by Heather Rae | Oct 1, 2012 | Blog, Business Culture, Equal opportunities, Personal, Personal development, Uncategorized
We’ve come to the end now of our ‘Together’ workshops (but really of course, it’s just the beginning). Together business At SK Chase we’re all aware that we’d like to work more closely together, and at the three workshops we agreed: What working together means (being...
by Heather Rae | Sep 21, 2012 | Blog, Business Culture, E-commerce, Personal development, Uncategorized
Improving Customer Service We are very excited to be improving our customer service by entering into a new partnership with a team who specialise in providing customer services to luxury brands. They will provide telephone and email support to our clients from 29th...
by Kaye Taylor | Aug 30, 2012 | Blog, Business Culture, E-commerce, Personal, Personal development, Uncategorized
It’s quite apt that this blog is called ‘together-business’; I didn’t consciously realise the full significance and depth of our chosen business tag line (SK Chase – the together business) until very recently. A few days ago, in fact. Did I say that out loud? I’ve...
by Heather Rae | Aug 21, 2012 | Blog, Business Culture, Personal development, seasonal
The whole team are still committed to our ‘Together’ project and had another ‘Together’ workshop at the end of last month, where we were coached on what we need to focus on to achieve togetherness, ie what’s at the source/ It was great to acknowledge what we do well...
by Kate Ward | Aug 1, 2012 | Blog, Equal opportunities, Personal development, Uncategorized
I was lucky enough to be able to attend a one day course hosted by Hub Events and facilitated by Larry Reynolds on the 24th May, which was titled “The Manager’s Guide to Flexible Working”. As a business SK Chase is really focused on creating a healthy work/life...
by Heather Rae | Jul 12, 2012 | Business Culture, Personal development
The whole team were in Edinburgh for our ‘Together’ workshop with our business coach Fergus King from Shirlaws. During this time, we got to the heart of what ‘together’ means, why it is valuable to choose to work together and reflected on our own personal reasons for...
by Heather Rae | Jul 1, 2012 | Blog, Business Culture, E-commerce, Equal opportunities, Personal development, Uncategorized
‘I hate my job’, Nooo – not me (but what an interesting post that could be)! A friend said it to me the other night during dinner. And I don’t often need to look too far away to hear or read similar words… ‘Are you happy in your job?’ she...
by Heather Rae | Jun 15, 2012 | Blog, Business Culture, Personal
We’re all very excited to start seeing the results of the planning we’ve put into the new system rebuild project. Ben shared that although we’re now pretty much done with the planning it’s all about managing deadlines and organising testing and the pre-release...
by Kaye Taylor | Jun 8, 2012 | Blog, Business Culture, Personal development, Uncategorized
On first impressions it may appear that this blog post is in direct contrast with my previous post, “Things ain’t always set in stone”, which was about going with Life’s Flow. I assure you, it is not. In fact, it’s a sequel to that post – and one that paints a fuller...
by Kaye Taylor | May 31, 2012 | Blog, Business Culture, Personal, Personal development, Uncategorized
Go with the flow; Take each day as it comes; Trust; Live in the moment; Be here now; Let go. Here are just a few of the words of wisdom I’ve attempted to heed in the course of my life and my endeavour to be at peace with myself and the world. I’d hazard a guess that...
by Heather Rae | May 17, 2012 | Blog, Business Culture, Personal, Personal development
Exciting news this month, we have now filled the 2 vacancies we had for Key Account Manager and Client Training Manager (both London based) with two very lovely people. We are sure that they would love to introduce themselves once they have started…so watch this...
by Heather Rae | May 1, 2012 | Blog, Business Culture, Personal development
Working at SK Chase, we’re not only encouraged to live our values which are to be true, courageous and fair but we’re also encouraged to live our own personal intent! In fact we even get measured whether we live our personal intent in our performance...
by Heather Rae | Apr 19, 2012 | Blog, Business Culture, E-commerce, Uncategorized
SK Chase provides an online gift voucher application and fulfillment service to over 300 luxury hotels throughout the UK, including prestigious hotel brands such as Gleneagles, The Ritz Hotel London and the Rocco Forte Collection. Our business has recently embarked...
by Heather Rae | Apr 17, 2012 | Blog, Business Culture, E-commerce
We are still working away with our IT partners John Henry on our System Rebuild Project, which involves making improvements to our gift voucher application as well as introducing new features and services over the next 12 months. We are very excited about the benefits...
