Matchsticks- Igniting Successful Futures

Our friends at ZOPA

Most of you who read my Blog have heard me talk about the company Zopa and what a great company they are. Last week I spoke to Tom Edmonds who is responsible for marketing at Zopa and asked if there was some way I could help spread the word about the great work they are doing. Tom knows my feelings on the high street banks and how they wouldn't extend any help to us when we wanted to set up The CV Clinic- www.thecvclinic.com

We wanted to do something about it, so Tom very kindly interviewed us for the monthly newsletter they send out and I have copied the article below for you all to read.

Thanks for the great marketing Zopa and let me know what else we can do to support your great work!!

   

 

		In October last year, Zopa broke the 100,000-member barrier and became officially Bigger Than Basildon (population: 99,876). Well, fans of milestones will be delighted by the news that the number of members has now rocketed to well over 150,000, promoting Zopa toMightier Than Macclesfield (pop: 150,500) status. But now’s not the time to get complacent. Keep spreading the word about Zopa through the Tell a Friend scheme, and let’s aim to make Zopa Larger Than Leicester (pop: 288,000) by the end of the year. ·                                 5,862 new members joined ·                                 The 0.5% lender bonus in the A*36 and A36 markets was expanded. You’ll now qualify if you offer at 6% (or less) in A*36 and 7% (or less) in the A36 – see here for full details. ·                                 You told us what you thought of the emails we send in our communications survey (and you can see the results below) ·                                 We reduced the time it takes for borrowers to get their money ·                                 Zopa won the internet equivalent of an Oscar, beating Bank of America, Chase Online, and others to the Webby for Banking/Bill-Paying ·                                 We got a lot of media coverage, with a feature on BBC Click (which you can see by clicking ‘Watch Now’ on this page), a mention on Radio 4’s Moneybox programme, and articles in The Banker, Money Week, The Sunday Post, The Belfast Telegraph, silicon.com and many more Next month will be a busy one at Zopa: ·                         Lenders’ tax statements will be posted out ·                         The loan calculator will be improved ·                         A Little Guide to Lending will make life easier for new members ·                         You’ll get greater control over the communications you receive from us ·                         And preparations for allowing tax-free lending as part of a SIPP will take place Zopa member Emma Hackforth (aka matchsticks) had a great idea about setting up a business that helped people with their CVs. But despite the fact she and her husband, Tom, had years of experience running a successful recruitment company, her bank wouldn’t lend her the money. So she turned to Zopa lenders instead – and several months later, business is booming. Hi Emma. How did the idea come about then? We had a passion for recruitment but something was missing in our pack of services: they seemed very client-focussed and we wanted to assist our candidates in the job market. We knew how important CVs were to the recruitment process asMatchsticks (our headhunting company) survived on good quality CVs. That’s how The CV Clinic was born. You spotted a gap and went for it – Alan Sugar would be proud. What did you use your loan for then? We used the money to develop the idea into a good website and launch the company. We also managed to get a good weekly advert in the Sunday Times appointment section. The money and support from Zopa lenders helped us do all that. And how’s business going? Fab. We are about to launch our first overseas office in Romania. We were on live TV in Romania a few weeks ago actually, talking about the differences in UK CVs compared to those in Romania. Some great publicity no doubt. So what should Zopa members avoid when it comes to writing their CVs? Photographs and salaries. And what’s the worst CV you’ve ever come across? We had one that was 14 pages and contained the person’s favourite poem and his family’s mission statement! Hmmmm... an interesting approach. Thanks for talking to us Emma. (Emma has very kindly offered that any Zopa members wanting help with their CV should ring Tom on 0845 226 0594 for a free 15 minute appraisal.) After a disappointing March, April turned out to be a good month for usernames, with a great deal of imagination and originality on show. It was a tough job picking out a winner and in any other monthBaldyBanker andlovetheidea would have been shoo-ins. But, in the end, the judging panel decided that matineeidol deserved the title of April’s Username of the Month. A truly splendid username, and an iPod shuffle is on its way to the Zopa member who came up with it. Everyone who took part in our recent communications survey got their name in the hat to win an iPod Shuffle – and the lucky winner was Zopa lender (and discussion board regular)cashsolution. We caught up with him to ask about his approach to lending. Hi cashsolution. How long have you been lending at Zopa? 12 months. And what returns are you currently getting? 7.48% before fees. How would you describe your lending strategy? I’m trying to aim for the higher returns in the hope that bad debt doesn’t materialise. Now that base rate has increased I’m aiming for a target rate of 8%. That’s a good rate to aim for. What advice would you give to new lenders? BE PATIENT. Don’t panic, don’t check your computer daily – it doesn’t work like that at the beginning. Interest etc will get added and if there are any hiccups someone will point them out on the discussion boards. Can you sum up your approach to lending at Zopa in 4 words? Maximum gain, minimum risk. A sound strategy. Enjoy the iPod Shuffle cashsolution. We don’t pretend to get things 100% right all of the time at Zopa, which is why we’re always keen to get your feedback. Over a thousand of you were kind enough to fill in our communications survey, and it turns out we’ve been getting some stuff right, some stuff nearly right, and some stuff plain wrong. We’re now working to improve everything you told us was below par, and you’ll be getting a lot more control over the emails you receive shortly. In the meantime, just to reassure those lenders out there, the ‘You’re running low’ alert will not be troubling you again. Ever. Promise. See Drew’s blog post for a full rundown of the survey results. Last month we previewed the exciting head-to-head between Zopa Team Member Adrian and Zopa lender Pete Cuff at this year’s London Marathon. Well, you’ll be pleased to know both competitors completed the course and raised a lot of money for charity in the process. Even more importantly, a certain TV chef featured in both their days... Many congratulations on finishing guys. What times did you get? Adrian: 4 hours 13 mins – not quite what I’d hoped for, but I finished and I wasn’t counting on the heat. Pete: I got 3 hours 45mins. The weather did make things very difficult: very hot and sunny, not the ideal conditions for running unfortunately. Sterling efforts nonetheless. Did you bump into each other on the way round? Adrian: I didn’t see Pete, although I did look out for him. There were soooo many people. I think I saw Gordon Ramsey at the finish area, but I was concentrating on trying to work out if I was still alive so it may have been a figment of my imagination. Pete: My supporters at 23 miles had a very sweaty Gordon Ramsey stop right in front of them with dire cramp. Perhaps he bit off more than he could chew... Nice. And what was the final blister count? Adrian: NONE!!! I couldn't believe it, but not a single one! Pete: Same here. Unbelievable. Congrats again guys – you did Zopa proud.
		That's it for this month. If you'd like to be interviewed for next month's edition, or if you have any good ideas for stories, please send an email to tom@zopa.com. If you prefer not to receive communication like this from Zopa, no hard feelings. Email contactus@zopa.com to let us know. Just so you know it's us, your username is bigflashyt. Zopa Limited. Registered office: 3rd floor, Radiant House, 36-38 Mortimer Street, London W1W 7RG Company Registration No.: 05197592

