Burnley UCLan student going global to help people in business

Having networked since 2003, Tracy Heatley was the first licensee of Business over Breakfast (BoB) in 2007 and currently has 10 BoB Clubs in her area across Lancashire and Greater Manchester and Cheshire, including Burnley

Her second business, Better Networking, evolved to provide interactive networking and communication training for teams or one-to-ones and both companies are based in Haslingden.

The pandemic affected her personally, as Tracy contracted COVID-19 in March, while the lockdowns have drastically changed the way she could run her businesses.

She said: “BoB Clubs switched to online Zoom meetings, that meant even when there was so much doom and gloom around members could support each other and they were still able to get referrals.

“It also gave me the chance to get my website updated and to develop the idea of online training through videos.”

As Tracy’s resume documents, she never stops learning and is currently completing an MBA in Business at UCLan in Burnley.

Lockdown saw her investing the government assistance grants to undertake podcast training with Lynsay Gould and learn about digital marketing from Rachel Weinhold of GrowTraffic.

She rewrote her workshops and scripted them into a series of videos and has now launched them worldwide on her website www.better-networking.co.uk

Tracy (48) said: “In September, I hired a room at The Landmark in Burnley and Aiden Oldroyd from Proper Video, a member of my Burnley BoB Club, filmed the videos.

“Their online accessibility opens up my business to a global marketplace and I think America and India will be big target markets.”

The videos can be bought as a series to work through independently, or as a package including one-to-one training sessions over Zoom with Tracy to help put the theory into practice.

She said: “I want to help as many business owners as I can to win business through referrals and I can give them the tools to do it.

“Great networking involves effective communication and it is a skill that I believe everyone can develop with a little bit of coaching.

“It is about building relationships, getting a rapport with people, and from that comes business. That is why Better Networking was set up.

“In five years’ time, I hope to have BoB Clubs in every town across my area, and who knows where Better Networking might be because the video and podcasts I have produced are timeless.

“I am also looking to write a book, so maybe I will be a best-selling author too.”

For more information email Tracy on [email protected] or call 07812 076 946.