Articles

Today's webchat: can entrepreneurs change the world?

All About Finance

Guest: Phil Conway
Date: 20 November 2008
Time: 13:00 UK time
Further info: makeyourmark.org.uk

What does the world entrepreneur mean to you? Wealth? Excess? Greed? If these images come to mind, then think again.

Social enterprises – which aim to make money AND make a difference, are one of the fastest growing types of new business in the UK today.

From Jamie Oliver’s acclaimed Fifteen restaurant business to the Big Issue founded by John Bird, there are a wealth of businesses across the UK set up to solve some of societies biggest issues, while still making a profit.

If you would like to find out more about the business model capturing the imagination of a new breed of entrepreneurs – then join Phil Conway of Cool2Care at 1pm on Social Enterprise Day (Thursday 20 November) for a live chat on all things social enterprise.

The chat will start at 1pm, so get posting your questions! Remember, you can post in advance, if you're super keen! If you miss the chat not to worry, it will be available on the site afterwards.

• Thursday: can entrepreneurs change the world? - [www.enterpriseweek.org.uk]

Find your perfect match

Our guest for the day: Helen Rhiannon Gill

Setting up a business wasn’t something that crossed my mind, ever. The natural journey after University was to work for larger companies in London and gain valuable experience over a number of years. Sometimes fate decides your path and, before I knew it, I had sold my Graduate collection into a small boutique and then I was registered as self employed!

The Helen Rhiannon designer label was launched in March 2005 and I haven’t looked back!

Some might say I have a very expensive hobby. The hours put into designing and making garments are not always rewarded with large profits, although the passion I have for my label is rewarded well in other ways. I have been very fortunate to have worked on some amazing projects, such as designing and making a dress for international opera star Katherine Jenkins, for the Cool Cymru photographic project.

Over the three years, I have worked extremely hard to build on my reputation as a designer and, most importantly, as a business woman. This has led to me being awarded Swansea Bay Young Achiever Award in Business, in 2007. In the same year, I was also a finalist in the Young Entrepreneur Category in Swansea Bay Woman of the Year. This year I was also awarded Young Home Business Owner of the Year by Enterprise Nation. I have been overwhelmed with the response from each competition and my business has been going from strength to strength.

Recently, I was asked to become a ‘Dynamo Role Model’ and also an Ambassador for ‘Make Your Mark’. Both of these roles will give me an unique opportunity to encourage young people to take brave new steps towards their future careers. I have personally learnt a huge amount over the last few years, which I am more than happy to pass on to young, like minded people.

Enterprise Week is such a fantastic time for people, of all ages, to explore new opportunities. I am really excited to be in a position where I can hopefully inspire and encourage young people to take risks and to do something in life that they love. My aim is to hold my own workshops during Enterprise Week next year, and to start a network of like minded people who can also be involved in continuing the good work which is happening this very week.

I can’t wait to fulfil my new roles and to see what exciting projects 2009 brings with it!

• Helen Rhiannon Gill

A star line-up

5. Lee Ann Smith, W3 Web Designs

Home-based web designer, Lee Ann, is always keen to offer advice to other home businesses in our forums: "Just had a look at your site. It is beautiful," she writes, in response to another member's post. "You may want to have a look at the keywords in the blue bar at the top of the site. If you add more products to the site, you may want to break your online shop page into more than one page, just because people hate scrolling, but it is no rush at the moment."

• Read more from Lee Ann in our forums

4. Kerry Greatrix, Office Diva

'Office Diva', Kerry, came to the rescue when fellow member, Charmaine Walters, was "totally stuck for a name!" Responding in our forums, Kerry wrote, "The other thing to bear in mind is the spelling of your name - you don't want to have something that could easily be mis-spelt in a web brower & your potential client goes elsewhere."

• Read more from Kerry in our forums

3. Dee Blick, The Marketing Gym

Who could forget Dee's marvellous turn in one of our first ever webchats? She's been around for others since, but here's the full transcript from her own.

• Read more from Dee in our forums

2. Heather Bestel, A Little Bit of Me Time

If sharing is caring then Heather Bestel has a heart of gold. Always one to point out articles of interest, Heather can often be found in our forums keeping conversations going and getting them started.

