All businesses begin with an idea. Whether you’re dreaming of a new service or a brand-new product, inspiration is your starting point. However, your business idea can only be brought to life with a source of funding. Creating a successful business doesn’t just take vision, it requires research, discipline, planning, and, of course, money. So, how do you know if your business idea can get funding? Here are some steps for you to take.

Finding a mentor

When you’re asking for money to fund your business idea, it’s only natural for people to be skeptical. They need proof your business idea is a viable one. This is why you should find a mentor. An experienced mentor will be able to tell you truthfully whether your concept is likely to work. This stops you from wasting time and helps you to see the way forward clearly. Start meeting people and networking at local events so you can connect with the right mentor for you. Many entrepreneurs are more than happy to share their advice and experiences, so make those connections!

Carry out market research

One especially challenging step in making your idea into a successful business is finding a target market. You can do this by carrying out market research and by asking who you’re targeting as well as whether people are actually interested in what you have to offer. Survey customers, test focus groups, carry out interviews, use social media polls, and observe data via platforms such as Google Analytics.

Work out your funding requirements & create your business plan

While you’re carrying out your research, you’ll begin to understand how much investment you require to get your project off the ground. Before seeking funding, you need to take different factors into account and your mentor may be able to assist with this. Drawing up your business plan will then help you to demonstrate to potential investors how you plan to use their money to start your business.

Generating your funding

Finally, you’re ready to get funding for your business. There are several options here, from angel investment and crowdfunding to traditional business loans. Each comes with its own advantages and disadvantages and knowing how to attract an investor is a key step. Begin by discussing your business within your network of contacts. Prepare a formal pitch so that you’re ready for meetings with any potential investors.

Follow these steps in order to make sure you’re not wasting your time and that you have everything in place to give your business the best chance of securing the funding it needs to get off the ground. With the right approach and a mentor on board, you can get a clear idea of whether funding will be possible for your project and then you’ll have the right advice to make sure you present your idea in the right way to potential investors to secure the money you require to launch your enterprise.

Launching any new business venture can be a challenge, but with a co-founder on board, the way ahead can be smoother and easier. Nevertheless, you need to ensure you have chosen the right person to co-found your company, otherwise, the entire project could end up as a disaster.

You must avoid anyone who could tarnish your reputation, set different goals to yours, or have a differing work ethic. Also, since choosing a co-found will mean not only sharing the responsibilities of running the business, but also dividing up the rewards, it’s vital to ensure that you’re making the right selection. So, with this in mind, here are some expert tips to get you started.

Key features of a co-founder

Many people launching an enterprise choose a co-found that they’re already familiar with and with whom they know they can work successfully. Having good chemistry means it’s possible to focus all your energies on your customers instead of on your company’s internal dynamics.

Your ideal co-founder should usually be working in the same sector as you or at the very least know your market and if they have already launched a business in the past, this is a bonus. However, their skills should complement your own as this will allow you to cover several bases.

Values and professional drive also matter. You need a co-founder with similar work ethics to you or you’re set for disaster. Both founders must share their passion for the business as this will ensure they can overcome adversity successfully.

What should be avoided in your Co-Founder?

If your potential co-founder has previously broken unfavourably with their business partners, this is a red flag. You should also avoid anyone who seeks the solo -spotlight, who may be liberal with the truth or does not consider the long-term impacts of their actions. Integrity and trust are crucial elements.

A co-founder who lacks depth of knowledge when it comes to your start-up’s industry should also be avoided. Ideally, they should be investing their money and time in a business they’re passionate about – if they prefer to remain uninvolved financially, this suggests they’ll take risks with your money.

Where can a co-founder be located?

Try to find your co-founder from amongst your existing business network. If you don’t already have a suitable candidate within your contacts, get networking. Join events, get introduced to new people, and post on social media platforms. There are many ways to find suitable potential co-founders when you know where to look for them. Don’t be afraid to consider people with different strategic visions and diverse backgrounds. Diversity makes your business strong, so pay it some attention.

Getting the decision right

Although it can be difficult to choose a suitable co-founder for your new enterprise, when you get that choice right, you can set your business on the course for great success. Follow these expert tips and you’ll be sure to give your company the best possible chance to thrive and to become the success story that you always dreamed that it could be.