by Heather Rae | Apr 1, 2012 | Blog, Business Culture, Equal opportunities, Personal, Personal development, Uncategorized
What we do in life is our choice. Every day we take decisions, big and small, significant and insignificant; we choose. We choose how we are and what we do. Of course, we all come from different backgrounds and have different circumstances. But our actions and the way...
by Heather Rae | Mar 19, 2012 | Blog, Business Culture, Personal development, Social Networking, Uncategorized
We hope that you all had a lovely Mother’s Day and if you got a gift voucher, we hope you enjoy using it! And even before we have a chance to think about Easter of Father’s Day, Christmas is on the cards already! Well, for one member of staff so far…...
by Heather Rae | Mar 11, 2012 | Blog, Business Culture, Personal, Personal development, Uncategorized
“Ben has the potential to go far, if only he weren’t so absent minded.” This comment, written on my school report from 1986, has somehow been forever etched into my brain. I don’t particularly remember why I locked onto this specific piece of...
by Heather Rae | Feb 17, 2012 | Blog, Business Culture, Personal, Personal development, seasonal, Uncategorized
Each month we’d like to share what we’re up to at SK Chase. In February: No one received any flowers to the office this Valentine’s Day. But if you were given a gift voucher from one of our lovely customers, we hope you have a brilliant time when you use it! February...
by Heather Rae | Feb 1, 2012 | Blog, Business Culture, Personal, Personal development, Uncategorized
‘Poke the Box’ Our company values are to be courageous, fair and true to all. The whole team went on a values workshop to agree on measurements of these values. One of the measurements was to read a book on personal or professional growth per year and share our...
by Heather Rae | Jan 23, 2012 | Blog, Business Culture, Uncategorized
Each month we’d like to share what we’re up to at SK Chase. In January: Although Christmas feels like a distant memory now, we have all been reflecting on this time to see if there is anything we can do better. It’s our busiest time of year (around 30% of...
by Stephanie Wilson | Jan 1, 2012 | Blog, Business Culture, Equal opportunities, Personal, Personal development, Uncategorized
I am “the frame” A couple of months back I was reading an article about family life and came across a quote from a mother that really got me thinking. It read “When you become a parent you’re no longer in the picture, you become the picture frame”. At first I...
by Kate Ward | Dec 1, 2011 | Blog, Business Culture, Personal development
Some time ago now, during a coaching session I discovered that my intent in life is to grow. Not in the sense of being a budding gardener (although the thought of being green fingered is rather tempting) but in the sense that in life I love to learn and to use this...
by Heather Rae | Nov 24, 2011 | Blog, Business Culture, Uncategorized
Each month, we’d like to share what we are up to at SK Chase. In November: We are all getting ready for Christmas! We have two new recruits called Jenny & Jerry who are working in Service Delivery helping hotels & gift voucher buyers with any queries they may...
by Kaye Taylor | Nov 1, 2011 | Blog, Personal, Personal development, Uncategorized
Our new financial year starts today, 1st November, as does the implementation of a project that the team has been working on together since the beginning of this year – relating to our values. Back in February we together agreed a new set of values; to be courageous,...
by Heather Rae | Oct 23, 2011 | Blog, Business Culture, E-commerce, Personal
Each month, we’d like to share what we are up to at SK Chase. In October: Our new Online Training Shop went ‘live’, allowing our clients to view and book training sessions online. Steph is focusing on risk management and is about to start a new project paper and...
by Heather Rae | Oct 1, 2011 | Blog, Business Culture, E-commerce, Personal, Personal development, Social Networking, Uncategorized
Perhaps a more accurate title for this blog post would be ‘How to assign a vanity URL to the wrong page – and how to fix it’. Because that’s what happened to me. If you are solely interested in the ‘How to’ part – read our PDF here. And for a short story on why I’m an...
by Heather Rae | Sep 21, 2011 | Blog, Business Culture, Equal opportunities, Personal, Personal development, Uncategorized
Each month, we’d like to share what we are up to at SK Chase. In September: Ben & Dani are hosting SK Chase’s table at the AA Hospitality Awards in London next week. We’re getting ready for Christmas! Ensuring our Fulfillment Partner JEM has plenty of...
by Heather Rae | Sep 1, 2011 | Blog, Business Culture, Personal, Personal development, Uncategorized
A few weeks ago I attended the “How to Make an Impact” workshop with Ed Percival from www.edpercival.com. It’s a two day workshop and the main goal of the training is to learn how to use my voice and body language as an instrument to connect with my...
