2012:The Year Enterprise Rocks

Dec 30, ’11 6:21 PM

Author Tony Robinson OBE Categories Announcements, Employment, Freelancer, Getting Things Done, Home Business, Micro Business, MumEntrepreneur, Self-employed, Small Business / SOHO, Small Business Support, Sole-Trader, Start-Up

Making it Better and Fairer

It will be a rocking good start to 2012. The UK Enterprise Rockers movement is inviting journalists to kick off 2012 by covering the launch of our #MicroBizMatters campaign. The Enterprise Rockers, all micro business owners, have chosen Scarborough to host the media launch event at noon on January 9th.

Scarborough is a former winner of both the most enterprising place in Britain and the most enterprising town in Europe. Oh and the two founders of the Enterprise Rockers, the wonderful Tina Boden and me, live there.

The aim of the Enterprise Rockers movement is to make life better and fairer for all Micro Business Owners. The #MicroBizMatters campaign will improve awareness of the importance of the UK’s 4.5 million micro businesses, including start-ups, to jobs, the economy and communities.

Although the UK is the first to launch the Rockers there is already interest being shown in many countries to take up our movement, including the US.

Positive Messages Will Tackle Discrimination

The campaign also seeks to make people more aware of the discrimination by Government, Banks and Big Businesses against micro business owners and what the benefits to Britain would be if they gave them a fairer chance to survive and thrive. The campaign also positively recognises large organisations that the Rockers agree are micro enterprise friendly such as Apple, the Co-op, British Library and ACAS.

Founder Tina Boden, who owns a fine food company, explained, ‘We’re not a political, lobbying or a fee paying membership organisation. Micro business owners freely get involved in the Rockers to do as much or as little as they like. We agree everything by majority decision.

We believe that by thousands of us supporting each other, trading with each other and carrying the same messages in villages, towns and online all over the UK that we can harness the power of plenty to make life better and fairer for micro business owners.

Our #MicroBizMatters campaign will make people aware why it is important that Britain is more micro enterprise friendly. This in turn will improve the future prospects for micro-business owners including start-ups.’

Why this way works?

For me, it is really important that everything we do is really positive. As micro enterprise owners we are and have to be positive people and we’re used to just getting on with ‘doing the biz’ so we’re certainly not moaners and we’re not looking for hand outs.

We’ve made very little progress in the last twenty years consulting with Government Ministers and their officials to try and get a better deal on skills and support for start-ups and enterprise owners. So the Enterprise Rockers movement is a welcome change of direction.

As one in seven of the adult workforce in the UK are running their own micro businesses there can’t be many of the population that don’t know, and more importantly, would like to help a micro business owner to earn an honest living.

Politicians are only interested in what the public think around election time but by the next UK election we’re pretty sure that we’ll have enough public opinion on our side so that they, for the first time, will need to state what they are going to do for micro business owners (0-9 employees).

Fact: Micro-Business Matters

Influencing public opinion and in turn government is a small part of what we’ll achieve. After all, we’ll never be as important to Ministers as Big Business and the Banks but we can hopefully stop 95% of government funding and support going to bigger business so that the 95% of all UK businesses that are micros get a fairer deal and an even break.

We’re growing. We already provide most of the new jobs, innovation and best help to communities and we contribute a third of all private sector jobs and a fifth of UK turnover. The thousands of Enterprise Rockers actively involved on Twitter, Facebook, Linked In and ready to champion our #MicroBizMatters campaign will make life better and fairer for us all.

The #MicroBizMatters campaign already has 750 signatures on its ‘Tell Us What You’re Doing for Micro Enterprises Not for’ SMEs’ government e-petition. This already puts it at Number 14 out of over 600 e-petitions to the government’s Department of Business, Innovation and Skills.

Whilst the Rockers are not campaigning, through #MicroBizMatters for government funding they are requesting that government reduces its funding and support to Bigger Business. For example for every £50 million of government support 4.5 million micro businesses get 6000 big businesses get £1 billion.

