Anyone digesting the headlines and latest research over the last few weeks would be forgiven for believing things have never been so bad for small business.

The UK’s path to Brexit has not been an easy one. Since the 2016 EU Referendum the country has experienced three different Prime Ministers, a global pandemic and a recession; all have which have made an inevitably difficult negotiation process even more complicated.

Pandemic is a relatively new word to most of us. Not that we do not fully understand what it means, more that we had little use for it before March this year.

E-commerce is something many of us have experienced, but how popular is it, and should you be prioritising ecommerce when looking to sell to customers? 

It is a continuously changing and fast-paced world. For maintaining the competitive advantage you need to have systems in place in the commercial market for scaling and adapting as necessary. More than 50% of the global merchandise trade in the year 2018 was focused around 10 localised economies.

From the ongoing pandemic and climate change to the fight for greater inclusivity and diversity across society, the world is currently facing a number of social and economic challenges.

In the second part of this business mix article series we see Brash Solutions Limited focus on technology. But not the sexy tech of product development, more the ‘behind the scenes tech’ that keeps you operating and secure – a real fundamental backbone to the operations of every business, regardless of size.

This week is Global Entrepreneurship Week, designed to celebrate ambitious individuals within the business world, and those who have believed in their own abilities and branched out on their own. Despite the waves of shock that the pandemic has brought to the business world, there has been a 12% increase in new businesses starting during 2020 already compared to 2019.

With much of the UK still in the midst of a national lockdown and the majority of high street stores temporarily closed, the online activity surrounding Black Friday (taking place on November 27th) is set to be higher this year than ever before.

Thousands of new businesses are setting up during the pandemic, a new report has revealed. 'How Startsups Can Kickstart The Economy', published by law-firm, Harper James Solicitors, details how 41,620 more incorporations happened in the first quarter of 2020 than in the first quarter of 2012. This represents an increase of almost a third (32.5%).

Startup founders tend to share a common personality trait - one which makes them the ‘doers’, the kind of person who believes in action and knows that ‘if you want a job done properly, you do it yourself’.

In the UK alone, there are hundreds of thousands of new businesses opened up each year, and it’s a number that’s only getting bigger. Whether your startup is based around technology, products or services, these businesses represent a massive part of the UK industry. With the rapid growth and an increasingly tech-savvy approach to getting things done, startups in the UK are the perfect fit for the growing number of apprentices. Here are just some of the main reasons why startups and apprentices are the perfect fit for one another.

Thinking about starting a business? We spoke to Ollie Collard, Virgin StartUp advisor and founder of Enterprise Orchard, to find out what you need to consider first.

Most businesses have a website. Fact. But what role does it play in the overall strategy of your business? Now that global business is going through one of the toughest and most challenging times, you might need to blow the cobwebs off your website as it could be what actually saves your business.

For everyone around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed many aspects of all of our lives. But what lessons have we learned about virtual verses reality? In many ways, it is those that work that have seen the largest changes. Before 2020, the chances are that if you asked your boss if you could work from home they would have come up with many reasons why it was not possible and, if you were allowed, it would only be very rarely, and you would be made to feel as though you had been given a great favour.

Customer service organisations need to prioritise business continuity plans to ensure their customer service efforts remain unaffected by any future disruption. That means investing in digital contact centre technology to emerge from the disruption with both customers and employee satisfaction intact.

If your business is doing well in the local market it is normal for the entrepreneur to think of expanding the business internationally to attract new prospects. You will find many advantages of taking your business forward internationally including newer opportunities in the sales and growth sectors and there are more opportunities to make your business more competitive in your niche market.

Subscriptions seem to be everywhere around us these days; they are here, and they’re growing more than ever. The benefits of shifting to a subscription model is motivating many of today’s disruptive tech companies. Take a look at Apple, for instance; this is a company that used to be known for their premium consumer devices, and now they have expanded their business to offer additional services and subscriptions.

The logical place to start when launching a new product is to understand who your customer is and to get inside their heads. What drives them? What excites them or makes their life easier? Where do they hang out, online or in the physical world? What frustrates them?

Entrepreneurs spot gaps and opportunities. What sets them aside is that they have the drive, energy and ambition to turn those opportunities into successful business ideas. What they often lack is the right guidance and expertise to make it happen.