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Emma, Andrew & Chris from ParetoFM
52 Plays3 years ago
In episode 43 I speak with Emma, Andrew and Chris from ParetoFM. Pareto are a sponsor of our event the Shrewsbury Half Marathon which is on Sunday October 10th.
Emma is the Pareto FM Social Impact Director, Andrew is the Founder and Managing Director and Chris is a Senior Account Manager.
Subjects we speak about include how Pareto have supported their team members well being during the pandemic. We also talk about their free FM10 virtual event which plenty of UKRunChat people have entered looking at the pictures that are being posted of people with the medals.
Learn more about and connect with the team at ParetoFM on the links below.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Episode 43
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to episode 43 of the UK Sports Chat podcast.
Meet the Pareto FM Team
00:00:08
Speaker
I'm Joe Williams and in today's episode, I speak with Emma, Andrew and Chris from Pareto FM. Pareto are a sponsor of our event, the Shrews behalf marathon, which is on Sunday, October the 10th. Emma is Pareto social impact director. Andrew is the founder and managing director and Chris is a senior account manager.
00:00:29
Speaker
This was a really interesting chat.
Support During the Pandemic
00:00:31
Speaker
Subjects we speak about include how Pareto have supported their team members' well-being during the pandemic. It was interesting to get their take on this from a business's perspective.
FM10 Virtual Event Impact
00:00:41
Speaker
We also talk about their free FM10 virtual event, which plenty of UK-run chat people have entered, looking at the pictures that are being shared on social media of people with their medals.
Listener Engagement
00:00:53
Speaker
If you would like to be featured on this podcast, feel free to message us via our social channels.
00:00:59
Speaker
or on info at ukrumchat.co.uk. Enjoy this chat with Emma, Andrew and Chris and we will see you on the next episode.
Running and Fitness Journeys
00:01:11
Speaker
Welcome Andrew, welcome Emma and welcome Chris. Hello. How are you all?
00:01:21
Speaker
Well, I've actually just come back from a run, so I'm feeling particularly good this morning, which was very good. That's very good. This is Andrew applying for our listeners. Yes, that's right. Just 13K this morning. I'm slowly getting just broken through the 10K barrier, just starting to get my fitness up again. Obviously training for the Shrewsbury half later this year. So yeah, feeling good today. I love how Andrew said just 13K.
00:01:47
Speaker
OK, yeah, I had a healthy breakfast, if that helps. It does. Absolutely. Absolutely. I've just I'm not running at the minute because I have an injury in my calf. So I did a four mile walk this morning in a, you know, in a slight mood because people are running past me. But I still miss the fresh air and
00:02:14
Speaker
at Thinking Space in the morning, so I just go out and do a walk and I'm just trying to build up the strength back of my calf again so I can catch Andrew up on steps again. Are you watching me on the app, Chris, at the moment? Are we competing again, are we? Yeah, that's good. You're getting close. Yes, that's good to hear. It's been a while. Which app is that? Which app are you using?
00:02:36
Speaker
We use Garmin, don't we, for that one, and also our Ulife app, which is our employee engagement app in terms of life assurance and that type of thing. Okay. Yeah. Two that we use. Okay.
Emma's Role and Fitness Journey
00:02:49
Speaker
Tell me more about that. When I ask you more about... Yeah, that'd be good to know more about that. Emma, do we need to add you to the Garmin, do we? We don't need to add Mr. Garmin. I have a Garmin device, which...
00:03:01
Speaker
I'd be embarrassed to share with you guys. So, no, I'm not going to be adding that, but it's good to know.
00:03:08
Speaker
Emma, that's how I feel when I see Chris really get into his stride. He really puts some miles in when he gets going, when he's not injured. Emma, my Garmin is nine years old and I'm a race director when I work in the running industry, so be proud of your Garmin. It's more the steps that they'd see on it. I love my Garmin, I've had it for a long time, but it's more the steps they'd see. Yeah, there wouldn't be 13k before 7pm.
00:03:40
Speaker
Really, would you all like to individually give us an introduction to yourselves, your role, and we've already touched on it, but include how you like to keep fit and healthy. Emma, would you like to go first? Oh, put me on the spot. So I'm Emma Wilson. I'm the Social Impact Director at
Enhancing Company Culture
00:04:00
Speaker
Pareto. So I recently joined. I've just come from maternity after having a little boy.
00:04:05
Speaker
So she's now a toddler, thank you very much, a year and a half. So I like to say that's where I get most of my exercise in. Apart from that, really, I have not, I did a lot of pregnancy yoga and I did yoga before, before I was pregnant. And that was kind of the only thing I kept up through my pregnancy and even a little bit after.