The world has joined forces to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, but when it comes to businesses, there has been one major difference – customer relationships. Now that the new normal is being introduced, how will businesses have to change the way they relate to their customers? 

With a more negative growth outlook for businesses paired with increased customer anxiety, it isn’t too surprising that questions are being raised as to the sustainability and effectiveness of current customer service models. So, how can organisations prepare and what can they expect in the future?

Customer behaviours are changing

Since the start of the pandemic, we have seen several changes in customer behaviour. These are set to continue, at least in the near future. 

Customers have been led primarily by anxiety throughout this crisis and are looking for companies to manage continuity of their services in a safe yet efficient way. Now that we are in the recovery phase, customers are still cautious and are looking for a return to normalcy while still remaining protected. As we move forward into the new normal, customers are increasingly looking for comfort and for a return to old pleasures, but businesses still need to keep staff and customers safe without damaging customer relationships.

How can companies cater to these changing behaviours and relationships? Some strategies that are being employed are outlined here.

Virtual as standard

In the new normal, virtual is no longer going to be a choice but instead, a default practice. Customer relationships must move into the online sphere with remote access to services that supply an anywhere, anytime model to customers.

Avoiding disengagement

Remote access doesn’t mean that customers should feel disengaged from a brand. Companies must develop outreach programs for customers as well as continuous and consistent communication of the brand’s values and accessibility throughout this difficult time.

Empathy for customers

Organisations which respond empathetically to customers are more likely to win their trust and their loyalty. By offering rewards like free services and waivers and customer engagement activities such as virtual social engagement and gamification, companies can continue to provide effective services for customers and build up positive relationships despite the pandemic and its impact on enterprise. 

Preparing for the new normal

Although it’s a challenge to prepare for the new normal and how it will affect customer relationships, it’s something that every company is facing. By reimagining your business processes and your operating model now, it’s possible to impress customers by your response to the crisis and by your excellent customer service in the face of adversity.

By focusing on the management of customers in this uncertain time you can benefit your organisation exponentially. By providing seamless continuity of service to your customers you can continue to enable brand connection and boost customer loyalty. Every opportunity should be seized in business, and even this global pandemic can be harnessed to create key customer moments. So put the interests of the customer first and begin leading the way with your brand into the new normal, fostering positive customer relationships despite the crisis.

If there’s one thing that we can take for granted it’s that change is life’s only constant! Yet, the COVID-19 pandemic has still caused a lot of disturbance for businesses around the world, and finding ways to cope with the new normal that is now beginning to emerge is going to present a host of challenges. Coming up with a survival plan is imperative. So, here are a few strategies that you can adopt to ensure your business remains profitable and relevant, despite the current crisis.

Survival Plan Step 1 - Examine Your Situation

The first stage of your survival plan is to know exactly where your business stands. Examine your current business situation. Balance the books, review and update your budgets, and produce a year-to-date financial statement. Look at your accounts receivables again too and evaluate which customers are likely to pay all or some of the amounts that they owe so your business’s collection activities can be properly prioritised. Also, consider any funding sources that could be tapped without penalty that may assist your company in meeting its financial obligations. You may be able to generate cash immediately by selling supplies, equipment or inventory that is no longer required. Alternatively, contacting your landlord and other creditors whenever applicable to talk about possible deferments and modifications could be another useful course of action now. There may even be loan programs or grants offered by private or public bodies to assist companies like yours that have been negatively impacted by the pandemic. Make sure to check those out so you can maximise your financial resources. 

Survival Plan Step 2 – Revisit Your Business Model

Once you’ve examined your business situation, you may realise that there are some changes to be made in your business model. Now is the time to look at it again and think about the four Ps – Product, place, promotions, and pricing. You may need to refresh your branding to reflect a different focus, develop an understanding of coronavirus and industry-related regulations, lease provisions and insurance requirements, and take on board the feedback of stakeholders and other professionals to ensure that your business model is up to the challenges that face it in the new normal situation.

