So what measures can you put in place to avoid being a negative statistic, giving your business a better chance of doing more than just surviving?

Do your research Yes, I know it sounds boring but researching at least the basics about your market (e.g. trends, scale), target groups (where they spend their money and time), and competitors is essential to inform the rest of your business plan.

How are you helping the market? For most businesses to succeed you need to have a pretty clear idea about what problem your business is providing a solution for and/or what need you are meeting. If you’re thinking of entering an already busy market, consider how you’re going to differentiate your business from competitors. What are you going to do that’s better?

Keep listening and talking to customers This sounds obvious but it’s surprising particularly during the early years how we can be so focused on getting the business off the ground, learning the ropes and managing day-to-day that we forget the most basic of requirements for a successful business to listen to and talk with your customers. Create an authentic and meaningful relationship with them to engender loyalty and make sure you’re meeting their often changing needs.

Don’t take everything on yourself Easy to do in the early days when money is often scarce, but take a long, hard, and honest look at your skillset and time available. Consider outsourcing anything you’re not so good at. Doing your accounts is an obvious one (particularly if you’re Limited company) but help with administration or sales could be equally valuable. Ensure your network of colleagues complements your own skills and knowledge and don’t forget to keep an eye out for collaborative opportunities with complementary businesses – so much more can be achieved with a collaborative effort

Avoid starting with debt Being under-capitalised is one of the key reasons why businesses can fail. If your cash flow is poor to start with you could face an uphill struggle making the figures stack up. If you’ve done the figures and are short of money to start up take a look at some of the alternative funding sources such as crowdfunding (I’ll be writing a blog about this very soon) or even for small amounts your local credit union.

Find a mentor Many new initiatives that have started in the last year encouraging start-ups and existing businesses to find and benefit from a mentor. Some of these are volunteers and others charge a fee. Recent evidence suggests 70% of mentored small businesses survive longer than 5 years (double the number of non-mentored enterprises) so finding a mentor or coach isn’t really an option anymore, it’s essential.

Consider finding a Non-Executive Director This option isn’t for everyone however if you have genuine aspirations to grow your company quickly but need investment and skills to do that, you may want to consider finding an Investing Non-Exec. Once the domain of large corporations, an increasing number of start-ups are now choosing this route to add credibility to their management team as well as much needed funds and contacts. You can read more about this with some case studies here.

Test-trade or work 5-9 Thousands of people right now are holding down full-time jobs whilst starting a business of their own. They do this by working what is commonly referred to as the ‘5-9’ shift although in reality of course the hours are much longer! Test trading in a small way and/or working 5-9 can be an excellent way to find out a) whether you’re suited to being self-employed (it really isn’t for everyone despite what you may hear others say!) and b) help you determine basic information such as whether there really is a market for your business and if so how much people will be prepared to pay for your product/service.

Whatever your situation and whatever you decide to do, I wish you every success in 2012 and beyond.

It became big in income but never had more than six employees. It was a sales agency in the wooden box and pallets industry. Many years later, when I started my own business, I realised that nearly everything useful that I’d learned about enterprise had come from my Dad as my business mentor.

He was an unlikely ace business mentor. My Dad left school at 14, picked everything up as he’d gone along, and was a complete eccentric, a showman and a storyteller who instinctively turned anything formal into a party. At football, Hull City, he had a seat just behind the Directors’ box so that he could hurl abuse and one-liners at them from start to finish. I wouldn’t sit with him.

Corporate Crackers

The point is that what I’d learned in Senior Management, even Managing Director, at two major American multinationals didn’t help me much in my own business. This was despite having received the very best business training and completed two Post Graduate Diplomas in HR Management and Business Administration. All this was next to useless in my own micro business as against the valuable help I gained from my mentors.

My business partner of twenty five years, Clare, felt the same thing. She hadn’t realised it at the time but her corporate jobs and training hadn’t prepared her for running her own business but what she’d learned from her Dad, who had his own property business, was invaluable.

No surprise then that we decided to have a mentor, another micro business owner, for our first couple of years in business. We gave him our corporate contacts and in return he asked us wise questions which stopped us doing many of the foolish things we were about to do. No money exchanged hands although a heck of a lot of money went behind the bar during our, frequently scheduled, mentoring sessions.

Sitting or Standing Up Mentors?

One of the many theories I have, which perversely academic research and government policy has yet to pick up on, is that if you’ve got a primarily ‘standing up’ business you’re best to have a mentor that has a ‘standing up’ business too. ‘Standing up’ businesses would include most building trades, cafes, shops, blues bands, chocolate makers, ice cream makers and micro-breweries.

Similarly if you’re in a ‘sitting down in an office’ type business then choose ‘a sitting down in an office’ type mentor. I’m definitely not saying only get a mentor from a similar trade or industry, only government and BigBiz think in sectors, but do get someone who really understands what you have to do each day.

