Originally written by Alice Feilden on Small Business
This week’s episode of Dragon’s Den featured some promising high-flyers, including a nervous Jack Nyber, who hid his sugar-free sweetener packaging among a bountiful display of luscious watermelons, grapes and pears in desperate hope the judges wouldn’t notice his half-baked branding. Nyber seemed underwhelmed as he relayed impressive sales, bringing in a cool £28,000 a week and on track to turnover almost £1.5m this year. Squirming with nerves, Nyber walked away with a £75,000 investment after some rigorous squabbling between the Dragons.
There was plenty more where that came from. The bickering ramped up a notch when Tim Keaveney and Matt Aubrey, owners of eco-friendly refillable cleaning products company, Homethings, stole the show. All five of the Dragons made an offer to the squeaky-clean duo, and the sharp elbows came out.
Deborah Meaden pulled faces when Sara Davies pronounced infomercials as ‘the key way to recruiting customers’. Davies shouted about Touker Suleyman’s ‘oversight’ when suggesting Homethings go for a deal split three ways between himself, Tej Lalvani and longest-standing Dragon, Peter Jones. Jones himself positively begged to be let in on a deal with Meaden. ‘I’m riding on Deborah’s shirt tails right now,’ said Jones,
Tag Archive for Business Management
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Top 5 CRM software providers for UK small businesses in 2021
by Nick Ismail • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Nick Ismail on Small Business
Check out this list of the top 5 CRM software providers for UK small businesses in 2021.
var appWikiRequestUrl = “https://appwiki.nl”;
How is this top 5 composed?
These CRM software providers are selected based on the business type for which they were developed, (expert) reviews and the possibilities and functions.
Important functions include identifying sales opportunities, recording service issues and managing marketing campaigns. The start-up time, ease of use and support were examined in the expert reviews.
Choice for CRM software: what should I take into account?
The range of CRM systems is wide. How do you make a wise choice? There are a number of things that you have to take into account when choosing.
1. CRM type or purpose
In general, you could define five types of CRM systems: Sales, Client Management, Marketing, Customer Support or multi-function (integrating different customer processes). The first question you should ask yourself is; what is the main goal or purpose of a new CRM system?
2. Customer processes
Next you have to define which customer processes you want to facilitate with the CRM software. You may think of sales, customer support, marketing but also project management, invoicing and time tracking.
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Top 5 project management software providers for UK small businesses
by Nick Ismail • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Nick Ismail on Small Business
Check out this list of the top 5 project management software providers for UK small businesses in 2021.
var appWikiRequestUrl = “https://appwiki.nl”;
How is this top 5 composed?
These project management software providers are selected based on the business type for which they were developed, (expert) reviews and the possibilities and functions.
Important functions include placing workflow tools in one location, easy documentation and budget tracking. The start-up time, ease of use and support were examined in the expert reviews.
Choice for project management software: what should I take into account?
The range of project management providers is wide. How do you make a wise choice? There are a number of things that you have to take into account when choosing.
1. Your project management team
Understanding the capabilities of your team is necessary when choosing the right project management tool. Small, autonomous and organised teams have different needs then bigger teams that work on big and more complex projects. Map out the requirements of your project team(s) first!
2. Project management method
Is your team working in an agile way or are they working according to the lean principle? Some tools are better suited
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Jonny Wilkinson Q&A – ‘What is it you want from your team?’
by Sophie Wheeldon • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Sophie Wheeldon on Small Business
EXCLUSIVE: Rugby icon Jonny Wilkinson is responsible for probably the most exciting moment in the history of rugby, when he dropkicked the winning goal in the last minute of extra time in the final of the 2003 World Cup – handing England a dramatic victory over Australia.
These days Jonny Wilkinson has reinvented himself as a TV sports pundit, covering the Six Nations Championship and Rugby World Cup for ITV, as well as being a motivational speaker.
And he also runs his own small business, founding fermented health drink brand No.1 Living in 2018 to share his passion for what Jonny Wilkinson calls “living foods”, which offers a range of tinned Kombucha drinks, health shots and bottled kefir water.
Here Jonny Wilkinson tells Sophie Wheeldon about lessons he’s learnt about mental resilience, how to be a team leader and why it’s important to stay present.
How do you build mental resilience and stay mentally fit?
The idea of resilience belongs to a certain fixed identity that says, ‘this is who I am, these are my dreams. These things are right, and these things are wrong. This is success, and this is failure’.
If something knocks
Hot Business News Today
Jonny Wilkinson Q&A – ‘What is it you want from your team?’
by Sophie Wheeldon • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Sophie Wheeldon on Small Business
EXCLUSIVE: Rugby icon Jonny Wilkinson is responsible for probably the most exciting moment in the history of rugby, when he dropkicked the winning goal in the last minute of extra time in the final of the 2003 World Cup – handing England a dramatic victory over Australia.
These days Jonny Wilkinson has reinvented himself as a TV sports pundit, covering the Six Nations Championship and Rugby World Cup for ITV, as well as being a motivational speaker.
And he also runs his own small business, founding fermented health drink brand No.1 Living in 2018 to share his passion for what Jonny Wilkinson calls “living foods”, which offers a range of tinned Kombucha drinks, health shots and bottled kefir water.
Here Jonny Wilkinson tells Sophie Wheeldon about lessons he’s learnt about mental resilience, how to be a team leader and why it’s important to stay present.
