There are so many so-called ‘business opportunities’ out there in the big wide world that the problem is deciding which one to start with. Here are a few simple tips to help you start out and begin the investigation process.
Follow your heart – You can’t commit your life for something you don’t believe in. Let me give you an example. Just a few months ago I was pitched with a business opportunity, yes it was MLM, based upon healthy coffee. Looked interesting so did a bit more research. The product is basically instant coffee with an added extract from a mushroom. The mushroom extract looks good and has some valid research around it. Looking good so far. Ok then try the product. This is where it comes unstuck for me – the taste wasn’t great and the aftertaste was very bad. So despite lots of promise the product fails to impress – so walk away from that one.
Have a clear pathway that you use to evaluate each potential business. When someone pitches you with the new business that they have just bought into – at a price of £1000 or more very often – you have to ask is this hype or is this genuine? So what is my process like?
do I respect the person pitching me
does the product fit with my belief system
is the product a one-off or repeat sale
is there clear evidence of success
if it is MLM has the company been growing steadily for at least 5 years
If it is a health product are the claims being made reasonable, backed by science, legal (a big one these days)
Do you have a network of people who would likely buy these products?
Can I afford the investment to get things going – what is the timeline?
There are many other discriminators that I use and that are very helpful but the 5 points above weed out 95% of the time wasters and that enables me to look at the few that qualify for my time. Diligent Investigation is the key.
I used to hate Maths and I hear my daughter and my wife both come home from working in schools and lament the poor way Maths is taught in schools. I can relate to that as I was in my early 20s by the time i figured out that Maths relates to the real world not dumb old paper problems.
Being an ex serviceman myself and being in business I was interested to see the announcement earlier this year about funding for ex service men and women business start ups. I wonder how many have taken advantage of the funding and where they are now some 6 months down the line.
On the 17 March it was announced by the UK Government that former members of the armed forces will receive £5 million in loans and grants to assist with the costs of starting a business.
Lord Drayson, department for business minister, says: ‘Ex-service personnel are under-represented when it comes to start ups and self-employment. This scheme puts that right, helping former servicemen and women to be their own boss and go on contributing to our society.’
The Royal British Legion will provide up to £5 million in enterprise support, which can include training, funding to help meet initial costs or financing to help grow a business established within the past two years.
Ex-service personnel, who have been discharged since 7 October 2001, will be able to apply for a loan of up to £30,000 and grants of up to £7,500 through the scheme.
Paul Kyriakides, owner of plant-growing business Kyrian Plants, says: ‘I started my business last year with the help of the Royal British Legion and I’m glad that more people will benefit from their support.’
I’m getting more and more nervous about the number of service men and women who have been in combat in the middle east and who now find themselves in ‘civy street’ without any viable means of support and in effect an isolated underclass with some very powerful and potentially destructive memories and behaviour. I believe that we have a responsibility to care for these brave men and women, even a duty, to look after them and help the find their feet. Charity is all well and good in the short term but longer term these men and women deserve much better. In my experience they are looking for personal dignity. We should be looking at many ways of helping them on their way. Once they find their feet they have incredible potential to learn new skills and once settled work harder than anyone I’ve ever known.
According to Score.org, nearly one-third of all businesses in the United States are woman-owned. Statistics from 2005 reveal that 775,000 new business start ups every year (55%) are women-owned.
So where do women entrepreneurs go to find funding for their start up businesses?
Many assume that federal government programs would be at the top of list. However, there may be more opportunities at the state, county and local levels. Finding these types of grant programs requires a bit more digging, but the effort can be well worth it.
Step 1 – Women-Owned Business Grants
A first step would be to visit Grants.gov and look through current offerings. Next, spend several hours scouring your state’s main web site. Do the same for your county and city web sites. Send emails and make phone calls to see if you can learn of anything new that is not yet posted.
Also it’s important to know about special small business classifications that may apply in certain situations: minority-owned, disadvantaged and veteran-owned — in addition to ‘woman-owned’. If you qualify for one or more of these special categories, your application may get priority over other business owners.
In today’s economy, technology and innovation ideas have a greater chance of special grants and loan programs. Have an idea specific to green energy or recycling? The timing has never been better.
What to do if your start up is not technology or energy related? If the business start up can be made flexible to fit specific projects, such as workforce training, or capital improvements to public facilities, the funding possibilities increase.
Step 2 – Women-Owned Businesses – sign up
Sign up to get information on very specific types of projects at Grants.gov and consider adapting to fit the requirements. Based on current product or service needs, you can construct a winning plan that provides a solution. Your reward for finding that solution could be a grant or low cost loan.
Learn more about business and educational grants for women at WomensGrantSource.com
UK Government Initiatives for Women-Owned Businesses
The government has pledged to make at least half of all new appointees to the boards of public companies to be women by the end parliament.
