Small Business Matters

Go Global in 2012

Research in the first month of the New Year points to record levels of new businesses being created and high optimism amongst small business owners. Will this confidence convert into international trade and expansion? Enterprise Nation founder, Emma Jones, hopes so! 

Here, she offers four steps to going global in 2012 and announces a series of events with DHL and Regus that will help you along the way. 

This will be a good year to grow sales and Go Global. A sizeable opportunity is opening up with growth in markets beyond the Eurozone where more people are going online and wanting to buy British-made products and services.

Here’s how to make the most of it: 

1. Know your product/service – this sounds like a basic starting point but what I mean by this is focus on your niche. Clearly define the look/feel and cost of your product so you know exactly how to position it in new markets and where to promote it. 

2. Look beyond the Eurozone – in late 2011, the HSBC Trade Forecast predicted that world trade will grow by 73% in the next 15 years, with forecasts showing Egypt, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, China and Brazil to be the international powerhouses that will drive growth.

Are you ready to go global with your small business?

Over 65% of businesses are going global within their first year of trading, according to a survey carried out by small business support company Enterprise Nation and international trading platform Alibaba.com. 

 Below Emma Jones, Enterprise Nation founder, reveals a few headlines from the survey and presents a call to action for start ups and small business owners to attend the upcoming series of Go Global events during Global Entrepreneurship Week.

Headline results

In October we carried out a survey to find out how fast and well companies were going global. Here are the key findings:

Guest blog: Emma Jones, Enterprise Nation

In another of our guest blogs, Emma Jones, founder of Enterprise Nation shares some of the top tips from her new book ‘Working 5 to 9’. Take a look at the post below to find out more about how to set up a business in your spare time.

8 steps to becoming a 5 to 9’er
There are millions of people doing it and now a book is launched to help many more follow in their footsteps. We’re talking about ‘Working 5 to 9’ which involves holding down a day job and building a business at nights and weekends. The book’s author, Emma Jones, offers 8 steps showing how you can do the same.

Don’t give up the day job (just yet) start by ‘Working 5 to 9’
If you are in a job but not sure for how much longer, or wanting to turn a skill/hobby/passion into a way of making some extra cash, then you’re a perfect candidate for becoming a 5 to 9’er. This is the name I apply to the millions of entrepreneurial people who are employee/Mum/student by day and working on building a business, in their spare time. It’s a great way to become your own boss as you give yourself time to build confidence – and the all-important cashflow. Here’s how to get started:

1. Find an idea – in the book I offer 50 ideas for businesses you can start in your spare time and they range from book publisher to personal trainer, toymaker to rare breed pig farmer, and all else in between. Come up with an idea that is a) connected to your hobby/passion/skill or b) fills a gap in the market or c) is something you see someone else doing and think you can do better yourself.  

2. Make a plan – with your idea in mind, make a plan. It only need cover 4 pages or so to include your idea, how you’re going to promote the business, ways of getting your product or service to market and the financials that show a profit at the end of the day. There’s a template in the book for a basic business plan that will help you draft this. 

Guest blog: Emma Jones, Enterprise Nation

In the first of our new series of guest blogs, Emma Jones, founder of Enterprise Nation shares some of the findings from her recent UK home business roadtrip. The great news is that the overall feedback from home based businesses was positive. Take a look at the post below to find out more about what Emma learned on her travels!

 

1,233 miles, 18 home businesses and 5 clear trends 

Last week Enterprise Nation, the home business website, went on a roadtrip. Starting in Scotland, the touring team traveled south to meet and film home based businesses in what will become a mini documentary charting the rise in this modern way of working. Whilst out and about, the crew picked up on a few clear trends.

From Scotland to Shropshire

Packing everything in to a single week meant we were able to get a very quick overview of what’s happening in the home business sector across the UK. This is what we found:

Now is a great time to start – the mood throughout the week was incredibly upbeat. One moment that will stick in the mind is when Patrick Elliott (CEO of Business Link in London) opened an event with a question to the audience of ‘Do you think this is a good time to start a business?’ – a ripple of 200 voices came from behind and it was a resounding ‘yes’ – throughout the week we met people who are starting up whilst holding down the day job and others who have come out of redundancy to realise their business ambitions. We met a wide cross-section of businesses and there was nothing but positive chat from them all.