Regional Director for Essex & Suffolk
Who I help
I work with ambitious business owners across Essex and Suffolk who know they need extra capability but don’t want the cost or commitment of employing full-time staff. My role is to understand what support will genuinely make a difference, then connect them with the right Virtual Expert from our wider team. Alongside this, I work with founders through business and leadership coaching, helping them step back from the operational pressures of the day-to-day and build something that’s successful and sustainable rather than entirely dependent on them.
My background
Having built and grown several businesses myself, I understand just how demanding running one can be. There’s always more to do than time allows, and it’s easy for founders to find themselves caught up in the day-to-day when what they really need is space to focus on the bigger picture.
Before joining Get Ahead, I set up a business unit for an international company and built it to $10m, then went on to co-found my own specialist travel business, which grew to £8m before I successfully sold it. Working in travel gave me a genuine front row seat to human behaviour: different cultures, expectations and ways of communicating, and it taught me early on that real connection comes from listening, adapting, and meeting people where they are. That’s stayed with me ever since, whether I’m leading a team or working with a client.
I joined Get Ahead in 2020, just as the country was emerging from the pandemic, drawn by the chance to run a business locally without a daily commute into London.
I grew up in a family of educators and was educated at a Montessori school, which gave me a lifelong love of learning, curiosity and independent thinking from an early age.
How I work with clients
Most of the people I talk to have been burned before by rigid contracts that don’t flex with what they actually need. A recent client had already been quoted by several large marketing companies, but once we talked it through, it turned out she didn’t need to spend anywhere near that much. She’d been trading for years, had strong reviews and testimonials, and already had a capable team, what she actually needed was help keeping content going out regularly, not a full agency relationship.
Another client came to me not really needing help with her business at all, it was the life admin that was making everything difficult while she ran the business and raised a young family. We supported her with that so she could concentrate on what mattered. She stepped away for a while last year when budget was tight, and when she came back recently, because the model is genuinely flexible, the same person who’d supported her before could pick straight back up, exactly what she needed.
That flexibility matters just as much to agencies themselves, one client runs her own marketing agency and calls on us on an ad hoc basis whenever her own clients need extra support.
What to expect
1
Get in touch
Tell me what’s on your plate. Drop me a message or book a short call, whichever suits you better.
2
Let’s talk
I’ll ask about your business, what’s taking up your time, and where you need support. This is about understanding you and your business properly, not ticking boxes.
3
Get matched
I’ll put together the right mix for you, sometimes one expert, sometimes a small team covering a few hours each, whatever fits what you actually need.
My Region
Colchester is my hub, and where most of my work happens day to day. The Digital Forum has recently opened here and is keen to promote itself, which has meant a lot of free networking on offer.
I work closely with the Colchester Business Improvement District and host Get Connected at Metro Bank Colchester, and between us we cover a lot of ground across the town’s venues.
I’m also one of Colchester’s Council Ambassadors, which keeps me genuinely up to date with what’s developing locally, new venues, new openings, what’s happening in the city centre.
I travel well beyond Colchester too. In Suffolk I’m regularly at events around the University of Ipswich, as well as more rural venues, and out towards the coast at places like Lifehouse Spa. I attend networking in Sudbury, a small market town, where I’m booked in as a guest speaker. I’ve recently joined EBN (Effective Business Networking), a growing network with a home group in Colchester and other groups across Essex and Suffolk I can visit too, plus a monthly co-working session included as part of membership.
Essex and Suffolk are genuinely different patches to work across. Essex feels very much like a London home county, while Suffolk is a lot more rural, with its own distinct business mix shaped by the Port of Felixstowe, Sizewell C, and the North Sea offshore wind operations, all of which bring their own steady flow of events and activity.
I host Get Connected at Metro Bank Colchester every month, including evening events. Our International Women’s Day event was popular enough that we’ve now made it quarterly, each one with a different theme and guest speaker.
Outside of work
Outside work, I love to swim, ideally open water, though a regular lane swim in an open-air pool does the job too. Travel is still a big passion of mine, and I’m looking forward to a trip to Japan this October.
I also volunteer as a mentor for The King’s Trust, supporting young people as they take their first steps into business and employment, work that means a lot to me given how much building my own career shaped who I am.
Let’s talk
If your business could benefit from support, or you’d like to find your nearest Get Ahead Region, get in touch with me on 0330 223 7580 or Sarah.yandell@getaheadva.com. You can also find me on LinkedIn or book a call directly.
We pride ourselves on being the staff you don’t see, but the difference you do.