by Heather Rae | Aug 19, 2011 | Blog, Business Culture, Uncategorized
Each month, we’d like to share what we are up to at SK Chase. In August: Jan, Ben and Catharine went to visit JEM Marketing (our fulfilment partner) and really enjoyed meeting the team there and seeing how our clients’ vouchers are actually fulfilled. We...
by Kaye Taylor | Aug 1, 2011 | Blog, Business Culture, E-commerce, Equal opportunities, Personal, Uncategorized
Inspired by Jan’s blog My business is me…or is it? I had a flash of realisation. A realisation of how there has been a big shift in SK Chase. The shift relates to our customers and our team. Education? I left school young (16) and although I attended college...
by Heather Rae | Jul 22, 2011 | Blog, Business Culture, Personal, Personal development, Social Networking, Uncategorized
Each month we’d like to share what we’re up to at SK Chase. In July: We are now on facebook – www.facebook.com/skchaseBy following us, you’ll be able to read advance previews of articles, such as ‘Customer is King… Or are they?’, written...
by Heather Rae | Jul 1, 2011 | Blog, Business Culture, Personal, Personal development, Uncategorized
At the tender age of 18, bright eyed and bushy tailed, I was packed off to the British Academy to spend my gap year coaching skiing. Laden with bags, skis, sports equipment, a mountain bike and just generally far too much kit, I embarked on an incredible journey that...
by Heather Rae | Jun 21, 2011 | Blog, Business Culture, E-commerce, Personal, Personal development, Social Networking, Uncategorized
Each month, we’d like to share what we are up to at SK Chase. In June: Kaye has introduced the SK Chase team to P2 – that’s Product Two! Yes.. SK Chase are going to launch a new product!! More details soon 🙂 Steph is focusing on the ‘Risk &...
by Heather Rae | Jun 1, 2011 | Blog, Business Culture, E-commerce, Personal, Personal development, Uncategorized
“My Business Is Me” I wonder how many people would agree with this quote? Before starting at SK Chase I would have probably not even batted an eyelid on hearing this. However, when I heard someone say this last month it just really seemed to affect me, like a slap to...
by Heather Rae | May 20, 2011 | Blog, Business Culture, Personal development, Uncategorized
Each month, we like to share what we are up to at SK Chase; In May: • Our new IT partners John Henry came up to Edinburgh for their induction to SK Chase. It is great for the team to have met them and we are looking forward to working together in the future. • Kaye is...
by Kate Ward | May 2, 2011 | Blog, Business Culture, Equal opportunities, Personal, Personal development, Uncategorized
“Don’t worry about the future, or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an Algebra equation by chewing bubblegum” Baz Luhrman, Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen). I used to be in a situation where if I felt that I did not have anything to...
by Heather Rae | May 1, 2011 | Blog, Business Culture, Personal, Personal development, Uncategorized
Working at SK Chase, we’re not only encouraged to live our values, which are to be true, courageous and fair, but we’re also encouraged to live our own personal intent. In fact, we even get measured whether we live our personal intent in our performance...
by Heather Rae | Apr 21, 2011 | Blog, Business Culture, Personal, Personal development
Each month, we’d like to share what we are up to at SK Chase. In April: We have selected John Henry as our new IT partner and are looking forward to working with them in the future. Kaye has been preparing for our Values workshop – where we choose how we would...
by Heather Rae | Apr 1, 2011 | Blog, Business Culture, Personal, Personal development
As a child, I remember our class being told we could be whatever we wanted to be when we grew up. The classroom was buzzing with talk of doctors, nurses, firemen, astronauts, pop stars and footballers – admirable ambitions for most, although all I wanted at the time...
by Heather Rae | Mar 22, 2011 | Blog, Business Culture, Personal development, Social Networking
Each month, we like to share what we are up to at SK Chase. In March: We are delighted to have Catharine, who worked with us over Christmas 2010, back as a permanent member of our team, starting today! 🙂 The plan for our team trip has now been revealed to all of us...
by Stephanie Wilson | Mar 1, 2011 | Blog, Business Culture, E-commerce, Uncategorized
Back in November I attended a Shirlaws event, hosted by Darren Shirlaw, called “Catch the Second Wave”. Anyone familiar with Shirlaws will know that this event wasn’t about honing your surfing technique but how to really prepare our businesses, and ourselves, in order...
by Heather Rae | Feb 23, 2011 | Blog, Business Culture, Uncategorized
Each month, we’d like to share what we are up to at SK Chase. In February: We all participated in the second part of our ‘Vision’ Day with our coach Fergus King from Shirlaws We are getting closer to selecting our new technology partner – it is our...