Time to join our band?

The launch of #MicroBizMatters takes place in the Penthouse, the Sands, North Bay, Scarborough at 12 noon on Monday, 9th January. If you know a journalist then ask them to either register here http://enterpriserockersofficiallaunch.eventbrite.co.uk/?ref=enivtefor&utm_source=eb_email&utm_media=email&utm_compaign=invitefor&utm_term=readmore&invite=MTU1Nzk2OS90b255QGVudHJlcHJlbmV1cnN1ay5jb20vMA== or they can arrange to interview the founders of the Enterprise Rockers by e-mailing tony@entrepreneursuk.com with their requirements.

There’s also no better time for you to get involved with the Enterprise Rockers. It’s free and you can join our Enterprise Rockers discussion groups and MicroBizMatters discussion groups on Facebook and Linked In or follow us on Twitter @EnterpriseRocks or check out our website http://enterpriserockers.co.uk and sign our Government e-petition at http://t.co/QK36cLlU

Thanks lots – enjoy 2012 the year of the Enterprise Rockers.

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Purchasing supplies for your business more effectively

Dec 19, ’11 7:40 PM

Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Guest Blog, Suppliers

When it comes to the day to day running of a business, it’s easy to let supply purchasing slide to the bottom of priorities, especially during rougher economic times. More firms than you would imagine take this approach, but that would be missing the point. The best way to increase profit in business is to cut outgoings, and there’s no easier way to do this than by managing what the company buys more effectively.

• The first thing to remember when buying for a company – whether that’s essential trading supplies such as those intended for use in the manufacturing process, or simply office supplies that every business uses like cardboard boxes – is the increased buying power that results from the higher volumes you will be purchasing. Firstly, building up a healthy working relationship with suppliers is key, and will allow you to negotiate discounts over time as a result of your loyalty and any increases in volume. Secondly, try asking about money off for combining orders due to the cost reduction of joining shipping and admin costs together. One last possibility with more eco-friendly companies is to ask if there are any money off incentives for recycling efforts on the part of your company.

• A professional and fit-for-purpose inventory system is not only vital for purchasing supplies, but even affects the business as far as budgeting and finance company-wide. The relatively small amount of capital and man hours needed to put an efficient system in place pales in comparison to the benefits it will bring, including an exact knowledge of what needs ordering and when, which over time will mean that supplies can be ordered in anticipation of them running out, eliminating over and under-ordering and breaks in the supply chain.

• Another important thing to take into account is to balance the ‘cost of money’ – the interest accrued on money used to purchase supplies, and a system used by many businesses, particularly start-ups – against savings made from discounts, recycling schemes etc. If the savings are larger than the cost of money, the decision to purchase more supplies should rest on the needs of the company, the other way around however, and the company will be losing money on every purchase. It’s important to note however that even in these circumstances, not purchasing supplies that are needed can end up creating a bottle-neck and losing the firm even more money.

GUEST BLOG: This helpful article was kindly provided by Daniel Nicklin.

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Get more customers by understanding your sharers

Dec 14, ’11 6:00 PM

Author Adrian Swinscoe Categories Business Marketing, Business Psychology, Marketing/PR, Marketing/PR, Marketing/PR, Online Marketing, Social Media, market and sell

Consumer and customer behaviour is changing in front of our eyes. As a result, there is a lot of talk about how our marketplaces are changing, the influence of digital channels, the importance of word of mouth, how social media channels are allowing customers to find and share us with their friends and networks and how we as businesses should be adapting.

However, one of the things that I find when I talk to business owners is that they are often confused about what sort of activity they should be getting involved in in online and social channels. As a result, they often get caught up in how they can maximise their number of fans or followers. But, more fans and followers don’t necessarily mean greater word of mouth or more sales and greater profitability.

Let’s be clear. Sharing is not new. People have been sharing great companies, cool stuff, tips or deals with their friends and family since time began. However, what is new is that it’s getting a whole lot easier to do so. So, as a business, to tap into the sharing potential that surrounds your business and to get the most out of sharing, word of mouth and recommendation for your business it is becoming increasingly important to not just understand and engage your customers but also those people that are finding and sharing your business with their friends and contacts in the online world.