00:04:27
Speaker
Obviously we were in the middle of the pandemic when I finally gave birth, so there wasn't really much I could do. So I did a lot of walking with my little one, you know, put him in the buggy and went for like day long walks. But apart from that, I'm still trying to find my step into what I want to do to keep healthy. I'm very much a stock starter. I did a lot of sport when I was younger. And then once I kind of stopped doing that, I think around university times, I never really got back into it. And so really for me, I think,
00:04:55
Speaker
I'm still trying to work out what I really enjoy and really want to get into. And that's okay. It gives you the opportunity to try lots of different things, isn't it? If I actually try them, yeah. The plan is to start, especially like sort of during photo and everyone's kind of, you know, as you can hear from Chris and Andrew, they're very up for this sort of thing. So it's actually quite inspiring to be like, okay, you know, I can do something. Um, but obviously whenever we're going to speak about FM 10 later,
00:05:22
Speaker
So I do like the new approach that we're taking on that. What does your role entail as a social impact director? So I'm kind of looking at how Pareto can
00:05:34
Speaker
benefit society in a better way, really, and obviously kind of looking at our own company culture and how we're meeting the needs of our employees and just how we can do better kind of in our contracts, better with finding a life balance with people who work within our organization, but also looking at kind of charitable aspects, sustainable aspects and those sort of things as well. So we're still kind of working out exactly what the role is within the company.
00:06:04
Speaker
and how we can kind of really make a difference, but it's literally enabling us to measure our impact and to make real change.
Andrew's Leadership and Growth
00:06:13
Speaker
Thank you. Thanks, Emma. Andrew? Yes, so I'm Andrew. I am the original founder of Pareto and currently the managing director. Pareto has been going since 2014, so we're in our seventh year now.
00:06:28
Speaker
That's why I've gone grey at the early age of 34 on my side, trying to bring up a business as well as two little babies that I have at the moment as well. In terms of fitness, so for context, I'm six foot three. I usually sit around 20 stone in weight, so I'm a big guy. When I was at school and university, I used to play rugby, but they always just made it, so I was the one that took all the hits.
00:06:54
Speaker
and I don't really like getting hurt, so I was never really good at rugby on my side, but I was certainly the right shape for it. So I keep fit through running, and when I say running, I mean jogging slowly on my side. As long as you're going forward, you're going forward, you know, in that sense. And I really sort of, I love, I'm a real summer runner, and I don't love running in the rain or anything like that.
00:07:18
Speaker
What I tend to do is for a four or five month period, I really get into it and get up to about half marathon distance, which I can do continuously. And then I sort of take the winter off and then start again in the springtime the following year.
00:07:33
Speaker
But I find it works really well for fitness, for losing weight for sure. And also for mental health. I think as Chris says, that time where you've got a couple of hours just to clear your head and just think about, you know, what's annoying you and or what's really positive and what you're going to focus on when you finish your run. And there is, I think there's no better feeling than, you know, doing a run in the morning, say like 13K I did before eight o'clock this morning.
00:07:58
Speaker
and sitting with your legs aching for the rest of the day knowing that you've done a good workout that day and you can enjoy it sort of thing. So yeah that's me. Thank you. It sounds like you're doing well being grey in your mid-30s. I was bald in my mid-20s so you're very successful to me. Thanks Andrew, Chris. No worries. So I'm Chris Barnes, I am Senior Account Manager at Pareto and I am a
00:08:27
Speaker
a full-time juggler, so all year round in all weathers. I have been out and about running. I've always ran since it's school. I've always ran. And I love doing the events around Yorkshire. And then I started getting a little bit more adventurous and doing events.
00:08:54
Speaker
During the big city events, I've done New York Marathon. Paris, I think, is probably one of my favorite ones. I've done that three times now. But I've done, you know, I also like the, you know, my favorites are really the small, you
Unique Approach in FM Sector
00:09:10
Speaker
know, privately run small, you know, groups that are doing little events in the little towns and villages.
00:09:19
Speaker
you know, they're doing half marathons on a Tuesday night and stuff like that. They're they're the really good ones that I really get into. So yeah, I've been running for a long time. Fortunately, at the minute, I am injured. I've got a calf injury that comes back to haunt me every sort of 18 months, two years. And yeah, so at the moment, I'm a walker. So I get up at five o'clock in the morning and go for a walk. Yeah.
