Small business and the entrepreneur
Small business and the entrepreneur
Small business and the entrepreneur
As the government announces new initiatives and the Enterprise Zones' we can begin to see the value that's I being assigned to new business in the UK. One thing is for sure, there's a lot of chatter in the media about small business and I wonder if policy will start to come on our side. I attended the Big Jelly' on Friday 25th March, where a whole group of individual business owners, sole traders, home workers, spare bedroom and kitchen-table top businesses came together to discuss and learn about a very new style of doing business'. There are more and more businesses now looking at what they are good at such as product design, innovation, customer services, or whatever it may be. Focusing on the strengths is definitely the way forward. The same businesses are also now looking at those areas where it would be more effective (and cost effective) to outsource areas such as business development, sales, administration, finance etc. This outsourcing will often go to freelancers and other small businesses and so the sector grows.
There is a hunger for enterprise and within this hunger there is huge opportunity for small business. There is also a debate burning as to what exactly an entrepreneur' is. Is it something innate or something learned? Can you teach entrepreneurialism or is a mind set rather than a skill set? Regardless of where your opinion lies there are opportunities as these entrepreneurs often need help to deliver or productise' their ideas. An idea is great but seldom makes a living until it is implemented, designed, put into use and accepted by a market. By the same token a business can have an amazing product but if no one buys it the business fails.
Help can come in many ways be it mentoring, advice and guidance or it can be in the form of a flexible outsource model where the spark' has been created, the product/service is born but they now need help to put it in front of customers. In my world this is the business development field but equally this could be in the form of outsourced financial help, marketing skills, or logistic solutions when the kitchen-table top business outgrows the kitchen, the shed and the home office and more space is required.
There is a wealth of information available and credit must be given to the key speakers at #BigJelly on 25th March where some great sessions showed small businesses how to build their own micro-niche, do their own PR, their own marketing and to see how enterprises and co working will be the new entrepreneurial revolution. Follow # BIGJelly to see the flurry of tweets and follow those that you can. Pay particular attention to Fay @EnterpriseHQ, Emma @emmaljones, Judy @judyheminsley and Jan @JanMinihane. Inspirational in setting up this event!
With social media coming to the fore there is opportunity where before there was only closed doors. The beauty of this? Well that's easy. It's all free. Of course when we read free' we must note it's free in monetary terms but can take a lot of time and time in a small business usually equals money. But still it's clearly worth it and there is massive value in doing this ourselves.
There's a whole raft of questions bouncing around my head right now.
As technology opens the world up more and more how will this change the face of small business?
How valuable will entrepreneurs be to the UK economy in the coming years?
What is the best way to support entrepreneurs and those setting up new businesses how we can ensure more start-up businesses succeed?
Check out Daniel Priestly @DanielPriestley and his book Become a Key Person of Influence' for some fantastic do-able ideas and really look hard at the micro-niche idea as he proposes this will become ever more important to small business in the coming years.
Take a look at @UKJelly to see what all the fuss is about and what an earth a Jelly' is, who they are aimed at and what it can do for you.
Have a look at the entrepreneur scan and contact Gary @garyjohnlennon to see how a tool such as the E-Scan' can be used to really support up and coming entrepreneurs.
Finally we can all do one thing in regards to out business right now and I thank Stuart @stuartbickerton for his session where he encouraged time out to see, hear and act like a customer' so we can pressure test out business from a customer perspective. Good stuff.
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