• Read more from Heather in our forums

1. Alan Young, 1st Addition Accountancy Limited

Accountant, Alan Young, is our number poster (and by definition a 'poster boy'!). Well done, Alan. And thanks for all of your advice and participation.

• Read more from Alan in our forums

Photo credit: Flickr user, _tomanthony

Home Business Bonanza: a tasty slice of cheese

A bit on the side

• Don’t know what to buy for the husband who has everything?
• Looking for a branded gift for your top clients?
• Fancy a nibble of something nice yourself?

Then take a look at this offer from The Cheese Shed.

The 10% discount can be used on any of the Christmas items, located by clicking on the link below. This is how they’re described:

"Opening a Cheese Shed box is an experience of pure delight, with the gem-like cheeses smartly boxed and nestling in a bed of protective wood fibre. Packed with care and ice-chilled, Christmas cheese will be sent out to arrive on the 18th, 19th or 23rd December, and will last through the holiday period (if it gets the chance!)."

The deal is valid until the end of November. Just quote the code ENX8 to claim.

• The Cheese Shed Christmas Collection

3rd Places: London's best free 'out of home' offices

Royal Festival Hall

On the south side of the river, and with a little more hustle and bustle, is The Royal Festival Hall. Most people tend to unfold their laptops on the ground floor next to the windows overlooking the Hayward Gallery, as this is where the building’s free wi-fi signal is strongest. However, if the constant onslaught of classical music and the glare from all those pristine white Apple laptops gets too much, you’ll find the very peaceful Saison Poetry Library on the sixth floor, complete with workstations.

• Royal Festival Hall

Camden Arts Centre

According to Time Out itself, the Camden Arts Centre has ‘the best coffee in North London’, and the pastries aren’t bad either. The café is light and airy with free wi-fi and nice big tables, but there’s also a gallery and bookshop stocked with quirky little publications that you’ll struggle to find anywhere else. The café tends to be populated by twenty- and thirtysomething creative types and there’s also a healthy smattering of gossiping pensioners with an interest in the arts; nothing too avant-garde, mind. The café opens on to a garden, where you can work among the various temporary artworks.

• Camden Arts Centre

Camera Café

I don’t know about you, but I find working in Starbucks virtually impossible – perhaps it’s the sound of all that running water… But there are loads of other quirky little cafés around town that love having people pitch up for the day and won’t hassle you to keep buying coffees. The idiosyncratic Camera Café brings a touch of Parisian eccentricity to London. The front of the café is a shop with cabinets jam packed with secondhand cameras: anything from beautiful old Leicas to restored Hasselblads. People seem to come here not just to buy cameras, but simply to chat about photography, and you’ll no doubt run into a character or two if you spend the morning here. In the back is a small but cosy café. French music is played and the walls are covered with photographs hung at jaunty angles. All the juices come freshly squeezed and the Thai food is excellent. For £1 you can use the wi-fi all day.

• Camera Café

– Henry Carroll

Photo: Royal Festival Hall (© Morley Von Sternberg)

To read more of Henry's recommendations for free wi-fi hotspots in London just follow the link below.

• London's best free wi-fi hotspots - [Time Out London]

Reclaim your working life

Take stock and take action

If you’re finding yourself in the position where your clients have a monopoly on your time and obligations start to set in, there are steps you can take to regain that sense of freedom and flexibility that first drove you to going freelance.

1. It’s time to take stock of things.

Are you happy with the quality of work you’re doing, and the direction you’re taking? If not, it’s time to identify why not. Head out (away from your home office), to the nearest coffee shop, get a triple wet latte, take a notebook and a pen, and write down all the things you love about your work. If any of the things you love are falling by the wayside, find out the reasons why. Remember, we all started working for ourselves for many reasons, and there are things we all love about it. Don’t let those slide.

2. Take action.

Now you’ve identified what the issues are, it’s time to take corrective steps. For me, that includes making myself less available and concentrating on the sides of my business I want to develop. Whatever you need to do, do it. Dig out your business plan, and review it. Are you doing what you set out to do? If not, write yourself a (I hate to say it, but..) a mission statement, and take control.

