Emma L. Jones2013-06-19T04:36:26-04:00Emma L. Joneshttp://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=emma-l-jonesCopyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Emma L. JonesGood old fashioned elbow grease.Show Me the Moneytag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.34522102013-06-17T03:45:15-04:002013-06-17T13:52:52-04:00Emma L. Joneshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/emma-l-jones/
Applying for funding can be a waffly minefield of form filling, interviews, reports, credit checks, number crunching - and lots of guess work. To most people raging against the machine, it seems outmoded and irrelevant. Not to mention risky.
Hungry entrepreneurs tend to find a way around things that get in the way. It's in their nature.
This explains why we are seeing more and more people starting out lean, bootstrapping a start-up while perfecting the model as they go. How the business starts may not be how it ends up, but the net effect is that they reach their goal, slower than desired, but nevertheless debt free.
What are they doing? Well, they are budgeting and 'pivoting' their offering, developing their product as they go while making enough income to cover costs.
They are collaborating. They'd much rather offer a service in return for the expertise they need than spend hours filling out a 30 page business plan with a ruddy-faced business adviser for some cash they'll have to pay back.
Is this the right way to do it? I'd say yes as they've tried, have no debt and learned valuable lessons along the way.
At Enterprise Nation, this bootstrapping approach is an established way of working. Many people we profile and meet are keeping the day job and starting the business at night and weekends. We call it 'Working 5 to 9'
Or they are growing by taking on freelance help and focusing on what they do best and outsourcing the rest to fellow professionals and experts.
And they are applying for tiny pockets of cash they can access without wasting their most valuable commodity - time.
In fact to these people, small amounts of cash has a disproportionate amount of impact. By popular demand we're bring back Fund 101 - a chance to win a £500 cash injection and some excellent freelance help. The form takes five minutes to fill in - and that's it - you're in with a chance.
We've done all the hard work - PayPal is supplying the funds and Elance is literally offering a helping hand.
Last year Sock Monkey Emporium founder Emma Maudsley put her £500 to good use. She paid for her soft toys and business cards to be put into celebrity goody bags at a film premiere. This then led to orders coming in from celebrities across the globe!
Emma said: "I was adamant I didn't want to go down the route of finding external funding for my enterprise. For me that would have been more of burden than a help. So I bootstrapped. While it's been tough, it's amazing how resourceful and hungry for success it makes you.
"When I was awarded Fund 101, I was determined to put the money to good use. And it's moved my business on so much more than I could have imagined. I could never have afforded to do what I did otherwise, but it's shown me that some investment, however small, can make a big difference."
Invested wisely and not frittered, £500 can do wonders. And it's free! You don't have to get into debt and pay it back or have an investor telling you what to do!
Small is beautiful, as they say and Fund101 shows a small amount of money can go a long way.]]>Have We Reached the Tipping Point?tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.32846632013-05-16T05:45:27-04:002013-05-17T09:54:45-04:00Emma L. Joneshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/emma-l-jones/
Increasingly the national enterprise campaign I co-founded, StartUp Britain, is being asked to join with events that would usually be the traditional domain of big graduate recruiters like banks, insurance houses and city institutions.
Last week we were asked to go to Warwick University to take a stall at an event called Kick. Organised and executed by business studies student Tom Watson, it focused on entrepreneurship, accelerators and start-ups, with traditional careers advisers prowling on the side lines.
Many of the young people we spoke to said they definitely were going to start a business. Many of them already had. What was interesting was that many of them weren't even sure what their business would be - but that didn't seem to be putting them off at all. This implies they are not worried about failure either. They are willing to take the risk.
We've also been asked to speak and help prepare fashion graduates for entrepreneurship at next month's Graduate Fashion Week at Earl's Court for the first time. Before this point, finding employment within the fashion industry was the sole focus.
Is it me, or is something happening here? Has the tipping point arrived? What we recognised that we needed to do at StartUp Britain was change the single-minded British sensibility with all arrows pointing towards employment.
With the publication of Lord Young's Growing Your Business report, uncovering proposals that will help to grow start-up and micro businesses, it seems that the Government and Lord Young are with me on this one.
What we need to tackle now is making the infrastructure and cultural change that will make growth and long-term development easier and more achievable for start-ups and micro businesses.
Lord Young's ideas are a good start. Growth vouchers, growth loans, a business bank and a good old hack at the red tape that precludes any new business from easily obtaining Government and local authority procurement, are a really good place to start.