A recent study of US and UK consumers by the folks at Beyond looked into this very issue. Here’s some of the things that they found out:

Over 65% of sharers, share because they think it will be relevant or helpful to their friends
There are 7 different types of sharer in the UK
Before embarking on any new social marketing activity it is important that the business understand their customers journey
Different online channels exert different levels of influence depending on the level of risk (involvement) on the part of the customer. For example, when researching a high risk (involvement) purchase like a car, customers are more likely to look to and be influenced by review sites, search engine results and the business’ own website rather than other online channels.
When it comes to sharing, email is still king

You can learn more by checking out the full study here or take a take a look at the infographic that they produced here.

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Mirror Mirror on the wall…’tis the season to reflect

Dec 6, ’11 12:00 PM

Author Lorraine Allman Categories Business Checklists, Business Ideas, Business Startup, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneur, Micro Business, Self-employed, Small Business / SOHO, Small Business / SOHO

I have often been quoted as saying you need more than just a good idea to get a business off the ground. I’m sure over the festive season many people taking a rest from work will be hearing the cogs whizzing as they take some time out to ponder on a new business idea, and wondering if 2012 will be the year it all takes off.

I read an interesting and slightly amusing article the other day written by Jason Hesse concerning where entrepreneurs get their ‘big ideas’ from. A survey showed nearly half of British entrepreneurs come up with their business idea in bed, so I have a feeling over Christmas many new business ideas will be born for those fortunate enough to have a lie in or two.

Now I don’t want to be accused of “Bah, Humbug!” so I’m not going to start listing all the things required to accompany these ‘big ideas’ and spoil your ‘Eureka!’ moment. Instead, my advice is to go and talk to those people already in business. They will tell you the reality about what’s required not only to get your business idea off the ground but to survive and thrive.

If you’re one of those businesses up and running, then you’ll know how important it is to take time to work ‘on’ your business, reflecting on what’s going well and areas of the business (and yourself) you need to prioritise to make 2012 a better year.

Here are some areas to focus and reflect on:

Business Plans – What were your plans for 2011 – did you achieve/exceed them? What made a difference? What are your plans for 2012 – will you achieve them on your own or would some collaboration/partners/employees help?

Market trends – What’s happening in your target market? Future trends? Are your target groups changing? Where will they be spending their time/money in 2012?

Competitors – What are they doing? How are they doing it? New competitors on the horizon?

Accounting systems – Are they working for you, could they be improved? Are they effective in helping you manage/predict cash flow?

Mentoring/Coaching – how are you developing yourself as well as your business? Are there skills you’re going to need for future plans? Who do you talk business with?

I’m sure there are other areas specific to your business, but this is a start. Talking of start, everything detailed above is also relevant to those of you dreaming up those big ideas in bed this month too (so I guess I did manage to sneak a list in!). There is plenty to be thinking about.

Whether you’re spending Christmas in bed dreaming up your new business, or sat at the computer on Boxing Day trying to work out the online self-assessment system, have a wonderful time and don’t forget when your mirror asks the question “Who is the greatest of them all?” you know the answer!

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The mindset of small business

Nov 29, ’11 9:53 PM

Author Lorraine Allman Categories Business Infographics, Business Psychology, Micro Business, Small Business / SOHO, Small Business / SOHO

I recently came across a couple of interesting INFOGRAPHICS relating to small and micro-enterprises in the UK and USA which I would like to share with you. The first is from the UK based on research from Smarta – the DNA of Sole Traders. In a nutshell it says that UK sole traders are ‘motivated by freedom; are web-savvy but use a spread sheet to do their accounts; go to bed late, don’t have a pension and don’t like the government’.

