Recently I was hugely honoured to have fronted the ‘IDEAS MASH UP’ competition for MAKE YOUR MARK…
The clever team at MAKE YOUR MARK took one of the success tips contained in my latest book ‘IDEAS MAN’ and turned it into a thrilling contest where students from around Britain had to combine two (normally separate) ideas together to create a brand new, and very exciting, business concept. The prize for the winning entry was a whopping £2,000, more than enough to get most ideas to the next stage so that they can attract a partner or the investment to launch to market.
At the weekend I was asked to participate at The Enterprise Show, Leeds, which was an event hosted by Business Link as a ‘one stop shop’ for people with a business idea, to attend and get all the information they need to get their business off the ground.
As a Make Your Mark Ambassador, I’m often asked to do things like this. This is me at the start of the day:
Video 1 at the shows
During the course of the day I was so busy speaking to the people who stopped by my stand, that I completely forgot to do any video blogging, so this is me ’rounding up’ at the end!
A report on the World Entrepreneur Society’s 2009 Summit, from Make Your Mark Ambassador Vernon Kerswell.
I had the privilege to attend this event as a Make your Mark Ambassador. Dedicated to entrepreneurs, it was organised by the World Entrepreneur Society, held at the prestigious Goodenough College, London. The theme… “What keeps you awake at night?”
This event, now in its second year, was organised to bring together great minds to share, learn and celebrate enterprise. It was largely attended by entrepreneurs who had made it in their business. Executives rolling up for a prompt 9am start armed with their Blackberries and iPhones in hand, twittering as they went. It was also well attended by the entrepreneurs of tomorrow, some of whom had fledgling businesses and others who had just begun their journey. With a ticket price of £120 (£55 for students) it made this event even more exclusive, and for those just starting out, even in a recession, it was a good investment for those wanting to meet like minded people.
I am a Make Your Mark Ambassador and I was invited to speak to the fashion students yesterday at the Leeds College of Art!
Being a women in business, I am often called upon to deliver talks to schools when they have an Enterprise programme or to take part in a Business Studies class. The fashion students wanted to hear about my career path from when I was at fashion college (I went to the London College of Fashion) through my PR career and ending up running my own business. They are doing a Case Study on my business to see how my creative background has influenced my current role and how creativity plays a part in commercial business.
Today I read an article that advised me that I should regularly monitor my competition to see what they are up to, to work out their sales strategy and showing me a few ‘back door’ ways to keep tabs on what my competitors are doing online.
A word with only 5 letters and yet it is such a BIG word.
We are all living in a time where trust is one of the most important elements of human interaction. Let’s face it - do you trust the banks any more, or big corporations? I remember growing up in an era where my parent’s generation did not think to question their doctors, or other people in authority as the trust was automatic; whereas nowadays we are all having to become mini-experts in the things that affect our lives as we don’t have as much unquestioning trust in what we are told. Trust in 2009 has to be earned.
Waking up to snow on Monday I was both excited (hey it’s not every day we get to play in 8 inches of snow) and disappointed because I didn’t want it to dampen enthusiasm for Make Your Mark with a Tenner - our fab new enterprise initiative.
So I decided to combine the two (snow + tenner - was that an Ideas Mashup oh yes) and set a challenge for people to create a Tenner-related snowman. The challenge was set to MYM staff and also via Twitter, where we have 400+ followers all desperate to make a snowman no doubt.
In reflection of these belt-tightening times, there has been a definite mindset shift in all of us about how we choose to spend our money. Saving is the new spending – there is now no shame in brandishing 2-for-1 meal vouchers in restaurants and being chic on the cheapis the way forward for frugal fashionistas.
But has this thrifty approach impacted entrepreneurs and the way they choose to run their businesses?
We asked our lovely MYM ambassadors for their top cost-saving business tips to help entrepreneurs through these testing financial times - and Nadine Hill of the Dream PA had this helpful advice:
Hey - it’s snowing and let’s face it, it doesn’t happen often to this scale in the UK (well, not since I was a kid in the late 70’s and 80’s!) So as my children are home with me today with school being closed, we had to do a mercy dash to the shops and buy Jet some cat litter. She is so posh she won’t pee outside when it’s snowing like this! So, on the way, we took the chance to have a snowball fight! I think it’s the first time in my 6 year olds’ life that the snow has been ‘plenty’ enough to actually do it properly!
You only get one chance to create a first impression. To make sure it’s the right one, follow these 7 steps that will have people meeting you, liking you and, critically, wanting to do business with you.
Be confident – walk into a room with your head held high and confidence intact. This will come across clearly in your posture. Shake hands firmly and look the other person in the eye when introducing yourself. If someone is coming to collect you from a waiting room, remain standing whilst you wait – no matter how appealing the sofa looks!
Student-based company Elevation Networks, in conjunction with Brunel University’s Entrepreneur Society, recently hosted the event ‘Let’s Talk Business’, with six guest speakers advising ambitious students on gaining financial wisdom for personal business ventures.
National celebrity of Dragon’s Den fame Levi Roots made a guest appearance, sharing the story behind the success of his infamous ‘Reggae Reggae Sauce’, currently the second highest selling sauce in the UK. The self-proclaimed ‘dragon-slayer’ offered a heart-felt take on his humble journey from a stall at Brixton market to owning Sainsbury’s fastest ever selling product. Mr Roots is also due to release an album which he proclaims was the inspiration behind his sauce.
Oh how proud I am! I feel enterprise skills are so important to progressing in today’s commercial world. People need to know how to identify a need or spot an opportunity, find a way to do it, tell others about it and be able to turn it into a commercial reality. Our economy needs continual innovation - not just in these ‘gloomy’ times, but all the time.
Today whilst collecting my 6 year old daughter from school, I thought about this question and whether the most enterprising ideas come from a ‘Eureka’ moment or gritted teeth?
To fill you in, I’m up in beautiful Yorkshire - well it usually is beautiful but today it’s raining and snowing! This was the reason for my gritted teeth but it did give me an enterprising idea…
In September Emelie and Louise Olsson of the Catapult Club won the Pioneer Category at the Girls! Make Your Mark Awards. Along with a £3000 bursary, the girls received money can’t buy mentoring from Emma Jones, founder of Enterprise Nation, author of ‘Spare Room Start Up – how to start a business from home’ and a very own Make Your Mark guest blogger!
Take a look on the Enterprise Nation website to read Emelie and Louise’s Q&A with Emma Jones.
There’s also another opportunity to see Louise Olsson and Emma Jones on working lunch tomorrow on BBC at 1:30pm so tune in then!
It’s 5am at the Business Academy, Bexley and students and the BBC are poised in a classroom in preperation for a live broadcast.
We are supporting Phone Brain a national initiative raising awareness of the risks using mobile phone-paid services.
As a specialist school in business and enterprise this is really helping us to kick off enterprise week, and allow the students to enjoy creating their own ringtones
School is not the best place to be so early on a Tuesday morning, but the enthusiasm from students, staff and film crew is electric - lets help all goes well!
Wonderful to be with you.
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