2024 has been a very busy and exciting year for Mint Blue Consulting with a variety of project and consultancy work supporting Financial Services firms.

Client work this year has included key change projects for leading consolidator Adviser firms, Associate work and the exciting opportunity to assist intelliflo with their very successful conference in June bringing industry insights to the agenda and supporting their speakers.  Training has also featured this year, providing Project Management and soft skills guidance for a client.

Whatever the business, AI and Technology have been the buzz words this year as the latest innovations filter down to even the small firms.  One of the main innovations this year has been meeting notes with an explosion of tech available in this arena.  The use of automated meeting notes has been a great addition for my own business, although editing is still essential to ensure the general chit chat items are removed from meeting summaries.  I’m still laughing over a recent edit where the first summary heading was entitled ‘Chocolate Temptation’ following a brief discussion about Advent Calendars.

Mint Blue Consulting was invited to join a new podcast group comprising of myself, Chris Baigent-Reed (Jigsaw Tree), Paul Miles (Silverback Consultancy) and Chris Pitt (Independent Consultant) to create ‘The Change Curve Podcast’.  To date, 6 episodes have been recorded on industry thought-leadership matters and looking forward to more in 2025.  I’ve also had the opportunity to participate in other podcasts this year and it’s great to have the opportunity to discuss industry viewpoints in a rapidly changing environment.

Running my own business also gives me the opportunity to pursue my love of networking and facilitation, helping to bring people together across the industry.  This has included facilitating at Owen James events and attending other great industry events throughout the year to hear great speakers and exchange ideas.  It’s also great to be involved in initiatives to help encourage more people into the industry with the opportunity to mentor women in their businesses and careers and more recently, sponsor a woman training to be a Financial Adviser through The Verve Foundation.

November 2024 will also long be remembered for one of the most exciting evenings of my career to date when I was honoured to win the ‘Women of the Year – FinTech’ award and shortlisted for ‘Woman of the Year – Adviser Support Services (small/medium firms)’ at the Women in Financial Services Awards. It was a lovely surprise and thank you to all those who have supported and continue to support my journey over the past 7 years, it’s very much appreciated!

Christmas and New Year is very much a time for reflection and a chance to pause before starting afresh next month.  This can be a difficult time of year for many people and there is a lot going on at present, but with a world that is for ever evolving and changing there are always new opportunities on the horizon to give hope. 

Wishing everyone a peaceful festive season and all the best for 2025.