3. Get support.

I’m lucky that I have a husband who believes in what I do, and supports me. Use the Enterprise Nation forums, as we all have common interests (I may just be in there myself once I’ve finished this). Talk to family and friends, and talk things through.

4. Be true to yourself.

This is your business. There’s no business like your business.

I’ve started following my own advice.

Paula Jones is a Prince2 Practitioner and Founder of Sixth Level Ltd

• Sixth Level

In the right frame of mind

Following a referral from an existing contact, I took on a new client in Telford, about 3 years ago. For the next couple of years, my Shropshire client base grew slowly, but I didn’t actively pursue it, as I was based some 50 miles away, and didn’t think I would be able to break into that area from my Redditch base.

Almost exactly a year ago, I joked, in a meeting with my Bank Manager that they never gave me any business. This was the start of a productive, but short lived, business arrangement. My manager moved on, and the referrals dried up as quickly as they had begun, as his replacement had his own preferred suppliers already in place.

In the meantime, I had taken on a Telford office, local phone numbers etc and was now proactively looking for business in the area. In spite of the loss of this potential business from the bank, my Telford office has grown at an incredible rate, and has now replaced Redditch as the main one.

History has just repeated itself, once again. A client gained some 4 months ago could, potentially have doubled my business over the next 12 months. I continued my expansion, and even took on a new apprentice last month. I found out that the client ceased trading yesterday, but I still can’t wait for my apprentice to start, as I now have more than enough work for the two of us, and the loss of this new, potentially huge, client, although I feel for them, has had no noticeable impact on my business whatsoever.

They say we can talk ourselves into a recession, but the lesson I have learned from this is that the right mental attitude can take us through most things. If we plan to be small, then we always will be, but if we have the courage to pursue our greater dreams, the sky really is the limit.

Alan Young is Founder of 1st Addition

• 1st Addition 
   

Home Business Bonanza! Winter Woolies

On offer

Amanda has agreed a discount on these products:

• Rainbow beret and turquoise beret, made of alpaca and acrylic mix. Looks great on kids and adults, as featured in The Independent @ £10 each
• Fairisle chullo, 100% baby alpaca, as featured in The Telegraph @ £25
• Sleeved stone poncho, 100% baby alpaca, as featured in Worcestershire Living and Cambridge (best seller alert!!) @ £120
• Pom pom chullo, made of alpaca and acrylic mix. Looks great on kids and adults, as featured in The Daily Mail Weekend magazine @ £22

To claim your discount, enter the promotion code ENTNAT008 in the coupon box at the checkout. The offer is valid from 17 - 26 Nov.

• Peruvian Knitwear

Our guest for the day: Oliver Sidwell

Enterprise Week is something I've never been previously involved in and I'm hugely looking forward to this week ahead. Writing this on the Sunday before, I'm excited about being a part of a globally recognised celebration of entrepreneurship as likeminded people are brought together to discuss success and share stories to celebrate working for yourself.

I first really came across the term 'enterprise' when I became part of a Young Enterprise Project in 6th form at School. There were about 10 of us who were all good friends that agreed to take part and it wasn't something we took that seriously at first, however the more we got into it the more we enjoyed developing our own project and products. It wasn't a hassle working through lunchtimes and we began to really enjoy creating our range of products, which for some reason were foam keyrings. We had a couple of months to sell as many as possible and my favourite moment by far was dressing up as a sheep on a local Victorian Evening to try and sell our sheep keyrings on the street!

Since then I've always had an interest in running my own business and the decision to hand in my notice for my graduate job selling software in May this year to work full time on RateMyPlacement.co.uk was one of the best decisions I've ever made. It's great to be in charge of your own destiny and Enterprise Week opens many doors and allows you to really express yourself through meeting many similar people.

The highlight of Enterprise Week for me will be meeting and having dinner with Peter Cruddas, Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 at Loughborough University on Wednesday!

How would selling software for a living have provided me with an opportunity like this?!

• RateMyPlacement.com
  

A day in the life of an MBE franchise owner

08.30

As we sort all the incoming post into mailboxes, I check my emails and respond to customers who want to know if there’s anything waiting for them.  They’ll call in later to collect it.

