Write Away

Hello again. Today's post is about the co-author of a well known business start up guide called “The Beermat Entrepreneur”. Mike Southon is both an entrepreneur and business mentor and also writes regularly for the Mail on Sunday  and the Financial Times about small businesses and entrepreneurship. The Beermat Entrepreneur is a business self-help book aimed at people who have an idea for a business and need to know how to take it to the next stage and turn the idea into a viable business. Whilst the book is a recommended read for aspiring entrepreneurs, this post seeks to guide you to some useful resources on Mike Southon’s own website. If you so desire (and can afford to!) you can book Mike for a personal appearance from here, but there are a number of other free resources that may be of more interest. There are a number of free guides to download, some linked to the “Beermat” series but others, such as the useful “Sales pipeline simple spreadsheet”, that ...

Hello again. You may already know the answer to the above question, having proved your ability to start a small business, and if that's the case, fantastic, well done you. However, for a lot of would-be entrepreneurs, the answer might be a resounding “I’m not quite sure!”. This post takes a look at a new initiative, which is a partnership between the government and private enterprise,  which, in it’s own words, aims to “highlight support for start-ups and growing businesses and encourage entrepreneurial spirit in 2012”. The website (as usual, the link is at the end of the post) is split into four sections, covering: ·          Inspiration – featuring a number of case studies on people who have taken the plunge and started successful businesses - different sectors and different backgrounds make for some interesting stories.   ·          Finance – this section takes you straigh...

Welcome back to Write Away. Our latest post is about a website that is aiming to create a massive online community for freelancers, writers and anyone running a home business. Ihubbub aims to replicate the “hubbub” heard when home workers get together and network. It wants users, who often work isolation, to feel part of a buzzing community of people who are in the same situation as them. It also wants to create a market place for businesses to use each other’s skills and grow together. First impressions are that it does this very well, the look and feel of the site are good, it is easy to navigate and there are a host of resources and information aimed at those working from home, whatever your business. There are three levels of membership, which allow you to pitch and interact with other users to different degrees, but the basic level is free enabling you to create a build a profile before starting to pitch for work or develop your online contacts and networks. You can register a...

Hi again, and welcome back to Write Away, the blog for freelancers, small businesses, start-ups, and anybody interested in working for themselves. This post, I’m going to pick up on a theme I’ve written about before, how to sell yourself effectively. Being able to describe what you do, or the service you offer, concisely, and in an interesting and memorable way, is a skill that anybody working for themselves should perfect. A well-known method for doing this is to produce what is known as an “Elevator Pitch”. The website Elevator--Pitch.com describes this as: “A short and to the point snippet of a service or product your company provides”. The idea of an elevator pitch comes from the premise of what you would say to a stranger, who got into the lift with you, that would leave a positive, lasting impression of you, in the time it takes to get to their floor. In those few short seconds, you need to convey a professional manner and attract the other persons interest enough to remembe...

Hi there, and welcome back to Write Away, the blog for small businesses, the self employed and those thinking of working themselves. Our latest post concerns another online resource that could prove to be a valuable resource for any small business owner or budding entrepreneur. The website is called “My Business”, as usual, the link is included below this post. The website is divided into eight useful sections: Finance & Money, People, Technology, Sales & Marketing, Operations, Import & Export, Future and Cash flow, each one having a number of sub sections that contain valuable insights and advice on that aspect of running a business. The Finance & Money section has some great advice on late payments and how to try and avoid this and further advice on taking small claims through the courts if you need to. The latest Sales & Marketing article contains advice on pitching for new business and the “Top 10 Features” listing deals with questions surrounding IR35 and con...

Hello again. It’s well publicised that in interviews, we form an opinion of someone within seconds, and that opinion counts towards our overall impression of that person in front of us. In business it is really no different. When you are trying to promote yourself to potential customers or clients, making a strong first impression is very important, whether it be through your business card, giving someone your well practised “elevator pitch” or merely introducing yourself, you have to convey a professional image and convince that person that they need to do business with you. In a past job, I attended a lot of networking sessions and came across a speaker at a couple of those events who really focused on first impressions and emphasised their importance. His name was Nigel Risner, he does a lot of talks about networking and how we can improve our communication and his passion is infectious. Nigel wrote a book sometime ago, called “You Had Me at Hello” (the titles refers to a line fr...

Welcome back. For the first time on this blog I’m going to include a book recommendation, just because I think it is an excellent book and could be a worthwhile investment if you’re seriously considering setting up your own business. It’s called “Make It Happen – The Prince’s Trust Guide To Starting Your Own Business” (ISBN 9780857080455) – I was asked to review this book for the Chartered Management Institute and I’m very glad I did. The book is divided into ten sections which range from marketing and sales, managing your money and writing a business plan to advice on growth and getting yourself a mentor. The format and layout of the book make it very easy to read and there are numerous nuggets of advice from both well known entrepreneurs (such as James Caan of Dragons Den fame and Tony Elliot who started Time Out magazine) and not-so-well know business people, but all offer sound advice and excellent tips based on their own experiences.   As start up books go, I found it ref...