- Online tutoring service: website, computer, internet connection, teaching experience
- Virtual event planning: computer, internet connection, event planning software, organizational skills
- Social media management: computer, internet connection, social media knowledge, creativity
- Home cleaning service: cleaning supplies, transportation, cleaning experience
- Personal chef service: cooking supplies, transportation, cooking experience
- Virtual bookkeeping service: computer, internet connection, accounting software, bookkeeping experience
- Graphic design service: computer, graphic design software, creativity
- Lawn care service: lawn equipment, transportation, lawn care experience
- Mobile car detailing service: car detailing supplies, transportation, detailing experience
- Pet grooming service: grooming supplies, transportation, pet grooming experience
- Bicycle rental service: bicycles, rental space, liability insurance
- Personal shopping service: transportation, fashion knowledge, communication skills
- Online clothing boutique: website, clothing inventory, shipping supplies
- Virtual fitness coaching: computer, internet connection, fitness knowledge, coaching experience
- Mobile car washing service: car washing supplies, transportation, washing experience
- Digital marketing agency: computer, internet connection, marketing knowledge, creativity
- Mobile app development: computer, software development knowledge, creativity
- Travel planning service: travel knowledge, communication skills, organizational skills
- Home renovation service: construction tools and equipment, transportation, construction experience
- Virtual interior design service: computer, internet connection, interior design software, creativity
Category Archives: Resources
Entrepreneur resources from David Bozward
The process of discovering an idea and making it an opportunity
I have had many business ideas over the years and the vast majority of them I have not acted upon, for various reasons. Sometimes it’s time, money or the fact I don’t have the core skills or resources to make this work. In this blog we are exploring this cognitive process which everyone undertakes to investigate the opportunity. The aim is to support you in using this best practice when discovering a business opportunity.
The process of discovering a business idea is a varied and complex one and may occur over several years or during a split second. However, we can summarise some of the key mechanisms which occur during this mental process. An idea is just that and needs to be added to and then validated to make an opportunity.
The nascent entrepreneur enters the process with three sets of characteristics which can be split into Sociological factors, Demographic factors and Psychological factors. The Demographic factors are Age, Gender, Education level, Marital Status, Occupation, Population Growth, and Migration. These Sociological factors are Religion, Family, Network, Income & Wealth , Transport, Social Mobility, and Household Composition. The Psychological factors are Need for achievement, Need for autonomy, Internal Locus of control, Risk-taking propensity, Entrepreneurial Self Efficacy, Creative & innovative, and Motivational.
These characteristics form the basis from which the nascent entrepreneur sees, finds and more importantly validates the business idea and the potential opportunity. This prior knowledge and competency in entrepreneurship sets the nascent entrepreneurs on the path. The trigger for this to occur varies, from long term intention to a point in time when either the need or the opportunity presents itself. The entrepreneur will bring forth a range of capitals which will be used to resource the venture these we term the Startup Entrepreneur Capitals. These can be brought down to Financial, Intellectual, Experiential (Human), Social, Cultural, Spiritual, and Material. These set what resources could be used in the first instances to start the business. After the business is started you can find new resources.
Once the basis for the idea is found, the next stage is to analyse if it is exploitable? On a cognitive level, the nascent entrepreneur needs to understand the probability of success based on the personal investment available of resources to facilitate enough time to get the venture to profit. Then we need to understand will the venture be profitable enough to compensate for their opportunity costs.
Once the nascent entrepreneur has validated an opportunity for them, they then need to scope it to understand the trajectory of the business and the potential scale. The required scale of a business is dependent on the industry and market and the ability of the team to manage it.
The business then requires to be designed by the nascent entrepreneur. However, with no or little experience in designing a business, they need to connect the opportunity with their vision, the businesses mission and set the strategy and objectives to meet.
Once they have thought this out they can start modelling the business, through tools like the business model canvas and potentially developing a business plan.
Exploring the business model trends for agri-food
The food we eat is one of the most important aspects of our lives, besides clear water to drink.
