Start Your Own Business

In an age where many businesses use digital marketing techniques, others use old-school tactics such as cold-calling. Cold calling is telemarketing, a direct marketing method involving phoning potential customers they’ve never met or spoken to previously. Cold-calling isn’t for the thin-skinned, because even if your opening gambit is polite, friendly, professional and concise, you can soon be met...

It’s often said that a business’s most valuable asset is its people – and that includes you. Your team’s talent, knowledge, hard work and commitment will be what enables your business to succeed. But to make the most of your team, getting the necessary training is essential. And that’s an ongoing challenge, of course. New talent must also be brought onboard, too, and trained to the necessary stand...

If you’ve shopped at John Lewis, Selfridges, Oliver Bonas or a large number of smaller independent retailers in the UK, you may well have seen The Bottled Baking Co products. They’re available in a wide range of mouth watering flavours and varieties. The company sells ready-measured baking mixes that contain all of the dry ingredients you need to bake delicious cookies, cakes, brownies, tray bakes...

When you start your own business, you must minimise your start-up costs, because then your business starts to make a profit much sooner. If you have to shell out for stock, it increases your start-up costs considerably. And you tie up money you could have used to run your business, while there’s also a risk that you’ll be left with stock you can’t shift. For many small businesses, print on demand...

Confidence is said to be everything. That’s not strictly true, because other things in life and business are also important. But, confidence can help you to overcome challenges, build relationships, take risks, deal with setbacks but ultimately achieve great things. You need to have confidence in yourself and your business. So, why might that not be the case? What impact can a lack of confidence h...

Building a website and driving traffic to it is all well and good but if your site visitors don't go on to make a purchase, an enquiry or subscribe it will be of little benefit to your business. In part two of this special two-part mini series, Craig Murphy, founder of Birmingham-based Alt Agency , shares top tips and advice on how you can improve your website's conversion rate. With practical tip...

Even if you don’t sell online, having a great website is a must. Before many customers will buy from you, they’ll want to find out more about what you sell and how much you charge. Many will also want to know more about your story, who you are, your values as a business and what makes you special. If you want as many visitors as possible to your website, you need to optimise it so that it ranks hi...

Success, and indeed survival in business, relies upon making enough sales. If you don’t, you’ll soon run out of cash and that’s likely to spell the end for your business. If you are to make enough sales, you must generate sufficient sales leads, which is a never-ending challenge, because all businesses lose customers over time. So, how does your business generate leads and how many leads is enough...

Who among us doesn’t enjoy a toastie or Mexican-style wrap? Both can be a delicious snack or meal. CRIMPiT is a successful new British business. Its clever, innovative products offer a quick, easy and mess-free way to create delicious toasties using your kitchen toaster or burritos, calzones, enchiladas, kebabs and pasties that can be heated in your air fryer, oven or pan. CRIMPiT co-founders, Mik...

There are more than 310,000 retail businesses in the UK, which is 5.7% of all businesses, with SMEs accounting for more than 99% of them. Many UK retail businesses, especially those in the high street, have had a very tough time in recent years, having battled Covid and a record inflation-fuelled cost-of-living crisis that’s left consumers much more careful when it comes to spending their cash. So...

Creating a great customer experience is crucial, especially for new and established businesses operating in retail and hospitality. If you don’t create a great experience, many customers will avoid your business or head for the exit not long after entering your premises. There are many ways to encourage a great customer experience, but the potential for using music to create the right mood cannot...

How and why would a small business attempt to take on the multinational petrochemical companies? Can a small business even compete in a market dominated by a handful of big players? In short, yes! Dawn White of Ecoegg did just that. Dawn White battled eczema while growing up. Her struggles with sensitive skin inspired her to create a detergent that was kinder to her skin and contained no nasty che...

If you don’t have a well researched business plan, you may still be able to start and grow a successful business – but it may never achieve its full potential. To do that, you need goals and a successful strategy that enables you to achieve them. Essentially, that’s what a sound business plan offers you. So, what are the key components of a successful business plan, how do you use it to grow your...

What does the future hold for small businesses in the UK in the next five to ten years? Which businesses are most likely to survive and succeed? How will customer wants and needs change and how might small businesses market their products and services to them? Will online sales continue to grow and is that likely to bring about the demise of the high street? What about managing, and, could AI actu...

Many new small independent retailers buy their stock wholesale, often from small suppliers, makers and craft businesses. It can really set you apart by providing you with high quality, exclusive stock that’s superior to the mass-produced options sold by others. But where do you find such suppliers and how do you negotiate good deals? Consultant and wholesale and retail expert Therese Oertenblad an...

Starting your own business is challenging. If you haven’t done it before, you’ll inevitably lack know-how, while there are common pitfalls to avoid. So, what key tasks do you need to complete when setting up your own business, if you’re to get off to the best possible start? Start-up and small-business content expert, journalist Mark Williams , answers this and other key questions. Visit Start Up...

While some businesses grow steadily over many years, others achieve significant growth in a far shorter time and are started with that key aim. This episode looks at what types of start-ups are most scalable and in which sectors they’re usually to be found. The guest expert is Guy Rigby – AKA The Entrepreneurs’ Adviser – SME mentor and author. He explains how to start a scale-up and how to overcom...

Email marketing can be a highly cost-effective way to attract and retain customers, but your email marketing strategy and content have to be right if you are to get the open rates and click-throughs that lead to sales. Email marketing expert Laura Hanlon of Birmingham-based agency Pink Leopard reveals the secrets of building good email marketing lists, sending marketing emails in the right volume...

In 2019, tired of their daily commutes and living for weekends, Charlie Low, then head of analytics for an adventure travel company, and design consultancy engineer Dale Comely decided to leave the nine-to-five behind by converting an old DHL delivery van into an off-grid mobile home, so they could live a simpler life and travel around Europe. They wrote a best-selling guide to converting vans int...

Running a small business can leave you feeling isolated and lonely at times. Often you have no one to share your thoughts and feelings with. That’s when reaching out to other small-business owners can really help. Great value can be gained from seeking their independent opinions (and giving them yours). Many formal peer networking options are available, but even just occasionally meeting up for a...

There are more than 5m family businesses in the UK. They employ 14.2m people and generate a quarter of UK GDP. Many people who start a business do so with a family member, whether their spouse, partner, sibling, son or daughter or other relation. And although there can be many pros to going into business with family – there can be cons. So, what’s the key to getting it right so that the business i...

Matt Mahatme and Jordan Palmer were bartenders who spotted a gap in the market for mixers that combined big flavours with less sugar, fewer calories and nothing artificial. “We wanted to create a brand with a bit of an edge, with a contemporary feel, that looked as good as it tasted,” recalls Matt. Since launch in 2018, helped by a successful crowdfunding campaign, Lixir Drinks has grown into an a...

Some people ooze self-confidence. And while others aren’t very self-confident, most are probably somewhere in between. Often things happen to us in life and business that damages our self-confidence. Why do some people lack self-confidence while others are supremely confident? How can you boost your self-confidence? Self-confidence and human behaviour expert Jo Emerson answers these and other key...

Following a year of eye-watering inflation in 2022, especially energy prices, economic forecasts for the UK for 2023 make for pretty sobering reading. According to the Bank of England, the UK is facing its longest recession since records began, while the UK Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) expects the UK economy to shrink by 1.4% in 2023, leading to the biggest drop in living standards on re...

Time is the one thing that small-business owners don’t have enough of, with many having to work long hours. Those starting a new business often must work even longer hours to get their business off the ground and into profit. So, what’s the key to making best use of every minute of every day? What role can technology play? Where can time be lost? How can people work less and get more done? How can...