'Hoodies into entrepreneurs' training company to pitch at Midlands leg of £50,000 business contest
A company that turns around the lives of young offenders by equipping them with entrepreneurial skills is among the five finalists in the Midlands heat of a nationwide competition tracking down the UK’s best new business.
Video: Anthony Lau - How winning The Pitch 2009 benefited his business
Anthony Lau, founder of Cyclehoop, was the 2009 winner of The Pitch, BusinessZone.co.uk's small business competition. In the interview below, Dan Martin catches up with Anthony and discusses the story behind his business, how the contest victory has benefited him and tips for the entrepreneurs competing for the title in 2010.
An entrepreneur's guide to pay-per-click advertising
Pay-per-click advertising (PPC) can be a minefield for those just starting out in business and it's one part of the marketing mix that many business owners don't fully recognise the value of. In our latest entrepreneur's guide, Internet search specialist Jamie McGrath explains how to get it right.
Included in a strategic marketing strategy, paying for traffic is the most effective method of increasing visitors to your site. It is one of the quickest ways to increase traffic and without regular traffic your business is going nowhere fast.
PPC compliments other marketing methods and the big advantage is that it will reach your target market much quicker. Setting up an advert campaign can be tailored to your budget and it's easy to measure. You'll be able to specifically target your audience and know if they reached your website as a result of an advert. You are in control of the pages your visitors see, so you can sit back and watch your traffic increase.
Video: The Apprentice's Nick Hewer on business lessons from Lord Sugar
Nick Hewer has advised Lord Sugar for several years and also appeared with him on all episodes of BBC TV's The Apprentice. In an exclusive video interview conducted at Sage Connect 2010, he tells Gina Dyer what small business owners can learn from the successful entrepreneur.
An entrepreneur's guide to joint ventures
Joint ventures (JVs) can be the perfect avenue for small businesses to get involved with opportunities (and profits) that might otherwise be unavailable to them. David Critchley offers advice on how to find the exact match for your business.
Lend to small firms or face a profit tax, Cable tells banks
Banks which refuse to lend money to viable businesses or pay excessive staff bonuses face new taxes on their profits, the government warned today.
Business secretary Vince Cable said small companies were facing a "very serious problem" when it comes to credit and more measures may be necessary to force UK banks to lend.
Launching a new Green Paper from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in consultation with the Treasury, Cable claimed that £50bn of new funds for small and medium sized companies could be freed up by slashing payouts to bank staff and shareholders.
As well as considering taxing the profits of banks which fail to support businesses, ministers are also looking into regional stock exchanges, encouraging venture capitalists and business angels to invest in a wider range of businesses and the extension of the Enterprise Loan Guarantee scheme introduced by the Labour government.
Video exclusive: Sir Matt Pinsent on new London 2012 Olympics sponsorship scheme for small businesses
Organisers of the London 2012 Olympics have launched Our Team 2012, a scheme to get small and medium sized businesses involved in the Games. Dan Martin spoke to quadruple Olympic gold medallist Sir Matthew Pinsent to find out more.
For a £20,000 fee over two years, the initiative gives companies access to athletes, invites to networking and business training events and the ability to put London 2012 logos on their website and marketing material. The money raised by the scheme, which is sponsored by VISA and backed by Dragons' Den panellist Duncan Bannatyne, will fund British athletes' training and other costs.
Dan Martin, editor of BusinessZone.co.uk, recorded an exclusive video interview with four times Olympic gold medalist Sir Matthew Pinsent, who is supporting the scheme. You can see the video below.
Doug Richard: Why do people hate lifestyle businesses?
A comment by a senior figure in the small business community that lifestyle business owners shouldn't be supported has made former Dragons' Den panellist and School for Startups founder Doug Richard angry.
I have never understood the antipathy that otherwise rational people have for the so-called 'lifestyle business'. Quite recently I heard someone in a position of responsibility in the small business community disparage lifestyle businesses. They weren't real businesses, he said. They only enriched the owner, he said. What the f**k, I thought to myself.
Creating a mindset for business success
Your mindset, and how you treat your staff, are major factors that can affect the success or failure of your business. Neil Twogood, chief operating officer at Performance Consultants, explains how developing the right mindset and engaging your team can lead to high performance.
Is there really a link between the mindset of the top team and business performance? Yes there is, according to Harvard Business School.
Aussie Dragon backs The Apprentice-style business challenge
Former Dragons' Den panellist Richard Farleigh is judging a competition which gives participants just seven weeks to organise a high-profile London business networking event.
