Ten years ago today I started my company, public relations and marketing consultancy Chimera Communications. Ten years which have seen governments come and go, the colour of local politics change, the worst recession in living history, the birth of social media, Olympic frenzy, a different James Bond, several different faces of Dr Who, the strange popularity of reality shows (or should that be unreality shows?), freak weather, Jeremy Kyle, America's first black President and now the first papal resignation for nearly 600 years.

The price of petrol in 2003 was around 78p a litre, a onesie was what a baby wore, twitter was something the birds did first thing in the morning and we'd never heard of Justin Beiber. Happy days!

Well, petrol now costs around 139p a litre and despite clients' budget restraints, rapidly changing technology, ridiculous parking prices, the hell of automated phone systems, frustrating customer care via overseas call centres, with the grace of whichever god in which you believe and a prevailing wind, Chimera Communications has survived and flourished.

Key elements which contribute to that fact, I believe, are experience, planning, organisation, self-belief, dogged determination, value for money, flexibility and caring for my clients' businesses as if they were my own. The company is run on the basis of low costs and a friendly and approachable, effective service. There’s no fancy office, ‘Ab Fab’ style champagne lunches or glossy brochures. All my business over the years has come through word of mouth and the testimonials speak for themselves. We work with award-winning clients, businesses of all sizes as well as not-for-profits and charities, all of whom are treated exactly the same.

Of course there have been tough times, like any business. I've learned the hard way that there are occasions when I have to say 'no', that there are clients with whom it's best not to work, that there are never enough hours in the day, and that working all night is really not a good idea. I love working with such a wide variety of businesses and learning just enough about what they do to enable me to do my job. I was invited to become a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations more years ago than I care to remember, and that always stands me in good stead as we have to sign up to a code of conduct which ensures we act responsibly and ethically.

Looking back, as one is prone to do at times like this, my best decisions in recent years were to join Brighton & Hove Chamber of Commerce, BNI (Business Networking International) and a select range of other professional and networking groups. Networking is certainly the way to go these days for building great contacts and useful, trustworthy and lasting business relationships.

It can certainly be argued there are already more than enough networking groups in the area, and this is where targeting is crucial. You could spend all day, every day going to different events and every week, there are new groups jumping on the bandwagon. The really effective ones are those which monitor business passed, or are proactive in fostering links between relevant members. There is a place for those which meet on a more informal basis, but it’s important for me to be able to justify and quantify the results of precious time and money spent.

I’ve built up really good business relationships with people I can trust, knowing I’m going to be sitting across a table each week or each month when they’ll be accountable for every piece of work done, whether for me or for those to whom I refer them. These include not only professional suppliers like printers, designers, accountants, photographers and lawyers, but electricians, plumbers and lettings agents, even a chiropractor. Much work has come through networking, as well as some introductions to my own associate consultants.

So my advice, should you need it, is to think carefully about who it is you need to target and why. Whether it’s specific professions, ages, gender, business size or location, there are plenty from which to choose. It’s important to remember it’s not only about who is at the networking event, but who those people know and in turn, who their contacts know. And of course, it’s equally important you’re comfortable giving an ‘elevator pitch’ to promote your business or whether you prefer to eat, drink and mingle. Networking can help build confidence and presenting experience, but don’t forget to ask for specific business or contacts you’d like – you need to focus or networking can become a bit of a jolly and a waste of time.

On the whole, the last ten years have been a blast. Huge thanks to all my clients, media contacts, suppliers, networking colleagues, business partners and my merry band of Chimera associate consultants over the years. 

Here's to the next decade!