00:09:46
Speaker
Just again, just to keep my head clear. And I really miss that. I remember when I first got injured, it really does bring you down when you're injured and you can't run and you can't get out and do the exercise that you love. I made the mistake of doing nothing. And that really affected my mental health and my physical health. And just basically moody.
00:10:16
Speaker
So the last four or five years, I've realised that when you are injured, you can't do what you want to do. You can still get out there, you can still move, you can still do something. So yeah, I quite enjoy walking. During the lockdown, I was still running in the morning and then every single evening.
00:10:36
Speaker
the benefit of not being out and about, you know, my role, I'm all over the UK, you know, so you're saving yourself a good couple of hours on an evening of traveling. So I was out walking, so I'm really, really taking up walking and hiking. So I think that's my new, my new
00:10:55
Speaker
hobby is going to be hiking and we're going to be doing the National Three Peaks in five weeks time. Fingers crossed. It's a team of us from Pareto going to do that. 14 of us at the moment signed up.
00:11:17
Speaker
Brilliant. Be interesting. Which route are you doing? Which way are you doing it? Top to bottom or starting at Snowdon? We are starting in Ben Nevis and then Scarpel Pike and then Snowdon. Yeah, we're doing it that way, right? So starting in Scotland and working our way down. And when did you do that? With very little sleep, I understand. When did you do that? Sorry, five weeks, did you say? Yeah, 10th of September is the day we go up to Scotland and we start on the 11th of September.
00:11:47
Speaker
Brilliant. Very good. I would have joined that, guys, but I'm going to be a bit busy then. For those who are listening in now, just to note that Chris has also been, you've been involved with UK Run Chat as one of our ambassadors for quite some time now, and for people who have joined in on the chat hours, you're very likely to have been chatting away to UK Run Chat, and it would have been Chris responding at some point to you.
00:12:15
Speaker
Thank you, Chris, for all your support over the years from me. That's been a great thing to see the running community. I think it's been maybe seven, eight years now we've been doing it. I'm not sure how long we've been doing that.
00:12:34
Speaker
You know, I've made some really, really good friends across the community that, you know, I wouldn't have met if I hadn't been doing that. And then, you know, I had some great opportunities to go and do, you know, meet people at races all over the country. So it's been a pleasure. Really good. Good. So, Andrew, I think your best place for this one, tell us about Pareto FM.
00:13:00
Speaker
So Pareto is a facilities services provider. So we work with commercial organizations in their nice big offices to maintain all of their facilities management, their engineering services, compliance, cleaning, security, and everything it takes to run the business effectively.
00:13:18
Speaker
We work with some major brands in the UK and we punch well above our weight as a smaller organization. We're about
Supporting Employee Health
00:13:25
Speaker
25 million turnover today with about 175 people. But the reason I started Pareto initially was I was really frustrated with the facilities management sector. There's lots of negative stories out there in the press. You remember the G4S issues that we had back in the Olympics a few years ago.
00:13:44
Speaker
Carilion being another particularly public bad story. I wanted to try and grow a business that was really based on great people, a great ethic for how we delivered, partnering with our customers to do what they needed. But then also having a real social conscience about what we do. And it's taken a few years, but we've got to a point now where, like Emma said earlier on, we have a leader now that drives that social impact of what we do.
00:14:10
Speaker
And that's really quite far reaching now. So Pareto is considered a bit of a disruptor to the sector because we do things a bit differently to the established organizations here. And we're sort of seen as the pesky kids that are coming up and winning lots of work and being very successful. And we're also on the times fast track 100. So we're in the top 100 fastest growing companies.
00:14:32
Speaker
in the UK at the moment. So that's a bit about us. Congratulations. Thank you. And thank you for me for supporting our event. I'll come on to that shortly as well. But Emma, touching on what Andrew said there, what are your thoughts on how businesses can support their health and wellbeing of their team members? Oh, it's such a big subject. In short, I think that
00:14:58
Speaker
if people have a better work growth balance, people are looking after themselves, they work better. And that's, that's a short point of it. So really, it's about how can we, how can we do more, I think a lot of businesses are scared to do too much on the kind of health and wellbeing side, because they're worried it will take away from their work, or it won't make sense money wise.