The Money Channel

About 3 weeks ago Tom was approached by a chap in Romania whom was very interested to see if we wanted to get involved in a careers fair he was organising in Bucharest. It became apparent after a few conversations that The CV Clinic could really do some great work with this young and very talented man. Bogdan Gavrila and his associates whom I might add are equally as talented organised for us to have a stand at TCB Bucharest in the career cafe where we would hold a CV Clinic and assist job seekers make better use of their CV's.

This careers fair was the first of its kind and I am sure will continue to go on from strength to strength over the coming years. It was superbly executed and attended by the likes of Microsoft, Oracle, Vodafone and Orange to name a few and of course The CV Clinic!!

I was personally amazed to see how many people genuinely wanted to progress their careers and came along on Saturday morning with little one's in tow to see if they could improve their career prospects. I don't think we would even see a glimpse of that here in Blighty and having just been at EREC 2007 I can stick firmly by that statement with a 50% decrease in attendee's this year over last year.

Bogdan did happen to mention in his conversation that a television appearance may come up and would we be interested in being interviewed. We said yes and didn't think anymore of it, well, OK, We thought a lot about it and did our research on the channel and then boom!! it hit us....Live Telly!!

What to wear, what to say, how many viewers etc etc....and the panic started to mount but with a little bit of excitement too I might add. Was this our Andy Warhol moment?? you know what I mean

Anyway we did it and within a few day we should be able to upload the interview for you all to see as it was quite an amazing experience especially as we didn't realise it was going to be in Romanian!!We are hoping to get a translated version as well as I am not sure how many of you speak Romanian.

The Money Channel programme called Market Briefing was hosted by a very professional couple called Dan Apostol and Andreea Iatagan and  goes out live to 2.5 Million viewers. They guided us through the questions as we listened through our earpieces to the translator whilst focusing on maintaining eye contact with the host's and not being too distracted by the large television in front of us showing us on the live programme!! quite a challenge I can tell you. It was brilliant and boy did we need a drink after that but thanks to Bogdan because without him none of it would have happened.

So to sum up " The CV Clinic" is very much looking forward to launching in Romania very soon and to find out more about both Bogdan and his team and also The Money Channel please click on the links below

Finally to say thanks to the wonderful people in Bucharest who made us feel so welcome and we look forward to seeing you all again very soon

http://www2.jumptv.com/seo/Market_Briefing/Market_Briefing.htm

http://www.core-target.ro/?page_id=2

Bye for now....Emma