By 10am I am ready for a coffee, which is just as well as it’s nearly time for our weekly coffee club get-together, hosted at the store.  We offer so many services for small businesses and have such a wide range of customers that it makes sense to provide a place where they can get together and do a bit of networking.  This week I’ve promised to have a chat with the group about how they can use us as their mail room – for example, we can do their monthly invoice run and a lot more besides.  While I’m talking, another customer comes in to use our PC.   He’s putting the finishing touches to a mailer that we’re going to print and distribute to a list of around 400 addresses for him.  The coffee club members are intrigued by this and keen to find out more.  One also asks if we can help with a little e-bay venture he’s just set up.  I’m delighted to tell him it’s right up our street.  Our specialist packing skills and shipping services mean we can handle all kinds of mail order fulfilment.

11.30

Christmas is coming, and a lot of the overseas students from the local university are either sending gifts or packing up their stuff in order to return home for the holidays.  Whatever it is, we can send it for them.  While they’re here, I remind them that this is the place to come for their dissertations, presentations and CVs in a few months’ time.  We do all kinds of copying, printing, binding and special finishes, so they won’t have to rely on the often overstretched facilities on campus!

13.00

Next, I have an appointment with a lady who is just about to set up a consultancy  business from home.  She’s understandably nervous about committing too much money up front, but at the same time she needs to make the right impression on her clients.  I advise her to consider our virtual office package.  She can combine a mailbox – which allows her to use our business address as her own – with various back-up services, including company formation, telephone answering, postal services, shipping, copy and print, so she gets just the set-up she needs, without having to invest in the infrastructure.

14.00

It’s the school’s autumn bazaar next week and they have asked me to print off 1000 flyers.  It’s an urgent job – a group of parents has volunteered to deliver them to local households over the next few evenings – and I’ve promised to deliver them as soon as they’re ready.

2.30

While I’m out, I make my weekly visit to the local auction house.  Once items are sold they have to be sent on to their buyers, particularly as these days many auctions take place over the internet.  We collect items from the warehouse, pack them carefully and ship them all over the world.  The auctioneer is happy to recommend us to clients because he knows we can be trusted with fragile and irreplaceable consignments.  We work with a wide range of carriers, too, so buyers can select just the right class of service for their item depending on how quickly they want it and where it needs to go.  We’re the only company that offers so much choice.

4.30

Time to make some phonecalls.  A lot of business customers have ordered personalised Christmas cards and calendars – it’s important to stay on your clients’ radar, particularly with trading conditions as they are now, and this is a very cost-effective way of doing so.

5.45

Before I shut up shop for the day, there’s just time to do a high volume copy job for a new customer who called this afternoon.  She’s running a seminar at a hotel just up the road tomorrow, and is on her way down on the train.  She located us via our website, emailed some updated course notes to us from her laptop and I’m going to get them to the hotel for her at 8.30am tomorrow, before her delegates arrive.

To find your local MBE store, visit the website or call 0800 623123, Monday to Friday 8.30am to 5.30pm.

• Mail Boxes Etc
  

Q&A with buddies4travel.co.uk

When did you start buddies4travel.com?

I started Buddies4travel.co.uk just over a year ago

How did you come up with the idea?

Having travelled to over 47 countries myself, I believe that travel promotes a new perspective on life. I came up with the idea when I travelled to Lake Garda in Italy and met several lone women who said they would go on holiday more often if they had someone to go with. I thought I would like to help these women so invited them to meet up for evening meals and sightseeing tours and hence the idea Buddies4travel.co.up came about.

What is the single most effective thing you have done to promote the site/business?

The most effective way I promoted the business was a feature editorial in the local papers As a result I was successful in matching several buddies - some of which are featured on Buddies4travel.co.uk  website Testimonial page.

Do you work from a dedicated room in the house? If so, can you describe it to us?

My office is on the top 3rd floor loft conversion of my house and has pleasant music and bell chimes around the office so the environment keeps cheerful.

Are your children involved in the business?

My children aged 7 and 9 always mention buddies to everyone we meet and are often sitting on the floor drawing or doing their homework quietly while I work.

What are your plans for the next 6 – 12 months?