00:15:18
Speaker
But I think there's an argument there to say that, you know, the pandemic has shown us a lot, hasn't it? You know, I know for years, people have been wanting to work from home and have a bit more flexibility. And, you know, businesses have continued running. The majority of them, the ones are obviously that can kind of cope with the pandemic, but they have continued. And, you know, I know that some people found it really hard during the pandemic and, you know, quite isolating. But also thinking about speaking to people now,
00:15:47
Speaker
there's very much a different kind of look on how they see work going forward. I think in some ways, obviously, the pandemic was awful. But I think it also showed people that they could do more things at home. It showed them how important their mental health was. And it really got them to kind of join groups and to do a bit more exercise. Not everyone, but quite differently didn't, but a lot of people did kind of manage to do that. So I think from the business side,
00:16:13
Speaker
I think the more we can do for people on that side, I think it's better for business. So why wouldn't we? Andrew or Chris, if you have any comments on that.
00:16:25
Speaker
Absolutely. I think I've seen, especially over the years, doing, you know, doing little team events and then doing things like the FM10 stuff like that there, you know, supporting the health and well-being of your team members. It really, you can see the effect it has on people. You can see it has an effect on their mental health and their engagement levels and
00:16:48
Speaker
You know, I just think that we spend so much time at work. Why not? Why can't we be enjoying it? And why can't that, you know, support our mental and our well-being at the same time? You know, and why can't you do some events at work as well? You know, so I think it's a great thing that, you know, we always looking at growing and bringing in different things to it as well.
00:17:16
Speaker
How do you, or how have you managed the wellbeing of remote workers throughout this period? That one for you, Andrew. Yeah, I think it's been a challenge. There's no doubt. I think going back to what I said about what Pareto stands for, which is a really highly engaged workforce. We have an SLA in Pareto whereby we say we need to see all of our team at least once a week face to face.
00:17:44
Speaker
So our account managers aren't loaded up with a huge number of contracts. They're given fewer contracts so they can see their staff and their clients more regularly. Now, obviously the pandemic changed that entirely for us in terms of that model. And you've had to be innovative in various ways. On the good side, we've done things like we did loads of quizzes right at the start just to make sure there was some engagement and we were doing updates virtually and that sort of thing. We always had a lot of people on furlough
00:18:12
Speaker
So we were offering things like training for people to complete whilst they're on furlough, because the government confirmed they were able to do so. And whilst our customers premises were closed. And then really, it was about FM 10 is, and we'll talk about that a bit later, but FM 10 was born out of that as well, to try and create some interaction, not only with our own staff, but also with the rest of the industry. But we can't lie, and you know, Pareto is a very honest organization.
00:18:39
Speaker
Mental health has really suffered for a lot of people through this time. And a lot of people have not enjoyed being cut off from the rest of
Success of FM10 Event
00:18:46
Speaker
the world. I think a lot of people have felt a bit listless, like listlessness in this scenario. They don't know what they're aiming for anymore. And they don't have that interaction that's been there before either. So we've upped the number of mental health first aiders that we have within our organization to try and support the team. But it's been a challenge. And there's no shying away from that on our side of things.
00:19:08
Speaker
The key is consistency and engagement and making sure, as Emma said, right at the top, that we make sure our business is fit for purpose for the staff that work for us. Who was the, I've got to ask this, who was the quiz champ? Is there any potential people to go up against the chasers? There was a massive controversy on the quiz, which Jack Flanagan, if he listens to this, has never quite lived down.
00:19:34
Speaker
On one of the main quizzes we did, Jack claimed to have hit a certain number of points, but he actually added his total up incorrectly and he wrote to us after the event. So the wrongful winner was chosen on that day. And yeah, we still talk about that nearly 18 months later. So I think the rightful winner was Terry Robinson from memory to set the record straight, but it certainly wasn't Jack. Well, good on you, Jack, for coming clean.
00:20:03
Speaker
So what more, because you made some interesting points there, what more do you think businesses should be doing for their employees? So for example, I've been out of the corporate world for some years now, but I can remember, I worked at three large telcos, and at some point it just felt like a tick box, because I can remember having an email sent round, and once every 12 months you might get a 15 minute massage.
00:20:28
Speaker
And it really did feel like a tick box. And I think businesses have come a long way since I was in the corporate world. It's approaching 10 years. But what more do you think businesses should be doing now as people return to work post COVID? Well, I think the first thing is we need to ask the people what they feel they need. I think that there's so many ideas to drive around with what you can do with people with different benefits. Someone coming in doing massages, virtual classes.
00:20:58
Speaker
more healthy eating options. There's so much there that companies can do. But I think really, I think we're definitely where we're starting is we're actually asking, you know, everyone we work with, what, you know, how do you feel and what do you what will work for you? And what are your interests? Because it's all great, you know, doing, putting together and thinking this would be great. But there may be so many people in the organization who don't actually aren't motivated by that.
