“You’ll never guess who I had breakfast with yesterday” is the first thing I’ve said to everyone I’ve met this morning. Not a single one has guessed that on Thursday morning I went to 10 Downing Street to have breakfast with David Cameron.

I feel so honoured to have been invited along with 14 owners and directors of other small and medium sized businesses from all around the UK to talk directly to the guys in charge of running the country about the issues affecting our businesses.

Prime Minister David Cameron, Chancellor of the Exchequer the Rt Hon George Osborne and Mark Prisk MP Minister for Small Business & Enterprise were all there, all listening much more than they were talking too!

We talked at length about things that Government does and does not do for us and the ways in which they can help or hinder us in the running of our businesses. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to speak on behalf of our businesses and our industries on the issues affecting us, and thrilling to be part of such a lively discussion in which they were clearly listening intently and taking on board what we said.

As an entrepreneur I really hope that this Government can really help to encourage a culture of entrepreneurship in the UK that helps lift us all out of these dark and gloomy economic times.  From where I’m sitting the future looks very bright indeed, we are surrounded by great UK based businesses doing amazing things with a Government that truly seems to mean it when it says it wants to help.  That’s certainly putting a spring in my step this sunny Friday afternoon.

PS. Forget what we talked about, I know you really want to know what they’re all like, that’s the first question anyone has asked! Well from what I could tell they all seemed like thoroughly great people who it was an absolute pleasure to meet.

As a typical man, I try to get away with doing as little cleaning as possible! However, being married to Sam means I don’t get away with it and have to do my fair share.

Even before starting So Organic we were looking for natural and organic alternatives to the products we used around the house. With cleaning products we chose to switch to Ecover and I remember thinking at the time that a green cleaning product must be inferior to a mainstream product like Mr. Muscle or Persil. So imagine how surprised and impressed I was and continue to be with the cleannig power of Ecover products.

Now we have Lily we do far more washing than we ever did before, and the non bio laundry liquid is hugely economical especially as we’re able to refill it at home using the 15 litre laundry liquid box. I know it saves us money, but as a guy I have to say I like the novelty of the easy pour tap which is somewhat like pouring oneself a glass of wine from a wine box (which takes me back a few years!) In a way, there is a peculiar fun about refilling the laundry liquid bottle, although I have to say, doing the washing as an end result is not quite as enjoyable as drinking a glass of wine.

Seriously though, one thing that has surprised me over time is how clean our clothes do get by using Ecover products and the subtle natural fragrance is fab compared to the synthetic fragrance you get in Daz or Bold. In fact I now find the smell of synthetic fragrance far too strong and unnecessary.

There are plenty of other Ecover products we use like the washing up liquid, dishwasher tablets and multi surface spray, but waxing lyrical about them may give Samantha the idea that I actually like cleaning! And one final reason why I like Ecover is the jazzy adverts they do. If you want to see one of them just take a look here: Happy cleaning!

Stu and I were lucky enough to be invited to a wonderful event last night. It was the launch party for the new green bond from Ecotricity and their wonderful new wind powered car; the Nemesis.

Ecotricity are an amazing and truly inspiring company, they see that it’s not enough to sell green power but that we need to invest in increased capacity and the ability to produce more green energy otherwise there just won‘t be enough available to make the kind of different that we need to. They invest in wind turbines and produce electricity from them which is where the “wind-powered” bit comes from. This electricity goes into the grid and is used to power everything from boiling the kettle for your morning cup of tea to charging up your electric (“wind-powered”) car!

Ecotricity have spent two years working on the car which looks fabulous and is a great way to show that being green doesn’t have to be boring. With a top speed of 170mph and 0-100mph in 8.5 seconds, it’s great antidote to the myth that you can’t get great performance out of an electric car. Apparently it's great fun to drive too, the meanies didn’t let me have a go so I can’t vouch for that though! ;o(

Lucy Siegle who writes on green issues for the Observer was there filming the car and the amazing reaction to it so hopefully you should be able to watch the film via the Ecotricity website soon.

The Ecotricity eco bond is a way for you to invest your money to get a better return that you would at the bank (7%) and because you’re investing directly with Ecotricity you enable them to invest even more in building capacity to product more green energy quicker. It’s a definite win: win situation.

If you’re looking for simple ways to go green and really make a difference without it affecting your life (other than giving you a nice warm fuzzy feeling that you’re doing your bit), then switching your electricity to Ecotricity is a great step. They invest far more than any other energy company in new sources of green energy, which is what we need to do if we want to reduce our reliance upon fossil fuels and make a sustainable change for the future.

Ecotricity don’t charge any more for their energy either, and price match with the 6 main electricity providers so when there’s no premium for using green electricity, what other excuse can you think of for not using it? We can’t change the world overnight, but we can make a difference by working together to take steps in the right direction. Switching to Ecotricity is a very easy first step. We’ve changed over, and I hope you will too. Switch now….

Last night I was at a lovely drinks reception Whole foods Market, Kensington, for the announcement of the Who’s who in Natural beauty 2011.

It’s a list of those people who really make an impact in the world of natural beauty, voted for by their peers, the retailers, manufacturers and consultants to the industry and it’s a huge honour to make your way onto the list.

My jaw nearly hit the floor, when the list was revealed and my name was way up there at the top in 2^nd place, only behind Simon and Rhodri the lovely guys behind the Bulldog brand.

I’m absolutely thrilled to be on the Who’s who in natural beauty list again and owe a huge thank you to all of my peers who voted for me and to my fantastic team here at So Organic HQ who help me so much.  Thanks to you all.

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It's really reassuring to know that other people have used a product and would recommend it, especially when you're trying something for the first time. That’s why our philosophy when choosing products to stock at So Organic that we’ll only recommend products that we would recommend to our friends.

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