Impact your business and join us for the Festival of Female Entrepreneurs
On Thursday 22nd October, 123-reg will be one of four headline sponsors of the annual Festival for Female Entrepreneurs, held at Colston Hall in Bristol. The event, run and managed by our good friends at Enterprise Nation, will play host to a day of information, education and inspiration that will help SMEs take their business to the next level. What is the Festival of Female Entrepreneurs? The event, run and managed by our good friends at Enterprise Nation, will play host to a day of information, education and inspiration that will help SMEs take their business to the next level. The Festival of Female Entrepreneurs takes place at Colston Hall in Bristol on Thursday 22 October. Access to the exhibition and networking space is completely free. Access to the networking area is £20, which will give you access to keynote talks and practical workshops from the UK’s leading female entrepreneurs and experts. There are only 250 tickets available for the keynotes and workshops so be sure to bag yours before they run out! Harnessing entrepreneurial spirit 123-reg is very proud to support the festival, especially when considering the growing numbers of females involved in start-ups in the UK. A report by the Office for National Statistics showed the number of self-employed women has increased by 34 per cent since 2009. By way of comparison over the past five years, the number of self-employed men has risen by just 15 per cent. Enterprise Nation’s 2014 Home Business Report found that of the 2.9 million homepreneurs in the UK, 64 per cent of them were women – equating to around 1.7 million women running businesses from home, contributing an estimated £180 billion to the British economy alone. What we have on offer The event which will be packed full of educative content aimed directly at SMEs will see 123-reg CMO, Kate Cox, deliver her top tips on how to start small businesses online. Additionally 123-reg SEO specialist, Roxana Stingu, will deliver a 30-minute workshop on the basics of SEO and the top tips for how small businesses looking to increase their rankings online. Additionally, 123-reg will have a presence at the event and will be on hand to help businesses get the answers they need to improve their online presence. For those that attend the event, we will be offering a free .com domain name with a free WordPress hosting or Website Builder package. The event has grown to become a mainstay of the South West’s business event landscape. Last year the event attracted over 700 attendees. For more information and to book your tickets, simply head to https://www.enterprisenation.com/festival So whether you have just set up your business or are looking for inspiration, the Festival of Female Entrepreneurs will have something for you. We look forward to meeting you! Join the social conversation using #FFE15
6 Top Tips for success from those who know
We all want to be a success. We all have different ways we think we can achieve it. There’s no right or wrong answer but what about those who have already proven their success? Here’s six top tips to making your start-up business a success from those in the know: Simon Hughes MP Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats and MP for Bermondsey & Old Southwark “Work with somebody from your area who is five or more years older than you and is doing the sort of thing that you want to be doing” Lee McQueen Winner of BBC The Apprentice 2008, entrepreneur and founder of Raw Talent Academy that provides SMEs and corporate organisations with the vehicle to build internal sales academies into long term staffing plans. “Get as much critique as possible about your idea. Don’t just ask friends, family and those sort of people, they are just going to tell you what you want to hear. Do go and ask the sort of people who are likely to tell you the things you don’t want to hear. That’s how you are going to hone your idea. That’s how it is going to get much better.” Ketan Makwana A self-made serial entrepreneur and co-founder of Youth Enterprise Live and Enterprise Labs. He is a special advisor on youth employment & enterprise to the UK government and contributor to Parliamentary workgroups. “Believe in yourself and even when the going gets tough just keep pushing through. If you believe in what you are doing and you keep pushing you will breakthrough.” Claire Young Runner up of BBC The Apprentice 2008 and serial entrepreneur specialising in the area of social enterprise “Before you dive off and start spending any time or money make sure you do your homework. Research your market. Know who your competition is and take the time to have a plan in place because without a plan you will have no idea of where you are going. Naomi Timperley Entrepreneur and Co-founder of Enterprise Lab who once with a previous very successful venture turned down an offer of investment on BBC Dragon’s Den “Use and build your network – you never know who someone knows – treat people with respect and how you would like to be treated yourself.” Michael Sani Teacher, actor and founder of apolitical movement Bite the Ballot an organisation engaging young people into thinking about politics. “My top tip….well it’s right to say that I have not gone into this to make money…To be faced with the challenges of setting up and running your own business is a great thing. It means your doing something that has the ability to take you on a roller coaster of ups and downs, questioning what your doing whilst constantly redefining your desire to achieve and if you are the one at the steering wheel of the business, then you are the one that has to ensure it does not fail. But in between, that feeling of sinking deeper and deeper you see the landmarks of achievement that you know, one day, have the potential to be spoken about as examples of success, long after you are gone!” So that’s your six top tips from those at the top of the tree and now here’s a bonus one from this entrepreneurial blogger. My business background is nothing if not varied and coming to the party with many different hats on, I like to think I have a few valid points to make. So what is my tip for success? “Read, listen and absorb. Information is your weapon, your shield and should be your inspiration. Read words of wisdom (such as this) from those who have already lived it and hopefully you will avoid many of the pitfalls that can de-rail your plans for success. Listen to podcasts, attend conferences and network with those who hold golden nuggets of advice. Even friends and family running small operations will have knowledge that may come in useful. Don’t expect all that information you take on board to be of immediate use either. It may be years down the line but every snippet of learning you absorb will one day pay dividends.” 123-reg caught up with all our top tipsters at Youth Enterprise Live 2012 an event focusing on employment, education and enterprise for 15-30 year olds. The event hits the road in 2013 visiting 12 different cities in the UK.