00:21:26
Speaker
So first, right now, I've only joined the company recently, although I have been kind of a supporter from the sidelines since Andrew started it. And I think right now, our starting goal is we're asking everyone, we're putting together a survey as we speak, and the idea is to ask people what their interests are, what their passions are, what do they want to achieve? And then once we've got that data back, it's then kind of going through that and going, okay, how can we kind of
00:21:55
Speaker
meet most people's needs. And starting there as a starting point, instead of it being a tick block exercise, we'll be bringing what we think everyone wants. It's really about starting at the right place, which is actually the employees. Yeah, find out what they want. Yeah, I think that's very important out there because, as we've mentioned a couple of times, you know, the FM 10 we did last year was very engaging and very good. Loads of people took place, took part of it, and it was very successful.
00:22:25
Speaker
But actually, when I went back out to the business and talked to everybody and asked them, you know, what they thought about it and why didn't they enter, the people who didn't enter and stuff like that there, it was really light rooming.
00:22:38
Speaker
and we're like oh okay well there's people out there that don't like running that's interesting so you know and actually then we I started then going around the business asking people what would you do and how would you do it and what do you think we should do so we completely changed it for this year but you know it's like Emma said there we need to
00:23:01
Speaker
to start from scratch as in talk to everybody and see what would benefit people because such a diverse workforce and people are learning to do a work-life balance and do different things for working from home certain days and being out in the business and other days. Everything has changed since the pandemic so I think we really do need to start from scratch and ask everyone what would benefit you and what do you think we should be doing.
00:23:32
Speaker
You touched on the FM-10 there, so thanks for that insight into Pareto life from all of you. Let's talk about the FM-10. What is the FM-10, Andrew? Yeah, so FM-10 is really something that Chris came up with, but I supported from the start.
00:23:57
Speaker
In the pandemic, we felt like going back to that listlessness feeling, we felt people were struggling for something to achieve. And FM10 was a really nice, simple model where we got 100 medals made with rainbow lanyards, which we always do in Pareto. And we basically said, go and do a run, 10K run and send us a snapshot of it to show that you've done it and we'll send you a free medal and we'll send you a Freddo in the post.
00:24:21
Speaker
just so you had something to aim for and something to go at. And actually it was really successful. We ran it towards the end of the summer last year, which if I'm honest, I was skeptical of, because I wasn't sure how many people would be running as October sort of started to creep in. But it was brilliant. And the amount of, if people search FM10 on the hashtag on Twitter or Instagram, you'll see it. But the amount of feedback of people emailing us and just saying, thank you so much. I needed something to aim for. This has been brilliant for my mental health.
00:24:51
Speaker
And we just loved it. And it's a really simple idea. You know, the medals don't cost a huge amount of money. It wasn't a big investment from Pareto. There's a little bit on our website about it as well. And really, it was just about capturing people's attention. And then that's where the concept started. And then obviously, into this year, we started to think about trying to make it more inclusive and trying to make it a little bit less about running and a little bit more about moving.
Inclusive Participation Activities
00:25:16
Speaker
And again, just trying to make sure that we weren't ostracising anybody through this process. And that's why this year we're calling it Medal for Movement. And anyone can be part of it, whichever activity they want to be involved in. So that's where it came from, to give someone something to aim for without a cost for themselves. Which is brilliant. It's really interesting hearing you speak.
00:25:40
Speaker
Andrew, you've commented that you weren't sure if people would want to do it because it's going into October and that sits around how you structure your year. And Chris mentioned before, what you don't run. Chris, you're a runner. So those beliefs and values that you personally hold impact how you've reacted to people and your thoughts around that.
00:26:07
Speaker
which makes it even more important to go back to Emma's point about understanding and finding out what people want, because they're not you and they're not me. All the more, all the more important, doesn't it? It really is. And I'm excited because this year I can get a medal because there was no way I was getting a medal last year having to run 10K. But this year, I'm still actually trying to work out what my FM 10 is going to be.
00:26:32
Speaker
what we've kind of said is you've kind of got to do multiples of 10 of any activity that obviously involves some sort of movement. And it's interesting, actually, because there's so many things you could do. You know, a lot of us go for walks, you could do a 10 minute walk, you know, 10 times, whichever, whatever you want to do, really. Well, you know, for me, I'm thinking I'm going to do 10 long yoga sessions and get that habit back up. So you know, once I've done that, I'll have the medal, but I'll also have
00:27:02
Speaker
kind of goal to continue with as well. Yeah, so me and my youngest son, we've entered, Harry's got his trike and we are doing 10 half an hour bike rides. That is so cute. This is exactly what we wanted because we knew people wanted to engage with their kids as well through this time and 10k is an awful long way for a child, let alone an adult.
