:

 

Here is a big change – Socialite London is making money!  Modest money but money none the less and I cannot tell you how proud I am!  The money is staying firmly in the business to fund future developments and the funding of route to member promotions but we are very much up off and away.

Thank you all xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Socialite is on fire!

No really!

In one of those twist of fate moments I was in the right place at the right time to be offered a truly unique opportunity ~ Socialite London has been invited to host a champagne party in the exclusive 360 degree glass domed 40l30 bar right at the pinnacle of the Gherkin. During the week the bar is the most exclusive and iconic of London's members clubs and at the weekend it is the most exclusive and iconic of London's wedding venues.

The bar is amazing ~ I have been to many of the world's best bars and this really does take the prize for total wow interior and then there are the views.

A rare unbooked Saturday was offered to me to host a party for 200 members ~ the catch? 10 short days to set and sell the event.... Knowing opportunities like this don't come often I said yes and am running the quietly confident gauntlet as we speak. If you are reading this before Saturday 21st March 2009 you are welcome to book your place Champagne Party at the Gherkin

The super gorgeous team toptable have kindly agreed to feature the event on their newsletter and not just any feature - editorial! The invitation will go out to 750,000 of toptables nearest and dearest subscribers tomorrow - I will be glued to my google analytics for my site!

Had a fabulous meeting with My Village last week. My Village is a leading Social Reveiw site with just under 1m unique users per month. Roifield Brown the very impressive, very fast thinking founder is an inspiration with a slick team. Very excited to report that we are looking at ways to work together. Roifield has also generously agreed to feature the Gherkin event which is currently on the homepage of every London guide and is coming along in person.

This Thursday I have the meeting of my life. I can't say too much right now except for if it goes to plan the future is superstar bright.

Polly and I have discussed the meeting strategy and objectives to absolute precision. I have spent time with my acting Non Exec director [a corporate genius who reads financial reports with the speed, animation and ease with which I read Heat magazine] to get the bottom line on what Socialite is worth. I feel very calm and very confident - 3 years hard work says I am fully prepped, polished and ready to do the deal.

If the meeting goes well Polly and I are meeting to dance in champagne. Otherwise we will be contingency planning with Gin.

Watch this space....

What a difference...

3 months makes.

At the beginning of this competion I set my key business challenge as identifying routes to members.


I have spent a lot of time with Polly working through the options mainly focused around various media advertising options and mostly identified the shortcomings - cost and the limited scope of the communciation with prospective members. But I think we have finally struck strategic gold ~ Partnerships.

Polly has been AMAZING in developing the partner proposition ensuring the communication focus is on what Socialite can deliver to the partner. The success of early conversations with my preferred strategic partner meant that I was very focused on this negotiation however Polly challenged me strongly on the exposure of a one horse race highlighting the obvious risk that if the negotation faltered for any of a million reasons there was no alternative or fall back. So in taking Polly's advice and opening conversations with a diverse selection of prospective partners not only I am in a much stronger strategic position but I am realising that it is very feasible to structure a deal around a number of partners with no conflict of interest and benefit to both the Socialite model and the partners primary businesses - and this really is WOW!

Proof that we are onto something big is the recipricol interest from prospective partners. Think of the most prestigious restaurant sites and lifestyle media sites and I have got top level meetings scheduled. In principle I am looking for one major strategic partner and then a series of associate partners to create a stategic network.


The risk of developing partnerships in the early days of a business is that the potential of the business is not proven making valuation a challenge with undervaluation being as much as a risk as overvaluation calling for some sophisticated business modeling. So I have spent the last few weeks developing the partner model and finacial proposition round the clock which was both mind blowing and rewarding. There were a lot of sleepless nights spent twiddling formulas in my head and jumping up at 4am to note important changes. If I say so myself I am very pleased with the results. This week I had a meeting with the FD of the front running strategic partner option and it couldn't have gone better! Feedback was that my financial model was realistic, comprehensive and that the fabulous bottom line figures are if anything a little conservative. I can't tell you how thrilled I am. However the next challenge is to get to the bottom line ~ what the business is worth. Polly and I have discussed valuation models however this is a specialist area for an FD. I have called on a good friend who buys businesses in his sleep to cast his eye over my financial plan and am also seeking the services of a pay as you go FD.

This week is a big week of meetings and opportunity - I have got everything crossed....