Business minister Edward Davey and Lynne Featherstone, minister for equalities, announced that Lord Davies of Abersoch will develop a business strategy to increase the number of women on the boards of listed companies in the UK.
Featherstone says: ‘We need to do more to identify and tear down the barriers that prevent women rising to the top in business, and I look forward to working with Lord Davies to make this happen.’
Research from Cranfield University highlights a lack of female directors in Britain’s top businesses, with women making up only 12.2 per cent of directors of the FTSE 100 companies in 2009. The FTSE 250 companies have an even lower proportion of female directors at 7.3 per cent, and nearly half of them do not have any women in the boardroom.
Lord Davies, who is the former chairman of Standard Chartered and a former government minister, has been asked to address the obstacles women face in becoming directors of listed company boards and what action the government and business should take to improve the position.
He comments: ‘While it is essential that the boards of UK companies are meritocratic, the fact that there are only 131 female directors in FTSE 100 companies means that we cannot be using all the skills and talents that make our workforce so competitive. ’
The recommendations are to be made by the end of the year.
Why not ask one of the women on this site. Do you have a story about women-owned Businesses.
The tension between problem solving (one of my strengths) and creating something has fascinated me for several years. In this short video clip Peter Senge, Author of the 5th Discipline, talks about why we might want to switch our focus from problem solving to creating.
There are those who would argue that staging a webinar is not much different from conducting a live presentation in person. In many ways this is true, but the web conferencing format expands the audience and enhances the presentation. One example is through the use of videos in meetings.
Video Conferencing Explained
The term video conferencing refers to technology that allows communication via live video streams. It can involve two or more persons, but the basic idea is that all participants can see all others involved in the web conference. While it can be a standalone service, it is usually a component of today’s web conferencing software. While video conferencing is not absolutely vital to the success of a meeting, having a video component does greatly increase the overall presentation’s effectiveness.
The Benefits and Advantages
Few conferences can be considered successful without some sort of video component. Along with standard features as chat, annotation and whiteboard, presentations can be structured in such a way that participants can offer their own input in real time. This is one of the many benefits of conducting a seminar or meeting online and a growing number of organizations are catching on to this fact. These include:
Large and small companies: Regardless of the size of any business, there are great benefits to be had by either hosting or attending a webinar. Some companies may use them to provide training for employees. Smaller companies recognize the value of the web meeting for networking opportunities and self promotion. Many meeting software also have built in screen sharing functions, allowing for an easy way for teams to collaborate and work together regardless of their physical locations.
Schools and universities:
Use of video conferencing does not only apply to online schools. Online learning also schools the flexibility to offer self-paces or distance learning classes for students who are not able to attend classes on campus. Courses taught online can often be recorded for reference by students or professors later.
A simple search online using terms like ‘ web conferencing comparison will return an array of guides on picking a web conferencing solution. There are also many independent web conference service testers who offer an objective view and analysis of many of the major service provider available today. A quick read on these sites will give anyone a good start in their search for the right conferencing software.
In marketing terms the accepted wisdom is that you should always ask your customers and potential customers questions. That way they are more likely to feel loved, wanted and listened to. However, in today’s ramblings I want to ask what are the questions we, as marketers, should be asking ourselves.
The obvious ‘marketing ‘ type questions are:
how can I make more sales
where can I find more potential customers
what can I do to reduce my overheads
how can I increase my profit margins
where can I find more products to sell
I don’t really want to touch on those today but here are some more intangible questions?
how can I become a better father/mother/wife/husband?
what is my purpose?
how can I break out of the endless cycle I’m in?
why can’t I lose some weight
These philosophical questions and many others, that we seem to shy away from or put on the back burner, are really quite valid and just the idea that we can and should think about them from time to time can be quite refreshing.
Tell us what your questions are and lets see what the world is thinking about!!
Just once in a while you stumble across something of such great value that you have to share it. I remember having the same feeling about Jim Collin’s book Good to Great as I do right now. Simon Sinek isn’t talking about anything we don’t know already or haven’t heard before but he’s bringing a fresh insight that is so profound it stopped me in my tracks. To see a written transcript just click here
In our weekly discussions we’ve been concentrating on customer service and the ultimate customer experience. In a survey, the largest consumer survey ever, from 2001 the most important factor is overwhelmingly solving problems for them and helping them to make informed choices. Click the image to download the full summary.
One of the best ways to foster a healthy relationship with your customers is to use a regular, but not too frequent, Newsletter. Here is an example – again click to download.
I’ve always admired the work of Steven Covey and – if you are like many people time to read books is at a premium. So this short presentation is a welcome addition and can give you a very quick overview of the core themes of the book.
