A lot of would be entrepreneurs spend a lot of time trying to find the best business ideas or the best business opportunities. As a result I often get asked to pick the best idea from a list of the entrepreneurs best business ideas. Usually I try to explain that it depends how you define [...]

My fellow small business blogger Stefan Töpfer is the CEO of WinWeb a company that offers online software for small businesses, unfortunately both he and WinWeb are having a bad week. The problem is someone has registered the domain – WARINING DO NOT VISIT IT – winwebsecurity.com and is using it to promote an apparently [...]

A reader asks: Can you suggest some easy business ideas? I get asked this question (or variations of it) quite a lot. The good news is yes I can think if lots of easy business ideas, just check out the business ideas and business opportunities sections of this website and you’ll find a good number [...]

A lot of business experts, business books and business start-up courses will tell you to look for a business opportunity with little or no competition. As a result budding entrepreneurs spend ages looking for new business ideas, trying to find the elusive new idea that no one else has thought of. Unfortunately doing so is [...]

Yesterday in the pre budget report the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling announced a number of measures designed to stimulate the economy and help SMEs through the financial crisis. The measures include: Bringing forward £3Bn worth of capital investment by the Government, this should help inject so cash into the economy and create some [...]

A number of readers have asked: Can I start a business with no money? or Can I start a business as a teenager / while I’m in school? or Can I start a business from home? and so on. Well the good news is yes you can, all you really need to start a business [...]

There is an inevitable pressure on price. In organisations with large sales forces, many disagreements stem from a perception that some “lazy sales people sell on price”. In smaller businesses, price is one of the weapons at our disposal. However, we must ensure that we avoid falling into the trap of giving too much away [...]

I’m often asked to suggest business opportunities that “don’t require any selling”, the short answer is no. The longer answer is why? I ask why because every business (and a lot of what you do outside of your business) requires you to sell. So if you’re already selling regularly why are you afraid of selling [...]

When you are running a business you need to avoid being vague. If you’re vague about what you are selling, then your customer may be disappointed and irate. If your marketing was too vague they won’t even know what you are selling, why they’ll want it or where to find you and you’ll fail to [...]

I watched the third episode of Jamie’s Ministry of Food last night in which Jamie visits a hospital in Rotheram where the doctors showed him a special bed for fat people (visit the Channel 4 site to see a picture) and explained that the NHS is struggling to cope with the problems caused by us [...]