I left Exeter on my own at 6:30 on a crisp September morning this week. Future Islands on the stereo, the Far Field album, which felt perfectly apt as I was heading to a retreat in a field next to the woods. Summer is closing fast now, and there’s a sense of change in the air.
At the garage, I went to fuel up. No gloves at the pump. I remembered something a guy in Okehampton had told me recently (he works for a local company selling niche plastic gloves): you can blow yourself up at a petrol station if you don’t wear the protective plastic gloves. Wow. I had always thought they were a vanity thing, just to stop your hands smelling of diesel. But no, they are there because the fumes are toxic and highly dangerous. It struck me that we take these experiences for granted and are rarely warned of the risks. Better to stay safe.
“Being in the room and making friends amongst peers is not just a nice-to-have. It is vital if you want to survive and thrive.”
That was the first sign of the day. And as I drove further, I noticed another: a lorry on the A30 with loose straps flapping in the wind. I couldn’t help but think about checks, protection, and prevention. These omens carried through the day. Later, listening to a talk from an accountancy owner about protecting finances, I realised the parallel. Protecting myself, protecting the collective, and protecting design pitch are not just technical tasks, they are survival.
Onward to Bodmin in Cornwall, and my second ever networking event as the founder of design pitch: Systemise for Success, Building Scalable Systems for Business Growth. I went as a guest of Tia Collard and I was genuinely curious. The setting, Tawnamoor Rural Retreat at Cardinham Woods, was inspiring in itself. A perfect backdrop for stepping out of the day-to-day and working on myself.
The Event
The line-up was strong, smart female business leaders speaking on marketing, leadership, accounting, and AI systems integration. I was particularly looking forward to the talk on how AI is reshaping business systems. Would I hear about business process mapping, maybe even frameworks like APQC and benchmarking? My notebook was ready.
As expected, there were not many solo micro self-employed business owners in the room. The majority were established leaders of growing companies. That confirmed something I had researched before founding design pitch: often, the smallest businesses do not see themselves reflected at these kinds of events. But that did not make the experience any less valuable. In fact, it made me even more determined to stay present.
Takeaways
→ It felt good to carve out time to work on myself, not just the business.
→ Networking becomes less intimidating when you treat it like making new friends.
→ The universe nudged me to be there. The big reminder? I need to systemise more operational processes, accounting, customer management, marketing, so design pitch can scale. That way I become less of a bottleneck and more of a mentor.
→ Use AI carefully. It should sharpen the quality of what we offer at design pitch, never reduce it. Bad communications are worse than none at all.
Final Thoughts
We ended with a group photo and some great sandwiches, surrounded by a friendly and fun bunch of people. The founding members of Success Sculptors deserve credit for the way they brought people together, created energy, and sparked genuine connections in the room.
Driving back, I realised something simple but powerful: being in the room and making friends amongst peers is not just a nice-to-have. It is vital if you want to survive and thrive as a business owner.
This was only my second networking event, but there is more to come, and each time I see how investing in myself is investing in design pitch.
