In Your Shoes - Simon Fraser

Monday, I’m ready for you

It’s a new week and I’m raring to go. After WFH full-time for what felt like forever, I now work a hybrid model and am at home for the first couple of days of the week, so Monday starts off with one of my most used lockdown purchases, the coffee machine.
 
One stunning homemade flat white later and I’m at my desk for a weekly catchup call with my boss, Head of Business Development, Lorna Edwards.
 
We’ve got a few projects running just now, so this is the time we can set objectives for the week and follow up on actions we’ve been working on.
 
The afternoon is set aside for some internal training workshops put on by the University. There is a series of them running and I’ve found them really useful and a good way to meet other colleagues from around the institution. After Monday’s workshop, “more effective me”, I’m ready for anything.

It's the economy, stupid!

Tuesday kicks off with the DACC Quarterly Economic Indicator update. Shona Dobbie from Angus Economics takes us through the results from the latest DACC survey and unpicks the data to give us key insights. I like to keep abreast of what’s going on globally, nationally and locally as it helps me in the work I do with our university startups supporting their business model development and business planning.
 
Next up is a call with one of our undergrad sports students who has a great goalkeeping academy that they run whilst studying. They are a good example of a student that has an area of interest and passion and develops their enterprise skills and business acumen whilst having the support of the university around them.
 
I round off the day with a visit to the gym to work on my New Year’s resolution which is to do the exercises I’ve been set by my physio. More on that later.

Let the train take the strain

Wednesday is when I head onto campus, and I jump on my favourite little train to take me into town from Invergowrie. I used to work in sustainable transport so reducing my use of, and dependency on, the car is important to me and I’m lucky to live next to a train station to help with this.
 
Being back on campus is a great feeling with human interactions and feeding on the energy around the university. The Bell Street Ventures facility has a hot-desking area for our startups along with a collaboration space, boardroom, and coffee-fuelled kitchen. This lets enterprise have a focal point, and a home, on-campus along with building the enterprise community.
 
The door is open for students, graduates and staff who want to find out more about business creation/startup and we help them start that journey.

No pain, no gain

Thursday starts off with a visit to the physio. I injured my ankle and knee whilst playing football last year and have been really bad at keeping up with my exercises, hence the New Year’s resolution. Lynne at Heal Physiotherapy is brilliant, and I get a gentle reminder that I need to put the work in.
 
It’s a brainstorming session with Lorna in the afternoon looking at the impact of Bell Street Ventures on the university. We’ve got some exciting plans for the coming semesters and use this as an opportunity to look at the data and analyse where we should target our resources.
 
We’re always keen to find new opportunities for our students to get involved in enterprising activities so if you think of anything that could be valuable then please do let me know.

When on campus, I also make the most of the Birchwood membership coffee subscription so if you see me walking down Commercial Street, you’ll know I’m off to get my caffeine fix.

You're hired!

This Friday is taken up with a day full of interviews where I’m helping my Careers Service colleagues. I work closely with different teams throughout the university, so being asked to help and give my input is great.

I know how it feels being the interviewee and I hope I was able to put the candidates at ease. It’s also a real testament to the university at the skill level and the number of applicants there was for the role. It’s a brilliant sector to work in, and the value that we personally get from supporting our students is huge.

Every week is different and I love the variety of what I get to do.
 
After the interviews are done, I head to the gym to keep Lynne happy and then pick up a world-famous Agacan Iskender on my way home. It’s all about balance, isn't it?