DNA of a Sole Trader

The second is the US ‘Small Business Happiness Index’ indicating that 77% of micro-businesses are happy or extremely happy that they work for themselves; have more customers than they did at the start of the year; welcome expert advice on a whole range of business issues and rely heavily on referrals as the most effective marketing tactic.

Given the economic climate world-wide and the lack of support generally for micro-enterprises (by this I mean businesses employing 0-10 people, including sole traders) it’s a wonder we’re not all shutting up shop and yet the number of new business start-ups continues to grow. In the face of adversity, feeling the pressure of economic downturns, established small businesses are clinging on and making the best of what they have, and it would appear remaining optimistic and positive about working for themselves.

Later this week, the Enterprise Rockers web site re-launches with a brand new look and clear mission – to make life better and fairer for micro-enterprises. For this to succeed, the positivity and energy of small business needs to be channelled into supporting each other through inter-trading, improving the quality and value of essential services, and finding a united voice which stands out loud and clear that micro-businesses matter, that micro-businesses make a positive difference to our communities, our economies, and to the general wellbeing of our countries. The tenacity, resilience, perseverance, flexibility and absolute self-belief in what they are doing make micro-business a force to be reckoned with.

There is much to be learnt from the mindset of small business – isn’t it time to start listening?

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The Best Biz Mentors Can Be A Tad Crazy

Nov 23, ’11 2:30 PM

Author Tony Robinson OBE Categories Business Ideas, Business Mentoring, Business Startup, Business Trends, Entrepreneur, Getting Things Done, Home Business, Micro Business, MumEntrepreneur, News, Personal Business, SOHO/SMB/SME/Micro, Self-employed, Sole-Trader, Start-Up, be successful, grow your business, start-up in business

My Dad

I reckon my first business mentor was my Dad. He started his own business, working from home, because, like many people I know, it was the best way of earning a living. His health was very poor so he had to pack in his job. In the five years between me being 13 and 18, when he died, he built a very big business. It was always a micro business, like 95% of the businesses today in the UK.

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.

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Business Awards – you have to be in them to win them

Nov 22, ’11 10:41 AM

Author Lorraine Allman Categories Marketing/PR, Small Business / SOHO

The last few months has seen a flurry of activity on the Business Awards scene – from Start-ups to Growth business, from Social entrepreneurs to Mumpreneurs there are so many opportunities to get your business noticed by entering a competition, being shortlisted, and potentially winning an award.

The big questions is, when there’s already so much to do in a day just running your business, is it really worth your time and effort applying? As I’ve already said there are many different competitions out there from local and regional awards to national events so the first thing to do is think carefully about which one has the ‘best fit’ for your business. For example, it might be nice to receive an award in recognition of you as a Mumpreneur, but if what you want to promote is the uniqueness of your products then going for an award such as “Made in Britain” may suit better. Equally, if you want to be known as an innovative business then applying for ‘Innovator’ awards may give you the focus you want.

There’s no denying it takes time and effort to apply for a competition so if you’ve missed the recent run of awards but are wondering whether to have a go next year, here are 10 potential benefits for you and your business:

Raise the profile of your business on a regional or national level
Use the application process as an opportunity to reflect on what your business is all about and clearly articulate your USP
Revisit your business plan and map out your business metrics (how you measure success).
Work on your business rather than in it by stepping back to look at achievements, areas for improvement, assessing how market trends and target markets may have changed
Profile the expertise within your business to potential investors and clients
Acknowledge the work of your team
Gain significant PR and marketing opportunities for your business
Gain a competitive edge over your rivals
Give your confidence a boost
Become a business that is in demand

Even if you’re not short-listed you will benefit from having spent some time working ‘on’ your business and you can use that knowledge to plan future strategies, identify weak areas and think about how you can make improvements ready for the next round of awards.

The majority are of competitions are free to enter but always check in case administration fees are applied. Aside from all the reasons listed above, if you win an award you will usually benefit from a superb prize package which may include a cash prize, mentoring, free PR and much more. So what are you waiting for?

For help in making the right impression with your competition application, click here for top competition tips.