This proposal represents opportunity and security for fledgling businesses looking to build - and to those that offer this trusted business, access to the kind of innovation and high energy that only comes with entrepreneurship.
At StartUp Britain we'd like to see this Government lead taken up by big business. We'd like to see them looking to work with this growing army of micro businesses too, with payment terms that match.
Only then will we begin to see the next tipping point on the horizon.]]>Why Sharing Is Caringtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.31830282013-04-30T10:41:35-04:002013-04-30T10:41:40-04:00Emma L. Joneshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/emma-l-jones/
Small, agile, fast-moving start-up businesses are increasingly looking to collaborate, share assets and hire in expertise. They are tearing up the rules and starting again. It's the way forward.
New research from pay-as-you-drive car network Zipcar, conducted with national enterprise campaign StartUp Britain and Ashridge Business School, shows the extent of how today's start-ups are shaking up the status quo, and employing new and innovative ways to do business and forge success.
From vehicles by the hour to office space by the day, 48 percent of start-ups are already sharing one or more physical assets, with 31 percent taking this a step further and sharing elements of their workforce.
Rather than a reaction to the current economic stagnation we find ourselves in, start-ups are not just sharing in response to tough economic times. Sixty-five percent of the start-ups we surveyed said they believed this was a new way of working, rather than a knee-jerk reaction to austerity. Sharing resources is being built into their business plan from the outset.
Thanks to technology, finding a like-minded business that might have an asset, a skill, or expertise that you need has never been easier. Many businesses in fact say that sharing saves them not only money, but time and brings with it huge convenience.
Having held a number of focus groups with successful entrepreneurs, Zipcar's report lays out a six point blueprint, pulling together some of the common themes employed by today's most successful start-ups. The blueprint highlights that today's successful entrepreneurs are moving swiftly. They aren't waiting to gather all the funding or even waiting until they are sure they've got everything right: 60 percent are starting out in less than six months from having the initial idea and growing organically -- whilst intrinsically accepting that making a mistake along the way is part of the path.
That's a culture change.
Gut instinct, not extensive market research is the king here. Recruiting, the blueprint says, relies on finding people who share your vision -- not those looking for a safe, regular pay check.
And customers are not just people who buy stuff -- they are brand supporters and for this approach to work, they need to love you and want to see where you're going to take them.
Jonathan Brenner, co-founder of Lawyers on Demand claims to have 'disrupted' the established 400-year-old career path in British law to create a new way of working for his start-up.
"We played a hunch. We thought a revolution in law was just around the corner because we had clients telling us that they wanted to work in a different way and lawyers telling us they were sick of being in the office for 12 hours a day."
He added: "We are always in Beta mode. We never, ever tell ourselves that this is the finished product and that we've done everything we can. It's a counter-intuitive business model, but it keeps us nimble."
And they're adaptable. Many of the businesses profiled say it's important to listen to ideas and create a culture where everyone might have an idea that is at the very least, trialled.
Simon Prockter, CEO of home-delivered takeaway business Housebites said: "I encourage an atmosphere in which ideas are allowed to flourish. Everyone is encouraged to suggest changes and if an idea is easy to introduce we just do it -- whether the rest of us agree or not -- and see whether it works."
It shows the growing gap between the record numbers of start-ups we're seeing each year and the way big businesses operate.
It's not all about saving money, but it's clear that businesses are thinking about buying less, moving forward quickly without the baggage of ownership. Collaboration evens out risk and ensures people get proper use out of their assets, with less waste. The great benefit is that you get to meet and work with like-minded individuals and unsustainable, heaving over-consumption reduces.
Like I say, sharing really is caring.]]>Let's Shout About Start-Ups From the Rooftops!tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.30084372013-04-03T16:31:29-04:002013-06-03T05:12:01-04:00Emma L. Joneshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/emma-l-jones/
But last week, I am delighted to report, StartUp Britain, the national enterprise campaign, of which I am co-founder, celebrated its second birthday in the most optimistic way you can imagine!
The iconic BT Tower shone a birthday wish from above, spreading the start-up message around our capital city - and sending a clear message of support for what we do from BT Business, our newest sponsor.
This unexpected injection of optimism told us that not only that we're doing all right, it also told us that no matter how grey the world may feel sometimes, there is always a glimmer of hope.
In fact this random act of kindness - because that really is what it felt like - did us all a big favour. It made us smile. In fact it made us laugh and gave us the adrenalin hit we needed to make sure the day went with a bang.