Since the start of the Socialite members have enjoyed free pre-launch memberships. With the completion of Socialite in November 2008, the pre-launch members, who registered between June 2006 and October 2008, were given notice that subscription membership would commence in February 2009. The billing cycle ran on the 2nd of Feb and it was nerve racking! Socialite uses Protx billing so any cards which have not been charged in over 13 months [to allow for annual subscriptions] will not run a charge for which we forecast a 50% subscription failure, for the remainder regisered within the last 13 months, if the registered card had since expired again the subscription would fail. Also with payment notification many members were prompted to write to say life had moved on and they now lived outside of London or had married and had babies - which was proof of one of the reasons for a subscription membership whereby when members are no longer using Socialite we want them to cancel their membership as inactive members clutter the site and are a nuisance to active members. At the end of the process we had a 20% retention which we were delighted with! The members whose subscriptions failed will go on hold until their details are updated. Prompts for updating details are to access member messaging and to book Socialite Events so we estimate 20% of on hold members will reactivate in the next 3 months.

As a result of the billing cycle and on hold accounts, numbers are currently below the 1,000 target for full site experience so we are going to run the Founder Member campaign which was so successful in recruiting pre-trial members so numbers will be up to target again in no time.


Not to take my eye off the business development I have some fabulous business development in progress. I have just signed off an adwords trial. Polly gave me the contact details for her Mr Fabulous Rob Budd of http://www.top-click.com/ and he has put together a test program from which the online strategy has been developed. Polly also strongly recommended trying Facebook Ads - how addictive!!! It takes seconds to create an ad and specify your target demographic. You set a bid price of what you are prepared to pay by click [for advertisers who want a response] or impression [for advertisers who just want to be seen] and a maximum daily budget for what you want to spend [all in $ which adds a little Transatlantic glamour] then you have a very addictive online ad manager with graphs and all sorts.

Other fab news is that I have agreed a CPA [cost per acquisition] arrangement to promote Socialite on toptable with two campaigns. One is a founder member offer and the other is an event lead offer. I am also commissioning some fab credit card style membership gift cards.

Value adding to the member offer is another key strategic aim. This really is coming together beautifully. Nothing like the current austere times to make brands and venues very keen to create a little sunshine. Fabulous venues and member offers are rolling in.

In the meantime Bugs are my new favourite pets. In a complex site build there will always be glitches. Polly has instructed no insisted that I make sure I have found every glitch and snag in the site function. I have always been proactive with trouble shooting but Polly has pointed out that I need to actively seek issues and fix them before they surface and to get some more eyes on it for extra vigour. So I have recruited a team of friendly members and for the last 2 Mondays I have provided fine food and wine in return for trouble shooting the site as fresh eyes can find issues that over familiar ones might miss. This has been so, so valuable. The main issues which have been flagged are around navigation and making the site more intuitive. As myself and the development team know the site inside out we cannot now appreciate it from the perspective of a new member. The sessions have produced some very effective but simple improvements which will be going up in the next few days.

An ongoing business challenge is 'Socialite is a...' which is looking at the messages of Socialite of who are we, why are we here and what do we deliver. To date the message has been 'Socialite is an exclusive members club for people who are passionate about socialising and dining out in London.' However the results of the 'Socialtie is a...' Excersise is that 'Socialite London; Exclusive invitations to your desktop.' and the expanded description is 'Socialite London is a members club bringing exclusive dining and event invitations to your desktop.'


Finally this weekend Gina of Divine hosted a mentees get together. [Gina's Wheat Free Cakes are AMAZING and are a business opportunity in themeselves!] It was great to share stories and we all shared a challenge that we wanted input in. Mine was the 'Socialite is a.....' challenge for what is Socialite at the water cooler. So if a member says I am going to a Socialite Event tonight and their friend says 'what's Socialite', what is the two word answer? Members club tested as the best of many options [network too contrived, dining club too 70s, supper club too restricted]. The other good input from the girls was that there should be a single payment membership option as well as monthly subscription as some people are not comfortable with subscriptions. The best thing about getting together was to catch up on my fellow mentees positions on the roller coaster of setting up your own business. Some of us were at the top of the roller coaster this week with real highs and some of us were having very tough low weeks. Not only did we share this weeks ups and downs but we reminded ourselves that this weeks highs can be next weeks lows but that if it was easy everyone would do it - no pain no gain hey girls?!? Anyway, have decided I am going to launch a Business Start Up mascara that can keep lashes confidently long and lucsious through the tears of pain and laughter that accompany starting your own business...

