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Joe Sinclair (Creative Director of Burson-Marsteller) will lead a workshop on Tuesday 22 May 2012 from 17:30 to 19:00 on the subject of creativity in business. The session will explain:
Address: Central St Giles, 1 St Giles High St, London WC2H 8AG
To book, please visit: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2873882861
This event is intended for existing small business owners who have a new idea for their business but aren’t sure how to take it to the next stage.
Led by entrepreneurs Stephen Frear and Mandy Haberman, the evening will provide support and advice about business strategy and sustainability; branding; intellectual property; product development; and marketing. You will also find out about about a new business support programme “Innovating for Growth”.
The event will take place at The British Library Conference Centre on Wednesday 23 May 2012, 18.15 – 21.00; and costs £5 to attend.
In order to book a place, you can either contact the Box Office by telephoning: 01937 546546, or via the website: http://www.bl.uk/whatson/events/event131216.html
The test for a true entrepreneur is to see whether the person in question has turned an adverse situation into a successful enterprise.
When Gennese Williams lost the sight of both her eyes in 2007, she decided she could no longer work for anyone again. Far from burning her bridges, however, she built upon her existing experience in beauty, music and management to start her own business, MGW London. She merrily believes in the mantras, “What you think you are worthy of, is what you will attract”; and “You change your reality when you change your mentality”. In addition, when times are especially difficult, she recommends taking a break and “switching off from everyone” in order to recharge one’s motivation and creativity.
MGW London is an ambitious management and business consultancy agency. In addition it has its own in-house production, make up, hair stylists and fashion stylists’ team, and a graphic design team (run by her brother); and together they provide a range of services to manage events, projects and brands.
Ms Williams says that the most effective way of attracting clients is by word of mouth and personal recommendations. In addition she favours social media as it gives prospective clients “the freedom to check me out before they approach us”.
Her advice to other business owners is to remain dedicated to clients; to “be professional at all times, master your craft and listen to your clients’ needs”; and to “always be steps ahead to achieve the best and don’t sleep until you know the job is complete for that day”.
If you have any misgivings about whether you can afford to start up and run a business, Jo Tall will happily meet you for a preliminary consultation. Off To See My Lawyer are proud to have successfully helped launch many small businesses – but equally we take pride in our honest and realistic advice. If we consider that you will be taking too many risks (– financial or otherwise) we will let you know.
Here is a non-exhaustive checklist to help you assess whether you can afford to start a new business:
While the intended outcome of employing staff is to increase your profits, employees add to your list of burdens and liabilities. You will need to draft contracts of employment, deal with relevant taxation issues, invest in time (and perhaps money) in training your staff, etc.
The lawyers at Off To See My Lawyer draft contracts for the sale of goods and provision of services, which protect the liability of our clients and their businesses; and in-so-doing we make sure we abide by any laws that safeguard consumers’ rights. A well-drafted contract, however, is not necessarily the end of the story.
The Forum for Private Business lobby group recently surveyed 500 small businesses, and found that 16% have nearly had to close, due to late payments by customers. 51% stated that late payment was a problem for them. Many small businesses rely upon their customers to pay on time, in order for them to be able to pay their own suppliers. In cases where payment to the suppliers has been delayed in this way, 45% of the businesses surveyed said their profits had eroded as a result; and 23% said it had limited their ability to invest.
Gordon Skaljak (Spokesman for credit insurer Graydon), suggested that legislation needs to be changed in order to protect small businesses: “The business community and the government must join forces to protect companies by stamping out the UK’s late payment culture.”
One small business owner, Gordon Bennie (of Blue Orchid) contacted his local MP, (Michael Comarty) after experiencing cashflow problems when his customers had failed to pay on time. The pair have been working with the Forum for Private Business, and together they successfully initiated a meeting at the House of Commons (on 25 April 2012) between officials from the Department for Business, and representatives of the Labour party, Lloyds Banking Group and various other professional bodies. Of course, legislation takes time to draft and implement, so we cannot expect a positive change any time soon.
If your business has been suffering due to late payment by a customer (or indeed by another business), please contact Off To See My Lawyer and we can advise you on ways to enforce the contract by demanding payment, without the need for litigation.
This event has been designed to provide advice and support on all aspects of starting, developing and running one’s business – such as branding; “cloud ICT”; financial matters; marketing; business planning; E-commerce; Google; and mentoring. Features include one-to-one advice; “speed networking”; talks; seminars; and workshops.