00:27:25
Speaker
So, yeah, really, that's a real good example, Joe, of this year, what we were trying to achieve compared to last year in terms of opening it up. And we've already had a couple of wheelchair users complete it as well, which has just been brilliant from our side. And the medals have gone out and the photos are due to be back, which we'll share in our social media.
00:27:43
Speaker
So I just think, even one as far as America as well, that we've had in relation to that. So really positive we've seen this year. Yeah, it's really good. And I think, Chris, we saw a really nice post yesterday, actually, on UK run chat from Beck D. I think her Twitter handle is Becklar15. I made a note of it, she said, my very first running medal ever.
00:28:05
Speaker
During a month my mileage fell due to illness but I ran my first 10 miles delighted to receive this beauty from Pareto FM. Thank you. Yeah that's what it's all about that bit it's when people are out there you know
00:28:20
Speaker
that you see, you know, so the mileage is falling. She's, you know, it's the first time doing a 10 mile run. That's the bit, you know, lots of people have said to me, you know, there's, there's been a bit of criticism about virtual runs and they're not proper runs and all that's here. Why are you getting a medal for it? But
00:28:39
Speaker
You know, this is free and this is for people to give them some hope and to give people something to aim for, you know. And I know there's virtual run companies out there that sell you all sorts these days. This is free and this is to help people, you know, and to get people back to enjoying what they do and give them something to aim for. But yeah, I loved that post yesterday.
00:29:03
Speaker
Again, that's that's one of the things I got involved in UK run shout for, you know, because you get really good news stories like that. And it's the positive things that, you know, that I like and I like to go and look for and say and celebrate. Yeah.
00:29:15
Speaker
Yeah. Your point about virtual runs that there has, they have been quite Marmite. I mean, they've saved a lot of people in the industry over the last 12 months. And yes, you don't have the, you know, that race day buzz and the camaraderie when you're at the events, that type of stuff. But, you know, to go back to Andrew's point about listlessness and it gives people a why and it gives people that motivation. So, and, um, I mean, yeah, it's, you already demonstrated it like we've just, we've
00:29:43
Speaker
I'm probably the only one in this room, but what is a virtual run? Good question. Chris, would you like to answer that? Yeah, it is a very good question. So I actually, you know, I did, I set up a virtual run one, maybe about, about seven or eight years ago, I did a virtual run series where, so basically people sign up for a race.
00:30:06
Speaker
The one that I set up was a, you know, it was 100% of the don't, you know, it was a donation people gave, they get five pound donation went straight to charity because we had all the medals funded. And so I used it as a, you know, a charity fundraising. Basically, then people would, you know, we set a date and a time, you know, where people could go and do that, they're run, but they could run it anywhere.
00:30:30
Speaker
And so instead of going to do a 10K run, you would just run it anywhere and you would get this medal in the post. And now, of course, there's, you know, over the last sort of five, six years, there's loads of virtual run companies who you can get all sorts of different types of medals and stuff. But then, you know, and like Joe was saying there in the pandemic,
00:30:49
Speaker
um you know the race is having to cancel so it actually it's saved lots of lots of races as in it's it's got them still engaging with people because you can go and do your half marathon you know in your local area and you still get that race um you know medal but um that's that's what the virtuals are um but yeah this the FM 10s it's you know it's different than the virtual it's uh
00:31:16
Speaker
Yes, you are doing it in your own back garden or your own, you know, wherever you want to do your run or walk or, you know, cycle or swim. Lots of people doing swims. But, you know, it's it's it's it's it's about just taking part and then, you know, you get something for taking part. So just just to confirm that it's evolved from a 10K run to now being this year, you do it's it's around the number 10 and you choose 10
00:31:43
Speaker
an activity or 10 activities, anything that evolves around
Pareto's Sponsorship of Shrewsbury Marathon
00:31:47
Speaker
the 10. So for example, me and my son are doing 10 half an hour bike rides, Emma might do 10 yoga sessions, and that is your completed activity as part of the FM 10.
00:31:57
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I was talking to one of our account managers yesterday, Emma Rose, and she's doing 10 boxing sessions in the gym. And, you know, she's to take part in that there. So she was saying, how do I evidence it? Because I don't have a smartwatch. And I don't do that there. And I was like, I'll take your word for it. You know, I'm not gonna argue if you're doing boxing sessions, Emma, that's all.