by Heather Rae | Feb 1, 2011 | Blog, Business Culture, Personal development
Have you ever found yourself being inconsistent in your reply to a client, colleague or friend i.e. you responded differently to one persons request than another, depending on whether the request was expressed in a polite manner or whether it was expressed in a direct...
by Heather Rae | Jan 24, 2011 | Blog, Business Culture
Each month, we’d like to share what we are up to at SK Chase. In January, We all took all took part in a ‘Vision’ Day with our coach Fergus King from Shirlaws One of the things we agreed at our coaching session were our values, which are: To be...
by Heather Rae | Jan 3, 2011 | Blog, Business Culture, Personal
Making friends, connecting with people, fitting in – can be a tricky business, especially if you feel a bit of an oddball at times in new social or work situations as I do 🙂 When we want a person to like us, or perhaps form a bond or business relationship with...
by Kaye Taylor | Dec 8, 2010 | Blog, Business Culture
As we approach the beginning of a new year our whole team has been devoting time considering and creating our new company vision. The last time Steph and I took time out to do a similar exercise was nearly three years ago – and it was a very different experience to...
by Heather Rae | Nov 14, 2010 | Blog, Business Culture, Uncategorized
Get to know the team at SK Chase and the roles we play, including the founders, Kaye & Stephanie. Kaye Taylor, Chair Stephanie Wilson, Managing Director Heather Rae, Business Support Kate Taylor, Finance Manager Daniela Eichberger, Sales, Marketing, Training &...
by Heather Rae | Oct 11, 2010 | Blog, Business Culture, Uncategorized
Together business. That’s our tagline here at SK Chase – but what does it actually mean? We are a together business (i.e. we’ve got our act together and we know our own value). We work together with each other (we support each other within our team). We...
by Kaye Taylor | Aug 5, 2009 | Blog, Uncategorized
So my last post explained the What and the Why of my new idea, this post deals with the How. To recap: My idea is to create a site whereby luxury travellers (like me) are introduced and connected to Luxury Independent Travel Agents (experts from around the world) who...
by Kaye Taylor | Aug 3, 2009 | Blog, Uncategorized
This is a new business idea combining luxury independent travel agents, social media, luxury travel providers and instant rewards: Frustrated after my recent holiday accommodation experiences, and the lack of ‘personal’ recommendations from people I can really trust,...
by Kaye Taylor | Jul 24, 2009 | Blog, Uncategorized
This is a real-life story of how Twitter and a human being, not an algorithm, saved the day. Feeling stranded, stressed and gutted, having arrived at our Lake Como apartment, to find it grim grotty and sticky (and I’m not just talking about the humidity) tired, late...
by Kaye Taylor | Jun 14, 2009 | Blog, Social Networking, Uncategorized
Social Networking strategy for my business Having ignored internet social networking for a very, very long time; primarily due to having a limiting belief that ‘it just isn’t for me’, I have now woken up to the great possibilities and opportunities that proactive...
by Kaye Taylor | Jun 7, 2009 | Blog, Business Culture, Uncategorized
I have to say I feel like a bit of a laggard when it comes to Twitter. I had wrongly made the assumption that I would hate it, and for a long time just couldn’t see the point of it at all. But in the last few days that I’ve been a member, it’s opened...
by Kaye Taylor | Jun 3, 2009 | Blog, Business Culture, Uncategorized
Why are we here? No really, why ARE we here? What’s the point in it all? I asked my sister, Suzy, this not so long ago and she told me that the reason we’re here, on planet earth, is to love and to be loved. That shut me up. Generally speaking, I have a natural...
by Kaye Taylor | Mar 11, 2009 | Blog, Business Culture, Uncategorized
We’re going through internal change within SK Chase right now. It feels like a deep cleansing period; we’re reviewing exactly what we do, why we do it and who we do it for. To do this properly, we have acknowledged areas of our business that haven’t...
by Kaye Taylor | Dec 11, 2008 | Blog, Business Culture
I love my job right now. Why? Because for the first time in 3 years I know exactly what I’m meant to be doing (and I’m actually doing it!) and I know how I contribute to our success. When Steph and I first set up SK Chase I felt like I was flying – I knew precisely...
by Kaye Taylor | Nov 29, 2008 | Blog, Business Culture
With Elaine at the early stages of setting up her own business, it got me thinking and remembering my own experience with setting up SK Chase. And I have so many people that I am grateful to. Peter Taylor, owner and Chair of The Town House Collection gave us our first...