Survival Plan Step 3 – Determine All the Details

While you’re creating an action plan for relaunching your business, you need to prioritise tasks then group them across a timeline in stages. Think about which resources you have, which resources you need, and the timescale within which you need them. Next, develop a forecast of revenue and expenses on a monthly basis to show what you believe cash flow is likely to look like over the next year once your revised and revisited business model is in place. With these projections, you’ll be able to determine whether any outside finance is required, and which communications and marketing metrics and tactics are most likely to aid your success.

Follow these three survival plan steps and your business will be well-set to cope with the challenges that the new normal is likely to present over the next few weeks and months. 

In the light of the recent George Floyd incident, it comes as no surprise that the world as a whole has been trying to balance the legacy of racial inequalities. More people than ever before have been taking a hard look at their behaviour and themselves and trying to work out ways that they can help the situation. With this in mind, here are five ways that you can support black businesses in the long-term. 

1. Buy From Minority-Owned Businesses

Think about seeking out and supporting black-owned businesses in your community. This is something that everyone can do without difficulty and it can make an enormous difference. Don’t allow inconvenience to prevent you from supporting these enterprises. Black businesses, in general, are understaffed, underfunded, and, in many places, hard to find. This can make it seem harder to support them, however, you shouldn’t use this as an excuse. Find ways of patronising these businesses and give them the additional support that they need to be able to address all the issues that are causing these minor inconveniences in the first place. 

2.Carry On Following Brands And Engaging With Them

Not all support options have to be sales driven. You don’t necessarily have to make a financial contribution to a brand to support it. The number of followers on social media, email subscribers and website visits are metrics that corporate sponsors and investors will look at if they are thinking about doing business with those brands, and so if you cannot provide a monetary contribution to black-owned businesses, or if you can only do so in a limited way, write comments on their social media pages, and like and share their content. 

3. Choose Diverse Corporations To Support

Many brands owned by non-black people enjoy a glut of opportunities when it comes to collaborating with major corporations. Therefore, when you’re deciding which corporations to support, it’s important to be aware of diversification. If you realise there aren’t any (or very few) black-owned brands or central figures in that corporation don’t support them and, most importantly, let them know why, and that you won’t support them again until those inequalities have been addressed.

4. Show Up Physically For Black-Owned Brands

Don’t just support black-owned brands virtually, ensure that you visit their brick-and-mortar locations or pop-up shops whenever you can to support them in person too. This is a good way to demonstrate your support in a physical way.

5. Make Strategic Charitable Donations

Rather than thinking solely of charity as helping education, homeless people or social services, think outside the box. Recognise that non-profit organisations exist that provide guidance and capital to businesses within underserved communities and these organisations require support. You can find creative ways of doing that by offering your own services, time, and help, or give financial donations. All of this can prove extremely beneficial to black entrepreneurs ready to launch their own companies, to those who have new start-ups, and also to those who are struggling to maintain their businesses. 

Keep these five ways of supporting black businesses in the long term in mind, and make sure that you show your commitment by adopting them. 

Guest Blog written by BEC Mentor and Trainer Andre Arundell

E-learning is a phenomenon that has become a common feature of the corporate world. The affordable and convenient alternative to more traditional classroom learning models, e-learning has been designed to be bite-sized and palatable for easy digestion, and this brings with it several clear benefits.

The Benefits of E-Learning 

Unlike training courses offsite, online learning opportunities offer workers the chance to study at a time and in a place that best suits them, and even gives them the chance to revisit previous lessons.

For any company with fragmented teams and multiple offices, e-learning is also able to ensure consistency in training and teaching, and it’s also more affordable than offsite or physical alternatives, even when the cost of video production has been factored in.

Even better, no member of staff will miss out, even if they’re currently absent from work or working remotely. Therefore, even virtual and flexible workers can be supported in their learning.

It’s also possible for businesses to offer optional e-learning experiences, so employees can upskill in any area that is especially of interest to them, even when those areas are outside their typical roles. This allows small businesses to show that they’re committed to their workforce’s development.

Avoiding the negatives 

Of course, there are some drawbacks to e-learning. Lecturing is a lacklustre experience at the best of times, and when that lecture is delivered via the internet, the lack of audience participation means that those who should be engaged simply become bored. To avoid this, it’s important to choose an e-learning platform that gamifies the process, using quizzes and interactive activities to test whether the information provided has been understood and which injects some competitive elements between learners.