00:32:20
Speaker
Definitely not going to argue with Emma Rose if she gets good at boxing. No doubt about that. She's a judge. OK, so how do people enter? I'll go on, Chris, you want to go? Yeah, sorry. So on our website, we've got Pareto.com forward slash FM10. There's all the information on the website there about how to join, five easy steps to join.
00:32:48
Speaker
just to sign up and send an email in to sign up. Complete your 10, so like we were saying, any 10 themed activities, and then just submit your evidence, so like a screenshot of your app, or if you use Trava, or Garmin, or anything like that there, any sort of screenshots, submit that there, and then you'll receive a lovely FM10 medal.
00:33:15
Speaker
and with a Fredo. And then when you get your medal, you know, post a little picture on social media and use the hashtag FM10. Brilliant. Have you had any random tens? Is anyone hopping backwards down the street 10 times? Nothing like that just yet on this side. So we've had about 100 people sign up so far. I think we've got 150 medals this year. And we've had about 25 medals have gone out the door so far in terms of people that have completed.
00:33:44
Speaker
but we're in the window now between now and the 10th of September. So there's still another six weeks or so to complete your activities. And I think just as an additional point, the evidence is the least important part to us really. If you email us and say, I've completed this and that's it, then you're gonna get a medal. We're not here to challenge and judge people. It's up to them. They know whether they've done the activities or not on their side. This is an inclusive situation that we're in.
00:34:12
Speaker
Excellent. So the the Shrewsbury half you've um again I think most of our listeners know that you can run chat we organize the Shrewsbury half marathon um due for Sunday October the 10th um you you thank you very much Pareto FM are are a sponsor now of the Shrewsbury half marathon um and it
00:34:36
Speaker
From me, from my perspective, support from businesses like yourselves is really, really important. There's so much going on, obviously, for all the obvious reasons that we know, but specifically for running events, there's a huge amount that are being crammed into September and October from this calendar year. So there's so much choice for people.
00:34:58
Speaker
and looking at the sign up numbers, there is still a lack of confidence for some people and rightly so to sign up. So a big thank you from me to you for supporting our race, a big shout to all the businesses out there from me that are supporting local and smaller races because I think a lot of them would struggle this year without their support. Thank you very much. But why have you got involved? Well,
00:35:27
Speaker
I have history with the shoes we have, Joe, as you know. I've been involved before and back at the start there, when you first started doing the race, one of my clients was Nuffield Health and they were a headline sponsor. So I got involved then
00:35:47
Speaker
We, you know, back then we got, we donated the water for the race and kind of volunteered. I've also run, um, I've done the Shrewsbury half and it is a beautiful half marathon to run. So it's one of those ones that's, you know, I always mark in the calendar to go, I want to go back and do that one because it's a lovely run. It's, it's.
00:36:09
Speaker
uh very hilly if anyone likes a nice hilly half marathon um i was quite surprised actually i thought i thought um jeff filled with hilly um yeah but yeah they it's it's a lovely run and it reminds me very much of um of the runs around york as well because shrews me in york a very similar town um cities um and um you know so i wanted to get involved again because you know i think the
00:36:37
Speaker
The way the way you've set it up and the way we run, you know, it's it's very similar. So, you know, you've started up your business from yourself, your drive, your passion. It matches exactly what Pareto and what Andrew do. So, you know, I just thought it was a perfect a perfect match, really. And, you know, we wanted to support and keep going because it has been hard over over lockdown for the small
00:37:03
Speaker
you know, races.
Adventurous Activities at Pareto FM
00:37:05
Speaker
And there, like I said before, some of the smaller races are my favorite ones to do. You know, York 10K was last weekend. Unfortunately, I couldn't run it, but I was out there with my kids supporting, watching it, you know, cheering people over the line, you know, and it's, it's those, it's seeing the events like that up and running again, you know, it's, it brings a big smile to your face. So I can't wait for the shoes we have to have. And who else is, who's taking part? I think Andrew, you said you were.
00:37:32
Speaker
yes yeah i didn't know it was that hilly chris so i might have to change my uh change my tact now i live in i live in the middle of oxfordshire it's very flat so uh i'll have to go and do some hill training the three peaks will certainly help with the hill training for uh for that the uh
00:37:49
Speaker
No, I think it's something we're about to launch wider within our business in terms of inviting people to join us. Pareto has so many activities going on always at the same time. Part of the reason Emma's here is to try and keep control of the madness that is Pareto.