For more information, please visit: http://www.businessexpo.biz/
Michelle Mone is one of the UK’s most successful female entrepreneurs.
Born and brought up in Glasgow, Ms Mone left school at 15 with no qualifications, and successfully found full-time employment at Labatt Brewers. By the age of 20 she was running their sales and marketing team, but became inspired to start her own business. Based upon her desire to invent a bra “more comfortable, more innovative, more attractive and more cleavage enhancing than any other bra on the market”, she set up MJM International in 1996.
Ms Mone says that her biggest challenge early on was securing finance, but that she took risks which eventually paid off. One bold move was to send one of her products (– a bra in her “Ultima” range) to the Hollywood actress Julia Roberts’ stylist. Her initiative paid off when Julia Roberts wore an Ultimo bra to enhance her cleavage in the film Erin Brockovich in 2000 – and this exposure [excuse the pun!] is what made Michelle Mone’s lingerie famous. While she has since gone from strength to strength, she has experienced the odd set-back along the way – such as the time when a distributor purloined £1.6m of her money. She regards such incidents as part of the learning process, however; and in this instance she has put procedures in place to prevent any misappropriations from occurring again. Ever optimistic she states, “The best piece of advice is always to think of plan B in case plan A fails, and kick in with plan B as soon as you think it’s failing. Don’t be scared of changing your mind – go with your instinct.”
Over the years MJM International has created a number of brands in addition to Ultimo; and has supplied retailers including Selfridges, Tesco, Debenhams, Asda, Next, Figleaves, MaxCleavage and ASOS, along with a number of independent lingerie stores across Europe. It has also developed a range of worldwide patented inventions including the Ultimo Miracle backless body. In 2009 Ultimo became the first UK lingerie brand to debut on the catwalk at New York Fashion Week and several in-shop boutiques within Debenhams in key cities across the UK.
In addition, MJM has developed partner lines with Tesco, Asda and Debenhams. Ms Mone says, “You’ve got to decide why each retail partner would want your product. We don’t give every partner the same things. It has to be individual and give them a unique selling point. You have to treat each retailer individually, and listen to their needs.”
Michelle Mone has received a large number of awards and accolades over the years, including an Honorary Doctorate degree by Paisley University in 2002. In 2005 she attended a speaking engagement with former US president Bill Clinton and Mikhail Gorbachev, and went on to support the Sultan of Oman in setting up a women’s enterprise project in the Middle East. She has even received an OBE by the Queen for her contribution to business in 2010.
Michelle Mone declares, “I’m not the typical businesswoman in a pin-stripe suit; I dress the way I want to dress. If you want to be glamorous, then why not! Walking into a meeting well groomed, with your lipstick on and high heels, makes you feel good. I use my femininity to its full effect!”
It is advisable to maintain a good credit report (– ie. a record of your borrowings and repayments to date), because you may wish to make an application for a loan in the future. Lenders will only agree to lend you money if they are satisfied you are in control of your finances, and are likely to make repayments on time.
Here are tips on how to maintain a good credit report:
If you have any concerns about repaying existing lenders, ask them whether you can negotiate a schedule for repayment, or arrange a temporary payment holiday.
USA and Australia topped the recent Global Entrepreneurial and Development Index, whereas the UK only came only 14th. The Financial Times’ Jonathan Moules commented with surprise that the UK had even come below Austria and Belgium!
On a positive note, the UK was among the best in the world for the number of start-ups it creates (– particularly technology companies); the quality of the founding teams; and the capacity to launch new products without any peers.
However the UK has arguably been more significantly affected by the financial crisis than other nations, and as a result British businesses lack early-stage investment. In the ranking for the number of individuals who have invested informally in other people’s start-ups in the past three years, the UK falls into the bottom quarter of OECD nations.
In addition, research suggests that in cultural terms, the British do not perceive entrepreneurship as a good career choice. Erkko Autio (Professor in Technology Transfer and Entrepreneurship at Imperial College) said the UK could significantly improve its position if measures introduced to encourage early-stage investment resulted in more investors committing capital. “The one thing we are pretty sure about is that it is not [a problem of] over-regulation,” he added. “It is more about the [need to change] cultural and social norms.”
For impartial business advice and an opportunity to discuss your business at a confidential, hour-long one-to-one meeting with an experienced advisor, the British Library Business and IP Centre will be running a Business Advice Clinic on Wednesday 2 May 2012, 10:30 to 17:00. It costs £15 to attend. For further information, and to book on-line, follow the link: http://www.bl.uk/bipc/workevents/lbssclinics.html