#GEWUK Entrepreneurs creating the conversation
10 million people are expected to take part in this year’s Global Entrepreneurship Week which begins today, 40,000 events in 104 countries have been organised, suggesting there’s quite a few committed to addressing the current global economic crisis by getting out there and just doing it themselves. “Every business starts with a conversation. Start yours today.” is the slogan heading the UK campaign, aiming at creating a “national conversation about entrepreneurship” the aim is to help people connect, share and act upon ideas that may have been lingering in minds for months even years. It is all about action and positivity. Being an entrepreneur isn’t easy but if you can learn from the downs and rise on the ups there is every chance of success. As one weekend tweeter put it “Make yourself a promise to increase both ‘who you know’ & ‘what you know’ by Friday!” Here at 123-reg we believe entrepreneurship is a desire, not a science, a commitment not an art. With online business on the constant increase and set to offer a bumper Christmas there’s never been a better time to give it a try. Whether creating a website for an offline offering or going for a full-on ecommerce solution we can help you get your business up and running quickly and efficiently. Global Entrepreneurship Week is the perfect way to find inspiration. The conversation this week is set to be lively on Twitter and on the hashtag #GEWUK. Have a look at what events are taking place near you too and get involved.
Mumpreneurs are leading the way
If ever the politicians needed an example of how British resolve will pull the country clear of these sad ecomomic times, they needn’t look much further than the working mum (or dad). It sounds clichéd but most parents would do anything for their kids and whereas once that used to be taking on a couple of extra part-time jobs, many are now turning to starting up their own business, especially via the internet. 123-reg were lucky enough to be a sponsor at yesterday’s MumpreneurUK Annual Conference and Awards event and the creativity, positivity and passion in a room of 150 entrepreneurs (mainly mums, but a handful of dads too) was electrifying. The organisation set up by mums Laura Rigney and Amanda Farren in 2009 celebrates and supports mumpreneurs who they define as “a mum who juggles running a business with family life” and lets would be mumpreneurs know that starting a business is achievable, whatever your background. There were book publishers, book sellers, toy sellers, theatre groups, support organisations, PR gurus, keepsake producers and many, many more; all assembled to network, learn off inspirational speakers and seminar hosts but more importantly, they were there to celebrate each others success and support each other – there was a lot of love in the room. There was also a lot of positivity about how the internet has changed their lives and helped businesses compete and flourish. So many of those assembled were tweeting and connecting to the web that the in-house WiFi consistently crashing became a talking point of the day. There wasn’t one person there who didn’t already have a web presence and it was nice to meet with so many 123-reg customers with lots of positive stories of their dealings with us, but also to help solve some niggling issues about the next steps online for their business. It was a day of sharing knowledge and ideas all round. If you missed the event, have a look at the Twitter hashtag #mumpreneur11 to see what went on and we’ll be posting up our exclusive interview with MumpreneurUK founder Laura Rigney soon to, so watch this space. UPDATE 27/09/11: View the interview here. Finally, big congratulaions to Suzanne Dibble of Lawyers4mumpreneurs who won the Best Supporting Business Award sponsored by 123-reg and seemed a very popular winner.