Even Boris Johnson showed his support:
BorisJohnson@MayorofLondon
Happy 2nd birthday to @startupbritain - 75% of all start-ups last year were registered in London making us the enterprise capital #SUB2
StartUp Britain was launched on March 28 2011 by the Prime Minister David Cameron to celebrate, accelerate and inspire enterprise in the UK.
In two successful years it has taken the start-up message to thousands of Britons looking to become their own boss.
Last year, 484,224 businesses registered at Companies House (unaudited figure), almost 10 per cent up on 2011. There was a 14 per cent increase in companies with shares changing hands and a 50% increase in early stage entrepreneurial activity amongst people aged between 18 and 29. You can see where I'm going with this.
It's incredible progress and what the BT Tower's message has taught us is that it's actually OK to talk about success - and to shout it from the rooftops.
So...this year the campaign hopes to see 500,000 businesses started up in the UK. If it happens, that's most definitely something to shout about!
BT Business is part of a collective of forward-thinking big businesses that have invested in the British economy by helping start-ups to grow and flourish via the campaign's work. These also include PayPal, Intuit, iris,Viking and Zipcar.
Part of what we do is encourage more people to consider starting a business, but also to encourage more big businesses to help small ones, a welcome contribution to the start-up eco-system.
Last year StartUp Britain visited 40 colleges and universities, delivered free events for fledgling businesses about finance, social media, tech, design, marketing, fashion and food. It has 121 local champions in towns and cities across the UK helping to spread the word.
This year we'll be on the road again and recruiting more champs and getting out there to more people again. Birthdays might not seem that important. But they are. And for that, we are thankful. Bring on another 12 months!]]>The Need for a New and Modern Business Membershiptag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.28293652013-03-08T12:27:36-05:002013-05-08T05:12:01-04:00Emma L. Joneshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/emma-l-jones/
Over 60% of these businesses are started from a home base and, in the early days, many of the owners are 'Working 5 to 9' which is the term I apply for holding onto the day job and building a business at night and weekends.
These businesses tend to be one man or woman bands. They are micro enterprises but there's nothing small about their level of ambition. Embracing technology, these sole traders and small limited companies are testing new markets through pop-ups, going global at speed, and becoming known on the web and beyond through clever PR and adoption of social media.
These are the businesses I meet every day and, for the past year or so, I've wondered why they don't have a greater voice in government or a membership to represent their views and offer tools and support to help them start and grow.
After wondering for a while, Enterprise Nation launched a survey which asked people for their views on business membership groups, and received over 1,200 replies.
The consensus was business groups simply aren't working for today's modern business. While 64% of respondents were put off joining membership bodies because they felt they're too expensive, 40% said they couldn't see the benefits of membership to their business - and 18% said they felt existing bodies didn't represent their kind of business.
This is something we have decided to address and this week saw the launch of a new and modern business membership extending deals and offers from top brands, free eBooks, profile on the website, a sense of community and, critically, a voice to government for the micro-enterprises who are powering today's economy and delivering social benefit too.
With traditional membership bodies deemed as too expensive, ours is just £20 a year. The response has been positive and the first issue we'll be championing in government is ways to increase cross-border e-commerce with the EU as part of a Cabinet Office Taskforce. Issues to follow include ensuring the full contribution of small business trading activity is included in official statistics and exploring childcare vouchers for the self-employed.
As any good business, the membership will evolve to serve the needs of its community but at least we've made a start. http://www.enterprisenation.com/club]]>What Is The Future Truth About the High Street?tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.26607802013-02-11T06:44:29-05:002013-04-13T05:12:01-04:00Emma L. Joneshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/emma-l-jones/
There are 53 high streets that have at least two stores from the long list of big chains that have recently announced they are to be broken-up. According to The Local Data Company, this means around 1,400 more stores are at risk of becoming empty, leaving behind an ugly legacy that could be around for years.
PopUp Britain, the retail arm of national enterprise campaign StartUp Britain, on the other hand is about to expand the number of shops it converts to pop-ups. Having lived and breathed start-ups and small businesses, the campaign knew there was a need and a will to give a new breed of online, often home-based entrepreneurs, the chance to get a taste of the high street via empty shops.
So far, so good. Within five months of the first shop opening in July last year, PopUp Britain has helped more than 60 businesses get onto the high street. By the end of next week, a showcase shop based in the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) will have seen another 23 businesses pop-in. By the end of six months, there will have been another 70 trading entrepreneurs, just in one shop. PopUp Moreton, which opened earlier this month in Moreton-in-Marsh, will help 12 local businesses in eight weeks.