My plans for the next 6months are to continue to promote and market the business .Our motto is enjoy life follow your dreams and travel its much more fun with a buddy!

• Buddies4travel.co.uk

How goes it with Wizz-it?

Hello again!

Kinvara welcomes us back and updates us on her progress. It’s a perfect snapshot of the life a busy business owner as she works on business development, marketing and getting the finest details just right.

“Its been a few months since we last spoke and there’s been quite a bit going on.

Annoyingly we had to push back our launch date until next January which I was gutted about – the wizz-it control panel (which is where people will be able to update their website from) was not quite user friendly enough and I didn’t want to go live with a half hearted attempt – we’ve only got one go at this and I’m determined to get it right!! So I employed a super duper wizz kid who’s been making a few changes and giving it a new funky look as well. 

Whilst he’s been doing that I’ve been getting a law firm to write the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Statements for the website... both of which are vital to the safety of the business and worth spending money on to get them done properly.  As tempting as it was to save money, I was told not to write my own versions!

I’ve also been writing the help document which my clients are going to be able to download if they need help updating their website, it’s a very boring task that I’ve been pushing to the bottom of my list!

And I’ve been having regular meetings with my marketing friends, putting together a plan of action for when we go live, its going to be such a great system that I want to make sure as many people as possible find out about it.

Someone has also recommend that I try hiring a PR agency to get some articles written about wizz-it to generate more awareness which I think is a great idea but I don’t really know much about PR so I’m doing some background work first and trying to find the best agency so I can make sure my money will go to good use.

That’s about it for now – come back again soon so I can give you more news.”

Thanks, Kinvara, we will!

• Kinvara Rugge-Price is launching wizz-it.com in January 2009
• In the meantime, you can find her at digitalgalleries.co.uk 

Our guest for the day: Alex Johnson

No shame in being small

Most successful business folk have some kind of mantra. Usually these are along pretty bullish ‘I’m a 110% winner’ or ‘Today Scarborough, tomorrow the world’ lines, but I’d like to offer an alternative for Enterprise Week – ‘I’m small and I like it’.
 
The chief goal of all businesses is to make money and all week there’ll be celebrations of those who have done well, made their mark, and are whizzing up the ladder of success. Congratulations to all of them. I’m glad they’re doing so well. But there are alternatives: you don’t have to have an empire to be enterprising.
 
I am a journalist with a ‘portfolio career’ working most regularly for a national UK newspaper, several large charities, a lifestyle magazine, and a web site for designers. All this work is done for other people though and my own ‘enterprise' is a web site and e-magazine devoted to homeworkers, particularly those who work from garden offices, which I set up and run completely by myself (although many other people are extremely generous with free help and suggestions).
 
In terms of making money, Shedworking and The Shed magazine technically account for only about 15% of my total income. But it’s well worth running this small business for several reasons. For a start, while it’s not enough to retire on, at the same time it is an additional revenue stream, one which actually brings in more than my smallest client annually. And it’s growing, both in terms of international reputation and financially.
 
Secondly, it broadens my portfolio and leaves me less open to the danger of falling victim to the sudden whims of my other employers (not that they are whimsical people, you understand, they’re all great and even pay on time. And they’re clever and attractive). And thirdly, it brings in other work. If I had not had the experience of running Shedworking behind me, at least two of my clients would probably not have asked me to help with their operations. On that basis, it’s responsible for more like 75% of my income.
 
But there’s also a strong lifestyle element to working small. My workstyle allows me to see (and look after) my three small children and get involved in local and voluntary activities. If I were working all hours God sends, the last thing I’d want to do is assemble a transformable robot or lay out the cathedral’s magazine.
 
Having said that, if anybody would like to buy Shedworking for £1 million, please do get in touch.

Alex Johnson is Editor of Shedworking.co.uk and The Shed

Click on the link below to download the most recent edition of The Shed

• Shedworking.co.uk
• The Shed

Website of the day: eatingbritain.com

It’s the real meal deal

Client to one of our top PR contributors, Simon Corbett, this is a nice site complete with recipes, event listings and even an interview with Jamie Oliver. Scrum!