Oh and beware of men in suits if you’ve got a ‘standing up’ business’ or you’re a woman. I’m sure there are exceptions to these rules of mine for choosing a mentor but there won’t be many.

Sir Jimmy Fixed It for Us Every Day

Wrestler, DJ, marathon runner, TV presenter, volunteer hospital porter and the greatest charity fund raiser of all time, Sir Jimmy Savile, died recently. He was buried in Scarborough, where I live. Thousands turned out to acknowledge his real achievements for the people of Britain both at his service in Leeds and his burial in Scarborough. He was truly a man of the people, an inspiration to many of us, and the very same person on the telly as he was in the cafes and streets of Scarborough.

He made us feel better about life and he genuinely helped many thousands of people through adversity. He was eccentric to the last. He was buried in one of his trademark track suits, in a gold coloured coffin placed at an angle in the grave, so that he ‘could see the sea’. He was also a highly successful micro business owner, millionaire and a cracking volunteer biz and personal mentor.

Two of his proudest possessions were on his mantelpiece in his Scarborough flat. They were individual letters from Princess Di and Prince Charles thanking him for his help to them, as an informal mentor.

Lots of my business owner friends seem a bit crazy. The craziness is often just appearance and behaviour that shows we’re our own boss with our own values, passion and beliefs. Some can wrongly view this, like Sir Jimmy Savile was viewed, as not professional or not to be taken seriously. We are passionate about what we do and it’s bloody hard work doing it but we can be very useful business mentors too.

Get Mentoring

My businesses have benefited a great deal from the handful of business mentors I’ve had down the years. Most of the mentoring I’ve had is over the phone or nowadays by Skype. I usually contact my mentor when I’ve got a problem or see an opportunity that I want to talk through before taking a decision. I’ve also had a great time and learned a lot as a mentor to others. I have had some training on being a better mentor and I’m going to do some more shortly.

There are lots of places around at the moment where you can find a mentor or get some training to become a better mentor yourself. One such place is the Institute of Enterprise and Entrepreneurs, which I help run, and you can find out more here about Get Mentoring – free mentor training and free mentors.

November is a key time in the calendar of those involved in supporting small businesses and start ups in the UK, and there are some great events worth looking out for if you are an aspiring entrepreneur. I am biased of course, but kicking things of for Global Entrepreneurship Week (14-20 Nov) is the fabulous Shell LiveWIRE LIVE! event and awards ceremony for the Shell LiveWIRE Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2011- have a look at the finalists if you have a moment, some great young people with some great ideas. We bring together around 200 entrepreneurs and speakers to mix things up and get people thinking about starting and running businesses. For my money, at this stage in a businesses life, one of the most single most important things is to get out networking and forge friendships and alliances that will help you in the future. It is vital that entrepreneurs starting out get their name out there, and test ideas by talking to other people- gaining important feedback along the way and refining ideas. The only people who can give you feedback about your ideas are other people! It sounds obvious (and it is!), but people forget this all the time.

This leads nicely onto awards… Awards are a great mechanism to gain exactly the same- recognition and feedback. If I look at some of the followup sound bites and feedback from people who have won one of the monthly awards at Shell LiveWIRE, two things always appear in the feedback- Profile and Confidence. Often when people apply for an award, they are just thinking of the prize at the end, but there is so much more to applying than first meets the eye;

1) Awards are a chance to test ideas. Fundamentally, awards can be used to test your thinking to an independent panel of judges. Most awards will give you feedback on the application- and if they don’t they should do, as it is a key part of the process. There are now hundreds of awards for businesses in the UK, and yes, winning funding is great- but the experience (through the process of applying) and profile that is gained from getting involved is vital.

2) Awards are a tool to give you profile. Even if you don’t win, way before that, you should be going straight to the press getting an article in the paper to say you are in the running. Probably one of the single most important things when in the early stages of business is profile- how do people buy your goods if they don’t know you are there?

My advice at this time of year is to get out there and see what events are near you- more importantly offer to help or speak at some of the events- Profile is everything, and there are some great opportunities- have a look at www.gew.org.uk to see what events there are during GEW week.

Here are a couple of things to consider when considering your future:

☺ Income Security: You lose your job, you lost it all. You lose a client you still have the others left.

☺ Job Satisfaction: Plan you business well, do the things you enjoy and you will be good at what you do, bringing you even more clients thru word of mouth.

☺ Travel Time: Work from home, or use co-working spaces near by – cutting you unproductive time every day of your life and helping the environment.

☺ Life Balance: Be the master of your time, work when you want, play when you want – be part of your family.

☺ Higher Earnings: You will most likely earn more money when you have more than only one “client” (employer).

☺ Collaborate: Work with other micro business, freelancers and build your own eco-system for new orders, new clients, bigger orders and so on. Your micro-business co-workers recommend you as you recommend them for work in your or their specialized fields.

While I know it seems a scary prospect for many to run your own business – large or small – I’m sure it’ll be the best thing you have ever done.

If you are reading this, you are thinking about it – good for you.

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