00:38:03
Speaker
So we've got, in the next six weeks, we've got the three peaks, we've got the charity skydive, and we've got the half marathon. So there's an awful lot going on. And at the moment, I'm doing all three of those. So my wife doesn't remember what I look like. And the fact we've got an 11 week old baby certainly doesn't help either. But no, so from our side of things, we will be widening this out within Pareto.
00:38:29
Speaker
I think Chris, there's another couple who are already signed up within Pareto, I think from your team, that are at least considering it. Yeah, absolutely. We have a couple of the account managers already signed up. There's myself and there's Andrew and every time I mention it, it's either eyes wide open or people are ducking and diving. I bet it's the same for the skydivers, isn't it?
00:38:55
Speaker
Yes, the skydive, funnily enough, this is the fifth year we've done the skydive now. It's a bit of a rite of passage if you join Pareto that we throw you out of a plane. And I think this is my fifth year sixth dive, I think, on that side.
00:39:10
Speaker
And then this usually we have about 30 people that we take for it. And it's been really, really popular. But this year, for whatever reason, people aren't as keen to throw themselves out of the plane. So I think we've only got 18 in total that are doing it this year. But it's a brilliant day. We raise money for refuge.org and, you know, to support some support women, certainly, which has become really important through this time as well. And
00:39:36
Speaker
And yeah, we just get a load of donuts on the day and everybody eats a load of junk food and jumps out of a plane and it's a really wonderful occasion. So, Emma, I didn't see your name on the list yet, so maybe... I actually really want to do it. Every year I've seen you guys do it. I'm always like, oh, I wish I worked there.
00:39:53
Speaker
So now I do, so I'm definitely going to be doing it. Wow, there's a space open, there's a space open, we'll take it offline as they say. Yeah, watch this space, very good Emma. I've done it once and they actually warned you at the start, they didn't warn you, but the adrenaline rush is like feeling drunk, which I did when I actually landed, you're like, whoa.
00:40:21
Speaker
Yeah, it's really interesting. Well, the thing is, it's interesting watching people's reactions, because I think the more you do it, the more prepared your body and mind is for it to happen. Because we do, it's in Salisbury, and we do the biggest jump in Europe, which is 15,000 square, 15,000 feet. So you have a 60 second freefall.
00:40:42
Speaker
And Chris was talking about clarity on a run, you know, earlier on today. And I think actually, you really have clarity when you're falling 200 miles an hour to the earth, and you can't, you can't get your senses together, because all you can see is the ground getting a bit bigger. Yeah, it's a really interesting, but then the amount of people that when you get down and your adrenaline drops, the amount of people that are sick, or they just really need to sort of chill out for about an hour, whilst their blood gets back circulating again in their bodies, it's
00:41:09
Speaker
It's interesting to see because I think all the ones with big bravado before they do the jump afterwards, they're often the ones that are most impacted by it. And yeah, it's fascinating to see.
00:41:20
Speaker
Men really become bullies in that situation once they jumped out of the plane, so it's fascinating. Yeah, it was fascinating to see the experienced guys just hanging outside of the plane and talking. They're hanging out the door just chatting away like it was normal. I mean, they've done thousands of jumps, but yeah, it was very interesting. They have to do 800 jumps before they can do tandem, and most of the guys have got between 3,000 and 5,000 jumps that we jump with.
00:41:47
Speaker
And really, it's really quite a safe sport in something that's very dangerous, but yeah, certainly interesting. Yeah, brilliant. Well, not for me at all. Not for me at all. Chris and I have... Chris, tell them about our friendly wager that we have between us. I was just about to say that there, we have a pact that I will sign up and do the piracy jump once Andrew's completed a marathon.
00:42:17
Speaker
Interesting. So you got, you did half marathon last year and that got me slightly worried. It's rusebreeze as hilly as you say it is that I'll be stopping at half marathon again this year so you'll be absolutely fine on that one.
00:42:35
Speaker
Well, thank you very much to all three of you for coming on and chatting to us. How can people learn more about Pareto? You've got your web address and where can they connect with you? Yeah, so if people go to ParetoFM.com, Pareto is P-A-R-E-T-O, so ParetoFM.com, or you can find us at ParetoFM on Instagram and at ParetoFM on Twitter as well.
00:43:00
Speaker
But yeah, stick the word Pareto into Google and you'll soon find us on that site. Thank you. Thank you very much. And anyone listening who advances joining up to the FM 10, get yourselves onto the website. Thank you very much, Andrew. Thank you, Emma. Thank you, Chris. Thank you, Joe. Pleasure. Thank you, Joe.