If you’d like to take care of the family in between taking care of clients, then making the perfect lasagne could be of interest. Or if you’d like to stretch your legs outside the home office and grow your own fruit & veg, this piece on landsharing will appeal. 

Whatever your interest in food, you’ll find this site a tasty little treat.

• Eatingbritain.com

Home Business Bonanza: your very own website

In safe hands with W3

Lee Ann Smith has been active on the site and in our forums for some time now. She gives constructive advice to anyone wanting feedback on their site design and she’s even appeared on TV on account of being an Enterprise Nation member!

Now Lee Ann is offering a 10% discount to other Enterprise Nation members who place an order for a website before the end of November. Here are the prices and details of how to claim your discount.

Affordable Web Design

We specialise in Affordable web design and have a number of packages to suit any size business.

• 3 page website: £149
• 5 Page website: £199
• 10 Page website: £349
• E-commerce: Set up of 100 products was £1299, now only £899

All Enterprise Nation Members can receive a 10% discount by quoting EN101 when placing an order – no matter how big!

Call now on: 01994 241454 or visit www.w3designs.co.uk

A new feature: weekly tech tip

Format Painter

Format Painter is possibly one of the most useful options in MS Office - worth its weight in gold.  

The feature enables you to copy the formatting attributes of text e.g. font style, size, position and apply them to text somewhere else. A real time-saver.

Here’s how:  

• Select the text whose formatting attributes you wish to copy
• Click on the Format Painter toolbar icon (a paint brush)
• Next select the text to which you would like to apply the same formatting to. This will only work once. 

If you would like to apply the same formatting to more than one area of text simply double-click on the Format Painter toolbar icon and you can carry on applying the same formatting to different pieces of text as many times as you like until you click once on the Format Painter toolbar icon again

• To apply formatting to an entire paragraph click to the left of the paragraph
• You can also cancel the format painter by tapping the ESCAPE key

With this little tool, you can paint away ‘til your heart’s content! 

• Bite Size Learning

Today's webchat: Aim high, think big!

All About Finance

Guest: Clare Logie & Sharon Connolly
Date: 19 November 2008
Time: 13:00 UK time
Further info: makeyourmark.org.uk

In the hot seat answering your questions will be Clare Logie, Director of Bank of Scotland Corporate's Women in Business programme, which aims to support and encourage women who want to start or grow a business. Joining Clare will be Sharon Connelly, founder of women’s lifestyle and image consultancy Maximise Group .

The chat will start at 1pm, so get posting your questions! Remember, you can post in advance, if you're super keen! If you miss the chat not to worry, it will be available on the site afterwards.

• Wednesday: Aim high, think big! - [www.enterpriseweek.org.uk]

Today's webchat: All about finance

All About Finance

Guest: Lisa Newton
Date: 18 November 2008
Time: 13:00 UK time
Further info: makeyourmark.org.uk

There may never be a bad time to start a good business, but how do you negotiate the current financial downturn, as a business owner without getting caught in the crunch?

Are there alternatives to traditional means of funding? Is it possible to capitalize on the financial downturn? What top tips can help you prepare to pitch for investment.

Whatever your business finance problem, if you have a question send it in now and join entrepreneur Lisa Newton, founder of bookkeeping service Boogles Ltd and financial advice service YURBroke live on Tuesday 18 November at 1pm for expert advice.

The chat will start at 1pm, so get posting your questions! Remember, you can post in advance, if you're super keen! If you miss the chat not to worry, it will be available on the site afterwards.

• Tuesday: all about finance - [www.enterpriseweek.org.uk]

Happy Enterprise Week!

What is Enterprise Week?

Now in its fourth year, Enterprise Week (17-23 November) is a national celebration of enterprise with thousands of events and activities happening across the UK.

It started as a UK initiative focused on encouraging young people to be enterprising but it’s been so successful over the years that this year it’s going global and is intended for people of all ages.

Global Entrepreneurship Week, based on the UK’s successful model, will run in more than 75 countries and inspire millions to join a growing movement of entrepreneurial people.  

The Week is supported by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and organised by Make Your Mark (founders of the UK’s Enterprise Week) and the Kauffman Foundation. 

And there’s plenty more information to be found on the Enterprise Week website.

• Enterprise Week website