An entrepreneur's guide to using video
Chris Barling explains how using video on your company website can be a powerful tool for marketing your small business, attracting new customers and increasing sales.
Viewing videos online is on the rise. According to ComScore, in early 2010 an amazing 5.5bn videos were watched in the UK in one month alone. The growth rate of 37% year-on-year shows no signs of slowing down. It's a true phenomenon.
10 tips for doing business with foreign companies
Dealing effectively with overseas companies is much more than knowing their language; you need to understand the local business culture. Ed van den Berg offers 10 top tips.
An increasing number of businesses are looking to grow by building links and trading with companies in other countries. While this is a bold and intelligent step, it can lead to pitfalls. Not only do you have all the same problems as you would starting a business in the UK – primarily finding customers – but you will probably also have to contend with countries where English is not the first language.
Small business the focus of government's new tax shake-up
Reducing the complexity in the way small business owners are taxed is the first task of the government's new Office of Tax Simplification (OTS), the Treasury said today.
In the latest announcement by the coalition government, chancellor George Osborne confirmed on Tuesday the creation of a new body to cut through the 11,000 pages which make up the UK's tax code. The OTS will not set tax policy but suggest ways complications can be reduced for companies and individuals.
The group's initial focus will be on simplifying the small business tax system and reviewing the 400 tax reliefs which currently exist.
Government launches 'Big Society Bank' to fund social enterprises
Millions of pounds from dormant bank accounts is be used to fund social businesses, the government announced today.
It is believed that up to £400m is available from bank accounts which have been left untouched for 15 years. The money will be used to fund community projects run by charities and voluntary groups as well as social enterprises, the term used to describe businesses which commit all or part of their profits to a social or environmental cause.
Speaking in Liverpool, prime minister David Cameron said: "We have already said we will create a Big Society Bank to help finance social enterprises, charities and voluntary groups through intermediaries.
Bannatyne told to finish his seaside 'vanity project'
Duncan Bannatyne has been accused of abandoning a seaside regeneration project which featured in a reality television programme presented by the Dragons' Den star.
Residents of struggling Suffolk resort Felixstowe have demanded that the Scottish entrepreneur return to the town and prove that the Virgin 1 show 'Duncan Bannatyne's Seaside Rescue' was not simply a "TV vanity project".
During the six-part series, Bannatyne visited some of Britain's most deprived coastal towns. In one of the episodes, he spent time at Manning's Amusement Park in Felixstowe.
Pieces come together for dementia-battling jigsaw inventor
A young entrepreneur who was inspired by his ill grandfather to create something that would help keep dementia patients mentally active has won the South East heat of BusinessZone.co.uk's The Pitch 2010, in association with Yell.
The big idea MOT: Seven steps to follow before hitting the business highway
Aspiring entrepreneurs should test their business idea thoroughly before writing a business plan, says John Mullins, or they are likely to join the majority of start-ups and fail to make it past the five-year mark.
Entrepreneurs back Business Link's demise
Two thirds of small business owners support the coalition government's decision to scrap the regional elements of advisory service Business Link, a poll of over 500 people by BusinessZone.co.uk reveals.
According to the survey of 516 entrepreneurs, 61% said the axing of the system which supports SMEs in England is a good decision compared to 39% who believed it is a bad move.
Comments posted in response to the study included: "Business Link was run in a misguided way by people who didn't know what they were doing. They were all about looking like they were doing the right thing, rather than actually doing something useful."
Another business owner said: " I tendered for a web development project, with search ranking added and they made a complete hash of it. RIP Business Link; gone but happily forgotten."
Protect your brand: Turn your staff into social media superheroes
Social networking can pose a threat to businesses from staff not knowing how to respond. Neil Davey examines how employees can be trained to react appropriately to customer complaints online.
There's no escaping social media in the workplace. If your organisation has yet to embrace it, it will only be a matter of time. Many business owners already have social media running through their operations, whether it's to recruit, as a customer service too or simply to inform the public of your existence. However, there are always going to be times when even the most robust social media policy is tested. One area that appears to need the most attention is how staff are trained to deal with customer service complaints via social networks and high profile incidents involved large companies offer lessons to businesses of all shapes and sizes.
10 ways Facebook can benefit your business
Social networking phenomenon offers big opportunities for entrepreneurs to promote their business and attract customers. Internet marketer Nikki Pilkington shares 10 tips.