Small Business Matters | A Blog for UK Small Businesses

Inspiration from the We Mean Business conference

It’s been a really exciting morning at the We Mean Business conference and we’ve already met most of the delegates before hearing some really great key note speeches, two of which we have detailed below

Steph Cutler, Founder of Making Lemonade: Viewing obstacles as opportunities, not setbacks.

One of the most inspirational speakers I’ve heard in a long time. Having come from a very successful career in fashion where she lived a ‘work hard, play hard’ lifestyle, Steph experienced unexpected sight loss in 2003.  This led her to set up a disability equality consultancy business and really live by a new mantra: If life deals you lemons, make lemonade!

One of the most memorable parts of Steph’s speech was when she told the room about her reply to Gordon Brown when asked ‘Why did you set up your business?’ Her direct answer was “because no bastard would give me a job!”

This one line epitomised what I felt when listening to Steph speak, she told how from very early  on she made a very conscious decision to not let her new disability get in her way.  This drive and passion is what has motivated her to help many businesses like hers and become a successful entrepreneur. 

Steph inspired, encouraged and embraced the room and showed how important, as a business, it is to allow yourself the time to learn about yourself as a person, about your business and, most importantly, to learn about the people around you.

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.