A day in the life…

By Micky Wells

I’m quite lucky a person really. In my job I get to meet interesting people, visit cool restaurants and get plenty of fresh air. I’m also lucky because I can turn a tap on and drink clean water whenever I want and it’s not something we really think about, it’s just there. Water, a luxury for many, is a struggle for others. 1 in 10 people in fact. This mind blowing statistic of how many people DON’T have access to clean water highlights the work that still needs to be done to bring water equality to everyone worldwide. And I’m lucky because I’m part of a team that is trying to change that. 

I talk about water a lot as you can imagine and I always say to customers that I understand water isn’t the most interesting thing in a restaurant or in a bar. With Belu however, there is a story behind the water. The WHY rather than just the WHAT. The why being our purpose as a social enterprise and the what being bottled mineral water, filtration systems and our new tonics and mixers range. I thought I would give you an insight into my working day, where, as I mentioned I talk about water a lot but I also get to meet interesting people and talk to them about the positive impact working with Belu has. 

9:00 Team Meeting – First stop of the day is The Conduit in Covent Garden to meet my colleague Sal for our weekly team meeting (minus Claire who is in Australia, not jealous in the slightest) – this is where we discuss progress with prospect customers, any inbound inquiries from the past week and plans for the week ahead. In a time of working remotely, setting time aside in our diaries to meet in person is so important as it allows us to offer advice with customers, support one another and generally talk about whatever we feel like on the day. 

11:30 Site Survey –  Off to Moorgate for a site survey at the venue of a prospect customer where I’m to measure the space ahead of installation of a filtration system and meet with the customer in person. Site surveys only usually take around 15-30 minutes depending on what stage they are at but it gives us another chance to highlight the positive impact of working with Belu has on both people and planet.  

12:30 Customer Meeting – After eating lunch on the go (ham and mustard sandwich with a packet of skips if you’re asking) I popped in to see George from one of our amazing Belu Filter In Action customers The Green Room in Waterloo to talk about installing a second filtration system to cope with the demand the warmer weather (hopefully) this summer will bring. Seeing success stories like The Green Room and hearing how passionate they are about working with Belu really gives you added motivation and drive for the rest of the day.  

14:00 Customer Engagement Session – Over to Mayfair to see brand new BFIA customer Apricity ahead of their opening on the Friday to hold a team engagement session. This is one of my favourite parts of the job as it not only allows me to tell people the amazing work Belu and WaterAid do but also gives me the opportunity to reflect and remind myself why this job matters. The goal of these sessions is to give customers the tools to feel confident in telling the Belu story to guests and hopefully inspire them, making them proud to be supporting our purpose.  

15:45 Customer Meeting – Prior to what I thought was my final meeting of the day with an existing customer in Kensington, I had a call from a potential customer, asking if I could pop by to meet with the General Manager of an AMAZING restaurant to talk all things Belu Filter In Action. Anyway, back to the meeting at hand with Quarter Kensington. Quarter have been serving Belu mineral water in both their Kensington and St James sites for some time and despite seeing the Belu logo everyday, it still excites me seeing our bottles in cafes, bars and restaurants. As well as serving bottled mineral water, Quarter were keen to explore the possibility of introducing Belu filtered water in their Kensington site and were curious to see how this would work alongside bottled water. Again, this was a great opportunity to meet with an existing customer and thank them for supporting Belu and our purpose.  

17:00 Final meeting of the day – Luckily my impromptu meeting was just round the corner from Quarter Kensington which I was pretty thankful for considering I’d just hit 14,000 steps for the day. As last meetings of the day go, this was exciting as this venue has been somewhere I’d love to eat in and work with for quite some time. 

18:30 Back home to finalise proposals from a busy day and sign off.