Enterprise news and opinion from Cobweb

Being a small business owner or sole trader is one thing, but being an entrepreneurial small business owner – one that thinks and acts in a way that can set you apart from most of the other small firms operating in your sector or industry – is a different matter altogether…

This week we’re going to take a look at some common, and occasionally fatal, mistakes that are made by new business start ups – and sometimes by their supposedly more experienced counterparts…

Tens of thousands of professionals and public sector workers who have been made redundant are grasping the opportunity to become self employed. But is this a good time to start up in business – in the midst of the worst economic downturn for almost a century?…

The vast majority of businesses in the UK (more than 95% of them) are micro-enterprises – around 3.6 million sole traders and just over one million very small firms employing between one and nine staff comprising one third of the nation’s private sector workforce at just under eight million people – a vitally important contributor to our economy…

Generally speaking, people who set up and run their own business rarely, if ever, in the early stages consider the possibility of having to close their business down. Yet from day one, this could happen for all sorts of reasons…

This week, EnterQuest reached a significant milestone with this being the 500th issue of the bulletin since it was launched back in 2003. One consistent subject upon which we have steadfastly held our ground is that, despite what is widely claimed elsewhere, starting up and running a business is far from easy – in fact, it can be eminently difficult and merciless – something that most people are not cut out for…

Every year the final couple of weeks before Christmas brings the usual round of forecasts and predictions offering a mixture of interesting professional foresight from those who seem to know what they’re talking about, along with the typical self-promotions from the self-obsessed. Here are EnterQuest’s devilishly accurate predictions for what COULD POSSIBLY HAPPEN next year…

At this time of year its customary to reflect on what has happened over the preceding 12 months (in a business sense) and ponder what lies in store over the next year. Across the UK in 2012 there has been no core support or major push to build capacity and quality in the development and promotion of viable start ups and micro-enterprise…

The majority of business plans, proposals for funding or pitches for contracts understandably focus on the strengths and upside of the business with plenty of rosy reasons why the reader should sit up and take note of the proposer’s optimism and certainty of success. But the frustration and problem for the reader – especially a [...]

There’s a widely-held belief among small businesses that marketing a product or service is purely down to good promotion and selling. Just find out where your customers are, then promote and sell to them as hard as you possibly can, is the theory. The problem with this approach for a new or recently-started business is that most consumers or business buyers wouldn’t know your small business from a bar of soap…