Wagging Tails franchisees were treated to an inspiring day led by Paralympic Gold Medalist Helene Raynesford, at the 2017 Wagging Tails Franchise Conference.

Helene, who became the first ever Paralympic rowing champion in Beijing in 2008, delivered a powerful and moving talk about her journey to the Paralympic Gold Medal (via GB wheelchair Basketball and becoming rowing World Champion in 2006) and how she applied this in fighting and overcoming breast cancer following her diagnosis of the disease in 2013.

Helene, who has trained her own Cocker Spaniel Amber as an assistance dog, also very kindly agreed to present Wagging Tails 2017 Awards which saw Hilary Coates retain her Franchisee of the Year Award, Kevin Wright and Alexis Bennett pick up prizes for Development Franchisees of the Year, Rhian Sexton receive the New Franchisee of the Year Award and Teresa Bowers, Sue Day and Hilary given awards in recognition of achieving Gold Tier Franchise status.

Following Helene’s talk, franchisees were put to work by commercial marketing strategist Stephen Dann who spoke and led a practical session giving guidance on how to “successfully achieve my goals”. This session touched upon some of the strategies, techniques and motivators that Helene had discussed and worked through how they can be applied in the day to day running of a business, giving each attendee some clearly defined goals to take away from the day.

The day also included a presentation from professional pet photographer Mandy Milford and a visit from Hearing Dogs for Deaf People Fundraising Manager Nicholas Orpin which gave franchisees Hilary and Alexis an opportunity to present him with a cheque for £5,300 which was raised at their recent “Take the Plunge II” event.

Response to the event was overwhelming in its praise as franchisees were quick to acknowledge the quality of the day. Just some of the feedback received can be seen below:

“It was great to see everyone and Helene’s talk was truly inspirational. What an amazing lady!”

“I really enjoyed today so wanted to just drop a quick note to say thank you. Obviously Helene was hugely inspirational, I can’t imagine ever meeting a more incredible person who has achieved so much, let alone anyone who has dealt with so many challenges with so much positivity. I feel very motivated and focussed from the whole day and found it helpful listening to the speakers you’d arranged and also having the opportunity to chat with the other franchisees”.

“Please pass on my thanks to Helene for coming to share her incredible story and be will to try and motivate others with her mantras and attitude to life. Stephen (as usual!) managed to help me define the next required actions that I need to take and I really enjoyed Mandy’s presentation.”

“It was great to meet up with my fellow franchisees and see how everyone is getting on. Yesterday was particularly good having such super speakers. Helene was especially inspirational!”

“I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed Friday. It was great to meet more Franchisees and I thought the whole day, was, as intended both motivational and extremely interesting”.

Wagging Tails offers a home based franchise opportunity for dog owners looking to run their own business. This business would suit dog lovers from any background interested in working from home and running a business that is focussed on the welfare and love of dogs.