Think of me this month as one way or another I am going to need my Business Start Up mascara before March is out....

Michelle
http://www.socialite-london.com/

The Half Time Report

Half Time Report:

The 3 month challenge I have set myself in this competition is to identify key routes to market for recruiting new members:

Target demographic [25 to 45 year old ABC1 single professionals who live or work in London] is priority over numbers.

Successful routes will be developed into the 2009 marketing plan and budget with funding secured as necessary.

To achieve exponential growth in membership, key strategic objectives are:
- Conversion
- Retention
- Recommendation

By February 2009 the target is to have 500 new subscription members however once key routes are identified and activated the membership upside is substantial and unlimited.

Progress:

1. Polly and I have a very positive mentor/tee relationship conducted via a weekly out of hours phone call [Monday 7.30!] and a monthly face-to-face scheduled around Polly’s London meetings. Prior to calls / meeting I email an agenda list of updated and new items in a format not dissimilar to this!

2. The most positive things that the mentoring relationship have given me and my business are:

a) Precise focus on key issues.
b) Weekly review and discussion of key issues which allows for development of events and thinking.
c) Challenge.
d) Definition – the need to communicate ideas and thinking encourages clarity and definition.
e) Vision

3. Strategies:

a) Route to Members

Above the line:
- Negotiation with key online and London lifestyle media
- In achieving RTM’s and exposure there is a substantial financial investment / risk requirement. And negotiating favourable terms takes time!These are being mitigated by:

- Hard negotiation
- Rates
- Test campaigns
- Cost per acquisition negotiations

Below the line:

- PR4
- Ambient promotions CPA promotions [1st month paid membership to promoters business as introduction fee.
- Membership ‘Gift Cards’
- Hairdressers
- Lifestyle stores
- Dry cleaning tags


b) Value adding to membership to increase desirability of membership

- Negotiation of a site sponsor
- Final negotiation with a super premium Vodka
- Value added to events with complimentary cocktail hour
- Value added to membership with complimentary 20cl bottle as reward for membership

- Negotiation of member offers
- Naked wines secured

c) Who are we?

- Preparing for the big time by refining and polishing the story of who we are. Socialite is a.... is proving a tough nut to crack!

A members dining club
A little black book of people and places
An open invitation

d) Bug swotting.

- Any complex website will have bugs and we are working hard to find ours and swot them.

What a week!

Since 'the phone call' telling me that I was a winner in the mentor competition things have been busy and then some.On Friday evening we were generously treated to a fabulous night in the heights of the BT Tower. I actually found the mentor announcements surprisingly moving ~ a combination of admiration that the mentors are giving their time freely, a pride that my business has been successful and a sense that this was a real moment of opportunity. Once the mentor pairings had been announced we all took part in a facilitated introductory session which resulted in a a shared smile at the accuracy of the pairings ~ Jackie of Fresh Ideas Events quipped that she was going into matchmaking next [she's very good!]

Delighted with my mentor
I am delighted with my mentor. Polly Gowers is a woman of many ideas, vision and determination. The scope and scale of Polly’s thinking is inspirational in itself and I am totally excited at the prospect of her channeling her thinking onto my business. During the affectionately named 'MAD' [Make a Difference] evening at the BT Tower the conversations and networking were on fire. A special mention for the evening goes to Bob Bissell of BT who generously hosted the evening and was affectionately dubbed the 'Bravest man in London' for his charm and hospitality. So motivating was the whole event that I found myself awake at 4am with ideas racing round my head to the point where the notepad and pen had to come out!

At the MAD evening it was announced that the competition was now a competition between the mentor pairs. Now sat in our mentor pairs I said loudly and clearly 'We'll have that Polly'. Karen Darby heckled back triggering a volley of confident war cries from the mentor pairs. Ladies ~ if you are reading this keep your guard up we are set to excel.

As a result of the MAD evening I have a stack of business cards and am putting my new contacts to good use including a meeting with the very impressive competition PR company 4PR.

First mentor meeting
I have my first mentor meeting scheduled for Thursday so am in the process of buttoning down my goals for the mentor competition and route map for achieving it. Am reaching for the stars and the moon and confident we will get it.

Curious about Socialite London?
You are welcome to register for membership by 30th November 2008 at http://www.socialite-london.com/ using Freshideas as a promotional code when prompted during registration. This will reward you with a free one month membership. Your membership is without obligation and can be cancelled at any time.