Make Your Mark Blog

It’s very rare that I watch a programme which really inspires me but last night I was lucky enough to catch Mary Portas Queen of Charity Shops and it honestly left me buzzing. I’ve been thinking for a while that charity shops should be taking advantage of the recession and making it sexy to buy second hand goods from them. And as I mentioned in my last blog I did ‘grow up’ in a retail environment so I’m probably inclined more than some to get over excited about the programme.

As someone who grew up working on her parent’s garden centre in Essex I was delighted to see Howard’s Nursery in Norfolk winning Barclay’s Most Enterprising Family Award. My younger brother now works with my parents so I know how rewarding (and challenging) family businesses can be. If you can make it work it can be a brilliant way for a family to have flexibility and to earn money doing something they are collectively passionate about!

Yesterday saw the finale of the Make Your Mark in the Markets competition and a few of us trotted along to find out more. We ended up in the very plush surrounding of a parliamentary reception and chatted to some of the finalists whilst sipping tasty juices and eating scrummy cakes.

It was then time to find out who the winner was so we all trooped into the hall. After a suspenseful silence (as suspenseful as some of the best reality talent shows, only with more cake) Denise announced that Matthew Crawford of Easy’Nuh was to be crowned king of the Markets!

At last I can share the details of a new project called Village SOS, a partnership between the BBC and the Big Lottery Fund (BIG) which will challenge villages to come up with brilliant ideas for new businesses to help revive their communities. Village SOS will invite rural communities with lots of enthusiasm and a great business idea - from retailing to manufacturing, the arts to leisure - to apply for Lottery funding to help breathe new life into their area, create new jobs and improve the quality of life for local people.

Find of the day - http://www.cardsofchange.com/. The Cardsofchange site is a gallery of business cards from employees who’ve recently been made redundant, which sounds depressing but really isn’t. The cards have all been updated with a plan, a motto, an idea or a project. Some of them just tell you what the person is up to now (like planting a tree or spending less, living more), and everyone who has posted a card sounds like they’ve found something good in their situation. I like the one from this entrepreneurial type person now working from their kitchen. Definitely worth a look - there are some lots of nice images, and some really funny and inspiring messages.

Well it looks like the British summer arrived this weekend and to celebrate I decided to place myself in my local park (Peckham Rye Park for those who live on the right side of the river) for much olives eating and ice-cream consuming.

Now, it wouldn’t do for me to over exert myself and break a sweat, so much of my picnic goodness came from the shops, a hop, skip and a jump away. Not only were all my purchases yummy but it also felt really good to be supporting my local businesses. And flicking through The Sun today it looks like they agree.

Reading the forum this morning, I stumbled across this little gem from our Vanessa B. She asks, can a celebrity be entrepreneur too?

Now this really got me thinking….. Just the other week I was moaning about how Lady Gaga somehow deems herself an entrepreneur. (Memo to Lady Gaga: Wearing big pants, running around with a tea-cup and singing about being a blackjack face does not an entrepreneur make). Of course not all entrepreneurs wear suits and suspenders and stomp around, shouting Apprentice-like into their blackberries, but I’m not sure that by a ‘writing’ a book or putting your name against a cheapo perfume really makes you Priya Lakhani.

SUCCESS CAN BE LEARNED

Last time I described how motivation plays a huge part in the process of success. Without a high level of motivation to do anything in life you will not achieve the end result you are looking for.

This time, we move onto another component of success, which is Clear Aims.

Component Number 2 – CLEAR AIMS

People who are successful are very good at defining exactly what it is they want. Many people I come cross have very loose ideas about what exactly it is they are aiming for. As a result they drift about with a broad idea of where they are going but with little direction or conviction mainly because they do not know what the end result is or what it looks like.

When Howies got bought out by Timberland I wondered if it would retain it’s ability to be entrepreneurial. Happily so far it doesn’t seem to have dented their enthusiasm for innovation and the latest to be launched is Teepay - a site where designers upload their t-shirt designs and, if they receive 30 orders, their order is printed and the designer receives a commission for each one. A great idea which is very new and I can’t really believe that it hasn’t been done before. If only more companies would innovate themselves out of the recession! Customisation is a trend which has been around for a while but seems to still be allowing companies to innovate - like Adam from Looks Could Kill, a young business which is proving to be very successful and an inspiration to many.

You may have spied this article in yesterday Times about women in work. It didn’t make for very optomistic reading but I believe that even in the downturn being positive is one of the most important things you can do!
To back up my claim I decided to invite Samata Angel and Julie Hall to join our webchat tomorrow. They’ll be talking about all things enterprise from 1pm so make sure you join them or get your questions in now!

Diana x

Make Your Mark ambassador Samata Angel is a self taught fashion designer and owner of label to the stars Samata’s Muse. As a fearless entrepreneur she has bags of useful advice. In the first of a series of exclusive articles, Samata shares her top tips on how diversifying can help you weather the economic storm. Have a read….

Hello and welcome to part 2 of my recession blog special! I hope you guys enjoyed the first installment and a huge thank you to all the people who have sent me questions or comments, keep ‘em coming!

Being green fingered myself and a lover of good food I was particularly pleased to be alerted to the story of Andrew Johnson in the Guardian. He was made redundant in 2004 but is now running a business expected to turnover more than £1m next year.

His business is Living Salads, a great supermarket alternative to the chlorine filled bags of salad you get offered. His living alternative works in a similar way to the pots of herbs you are probably used to buying.

Great idea and a great business - well done Andrew. A great inspiration for anyone else who has been made redundant and fancies going it alone!

Right now at Make Your Mark we’re highlighting people who’ve taken control - people who’ve taken the leap into entrepreneurship as a way of seizing control and making a positive change in their lives. Here’s a handful of our inspiring Ambassadors who’ve done just that…

• Businesswoman and mum Ranbir responded to the long hours and politics of some traditional office jobs by creating a whole new working environment in her own business.
• After training for years to be an Officer in the Royal Marines, Peter failed the final test and his confidence took a serious knock. A year’s travelling and some supportive tutors helped him reassess his options, and after graduating he set up his own business.

Make Your Mark ambassador Samata Angel is a self taught fashion designer and owner of label to the stars Samata’s Muse. As a fearless entrepreneur she has bags of useful advice. In the first of a series of exclusive articles, Samata shares her top tips on how diversifying can help you weather the economic storm. Have a read….

When all else fail, make sure you diversify
Early last year I decided to create a business guide book aimed at fashion designers, a market I knew a lot about, as a designer myself!
I’ve also thought that as an entrepreneur it is very important to understand all angles of your business and in terms of fashion it is especially important to get your head around the tricky non-creative sides like marketing and manufacturing.

It seems to me that when the going gets tough, the tough get giving. Buried amongst all the reports of crashes, crunches and free-falling markets, there are stories about people working harder than ever to support others.

Take, for example, the news that one in eight donors have actually increased their giving to charity during the recession. Or that YouthNet has seen its number of volunteers double in the past year.