Fashion brand My Edo run by, run by Edoardo Cannarsa, is now looking for a permanent shop of its own after spending two weeks over the summer in PopUp Britain in Richmond. ElephantBranded, an ethical bag manufacturer, run by 23-year-old architecture student James Boon, used its time in the shop to clinch a deal with a high street retailer. Bags are now in John Lewis shops up-and-down the country.
It's stories like this that convince us that what we're doing is right.
When we get our hands on an empty shop, we can have an impact on the local economy through helping not just one business, but many.
What we're saying is that we want to help the growing number of online British businesses that are genuinely looking for a low-cost, short-term high street opportunity. StartUp Britain has 82,000 start-ups and small businesses registered on its website that was set up just under two years ago. Last year around 484,000 start-ups were registered in the UK with Companies House; a record number. These businesses have told us they want an opportunity to meet customers face to face and make sales in a physical shop environment.
We're part of what's happening out there to try and revitalise the high street - but we accept that pop-ups are just one factor in a series of actions that need to be taken to achieve this.
Last week I was asked to represent small businesses on the Government's Future High Street Forum. I want to make sure there is a place for home-based British businesses within pop-up shops on our high streets, and that these shops become synonymous with supporting British enterprise.
The businesses we help could be the ones who will make the change that needs to happen - creating a new wave of independent retailers who will transform and inhabit the high street. These pop-ups could become stay-ups in time and businesses could co-fund and co-work on a more permanent basis.
It's going to be a long road. And there's a lot more to be done.]]>Why 2013 Is the Year to Pop-Uptag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.23892502012-12-31T14:02:01-05:002013-03-02T05:12:02-05:00Emma L. Joneshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/emma-l-jones/
There are emerging opportunities for the most resourceful of retail entrepreneurs that are picking up momentum and support not just from the business world, but from British consumers.
Until recently, pop-up shops have had a mixed reputation. The 'everything must go' hastily scrawled in white spray paint, or uninspiring charity shops are the oft-criticised and cited version most commonly associated with the re-use of empty shops - but more recently the pop-up concept has taken an intellectual leap.
Network hubs, pop-up cafes, restaurants and fashion outlets with DJ sets are starting to become part of the high street fabric - but the bigger question is how these ventures can help to deliver long-term stability.
The answer is by offering support to the increasing numbers of people setting up businesses in the UK, the strivers driving the British economy. The latest figures reveal 2012 was another record year for start-ups with 478,769 businesses registered with Companies House. That's got to be a blast of good news.
The enterprise campaign StartUp Britain recently launched a brand new pop-up shop that is part of a plan to open the genre to start-ups on a new scale. PopUp Britain gives six start-up and small retail businesses at a time the chance to co-work and co-fund an empty shop for two weeks at a time - keeping costs low and the consumer offering high.
The campaign's latest shop in Victoria is in a converted office space in the Department of Communities and Local Government. The department intends to use it as a showcase to its 330 Town Teams - offering it to them as a blueprint of how they can offer the same model to local start-ups in their own areas.
The campaign has looked at pop-up shops differently: it offers its shared space to small businesses that operate online and want the chance to meet customers face-to-face, but couldn't take on or indeed fill a shop on their own for any period of time.
Its pilot shop in Richmond showed that the benefits were threefold: retailers made sales, got feedback and forged strategic partnerships with other entrepreneurs sharing the space; the Richmond shopper saw a more vibrant high street, local retailers were pleased with the increased footfall and interest; and the local council immediately picked up on the benefits for their high street and brought in a grant for other would-be pop-up retailers to follow suit.
StartUp Britain's experience suggests that small businesses stand to gain a lot from this particular pop-up model. It adds the social dimension that working remotely removes for them and the palpable irony that new online British businesses could be the salvation not the destroyer of our high streets.
The campaign's Richmond pop-up helped over 60 small British businesses get to the high street market. Its Victoria venture promises to help over 150 over 2013. If the concept is taken up across the UK, the potential is enormous to create a pop-up brand that will become synonymous for the consumer with supporting British business - and with businesses for getting a legitimate and affordable foot on the retail ladder.
At a time when we're seeing record numbers of people setting up businesses, making use of our high streets to nurture British business seems obvious.
www.popupbritain.com]]>