How do you build mental resilience and stay mentally fit?
The idea of resilience belongs to a certain fixed identity that says, ‘this is who I am, these are my dreams. These things are right, and these things are wrong. This is success, and this is failure’.
If something knocks
Hot Business News Today
Four-day week – how it could boost your small business
by Anna Jordan • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
In recent weeks, you may have heard the four-day week debate bubbling up again, especially now that Covid-19 has changed the way that a lot of us work.
Though it doesn’t have any focused government support, businesses across the UK have trialled and implemented the four-day week. The Scottish National Party (SNP) has pledged that if they get re-elected, they’ll create a £10m fund for small businesses so that they can trial a four-day working week.
>See also: Scotland election manifestos 2021 – what’s in them for small businesses?
It’s not just in the UK, either. Spain is seriously considering the four-day working week. It has proposed a ‘modest’ pilot project for companies. Details will be hashed out in the coming weeks, but the pilot could begin as early as the autumn. The Más País party hopes that the trial will emulate the results of Software Desol, the first firm in the country to implement a four-day working week. In fact, it’d be the first nationwide trial anywhere in the world.
According to Be the Business’ second productivity index, more than half of businesses are either implementing or open to operating a four-day week. One in 20
Hot Business News Today
Four-day week – how it could boost your small business
by Anna Jordan • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
In recent weeks, you may have heard the four-day week debate bubbling up again, especially now that Covid-19 has changed the way that a lot of us work.
Though it doesn’t have any focused government support, businesses across the UK have trialled and implemented the four-day week. The Scottish National Party (SNP) has pledged that if they get re-elected, they’ll create a £10m fund for small businesses so that they can trial a four-day working week.
>See also: Scotland election manifestos 2021 – what’s in them for small businesses?
It’s not just in the UK, either. Spain is seriously considering the four-day working week. It has proposed a ‘modest’ pilot project for companies. Details will be hashed out in the coming weeks, but the pilot could begin as early as the autumn. The Más País party hopes that the trial will emulate the results of Software Desol, the first firm in the country to implement a four-day working week. In fact, it’d be the first nationwide trial anywhere in the world.
According to Be the Business’ second productivity index, more than half of businesses are either implementing or open to operating a four-day week. One in 20
Hot Business News Today
Wales election manifestos 2021 – what’s in them for small businesses?
by Anna Jordan • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
With elections coming up on May 6, we’re taking a closer look at the manifestos to help you decide who to vote for.
For those of you in Wales, here is a round-up of the election pledges of each party that are geared towards small business owners.
Labour
Masterplans will be drawn up for towns and high streets, including a register of empty buildings and small businesses given help to move into empty shops
Protect more than 165,000 jobs by providing the most generous business support scheme in the UK
Use the £500m Wales Flexible Investment Fund to support economic recovery and expand the Development Bank of Wales’ patient capital funds to provide long-term lending to small and medium sized enterprises, entrepreneurs and start-ups. Increase the use of equity stakes in business support. Secure the creation of a Community Bank for Wales, supporting its growth so it has 30 branches across Wales over the next decade
Develop a Backing Local Firms Fund to support local businesses. Provide greater support for worker buyouts and, with the cooperative sector, seek to double the number of employee-owned businesses
Change the way people work, rather than commuting to the office every day, will seek
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Scotland election manifestos 2021 – what’s in them for small businesses?
by Anna Jordan • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
We’ve got the 2021 election in Scotland coming up on May 6.
To help you decide who to vote for, we’ve summed up all of Scotland’s political party pledges geared towards small businesses.
SNP
Continue the Small Business Bonus, benefiting more than 100,000 businesses. Invest £100m to help SMEs get the right digital skills and equipment
Maintain Business Growth Accelerator which removes rates liabilities for the first 12 months after occupation of previously empty property.
Establish a new £10m fund to allow companies to pilot and explore the four-day working week. Use these learnings to consider implementing a four-day working week as and when Scotland has full control over employment rights. Identify additional employment rights and assess the economic impact of moving to a four-day working week
Create a dedicated Women’s Business Centre to provide financial support, advice and training to women looking to start or grow their business. This will be backed by £50m over the course of the parliament
Create a new, £20m Rural Entrepreneur Fund – this will provide grants of up to £10,000 to support the creation of 2,000 new businesses
Implement the recommendations of the Logan Review to raise our tech sector to world-class status including
Hot Business News Today
Wales election manifestos 2021 – what’s in them for small businesses?
by Anna Jordan • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
With elections coming up on May 6, we’re taking a closer look at the manifestos to help you decide who to vote for.
For those of you in Wales, here is a round-up of the election pledges of each party that are geared towards small business owners.
Labour
Masterplans will be drawn up for towns and high streets, including a register of empty buildings and small businesses given help to move into empty shops
Protect more than 165,000 jobs by providing the most generous business support scheme in the UK
Use the £500m Wales Flexible Investment Fund to support economic recovery and expand the Development Bank of Wales’ patient capital funds to provide long-term lending to small and medium sized enterprises, entrepreneurs and start-ups. Increase the use of equity stakes in business support. Secure the creation of a Community Bank for Wales, supporting its growth so it has 30 branches across Wales over the next decade
Develop a Backing Local Firms Fund to support local businesses. Provide greater support for worker buyouts and, with the cooperative sector, seek to double the number of employee-owned businesses
Change the way people work, rather than commuting to the office every day, will seek