Thriving in Covid Thanks to Free Business Mentoring

Meet Robyn, co-founder of Salters Events! She’s making waves in the catering industry and has seen enormous growth in the last few years. She credits this growth with the support of the free business mentoring she received through Digital Boost. With their help, she was able to pivot when the Pandemic hit, dig deep into her new offering, and go on to not only survive but thrive! 

Taking the leap into entrepreneurship

Having gathered many years of experience in the industry as chefs, Robyn and her husband Ian had the idea to start a family-run catering business. With a wealth of experience under their belts, they knew they could bring something new to the market. In 2017, they started catering private events alongside their full-time roles and running gorgeous supper clubs 🍝 In 2019, the family decided they were ready for Ian to leave his job to focus on Salters Events full-time and have a go at making the dream a reality!

The very real impact of the Pandemic

In March 2020, the COVID-19 Pandemic changed many industries, including the hospitality industry. Overnight, Robyn and her family went down to one salary and a business that couldn’t safely open to customers, an experience that Robyn describes as ‘terrifying’. 

Pivoting and finding a new niche

At that moment, Robyn knew it was ‘do or die’, so she set about pivoting the business. Throughout the lockdowns, it wasn’t possible to open the business or offer any in-person catering. But when a regular customer wanted to cater for a 40th birthday party, Robyn realised there was a way they could help and keep their customers safe! They created an at-home dining kit for their customer and began offering them to their audience as a way to experience chef-level food in the safety of their homes. 

📸 image taken from https://www.saltersevents.co.uk/

Looking for support to pivot

With this new pivot, Robyn knew that they needed to continue to adapt and change with the market and that they needed support to get their new messaging out there. At the time, Robyn was in several small business communities on Facebook, and a contact there kindly recommended Digital Boost as a free resource for small businesses to access! 

At first, Robyn was a little sceptical about the free support, wondering who was profiting from the service. But she soon realised that the volunteer mentors truly support small businesses for the love of it! 

She threw herself head first into learning as much as she could about marketing and the ins and outs of running a small business.  

Developing her personal toolkit

Although a hugely accomplished chef, Robyn herself acknowledges that you don’t learn the skills you necessarily need to be an entrepreneur when you’re in such a different industry. She was fantastic at creating and making the dining kits, picnic baskets, and menus for bespoke events. But when it came to skills like marketing, finance and strategy, Robyn knew she needed to get support to develop her skills and learn as much as she could to help her family business succeed.

Robyn credits Digital Boost with giving her her own ‘personal toolkit’ of everything she needed to build and grow her business! From marketing, to HR, to website design, Robyn’s mentors have supported her to learn new skills and apply them to her business.

For Robyn, having access to thousands of mentors who had the skills she needed to harness was invaluable for the business. All of the mentors she’s met with have offered new and different perspectives, and each has been able to help her a little further along her journey. 

Accessing the Jumpstart Programme

Through Digital Boost’s services, Robyn had the chance to take part in the Jumpstart Programme.  A 6-week programme run in collaboration with the BT team that “jumpstarts” small businesses needing a little push and helping them to grow!  As part of the programme, Robyn had access to exclusive live sessions where she could learn about a topic, and then apply what she’d learnt in the session to her business with the support of her peers in breakout sessions. Robyn particularly enjoyed the support and collaboration that she experienced in these breakout sessions!

The impact of mentoring on small businesses

As a result of the free business mentoring and support she received from Digital Boost, Robyn’s business has not only survived but thrived. Despite the chaos the pandemic had on the hospitality industry and the tough economic climate that has followed it, Salters Events has consistently remained profitable and is set to grow even more as the financial year approaches in 2024. 

Want to work on your own personal toolkit? Whatever support you need to grow your organisation, we can help! 

We have mentors in 70+ business topics, ranging from social media marketing, to hiring your team, to working in international trade! All our mentoring sessions are 100% free and totally unlimited thanks to the kindness of our volunteer mentors 😊