A selfless act worthy of our support

Kenneth Martin of Block Architects continues to amaze us with his selfless acts. Not only is he donating a kidney to his father to improve his quality of life, he is using the whole experience to help York Hill Hospital buy equipment that will help kids in a similar situation.

Kenneth is asking for people to donate to his kidney operation appeal, he is also organising other fundraising events such as the online art auction currently running on his blog. We are truly humbled by his efforts and wish him and his father a speedy recovery.

I know that Kenneth is particularly busy at the moment and, as a business operator, I can appreciate the disruption to his busy working life is considerable but he is not only doing this willingly but also with incredible enthusiasm. I would ask you all to take a look at Kenneth's blog and lend your support. Even if you can't manage any financial donation, I'm sure Kenneth will welcome comments and best wishes for him and his father.



The date for my kidney donation to my dad has arrived. We would love to raise some money pre and post operation for Yorkhill. Click here to read more. http://www.justgiving.com/Kenneth-Martin

Kenneth Martin is fundraising for Yorkhill Children's Foundation

The fatBuzz team will be supporting Kenneth Martin of Block Architects, as he under goes his kidney donation to his father.

On the 25th August 2010, Kenneth will donate a kidney to a man (his dad) which all going well will afford him the luxury of participating in the lives of his 3 young grand daughters. It will also afford my 2 daughters Olivia and Ava, and his young niece Elissa with the luxury of knowing that their grandfather can now do simple things with them like take them to the swimming baths.

In order to afford this luxury to others, his family have decided to raise funds both pre and post operation to assist Yorkhill Children's Charity. The proceeds will assist other families and children with renal difficulties and offer them some hope with their troubles.

Kenneth will be in hopsital for approximately 1 week and has been told to 'take it easy' for a few weeks afterwards. If anyone has any daring activities that they would like to see him participate in post operation then please contact Kenneth on his facebook page.

You can also contact Kenneth at his blog or his website


http://www.justgiving.com/Kenneth-Martin

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.