In 2020, there are an increasing number of trents which we see in the agrifood market place which are coming together and making us rethink the consumption model for meat and more importantly the entire diet humans consume on the planet. Let’s highlight a few.
The science behind the types of food we need is changing as we see the standard “post second world war” diet increasingly puts populations into obesity and early death. The understanding of macro and micro nutrients and what a balanced diet is has led to less meat consumption and also the rise of veganism throughout the western world(veganuary). The amount of information (some mis-information) available on good food diets (also sustainable consumption) is rising which allows people to research their own, create personal plans and develop better understandings, leading to a more diverse range of food consumption patterns.
The welfare of animals requirements is growing as consumers demand better, which is driving up costs, the use of antibiotics and larger farms to maintain profitability. Biosecurity is an issue as Swine Flu, Bird Flu, SARs and Covid-19 all shown this global issue is not going away, so further research and understanding to mandate our food security is needed. The processing of meat is a major issue and the WHO has declared processed and cooked meats a carcinogen.
The relationship between land, its value, productivity and product type is reducing as technology allows these connections to be removed. The cost of labour is increasing, costs of health and safety in the (farm) workplace and the continued mechanisation, automation and ultimately robotization/AI replacement is increasing at a faster and faster pace.
The percentage cost of food per household has over the last 50 years gone down, so consumers are increasingly looking for provenance of their food and understanding the benefits of finding diverse and local sources, through Veg and Meat Box schemes and buying directly. These short supply chains have proved more resilient and sustainable and technologies such as BlockChain, E-payments and direct messaging have proven themselves.
The cost of carbon used in the production of food has come into public sectiny. Many countries require and industries have to account for the complete lifecycle of their products. Therefore within the agri-food sector this would then bring in creation, processing, transport, packaging and waste disposal which would currently make it unsustainable.
The western world subsidises food through (In the UK its currently £3.4bn a year through CAP, which is around £56 per person per year which no other industry sector gets (pre Covid-19)) based on a post second world war model. This is based on the amount of land and food groups, which is a broken link to production already highlighted.
The connection between farms and the environment is currently being explored as the next subside system(post-Brexit). The rural environment has been created by our farming methods and food requirements. These food requirements have changed and are changing fast so will result in changes to the rural landscape. The public’s perception and requirement of the rural landscape is under researched (are they happy with greenhouses the size of a small town or forests surrounding all villages. The options to decrease the environmental impact of the populations activities and their acceptance public debate.
These trends are making the very business model of food development and consumption change very quickly and it’s important we discuss them as a community.
UK Entrepreneurs Policy Wish List 2019
The UK is one of the best places for entrepreneurs to start a business but it still has a number of issues which needs to be resolved if this is to continue post Brexit.
The UK government has stated in its Industrial Strategy white paper “Our ambition to make the UK the best place to start and grow a business requires us to safeguard the things we do that already contribute to our success, and to act where necessary to make us even more attractive.”
So what action is needed to help Small Businesses?
The Patient Capital review industry panel identified the real issues and stated stated that “opportunities remain for improvement across the ecosystem, particularly with respect to the transformational development of some of these start-ups into large-scale businesses, where the proportion of UK start-ups which scale into large businesses lags significantly behind the US. This indicates that many UK-based businesses are unable to reach their full potential and either remain “stuck” in a mode of incremental growth, or accept a trade sale as the most convenient exit, both of which are ultimately to the detriment of the UK economy, tax receipts and job creation.”
… so I thought I would brainstorm an 11 point action plan for the UK government to act on in 2019, my:
UK Entrepreneurs Policy Wish List 2019.
