More ups and downs

IT has been another week of mixed feelings about the idea of Peterborough Business.

This has been a very busy week. The new Fleet News website launched, we finished issue one of the brand new Fleet Business Europe and two days were spent judging the Fleet News awards.

I met a consultant from Deloitte who is based in Leeds and we chatted briefly about my idea. He seemed quite positive and told me about TheBusinessDesk.com, the new website an e-news service that was mentioned in the FT article that inspired me.

Looking at the TheBusinessDesk.com operation, it struck me how advanced it is and what high-calibre people are behind the initiative.

Later I chatted to a colleague about this and we both had a look at Crain's Manchester Business, the other publication featured in the FT article. We were struck by the apparent lack of advertising on this site. It is still quite new and maybe the website performs a different function. It seems to mainly promote the print product.

The other thing that stuck me is the scalability of these two ideas. TheBusinessDesk.com can expand from Yorkshire into Lancashire, Cheshire and across the UK, keeping its name and brand identity and growing regional communities under the umbrella brand. Crain's Manchester Business can be joined by Crain's Birmingham Business, Crain's Glasgow Business and so on. Peterborough Business won't be able to do that, so there's something else to think about.

I haven't heard back from the Peterborough Chamber of Commerce yet.

Then yesterday I went to the Peterborough United versus West Bromwich Albion FA Cup match at London Road. Sadly Peterborough lost, but the friend who invited me knows lots of Peterborough business people and as I looked around at the city's great and good gathered in the director's suite I again felt that there is a role in this city for a strong online business community.
I do need to get out and talk to people, to test the idea and then, maybe, spread the word.

But the next week is set to be busier than last week and I will struggle to find much time before April. It's still frustrating.