by Ezone Support | Nov 28, 2008 | Blog, Personal development
Well it’s been a while since I posted my last blog on Lady Chase, and now the time has come for me to make my last entry. There’s been a lot going on since I last wrote, and now I’m off on my merry way to start my own writing business – and...
by Kaye Taylor | Oct 18, 2008 | Blog, Uncategorized
The answer seems obvious at first, however during our recent coaching day with Fergus (Shirlaws – Love Business) – Steph and I took a surprising amount of time coming up with what taking responsibility actually meant for us… And it’s an interesting questions...
by Ezone Support | Aug 14, 2008 | Blog, Personal
Kaye received a hilarious email today from her sister Suzy, who lives in New Zealand. Suzy had been reading this blog, and was impressed with how dynamic and successful our names made us sound. Apparently, the names Elaine Gunn, Stephanie Wilson and Kaye Taylor bring...
by Ezone Support | Aug 1, 2008 | Blog, Personal development, Uncategorized
A few weeks ago, Kaye decided that instead of sitting down to go through my list of work to do every week, she would start coaching me instead in personal development. Our first session led to the epiphany of sorts that I described in Who am I and What Do I Want? so...
by Ezone Support | Jul 2, 2008 | Blog, Personal development
Kaye introduced me to a very interesting exercise this morning, based on finding out exactly who I am and what I want. On the surface, this would appear to be an easy enough task. I am Elaine Gunn, I want many things, career success, personal fulfilment, glossy hair...
by Ezone Support | Jun 27, 2008 | Blog, Business Culture, Equal opportunities
I’m intrigued as to just what Harriet Harman thinks she’s up to with her new plans on equal pay in the workplace. I read this morning about her move to force employers to publish details of their male/female salary discrepancies, and the proposed positive...
by Ezone Support | Jun 11, 2008 | Blog, Business Culture
Ok, so this one is pretty hackneyed. Everybody’s been talking about it for years and years, nobody’s got a clue what’s to be done, and to be quite honest I believe everybody’s a bit sick of the whole issue! I’m talking of course about the...
by Kaye Taylor | May 19, 2008 | Blog, Business Culture
A few months ago I gave a talk in Glasgow to a group of women who were either thinking about setting up their own business, or who had recently taken the plunge. Directly after my talk, a woman approached me and introduced herself. She told me her name and the name of...
by Ezone Support | May 15, 2008 | Blog, Uncategorized
Seven weeks ago, my lovely boyfriend Angus and I decided that we should get married. A lot of work and excitement later, we tied the knot last Saturday in the Applecross Walled Garden in Wester Ross. For those unfamiliar with the geography of Scotland, Wester Ross is...
by Ezone Support | Apr 21, 2008 | Blog, E-commerce
I’ve been doing a lot of research recently on the mythical beast that is the Google Sandbox Effect. This Loch Ness Monster of the technical age is a phenomenon I had until recently been unaware of, yet in just 6 short months I have learned to shudder at its...
by Kaye Taylor | Apr 9, 2008 | Blog, Business Culture
I’ve just been reading Elaine’s blog on business travel and it got me thinking…. Unlike Elaine, I do spend quite a bit of time travelling around – lots of London meetings means frequent flying in my case… but just like Elaine, I don’t ‘work’ en-route… Instead I escape...
by Ezone Support | Apr 7, 2008 | Blog
It was my intention last week to write a post introducing the newest addition to our little family here at SK Chase. Gerald joined us on Saturday 21st March and was much pampered and petted by the girls here, until sadly we lost him suddenly to a nasty fungal...
by Ezone Support | Mar 31, 2008 | Blog, Business Culture
It’s been a while since I travelled to London on business, so I’d forgotten what a surreal experience sitting in the departure lounge in London City airport was.After the usual trip through security, with the obligatory worry that I’d set the beepers...
by Ezone Support | Mar 12, 2008 | Blog, Business Culture
Until quite recently I was a very small fish in the great big career pond that is a major UK bank. Then, suddenly in September 2007 I was netted and whisked into (comparatively speaking) a puddle when I joined SK Chase as their Marketing Manager. Part of the reason I...
by Ezone Support | Mar 5, 2008 | Blog, seasonal
Ever wondered why the date of Mother’s Day changes from year to year? Looking carefully between the flowers, chocolates and widespread commercialisation of our annual motherly celebration, traces of its origins from all over the world can be...
by Kaye Taylor | Dec 20, 2007 | Blog
I love public speaking. I used to hate it. I got to a point in my corporate life where I was sick and tired of using the same old methods for presentations and wanted to discover how to come across as a real human being while delivering my talks, rather than a...