Also, if e-learning isn’t introduced carefully, it can come across as just box-ticking instead of a full investment in workforce training. By blending several training styles within your small business’s career development options, it makes it clear that you’re genuinely committed to helping workers achieve their best. You must also make it clear that employees shouldn’t be taking their training courses in their own time.

Also, you can avoid the problem of lack of engagement by ensuring employees are interacting with each other, strengthening their bonds. Online learning is extremely useful, but it shouldn’t entirely replace all physical training that offers further interaction between experts and peers. Physical learning should be used as an add-on to e-learning experiences, so workers can practice what they’ve learned online.

How to Integrate E-Learning effectively in the small business environment?

There are several useful tips to follow when it comes to integrating e-learning opportunities into a small business environment:

• Customise the content to ensure courses are only presented to users for which they’re most appropriate.
• Use genuine experts to create the online courses and review them as well as to deliver the content. 
• Enable interactive activities and support collaboration in real-time by allowing learners to post comments, questions, and to add likes.
• Track progress throughout the e-learning activity so you can easily see who has learned what. This is particularly vital if the e-learning programme is educating on policy, procedure, or compliance changes.
• Celebrate your workers’ achievements. When they complete a course, they could earn company-accredited certifications and have their achievement shared on the business’s website or intranet.

Follow this expert advice and you’ll find that your small business can maximise the potential of e-learning and harness its power to its full advantage. 

Whether you’re keen to improve your success at work or in your personal life, negotiation skills are key. However, it can seem difficult to know where to start when it comes to tackling this daunting task. Here are some tips that will help to point you in the right direction.

Preparation Is Key

Everyone knows that preparation is key when it comes to negotiation, however too many of us fail to dedicate sufficient time and effort to this all-important element. Yet underprepared negotiators are more likely to make concessions that are unnecessary and to walk away from agreements that are beneficial. Therefore, preparing properly for important negotiations is the single most important thing you can do to boost your skills.

Taking The Proactive Approach To Training

If you’ve decided to take a training programme to help you with your negotiation skills, don’t just rely on recording the instructor’s key points. Taking notes is part of the process of learning, but it isn’t enough to help you succeed. You need to think carefully about how those concepts relate to your negotiations in practice. How can you apply these theories to your own talks and discussions? A proactive approach is the best solution. 

Be Prepared For Mistakes

Training for negotiations can be embarrassing, especially if you have to participate in simulations and roleplays. However, it’s important to recognise that these activities are vital to identifying and challenging flaws in your thinking and practice. Rather than feeling defensive or threatening when you realise you’ve made decisions in the past based on faulty intuition, accept that mistakes are a key part of improving your skills since they allow you to adopt more effective thinking patterns to apply to your practice in future.

Practice And Practice Some More

Turning new concepts into intuitive strategies requires practice. When you start transferring your newly acquired negotiation skills into your workplace it’s important to remain vigilant. Reflect on the things you’ve learned and decide which concepts you need to apply assiduously before actively practicing them at home and at work. Try out those new strategies and skills with your family and friends who will be more likely to forgive your mistakes until they become second nature and overtake your use of the old patterns you used to rely upon.

Find A Negotiation Coach

If you’re about to embark on a key negotiation, it’s like that someone in your company can give you the advice you need. Instead of just telling you the actions to take in any given situation, an effective negotiation coach will focus on boosting your own negotiation skills. They will help you to set realistic goals, to work out which techniques you should try, and help you understand what took place after the negotiation is complete. Good negotiation coaches offer consistent advice, stress how important thorough preparation is, rehearse your new negotiation skills with you, and then debrief your final result so you can develop and hone your abilities, and put them to good use in the future. 

When it comes to the macroeconomic perspective, there is still a persistent perception that a social enterprise is more like a charity than a “proper business”. Yet, there is a growing body of evidence and our personal experience which indicates that not only are social enterprises doing well, but they’re playing a vital role in economic growth.

The growth of the social economy is all down to the fact that businesses that have ‘a social purpose’ at the heart of their enterprise have proven to be the ones that are best equipped to meet today’s demand for sustainability and social change. Social enterprises have been shown to not only promote more inclusive growth by strengthening employability and skills, and creating jobs, but also to build a more diversified local economy by contributing to the wider institutional and economic transformation.

