Mojo Consultancy > Blog > blog > A year gone by and a new one beginning

A year gone by and a new one beginning

Posted on January 12, 2017 by admin

Jan 2017

With the kids now back to school (finally!) after what seemed like an eternal break, you’ll be getting back into the swing of work. If you’re a vet practice, you won’t have stopped really, but I hope you did get to have some time off to be merry and spend time with loved ones.

No doubt, you’ll be reading everywhere right now about 2016 reflections and New Year resolutions. Reflection is what I found myself doing while on a train recently (love these journeys – they allow you to draw breath – you’re forced to sit and think for a few hours!). For mojo, 2016 was a full packed year which started with the launch of the Compassion Understood pet loss project. We’d been working on this for some time – pulling together training and a pet owner resource website www.compassionunderstood.com.

I’m pleased to say both have been well-received. It certainly was a great feeling seeing all the research we had undertaken during 2015 come together to provide this resource for owners and the training resource for the veterinary team. And it’s making a difference already, judging by the lovely feedback we’ve had.

It has been a year for public speaking for me too with presenting at three congresses. In April, I was delighted to be asked to present on PR & Marketing at BSAVA in Birmingham, then in May at the College of Animal Welfare’s Head Nurse Congress on ‘Taking back wellness’, and finally at BVNA in October on nursing clinics as a business. It is a nice feeling to stand up and see interested faces – well, at least I hope they were!

We continued our work with the associations, namely VPMA and BVNA, helping to launch the latter’s communication portal in September. This invites the membership to give their opinion on issues that are important to them, and helps the association to be truly representative. VPMA’s attendance at Head Nurse Congress helped to provide insights for new-to-management training and we’re pleased to be helping with a brand new series of webinars for those undertaking management responsibilities. This kicks off in Feb – see www.events-by-vpma.co.uk. It really is a great programme of talks from top people!

We added the Veterinary Marketing Association, www.vma.org.uk to our client list in 2016 and helped to pull together a vibrant new website and new branding. Check it out and have a look at the great marketing training events that the association offers.

And alongside the association work, we’ve continued our PR work with our vet practice businesses, gaining a coup with London Vet Specialists www.londonvetspecialists.vet appearing in The Times and on BBC Radio London. XLVets launched their wellbeing programme, Thriving in Practice, which I’ve had the pleasure to attend and look forward to helping to spread the work about this very special programme.

Due to the growth of the business, we moved into ‘proper’ offices in June, (which let me restore my spare room to functionality!), and took on two additional helpers to work with me to ensure all of our commitments are fulfilled to our clients’ satisfaction. The mojo team of associates has grown over the last few years, and I think they’re really special – people who share the same values as me, and want to do the very best in their work. They help me to serve our lovely clients – I am so grateful to have such nice people to help with their businesses. It really is a wonderful profession that we work in!

2016 came to a sad close with the death of a very dear friend. Her photo is smiling at me now from my desk. She’s reminding me about what really matters – more than work or achievements or material things. What matters most is love. Remembering to stop each day and be grateful for the special people you have in your life. Cherish them and make time for them.

Whatever your hopes and dreams, I wish you a fulfilled year ahead, with success in your business, but most importantly in your life outside work. May it be loving and filled with light.