1. Global Business Language
- All business owners to be able to learn at least one of the top 5 business languages for free online: Top five languages: Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, Arabic and Portuguese
- Business language and industry terms should be taught in all secondary schools
- All schools teach Chinese as second language and not French to reflect international trade opportunities
2. Knowledge Economy
- Online Knowledge Centres hosted by one business focused university per region which cover topics such as: Export, International Financial Transactions, International Legal Contracts, Global Insurance, International Taxation
- Graduates who start businesses (and pay Corporation Tax) which employ more than 5 people (and pay PAYE) for more than 2 years get their student loan deleted
- Creation of the national Innovation/Entrepreneurship/Export awards televised and sponsored by large businesses
3. Business Productivity
- All businesses must report a productivity metric in their annual accounts to companies house. This should force them to look at how to improve it, to ensure they are inline with international benchmarks
- An industry strategy for UK low productivity industries should be set and implemented within 2 years
- Support for increasing productivity through cloud and freemium technology platforms should be free for all SMEs
4. UK companies should be able to create subsidiaries through UK companies house online
- For UK dependent territories within 24 hours
- Commonwealth countries within 5 working days
5. To develop a better UK business centric culture, the BBC/Channel 4 news (government owned and run channels) to report good news stories on UK businesses and how they are exporting.
- BBC/C4 measured on how many different UK based/citizen owned businesses they report on per year. The Total should be good news stories minus bad new stories.
- The BBC/C4 charter to be changed to mandate promoting British Business Interests, especially British citizen owned SMEs and startups. It is currently the other way around.
6. Government Spending (Local, County, Region Government and NHS)
- Local governments to report on how they support SMEs through awarding smaller multiple awarding contracts
- All local council/NHS offered contracts to be offered to SME who have registered office within 30 miles of the county/region boundary
7. UK embassies driving UK exports
- Set core focus of UK embassies to developing trade links and opportunities for UK businesses
- To offer quarterly business networking sessions (<£50 per ticket)
- To provide national reports/opportunities on monthly basis (free)
- Set a new foreign office metric (UKP exports to that country per citizen of that country) which is reported to parliament each year
8. Business Taxation
- Streamline the HMRC business tax system so everything can be done online without an accountant or dedicated software. If it can’t be done delete that aspect of the tax system
- Business rates for UK headquartered businesses set to zero for businesses less than £10m turnover
- Business corporation tax at 12.5% same as Ireland, our neighbour
9. SME Finance
- British Business Bank to have focused fund for SME growth ( especially for businesses with £1m to £10m turnover)
- Startup loans to continue with greater support in mentoring and global-export business best practice
- CSR and charity donations to get better tax relief to encourage the long term development of a sustainable third sector
10. All new processes post Brexit
- For import and export to be done online within 24 hours
- For bringing talent to UK (immigration) streamlined to 36 hours with online forms (e.g. getting Visa and NI) and pay less than £200 per person/employee
11. Business Buildings infrastructure set for the new century
- All new business parks/buildings have renewable energy generation
- All new building (business+housing+retail) to have fibre broadband into the property (and not up to the curb) as the vast majority of businesses are run from home
5 places to run your startup business, on the cheap
What places to run your startup business?
When starting out, you only seem to have costs and they keep coming in. The five set of fees are:
- Office space
- Utilities
- Incorporating and legal fees
- Accounting costs for the first year in business
- Payroll for employees
So one of the main costs is office space and if we can reduce that we can survive for longer and hopefully last until we start making more money than we spend.
- Run your startup business from home. This won’t work for every business, but if it will work for yours it can save you a pile of cash on utilities and rent.
- Coffee Shop’s are happy to have you and have good wifi. You also get to meet like minded people and can invite people for meetings in the coffee shop.
- Look out for a business incubator which helps startups by providing them space, mentors and events. These are normally free for a set period.
- Spare desk in someone else’s office. A lot of businesses have space and if you can use one or two desks in return for some form of payment, even your manpower it will be cheaper and more flexible.
- Find a co-working space where you can rent space as-needed for much less than the cost of a traditional commercial office which is normally looking for 3-5 years.
Just remember when looking for office space its “Location, location, location.” , which drives home just how important location is when choosing a space for your startup business.