Entrepreneurial Britain 
Cartoon Shorelines Art The Bank of Scotland has conducted 4,000 interviews of small business owners to discover the attributes of entrepreneurs. They are not the first to try to identify what makes an entrepreneur, but they have identified four ‘types’. The survey identified: High flyers who made up 17% of those questioned. They are successful business owners who have the following qualities Optimistic outlook of the /UK economy Want to grow their business Are taking on staff The majority are in the professional services sector Likely to have a back up plan (to overcome problems) Are confident with IT Want to pass the business on to family members
Steady growers made up 35% on those surveyed. They typically have achieved moderate growth over the past three years. Their qualities Fairly optimistic about the UK economy Most likely to pass the business on to a colleague when they retire Motivated by growing their business High proportion I the service sector
Survivors made up 35% of the survey. They had achieved little or no growth in the last three years. Their qualities included. Do not expect to invest more in their business over the next 12 months High proportion in Wales the North East and south West High proportion in the agricultural sector
Strugglers made up 13% of the business owners interviewed. They experienced low or no growth over the last three years. Typically they Are pessimistic about the UK economy A high proportion are sole traders A high proportion of these businesses have been established for over 20 years They had found it difficult to run their business over the past 5 years
The head of business banking at Bank of Scotland said ‘Our analysis shows that the spirit of entrepreneurship in Britain is alive and well with a significant number of small business owners demonstrating a healthy ambition to develop and grow their business. With a strong grasp of IT and an optimistic outlook these high flyers are excellent role models for the other owner mangers who are looking to succeed. Back to the Top North South divide? A study undertaken by Professor Fred Robinson of Durham University has found the economy of the North of England has significantly improved since 1997, with incomes on the rise. However compared to other regions of the UK the North still lags behind the rest of the UK despite a series of measures by the government of Tony Blair including tax cuts and exemptions from stamp duty aimed at encouraging businesses to locate to the north. As a result the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is to carry out a review into the low-level of business entrepreneurship across the north of England. The OECD will work alongside the three regional development agencies including Yorkshire Forward and an alliance of eight universities in the North. The results of the review will be published in the autumn of 2008 and is expected to make recommendations to the government and to the development agencies. Source The Northern Echo Back to the top Chokolit Fifteen year old Louis Barnet suffers from dyslexia but that didn't stop him launching his chocolate business in November 2005. He has now secured orders from Waitrose and is expecting to have his unique chocolates in 180 Waitrose outlets by Christmas this year together with 300 Sainsbury's outlets. Not bad for someone who left school at 11 to be tutored at home by his parents who now work on the business with him. Chokolit is the phonetic spelling for the chocolate, Louis who has an IQ of 134, used when he was younger. He developed his chocolates while studying at home and reading a book on cake decorating. All his chocolate products are hand made using the Belgian chocolate method and are packaged in boxes made of chocolate. His products include an 80g box containing chocolate covered mints and a larger box in the process of development which will hold nine different chocolates. Louis's company is developing specialist chocolate products for Valentines day and Mother's day 2008. Louis puts his success down to the quality and uniqueness of his chocolates. when asked about his time at school he said 'I don't miss school. People don't realise how formulaic it is and that makes self motivation very difficult.'. Source The Grocer Web site News Web site news this month comes from the Internet Farm Shop which is an online community of food producers and farm shops. We launched this web site based business on 1st July as a way for small producers to promote their businesses online. Individual members pages are updated regularly with product news and details of where you buy produce, farmers markets members sell from and farm shop opening hours. To date we have ten members all all of whom have already benefited in real terms from belonging to the Internet Farm shop. The site also features seasonal food ideas and information and restaurant reviews. See the web site and two members, Epicures Larder and Barmston Organics featured in this seasons The Farmer's Mart magazine. ********************** Make your web site really work for your business Web site statistics are a powerful tool that you can use to make your web site really work for your business. The information the stats provide indicate what changes you can make to improve the time your site visitors spend on your site, improve the enquiry rate from your site and increase the number of return visitors your site receives. Used wisely the information your web statistics provide will improve your web sites effectiveness. Web site statistics take time to interpret and to understand. That's were we come in. Using advertising for your business Advertising is probably the most expensive part of any business marketing campaign whether you are a large or small business. Advertising is expensive and the response rates to advertising campaigns are difficult to monitor. Multi nationals spend vast amounts on advertising across the media from TV to trade magazines and the glossy monthlies. For a small business with limited resources advertising can be a daunting prospect and many small business owners learn the hard way and using advertisements to launch their new business products and services. The response rate is often disappointing. So if you are a small business firstly ask yourself: Where does your business comes from now? Do your competitors advertise? What is it you want to advertise? Where do your prospective customers and clients shop for your products and services?
If you then decide to use advertising include what you propose to do in your marketing plan. Set yourself: A financial limit Goals for the response rate Goals for the number of actual sales you make A time scale for advertising
Read more>>>>>>>>>>> Back to the Top And finally ...... Once again summer weather has influenced buyers. High street sales this summer are down while online sales in the UK have reached record levels according to a report by the Interactive Media in retail group. The conclusion reached is that the poor weather this summer deterred shoppers from high street buying. Compare this to The Summit in August 2006. In July 2007 Internet sales were £4.2bn compared to £2.34bn in July last year. The biggest seller was electrical goods with online clothing sales increasing by 60% from 2006. Source Start your Business Back to the Top If you enjoyed reading this newsletter please E mail it to a friend Return toTop of Page | 