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BBC Finds Optimistic Local Builders

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

I just found an article on the BBC News site about a builder in Colsterworth, UK, who expressed some careful optimism about the future, despite the recession.

Dave Ostler, who runs his own building firm, said “I’ve had to make a lot more effort to secure work,” but mentioned “no major concerns” about his family’s future. He also said that his wife Gail Ostler started her own business doing the books for local firms, after the prospects at the building firm she worked at looked to be taking a turn for the worse. “She felt with this credit crunch looming that she better not leave her destiny just in the hands of one firm so she started her own business and she has done very well in building up a client base.”

So it’s not all doom and gloom. Starting and running your own business can work, even now, and can bring in some extra cash to keep the scales balanced. This is the kind of thing we hope the Clever Little Site can really help people out with - giving start-ups a chance to hit the ground running. Check out the feature list to see what we can offer new businesses.

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Future Looks Promising For Startups

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009

A recent research study by Barclays Commercial has shown that, despite the recession, the general feeling among startups and small businesses in the UK is a positive one.

Of the companies questioned, 60% said that they were taking advantage of the recession as a time to restructure their business practices, expecting to emerge stronger than before. A further 25% said that they had not seen fit to alter their business model, despite the financial upheaval.

The study showed that many business owners were just anxious about late payments from clients and cashflow issues as people tighten their purse strings, rather than a lack of work itself.

So there you go, yet more proof that the times are as good as, if not better than ever to start your own business.

Owners of smaller businesses also pointed out the opportunity to “leapfrog” competitors that has been presented by the economic downturn - as larger companies are forced to spend time and money altering their large-scale operations, smaller businesses are able to adapt infinitely more quickly to the swiftly changing economic climate. We ourselves noticed many smaller businesses advertising “credit-crunch busting” deals and “beat the credit crunch” offers months before larger chains even seemed to acknowledge the situation. Indeed, our clever little websites themselves exactly fit this growing startup market.

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Entrepreneurs Agree: Start A Business Now

Thursday, April 9th, 2009

In an article I read this morning on the BBC website, entrepreneurs were quoted airing their views on the virtues of starting a business during a recession. Rachel Armitage, co-founder of Zoombu, an Internet-based travel search service, was quoted to say:

The Open Coffee Club say that now is the time to start a business

The Open Coffee Club say that now is the time to start a business

“It’s the best time, I would argue, because business models are changing, consumers are now thinking differently about the way in which they spend their money. Large-scale incumbents don’t really have the cash to innovate in the same way that start-ups do, so it really allows us to get ahead in ways that they can’t.”

The business start-ups were gathered at the latest London meeting of the Open Coffee Club, an organisation that arranges weekly networking meetings for entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, all over the UK and Europe. The idea is to mirror the California melting pot of ideas, innovators and investors that gave rise to the Silicon Valley dot com boom in the 1990s.

Saul Klein, who originally set up the organisation two years ago, is also quoted in the article.

“Often the best ideas and the best businesses emerge out of recessionary times. If you look at when Microsoft was created, if you look at when Google was created, Facebook, Skype, all these household names, the titans of technology were created in recessionary times.”

You can read the article on the BBC, and then, once you feel sufficiently encouraged and inspired, you can start your own business. Today is going to be a productive day for you.

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Start Your Own Business

Monday, April 6th, 2009

… with an easy start-up website. Why not? Here’s a bunch of reasons why right now might be a really good time to give that entrepreneurial idea some serious consideration, and maybe think about starting your own business.

  • People are looking for work. In the current economic climate, a lot of people are already finding it hard to find work, so if you’re able to create jobs for them, you should find it easy to find people to fill the vacancies.
  • Banks are looking for worthwhile investments. While banks are no longer carelessly lending out money they may not see again, it is still in their interest to be lending out and investing money in viable businesses. If you can present a solid business plan and valid market research to back it up, the banks should still be listening.
  • You may already be out of work yourself. A lot of people put off starting their own business as they are busy with their current job, working for another employer. However, with recent job losses and redundancies from large corporations who are “slimming down” their operations, many people are no longer in this situation.
  • You can do something you love, instead of “working”. The Chinese philosopher Confucius once said: “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” This is exactly what starting your own business can allow you to do. By running a business that focuses on something you’re passionate about, you can indulge that passion whilst earning a living. Also, it won’t feel so much like hard work, and you’ll find that your enthusiasm for what you’re doing is infectious, and people will be interested in what you have to say.
  • You stand to gain a great deal. If your new business grows and is successful, you’ll be the owner of a valuable financial asset, that keeps on giving. You could be the next Richard Branson. He started off selling Christmas trees in his hometown. Then he sold records out of a room above a Doc Marten’s outlet, which, as he had no money, he managed to rent for free, after persuading the shop owner that the extra foot traffic through the store would help sell more boots (which apparently it didn’t). And look where he is now. So we’ll see you in the pits of the next season’s Formula 1 championship, right?

Richard Branson gets some pretty good VIP treatment in the pits

From humble beginnings, Richard Branson is now a player in the world of F1 racing

So what are you waiting for? If you have an idea, develop it into something you can run really with.

New businesses are starting up at a rate of thousands and thousands each month - there’s no reason you can’t be one of these have-a-go entrepreneurs too.

In these challenging times it’s important to remember one thing - in every difficulty, there is an opportunity.

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