Grab-a-Grand for the Prince's Trust.

The Prince's Trust 'Million Makers' is a national competition, challenging teams of employees and university students to come together and raise £1 million for the Prince's Trust and make a real difference to the lives of disadvantaged young people across the UK.

Million Makers teams pitch their business plans to a Dragons' Den style panel, in order to secure an initial investment from the Prince's Trust.

Teams from companies and organisations across the UK then implement and promote their own mini enterprise. Aspiring Million Makers entrepreneurs must work together to turn seed funding into profit for the Prince's Trust over the course of six months, competing against each other to run the most profitable mini enterprise.

My involvement with the Prince's Trust as a Young Ambassador and success story of the Business Enterprise programme, means that I get to meet a lot of people that support the charity through their fundraising ideas.

In the past year I have been to many Prince's Trust events organised by Million Makers teams. One company I have presented to are Ernst & Young, who have raised huge sums for the charity.

This week Ernst & Young have been in touch with me again, quite randomly, as they have been on the lookout for Prince's Trust funded businesses who have Christmas products to sell. Their plan is to sell these products in their next fundraising event, they've called 'Grab-a-Grand'.

'Grab-a-Grand' is going to take place in several busy locations across London on Friday 25th November, where the Ernst & Young staff will be setting up Apprentice-style stalls selling a selection of my Christmas cards and some delicious Christmas cake, all in an effort to raise £1000 in a day for the Prince's Trust.

One of my Christmas cards just right for the occasion.

From what I have heard so far it is going to be a really buzzing event which I am thrilled to be a part of. It is a privilege to have been selected due to my connection with the Prince's Trust and also for the quality of my products! For such a large company to be invested and excited about what I design and create, and for them to be so enthusiastic about selling my cards, it's a wonderful endorsement for what I do.

I am hoping to visit all of the locations on the day (yet to be confirmed) and take lots of photographs documenting the event. This is such an exciting opportunity because it means that my products will be on sale at some great locations. At present, the locations in the plan are Charing Cross, Kings Cross, Waterloo and London Bridge stations, near to Canary Wharf tube station, Leadenhall Market, Covent Garden, Westfield-Stratford, and even possibly Selfridges/Harrods.

Leadenhall Market - Often used by Lord Sugar's Apprentices.

I'm not very good at travelling around in London, so I am hoping perhaps to have a close friend/relative to keep me company throughout the day, and it will be someone to also enjoy sharing the buzz with.

We are hoping for some great PR for the event. We want to generate more awareness of the young people and entrepreneurs that the Prince's Trust can only support with help from people like the Million Makers.

So, I will keep you updated on the final date and locations, and you may even spot me serving out the pudding!

The Palace of Westminster.

On Halloween, the day of my speech at the House of Lords, was perhaps not the day to be ill with a throat infection. But, with some strong painkillers I made my way to Paddington station where I met two lovely members of staff from the Prince's Trust. Together we made our way to the House of Parliament discussing the agenda for the day.

We found our way to the entrance as instructed by the guards where we were given access to enter the grounds of the Palace of Westminster. After our photos were taken by the guards, and access badges printed, our bags were scanned and we got through the metal detectors to then be escorted to our venue for the day.

It was a really strange experience to be entering through the side of the building and to be watched carefully by the armed guards. Although we didn't get to look into the main house, as discussions were already in progress, we were shown to a very grand dining hall that looked out over the Thames. I imagined seeing myself in one of the tiny windows at Parliament from the other side of the river. It felt very peculiar to be there in such a grand venue.

At 12 o'clock all 40 of the guests arrived, including Lord Young and the director of the Prince's Trust, who were there to start proceedings with their stories about the Prince's Trust. Lord Young has been involved with the charity from the very beginning. It was interesting to hear the history behind the Trust, but needless to say all the while I was beginning to feel very nervous about addressing the audience in the shadow of a Lord just two seats away.

After a lovely lunch and lots of chatting with some very interesting people it was my time to speak. I had enjoyed speaking to one of the people from the production company that made Channel 4's 'Educating Essex' and BBC 1's 'Highstreet Dreams' and joked about making about a programme about my business start-up. Well, I passed on my business card, so they have my number!

Surprisingly, my speech went well. I covered all aspects of what I was doing before I contacted the Prince's Trust, how they have helped and supported me over the past two and a half years and how business is doing now. The audience was really inspired, and extremely thankful afterwards that I had shared my story with them. I just hope that having inspired them, they will go on to support the Trust, which will help lots of other entrepreneurs get their businesses up and running. With just £1000 from the Prince's Trust I was able to make my business what it is today and I hope I get invited back to keep on telling my success story for many years to come.

A box of chocolates given to me as a souvenir of the day.

The House of Lords.

The Prince's Trust have invited me to speak about my business at a very prestigious venue on Monday. Like many of the other events I have attended as a Prince's Trust Young Ambassador, I will be speaking to a group of 40 very important people about how I started out in business, what I was doing before, and how my business is now.

With recent news back from my distributors in New Zealand that my cards are selling steadily, and as they have put in a new order this morning, it will all add to the story I have about my business, and the experiences I have had along the way. It is only a couple of months now before my designs are made into greetings cards for sale in Next across the country, so there will be a lot to tell the audience.

The purpose of Monday's event is to encourage new trustees to support the Prince's Trust, and I hope the story about my business will encourage them to help more young people start their own businesses. The truth is that you can really start up with very little, and the support from the charity makes it all happen. I have not found any other form of support out there for young people wanting to begin a business, especially if they have been out of work for more than six months.

I will have ten minutes to speak to the audience of 40. I am quite pleased that the house won't be as full as the picture above, but having said that, I get nervous talking to any audience.

It will be such a great day, a one-off experience I could not turn down. I will try to take lots of photographs and tweet throughout the day, so please keep your fingers crossed for me.

The Drawing Board.

If you follow my tweets you will know that lately I have been spending lots of time designing new cards. I have made a start to 24 new designs, these include a really fresh summery range which is going to feature lots of tasty summertime treats and a special age range for 16th, 18th, 21st, 30th, 40th Birthday etc. Taking a break from my usual sized cards (10.5 x 14.8cm) these will be square 14.5 x 14.5cm, but still made from luxurious eco-friendly card and envelopes and wrapped in biodegradable packaging.

I thought I would treat you all to a sneak peek of some of these new designs. The photos are taken at odd angles so you can't quite make them out. I am still adding colour to these, but here are some close-ups of my black ink drawings.

SWEET 16TH BIRTHDAY CARDS.

KEY TO THE DOOR - 18TH BIRTHDAY CARDS.

21ST BIRTHDAY CARDS.

 

30TH BIRTHDAY CARDS. 

 

FABULOUS AT 40, BIRTHDAY CARDS.

I would love to hear your thoughts on these, so please do leave your comments below.

Nelson Street Graffiti

The other week, I wandered into Bristol to see Europe's largest street art display, the brain child of Banksy collaborator Tom 'Inkie' Watson.

The project 'See No Evil' is a permanent fixture in order to brighten up what is a very down in the dumps area of Bristol, just a stones throw from Broadmead and Cabot Circus.

There was so much to see, lots of hidden gems, so I will give you a link the full press article, and just show you the photos from the day.