fatBuzz off to a more than decent start...

I remember the first time I heard my friend Gio Benedetti talking about his early days in business when he recounted the story about his first big break which came from helping a company with a problem and, in doing so, reducing their costs considerably. I also remember Willie Haughey, one of the guest speakers at the fatBuzz launch, telling how his first break came, as a one man business in Rutherglen, after helping someone who was in a difficult situation. My thoughts also bring Kenneth Martin of Block Architects to mind; he is about to donate a kidney to his dad and, in doing so, raise as much money as he can for sick kids.

Gio and Willie have been hugely successful, Willie Haughey's business empire now spans the UK and Australia with over 10,000 employees in the UK alone.  Kenneth Martin's business, whilst much smaller at the moment, is thriving and he continues to get lots of leads and new contracts.  These three people have something in common; they help other people when they have a problem. Rather than exploit a situation, they offer support  and I'm sure that has a part to play in their success; they are decent people.

This week we successfully launched fatBuzz Ltd and it wasn't without its challenges.  The most difficult of these being the loss of our internet connection five days before the launch (a situation that is not yet fully resolved).  This happened while we were creating the new web site, network site and the Blog, none of which we were able to complete.  The internet problem really couldn't have happened at a worse time and whatever internet access we could borrow was pretty much used to keep up to date with client work.  However, this is when you discover people with genuine integrity and professionalism and for that I am very grateful.

Tim Barlow and his team at Attacat willingly offered to step in to help us get some messages out and, their whole team swung into action the second the name was announced to get a Google Adwords and search optimisation campaign underway.  Likewise, Belinda Roberts of Winning Entrepreneurs helped to get the word out and arranged the transfer of the Edinburgh contingent through to Glasgow for the launch event, again willingly and without being asked.

Michael O'Hare (The Booking Room), John McGuire (Phoenix Motor Company), Gaynor Turner (McIntyre's Edinburgh) and many others offered their support without any thought of exploiting my technical difficulties and for that reason I dedicate the first fatBuzz Blog post to all of them.  I hope, and believe, success will follow these people around because they have integrity, professionalism and, above all, common decency — thank you one and all.

On the subject of integrity, I must mention NKD Clothing, their team were among the very few that knew the name in advance and, true to their word, they kept it secret.  More to follow about the clothing but for now, thanks to Gill and Steph and the team for their help.