There’s more to being a Chamber Member than getting a new contract, though that is the Holy Grail that we all ultimately seek. It’s the hidden benefits that go unnoticed in between the Coffee Connections, webinars and in person breakfasts and lunches, that give added value to being in this small community of business folk.

Like many of you, I’ve had my share of out of Chamber times coffee and chats with fellow members, both with and without cake (though cake is my go-to if I’m being really honest). I’ve set up weekly check-ins whilst some of us work on our marketing plan, giving each other support and that sense of accountability as we check that we’ve done what we set out to achieve. I’ve even brought my kids along to possible employers of the future, showing them how their passion in photography, video and PCs could look like in the world of work. A big thank you to Bren and Amy Reilly at Dangerous Studios, and Phil Bowen at Pigeon Penguin/ Midlothian View for our private behind the scenes over the summer.

But for me as a parent of an S5 child, it’s the time of year where we are expected to encourage our young one out of the classroom into the world of work. It was during our summer visits that Phil kindly offered my son a school placement for November. A bigger bonus for my son was that he’d met Phil’s full team of young people, had been to their office, and already knew what type of web and app development work they did; making the prospect less daunting.

My son had an amazing experience last week, learning code that he’d heard of but never tried at school. Phil’s team were friendly, supportive, and very encouraging. If anyone has a teenager in the house, you’ll know that at 15 you get some good and bad days, and conversation can sometimes be scares. Isacc didn’t stop talking from the moment we got in the car, both there and back. That speaks volumes.

But not all the benefits were ours. Phil took a supportive leadership approach, having one of his apprentices to mentor my son over the week. They were only a few years older than him, so their connection was made even easier. Rebecca stepped up to the challenge of explaining and teaching him complex PHP code, word press plug-ins, and CSS for a live local project. She told me that it was fun having to figure out how to explain something that you’d normally do without thinking about. This mentoring opportunity was a great way for her to realise what she did know, and to share her enthusiasm around web and app development with someone new. I’d hazard a guess that she enjoyed it and got as much out of the experience as my son did.

A big thank you to Phil and his team: Rebecca, Callum and Liam, for taking good care of my boy.

It’s good to remember that being a member of the Chamber isn’t just about what we sign up for, it’s the hidden benefits of what can happen as a result of showing up.