Resilient Business Systems are proud to once again be sponsoring a duck in this year’s Star Radio Annual Duck Race where someone can win £10,000 should their chosen duck crosses the finish line first!

This year’s race is now going to be on Sunday 1 July at Darlington’s South Park – come along and watch these little guys go.

Of course we are hoping our duck “Queen” will win.  33 is the magic number – come on Queen – you can do it.

To find out more about Queen, and of course the Duck Race itself, simply click here.

Saturday night at Resilient HQ and Colin McLeod isn’t the only one performing magic tonight.  Colin’s big opportunity on Britain’s Got Talent is only hours away but it’s the debut of his brand new website that rests on the shoulders of Andrew and Michelle.  ”I can’t read the text!”  ”That colour’s not right!” If only the two had the Colin’s powers of mind reading!

The bare bones of Colin’s site have been transformed faster than you can say ‘Abracadabra’; velvet curtains have replaced a drab white background and the early concepts have come to fruition with the man himself in the centre of the page with the comment “He can read your mind…And you will like it”  If only he could read minds long-distance, then he’d be able to help Resilient finalise the website!

Meanwhile, the building of this website has turned into a game of Countdown with random consonants, vowels and even numbers being shouted backwards and forwards between Andrew and Michelle.  To anyone listening in, it’s nothing but gibberish, but they know these letters and numbers refer to the colours of text and images for the site.

It’s all coming together now.  The website has been pulled out of the hat in the closing seconds and there’s even a victory dance from Michelle!  The videos are up and running and the site is connected to the world of Social Networking.

It’s all very mystical, but if anything can be classed as strange and mysterious, its the acts on Britain’s Got Talent!  Edinburgh is being represented (with both good and bad) though for every cringe-worthy act, there are those who wow the audience, but it’s Colin’s mentalist powers (and his bare bottom!) that wins the hearts of Resilient Systems and, it would appear, the judges who gave him Four Yeses.

- James Bailey

“I have known Andrew from Resilient Business Systems for a number of years and knew they offered packages and support for new businesses.  What is more, they listened to me and all the help they gave was in easy to understand language – no jargon at all!  They managed to take the thoughts and ideas out of my head and get them down on paper.  From that they created my wonderful logo and website – thanks Resilient!!!”

So, it has been 3 months since your business was officially launched , has it been a rollercoaster ride, and what have been the highs and lows?

“Highlights, phew there have been lots!  I would have to say that the main one was when I saw my business live and my company name ”in lights” on the internet.  I had been deliberating for a long time about setting it up and just needed a final push, which came in the guise of Andy from Resilient who helped me to realise that with their help, creating my website and logo and using that to advertise my business, would not be as daunting as I thought.  As soon as I started the ball rolling, there was no turning back, but I was confident that I had the right ideas and I believed in, and had lots of passion for, what I was doing which helped me to overcome my remaining dread and fear that I would be a total flop.   

Another highlight – getting my first phone call and my first email enquiry through my website… wow what a fabulous feeling, I went from an elated high to ‘Oh my goodness what have I done!’  

Finally a very big high for me was getting on board with Active Schools. This has been a massive success for me as it will allow me to show the public/parents that I am passionate and sincere about what I do and have belief in the work I am doing with the children to help them be healthier and fitter.  

Luckily, there have not been many lows, and most of these were my anxieties about whether the whole idea was going to work or not. I still feel that way and I suppose I will until I am more established, however I must admit that the support and confidence given to me by my family, friends and Resilient Business Systems,  has been priceless.”

Since setting up what has been the reaction from your friends & family?

“Every single friend and family member has been so supportive. I have not had a negative reaction yet and that has been fantastic.  From people just wishing me good luck, people helping out by, for example, getting reduced rates on hall hire as a new start-up company, to friends helping me spread the word.  I even had some friends bring their children along to the first few sessions to help fill the class, most of which stayed on and are now regulars.”

Running your own business is hard enough, how are you managing fitting in all your normal daily routines and social activities?

“It is extremely difficult!  It is hard sometimes to make time for yourself, but thankfully I am an organised person who likes to make lists, etc so I just have to prioritise. It all comes down to time management.  Now that this is my full-time job, I am able to arrange my classes around my family commitments, like school runs, though unfortunately some social activities have had to fall by the wayside currently while I’m still getting my business up and running, but that’s a small price to pay to make my business successful.  All that said I do still have days when I am chasing my tail!”

Talking about social activities, how important has social media been for you? You were an avid Facebook fan before launching your business, but you had never tweeted?

“Always been a Facebook fan so to set up a Juniorcise page was an easy thing to do – getting friends to like it and kick start the interest was also easy. Every time I make a friend now I paste a link to my page AND my website on their page just in case they don’t know about Juniorcise… but of course they do if they know me at all!  Tweeting is a whole different ball game but once Resilient Business Systems linked my Facebook page to my Twitter page and website it really helped – now I just update once and my Facebook, Twitter and website all get updated at the same time.  What’s more I can do this from my mobile! This is a godsend as I still don’t go into Twitter as much as I could and should. I am still not sure I fully understand the concept of it all but my customers and the public have been genuinely interested in what I am doing, and I have found that a lot of my new customers have come from my social media pages.  This has made me realise it is so important to update them.”

How important has the website been for you?

