October the 6th 2021. On a ‘Research trip’ to Ludlow Races for big Steve’s belated birthday bash. The email lands to say Speakeasy Club is finally a limited company. The future started there.
Fast forward 12 months and my word what a rollercoaster. Why doesn’t anyone tell you running your own business is both fantastic and really really hard at the same time!
So what have we learnt…
Where to even begin.
Well, as I write this I said to Mrs Speakeasy ” These blogs are becoming too long and too wordy” her response? ”A bit like me then!” . for anyone who doesn’t know my wife, she’s tall and talks alot.
We’ve learnt:
– Trust your gut.
– Set values, stuck to them and believe in them . This didn’t always happen!
– Don’t panic about not being able to succinctly describe what you do. Know your why and the what will follow.
– The Principality Stadium is really expensive
– The freedom of working on something your passionate about is one of life’s great gifts
– Budgeting properly is really helpful
– Shaun Edwards is actually a really good singer
– Perfection doesn’t exist
– 12 months is a long time, and then nothing at all.
What have we done…
We really hope we’ve been able to offer something a bit different, providing some fun, curiosity and comfort along the way.
– £4,500 + invested back into community sports facilities
– £5,000 + raised for charities
– 7 Speakeasy club events hosted
– 458 people engaged
– 6 people given a unique experience through our ‘Buy 1 Sponsor 1’ initiative
– 3 events hosted for other organisations
– 234 people engaged
– 1 Wellbeing in the workplace in sport workshop delivered
– 0 people officially signed up to speaking easy (Stay Tuned)
Social Media is and continues to be an important aspect of our storytelling, but we need help with it. Reg will still feature heavily, but we need to find a more coherent way of sharing what we do and how it can be helpful.
What do we want to do…
From an events & experiences perspective, we want to increase the diversity of the individuals and the groups we engage with. We’re so fortunate to live in a multicultural community and it’s important to us that Speakeasy Club reflects the community we are surrounded by and become truly inclusive.
The stats I’ve pulled out above have come out organically from this 1st years activities. To be honest, they feel right.
They feel like they’re focusing on areas that we’re passionate about. Supporting individuals and groups, investing in community sports & leisure facilities as well as creating environments for people to feel safe and included.
Yes, there’s plenty more work to be done and if you want to be a bit more corporate, we need to be a more specific on some of the measures to really understand the positive difference that we’re making. In time, that will come.
The real successes of year one though? People have been reaching out sharing what’s in their head. So many people, more than I ever thought are becoming curious.
Some really good friends have reached out and been in tough spots. They’re all great people. I have some much respect for that and feel so proud that because of something I’ve set up, they feel like society is getting a little bit safer for them to share the tough things.
That’s the real measure of success to me.
Thank you for all your support and look forward to making a bigger difference in 2023.
Simon & the team at Speakeasy Club
