Features

Many of us dream of leaving the corporate world behind and flying solo but there’s always the fear, will it work?

Different things drive different people in different ways. That is because each of us wants something different from our lives and we are prepared to make different levels of commitment to achieve what we want to achieve and strike that critical personal balance.

Do we value emotional intelligence – EQ – more than ever? Maybe value isn’t the right word (have you ever been hired following an EQ test? I’d love to hear about it), but we do recognise its importance in our lives.

A perfect office space makes for productive and happy employees. But given the evolution of the modern workplace, what’s “perfect” now varies by company. When choosing a new office space with your commercial real estate company, consider what your business and your employees need to succeed.

I am sure that each and every one of us would accept that we cannot be good at everything that we do, or that we do not have time to do everything ourselves. And actually, I would suggest that it is in fact both. 

In each of our lives, some weeks are more predictable than others. Some people are a little afraid of change and facing new, unexpected challenges, whilst others face the world with a ‘can do’ approach and even relish unpredictability and the need for flexible thinking and action to jump over the hurdles put in our way. And just like the best race horses, this keeps us fit and agile.

Everyone has an idea about how they can create the next big thing, but how do you make that idea turn into a reality? Freelance platform UnderPinned teamed up with Startups Magazine to share knowledge about how to take a business from the idea stage to taking the first steps.

This round-up’s inaugural theme looks at startups that help users incorporate sustainability and sustainable development into everyday living. These companies stand out for how they ask for a nearly imperceptible lifestyle change while providing impressive solutions. These are some startups we stan:

Behind every successful leader, is a great mentor. Andy Hall – mentoring relationship specialist at GC Business Growth Hub – gives a taster of insights mentors offer to SMEs seeking mentoring support.

Over the last two weeks I have written special articles on ‘Business Plans and Pitch Decks’ and on ‘The Art of Fundraising’ but this week I return to writing ‘The Mentor’s Journal’.

As a mentor I get involved in a huge cross section of businesses in different sectors and at different stages of their development. As a result I have been involved in many hundreds of meetings about almost every aspect of setting up and running a business, but it would be true to say that raising money is the most common conversation of all.

There are seemingly hundreds of interpretations of marketing. Most have appeared only within the last decade, driven by the onset of digital marketing and its ever-sprawling complexity and fragmentation.

As readers of either my Mentor’s Perspective or Mentor’s Journal series will know, one of the most common themes that I come across is that of fundraising in all its guises. 

Most of us would associate the phrase ‘fit for purpose’ with a product or service that we have seen or used, but that we do not think actually does what it is meant to do.

When it comes to R&D Tax credits, a tax incentive designed to encourage companies to invest in R&D, businesses claim some of these credits back as a part of their R&D expenditure, which can be a process that turns into a bit of a nightmare.

This was one of those weeks that saw me meeting with business from every possible stage of growth from ‘enter stage left’ to being a massive player that is looking for interesting new arrivals.

Churn can take many forms – the dreaded email that’s never returned, or worse, the pre-emptive “we are dropping your service” note. But fear not, there are ways to respond to and work with churn which will help you scale and grow.

How many times have you heard this, “I have this great idea for a new product or service”. And how many times have you seen this person with the “great idea” actually do something? Well, this article will help you understand if the idea is a million-dollar idea or not. 

The old saying that ‘from little acorns mighty oaks grow’ came about to show that sometimes something very large can grow from something very small.

It is one of the biggest challenges for any small e-commerce startup. How do they find an operating model that supports dynamic growth.