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The importance of feedback for management and improvement

Nov 18, ’11 3:39 PM

Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Guest Blog, Small Business / SOHO

I don’t know how many of you have seen the film The Truman Show? But we’ve all wished we could live in a perfect world sometimes, where every traffic light is green and every decision goes your way. Working without effective feedback can sometimes seem like that – you complete a task or project, send it on its way into the business and move on to the next one. You presume that it went well, or was accepted, because you worked hard on it – so why wouldn’t it have been? Therefore you continue to work in the same way, follow the same processes, and produce the same results.

Of course, much of the time, projects are of the right standard and you’re right to continue to produce the same results, but sometime there is room for improvement or change. If it were the Truman Show then someone would be employed to work away in the background solving problems and smoothing your path and you’d know nothing about it. In real life, without feedback on whether things are working, the situation can often build to a sudden and unpleasant crash – when a project fails or a system doesn’t work as planned.

Effective feedback is critical for all of us to improve the job we do, maintain standards and learn from our mistakes. For example, if you’re a project manager you use the lessons learnt from each project to improve your performance on the next. Or you use ad hoc feedback from co-worker or your boss to modify your behaviour. You use sales figures to measure the success of a campaign. This process of review and feedback ought to be standard, but often isn’t.

As a manager, there are a few ways you can improve the feedback you provide:

• Make sure the feedback you provide is timely. Don’t wait for the end of a project if you can provide immediate feedback. This is particularly important if the feedback is about behaviour rather than process – make sure the situation is fresh in people’s minds.

• Make sure the feedback you provide is professional and constructive. If there’s a way to improve working methods, then make sure you help the individual or team to think through a solution. Consider whether there’s training that can be provided to improve project success or reduce the time spent on tasks. Is additional support required from the business in terms of resources or process improvement.

• Consider how else you can help going forward. Make it clear when you’ll provide more feedback, either on further changes needed or to support improvement. Do you need to set up a regular review process to formalise feedback, or you/the individual comfortable that ad hoc feedback will have the required impact?

Effective feedback can transform individual and organisation performance, so make sure you’re getting the most out of your people and projects.

GUEST BLOG: This business advice article was provided by Dr Ian Clarkson, Head of Project and Programme Management Product Development at QA – leading providers of Prince2 training. His role provides business direction and ownership of QA’s portfolio, programme, project and risk management curriculum. Ian is an experienced lecturer, author, speaker and consultant, having delivered programmes and projects in all industry sectors.

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Building better relations with your customers starts at the end

Nov 18, ’11 12:11 PM

Author Adrian Swinscoe Categories Business Ideas, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneur, Failure, Generation-Y, Generation-Y, Personal Business, Relationships, Relationships, SOHO/SMB/SME/Micro, SOHO/SMB/SME/Micro, grow your business

Today, I want to tell you a personal story of doing new things, taking risks, being innovative and being willing to fail in the quest to create something of value for my business, the people that I know, the small business community and my customers.

View the story “RARE Forum, The Drill Hall, London 3rd Nov 2011″ on Storify

We live in changing times. We live in times where the power of the consumer is rising and it is changing everything. We live in times where harnessing the power of relationships with our customers and our employees is becoming more and more key to our future growth and innovation.

Therefore, the onus on business leaders to learn, share ideas and network is rising as we think about how we grow our businesses.

There are many events in existence for businesses but these can be:

Either for large or very small businesses;
Organised by professional or trade associations and vendors of some sorts;
Filled with talks/speakers that talk for around an hour that are ultimately trying to show you how smart they are or are trying to sell you something; and
Don’t offer enough time for attendees to network, talk about and debate the issues that are presented.

Therefore, we thought it’d be great to develop and deliver an event for established small businesses, especially those with growing teams, across sectors.

In order to do this and to try and create a truly different event, we first started by describing the customer experience ie. what did we want the potential attendees to feel after they attended our event.

Here’s what we came up with:

Imagine this.