The Rise 0f Social Enterprises

At present, the UK is still lagging behind other countries in terms of its social enterprises, but their contribution is slowly becoming more recognised and appreciated. Quietly, and somewhat behind the scenes, social enterprise is revolutionising the economy, offering a brand-new way of doing business. Not only that, but social enterprises are achieving this by remaining true to their values and by allowing a more diverse array of business leaders to rise to the top. 

Social enterprises today are worth around £60 billion to the UK’s economy, employing about two million people and representing around 3% of the country’s GDP (three times the size of the UK’s agricultural industry) and 5% of the UK’s employment, which is the same percentage of jobs as the UK’s creative industry sector. These figures just go to show how important social enterprises are becoming, and how they are slowly being included in the scope of economic strategies and policymaking.

A Contribution Driven by Social Purposes

Social enterprises are driven by responsibilities that extend far beyond the narrow scope of profit generation. As a sector, it makes a wider contribution to society outside its economic impact. 

In what ways do social enterprises achieve this?

• Their businesses are more diverse, fairer and work towards serving their customers to the highest possible standard. 
• Thanks to different incentives, they bring new thinking and innovation into the workplace.
• By focusing on society as a whole, they are proud of being rooted in their own communities, giving back to those that they serve on a daily basis. 

The social enterprise economy currently contributes more in terms of tax than private organizations that have no social purpose. The top five co-operatives in the UK pay more in tax than Facebook, Amazon, Starbucks, Apple and eBay. More importantly, wider social economies are more likely to give back to their local communities. It’s been shown that customer-owned retailers will invest double their profit in their local area when compared to their competitors. 

With all of this in mind, it’s clear that social enterprises are still an under-appreciated sector, but that is something that is changing. Now that the many contributions that they make are being acknowledged, the only way is up for social enterprise in the UK.

For any enterprise to be successful, you need to be able to network and form partnerships that offer mutual value and benefit. However, creating that partnership is only a first step – you have to build on that partnership to ensure that it provides the most possible value for your business.

So, how do you go about doing this? Here, we take a look at some top tips to help you to maximise your potential to build valuable and mutually beneficial relationships with your working partners.

Defining Your Partnership Goals

Before you can extract maximum value from any partnership, you need to be able to define a clear goal for it. How will it help you to grow your organisation, and how can you help theirs to grow too? 

It may sound counterintuitive, but in fact if you aim to give your partner business more value than that which you take from theirs, you’ll be surprised at just how effective that mindset can be for the growth and success of your company. So, before you even approach a new potential partner, think hard about the goal you’re focusing on so that you can communicate most effectively.

Adding Value For Clients

Although partnerships are a useful marketing tool and you should be squeezing maximum exposure and value for your company from them, at the end of the day, your primary goal should be to give your clients even better value. 

With every new potential partnership, consider what it can do to make your clients experience even better with your company. This will help you to decide whether it’s worth forging the partnership in the first place and, when it is, which direction you should be taking with it.

Increase Your Exposure To Potential New Clients

When you’re partnering with another company, you almost certainly want to bring more new clients to your company. Make sure, then, that you don’t solely focus on the value you’re going to bring to your customers. Remember to advertise the brand-new value you’ll be offering to new and existing customers alike, and use any of the marketing your new partner company has to market yourself and your own organisation, while, in return, putting your own marketing tools at your new partner’s disposal.

Offering Mutual Incentives

To make it more likely that your new partner will share your service to the max, you can incentivise them for every new client they bring you. An affiliate programme is a great way to ensure your partner gets something back for any business that they put your way with no need to pay any money upfront. Mutual incentives of this nature help to make sure that both companies benefit from referring clients to the other.

Ensuring Maximum Value For Your Partnerships

Whenever it comes to establishing new partnerships, you need to stop and consider the marketing potential they can offer you, and how you can harness that full potential to your advantage. The most important thing to note, though, is that being too demanding or over-calculating isn’t the way forward – you need to ensure you’re working together so that both of your organisations can enjoy the biggest possible exposure and value. After all, isn’t that what partnership means?