Contenders flood in for business awards
NOMINATIONS have come flooding in to Rossendale Business Awards and already more than 65 have been received for 43 businesses and 15 individuals.
With the country facing prolonged COVID restrictions, organisers have decided to switch the December award ceremony online. More details will follow nearer the time.
One of last year’s success stories Michelle Procter Financial Services won the Rossendale Business
Awards MicroBusiness title.
Having a Bacup base for eight years, she gained an additional 40 new clients in the first year of relocating to her two-storey office building on Newchurch Road, Stacksteads at the junction of Toll Bar.
Many more have become clients of the business’s mortgage advisor as many seek to move house.
She was 21 when she started work for a bank and was interested in the work of the financial advisor and so, in her own time, studied at night school. Her first advisor role was with an insurance company, but that restricted the advice she was able to offer clients.
Michelle said: “I knew the importance of being independent because everyone’s circumstances are different.”
She set up on her own at King George Chambers in Bacup, but without a shop front, many people were not aware of her business.
It had previously been a horse tackle business, a supermarket and a joiner’s workshop. When she attended the property auction, she found TV company Homes Under the Hammer was filming.
Michelle’s purchase, and eight-month refurbishment, made national TV and local press and, because of the building’s prominent location, local clients became aware of her business. It was a great opportunity and a great free advertisement.
She said: “I had invested in technology to make my business more efficient which was a huge advantage with lockdown. It allowed us to continue working from home and gave me the opportunity to refocus the business.
“Going forward, I will be allowing staff, and myself, the option to work from home. I have learnt that it can work.
“In the next year, I hope we all manage to stay safe. As long as the schools are open, then our practice will be too.”
To nominate a business, charity or enterprise visit r-awards.co.uk/; nominations close on October 21.