“Extremely important!!  It’s my window to the public and a valuable tool to have as you can give out so much more information than on Facebook/Twitter.  The social media sites are great for giving a quick snippet of information or insight into what you are doing, but having your website there where you can put lots of details of who you are and information about your business is vital. I also think it’s more professional. Everyone that has seen my website believes it is brilliant and Active Schools love it. It does take a bit of time to get used to learning how to keep it updated, etc but this time has been factored into the running of the business and it ultimately benefits Juniorcise.”

How has having a company such as Resilient Business Systems behind you that has helped in all technical aspects of your business from designing the logo for your company, building and creating your website, to setting up your emails; helped you concentrate on your own side of things?

“I can honestly say that if Resilient were not behind me to help with all these things I dont think I would have such a great website and  would still be struggling to set everything else up.  I know I could have gone elsewhere but do not think I would have received such friendly, helpful support to set up my business in such a short space of time.  There is still so much to learn, and work I want to do on the website, so I continue to learn as I go, and their support has been paramount . They also have a lot of professional and personal knowledge in setting up their own business, and that came across when talking to them.  They didn’t baffle me or bamboozle me and most importantly listened to me with my ideas and visions for the website. In fairness I have had more advice and help from them than I have from Business Gateway! They were even there to settle my nerves before launch week and listen to my nervous ramblings!!”

Finally, any hints and tips for other people that are looking to setup their own business?

“Don’t underestimate the public – people are fickle and always will be.  You have to introduce them to your business and then, more importantly, keep them interested and ensure they want to tell everyone else about you.  I have had 99.9% positive feedback on my site but I am aware you cannot please everyone and I learnt the hard way that if I go out of my way to try and please the 1% you end up upsetting the majority!  You can only do your best and remember to keep smiling and carry on!  

Always get as many people as you can to help.  Don’t be afraid to ask, family, friends, or even friends of friends.The more contacts in your book the better… Remember the 6 degrees of separation?

Shamelessly Advertise, Advertise, Advertise.  Statistically speaking there is a 1-2% return on issue of flyers…  so make sure your website is eye catching and as up-to-date as possible and keep reminding people of its existence. Try to think of every avenue possible – Facebook, Twitter, flyers, schools, local community noticeboards, supermarkets.  

Check around your area for other similar clubs/businesses, etc, to see what they do; times, prices, etc – not to compete but to learn a little from them, maybe even work alongside them. Your competition can very quickly become an ally.  

Finally, don’t give up at the first hurdle.  Learn by your mistakes, pick yourself up, dust yourself off and move on.”

If you want to learn more about Juniorcise, click here to visit their website.

Earlier this week, Andrew Read, Managing Director at Resilient Business Systems, met Colin Fox from Edinburgh Peoples Festival to officially hand over  and launch the website to the public.  Resilient met Colin through a mutual friend, Andrew Loy from BT, who mentioned there were looking to revamp their website and could Resilient help.  After the initial discussions, Resilient  offered to completely redesign the website, and host it for free.

Edinburgh Peoples Festival is a charitable organisation looking to bring  the world’s greatest arts festival to all citizens of the city. Their promise is that they are committed to keep festivals within the financial reach of everyone, and to host  shows in as many areas and regions as possible. They aim  to present the widest possible variety of high quality artistic productions  to stimulate, and challenge, as well as entertain

Andrew Read, Managing Director of Resilient Business Systems – “We were more than happy to be able to offer our services to such a great cause, it is vital for any business to offer as much help as we can to charities and after meeting Colin and seeing his  drive  for promoting Edinburgh Peoples Festival, I really couldn’t see how we could refuse and my whole team was behind me in my decision”

Colin Fox, Director of Edinburgh Peoples Festival

Edinburgh Peoples Festival new website is located at http://www.edinburghpeoplesfestival.org

Edinburgh People's Festival Logo

Resilient Systems are happy to have been chosen to redesign the Edinburgh People’s Festival website.  Edinburgh People’s Festival is a  unique annual event, presenting many imaginative and acclaimed performances and showcasing local talent throughout the year.

Edinburgh People’s Festival promises their arts program will remain within the financial reach of everyone, with shows at various venues throughout the City of Edinburgh.

For further information, check out their new website  here.

MMMM for Macmillan

Resilient Systems have been invited to be VIPs (Very Important Partners) by The Alibis and The Colour Ham at their MMMM for Macmillan – a night of Music, Magic, Mentalism and Mahem at:

Studio 24, Calton Road, Edinburgh
on
Saturday 3 March, 2012 at 7pm

All proceeds will go to Macmillan Cancer Support – check out this link for further information on this event, including where you can buy tickets from.

Avast Authorized Reseller

Resilient Business Systems are proud to announce that they have now become an authorised re-seller for Avast Anti-Virus software. Avast currently provide protection to over 165million users throughout the world with their range of network solutions that combine simplicity, control, and the best security for your business.  Avast protects your client PC’s, your email exchange server, file server or your SharePoint server and can all be controlled from a web-based management console.

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avast! Email Server Security scans your company’s email traffic, providing vital protection for your mailbox servers and ensuring your data remains shielded from detrimental loss. Licensed according to total number of mailboxes, it also integrates perfectly with Microsoft Exchange Server, via Microsoft’s Virus Scan APIs.

avast! File Server Security offers the most powerful protection for keeping your servers infection-free. As a first line of defense it scans all the traffic your servers can handle and is easily customized for even the most unique deployments.