It’s that time again. For four weeks, you can’t move for footie. Now, as it happens, I’m not a huge football fan. I’ll be reasonably interested in the England games, and I’ll almost certainly watch the semis and final games. But I wouldn’t break into a run to get anywhere in time for a match, [...]
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New entrepreneurs, on the cusp of starting their own businesses, generally fall into two categories: People with no idea what to do, but the urge to try something new People with a brilliant/hare-brained idea, but no idea how to execute it In the second category are a fabulous breed of people: the hobbyists. Turning a [...]
Filed under: finance, marketing, sales | Tagged: banks, business, business advice, business skills, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, fun business, hobby business, low-risk business, run a business, running a business, small business, start a business, start your own business, turn your hobby into a business | Leave a Comment »
Entrepreneurship is cool. It’s going to stay cool, because in a recession, business is the most exciting way to turn things around. But how can we bring business to the masses? Rachel Bridge, Enterprise Editor for the Sunday Times is having a go… by taking a one-woman show about entrepreneurship to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival [...]
Filed under: business heroes, current affairs, sales, tips | Tagged: business, entrepreneurship, start a business, run a business, entrepreneur, rachel bridge, edinburgh festival, edinburgh fringe, how to make a million before lunch | 1 Comment »
Off to Leicester last week for my annual pilgrimage to DeMontfort University, where the business studies courses include a ritual called Fox’s Lair – a thinly disguised version of TV favourite dragon’s Den. Teams of students put together a business idea, draw up a plan and present it to the Dragons – no, I mean [...]
Filed under: finance, marketing, people skills, presentation, sales | Tagged: business, business advice, business skills, demontfort university, DMU, Dragon's Den, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, finance, Fox's Lair, invention, leicester, market research, marketing, run a business, running a business, small business, start a business, start your own business, students, teamwork | Leave a Comment »
Look at this merry lot. Is it the last day of the Oktoberfest? A leaving party, perhaps? No – it’s the London Area Communicators Group monthly meetup (run by the inestimable Matt O’Neill). Every industry has networking groups, and I truly believe that these gatherings are the lifeblood of business. When I first started out, [...]
Filed under: marketing, people skills, sales | Tagged: sales, networking, business, business skills, entrepreneurship, small business, matt o'neill, start a business, run a business, running a business, start your own business, entrepreneur, business advice, business networking, LACG, people buy from people, networking skills | Leave a Comment »
I wanted to scribble a few words down about the Budget, but this year that’s proving to be harder than usual. I should say, I’ve got some experience in this area – I have covered budget day for various press outlets and websites since 1995, so I’ve been down this road before. Since 1995, much [...]
Filed under: current affairs, finance, retail, sales | Tagged: alasdair darling, budget, budget 2010, business, business advice, business process, business rates, business skills, capital gains tax, CGT, deficit, election, entrepreneur, entrepreneur's relief, entrepreneurship, general election, Gordon Brown, lloydsTSB, public borrowing, public sector deficit, public spending, run a business, running a business, UK Finance for Growth | 1 Comment »
Have you ever watched that extraordinary business TV show, “Mary, Queen of Shops”? In it, retail guru Mary Portas dispenses her wisdom to struggling shops around the country. I’m always impressed when TV pundits put their reputations on the line with real, sound advice; and Mary is a triumph. But I remember one episode of [...]
Filed under: retail, sales, service | Tagged: business, business advice, business process, business skills, customer service, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, mary portas, mary queen of shops, production line, restaurant, retail, run a business, running a business, service, small business, start a business, start your own business, time management | 1 Comment »
Without “The Apprentice”, there’s far less in the way of business telly around these days. Which is why it’s nice to see a brief slice of entrepreneurship TV on Wednesday, on BBC2. It’s going to be a look at the inner workings of the John Lewis Partnership; a rather marvellous institution amongst retailers because of [...]
Filed under: marketing, retail, sales | Tagged: john lewis, business, entrepreneurship, start a business, run a business, entrepreneur, jargon, buzzwords, buzzword bingo, john lewis partnership, inside john lewis, bbc2, the office, ricky gervais, yuppie, imagineering | Leave a Comment »