An event where you get to the end of the day and your attendance has solved a number of your most pressing problems, you have heard some great people speak, you have met a number of great contacts and your head is full of ideas for the future of your business. So much so, that when we hold the next one that you’ll want to bring a number of business contacts along it was so good.

Does that sound good?

Why did we do it this way? Well, rather than being lead by the features of our products or services, we started with the end in mind as we believe that is a better way to create something that will have an enduring emotional connection and value with our customers.

With that in mind we developed RARE Forum (www.rareforum.co.uk), an event that is:

A place to share ideas, experiences and to discuss and debate the issues of the day;
Not focused on selling anything (although there was be a price to attend);
Filled with with a number of punchy 20min speaker slots (TED style) centred around a theme;
Full of facilitated networking and debate;
Where the whole day will be recorded (video) and made available via the website to the attendees for them to watch again at a later date or share with their team and contacts; and
Where the output of discussions and answers to Qs posed by speakers will be collated and made available via a digital resource.

All this thinking and development was done earlier this year and I am pleased to say that on the 3rd November at The Drill Hall in Central London we held our first RARE Forum under the theme: ‘Business is Personal’. Talks over the course of the day covered subjects like:

Business is personal and why it’s getting more so
Unearthing killer customer insights
The world is changing fast, how can we keep up and change with it
How you can use your customers to help rally your troops?
Creating a customer centric business
What does being a leader mean in this new world?
Generation Y and Z and the future of the talent pool
What will our customers want in the future?

The day was a great success and was the first of many, we hope. We are now busy making plans for what happens next.

One of the things that we promised to do was to capture the ‘story of the day’ afterwards so that we could share that with the attendees as an aide-mémoire and as a way of capturing the essence of the day. You can check out the ‘story’ by following the link below. You really should take a look it as it includes all of the slides that the presenters used, pictures from the day, some sketches from our artist in residence and a whole set of tweets from our twitter hashtag: #rareforum. It’s also been done on Storify which means it looks pretty cool even if I do say so myself.

View the story “RARE Forum, The Drill Hall, London 3rd Nov 2011″ on Storify

For the team involved and myself personally it was a huge learning experience. Both exciting and scary in equal measure. What it did teach me, however, was that starting with the potential attendees, my customers, and what sort of experience and feeling I wanted to create for them helped give us a better understand of not what to do. But, more importantly, what not to do. Once we understood that we had a great platform to build from.

Another big lesson that I learnt is that if you want to make your business great, if you want to stand out from your competitors then you have to be willing to fail in public. However, done with the right intention and in the right way the actual risk of failure gets much, much smaller.

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Life’s a Pitch and then they buy

Nov 15, ’11 8:09 PM

Author Lorraine Allman Categories Entrepreneur, Relationships, Sales, Self-employed, Small Business / SOHO, be successful, market and sell

As a small business you know that every communication counts. When speaking with customers, suppliers, investors, competitors, or peers, the way in which you present yourself and your business will have a lasting impact on whether or not they do business with you, or in the case of competitors treat you as a genuine threat or potential collaborator.

Thinking of your business communications as ‘pitching’ may for some appear a little salesy yet there is nothing further from the truth. Pitching in this sense is simply about understanding, developing, and effectively communicating your authentic ‘personal brand’. It really doesn’t matter how many times you’ve won an award for excellence or how many features and benefits your product/service has, decision makers want to know about the person behind the business and will normally be influenced in their decision making by what they think of you rather than your business. I am reminded of a quote by Malcolm Levene who recently said “Being in demand for your services…is a direct response to how you behave and express yourself to others. These days that’s what counts”. I think Malcolm is right and that engaging authentically with the customer or supplier, getting your ideas and passion across is far more likely to lead them to the next stage of buying or supplying.

If you’d like some tips and ideas to improve your pitching skills, take a look at the series of short videos from Paul Boross (aka The Pitch Doctor) on his You Tube channel. His message is simple – “You are the message, You are the Product, You are the Pitch”.

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THE SMALL BUSINESS BLOG

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Category Small Business / SOHO