Dodo Loves Marketing

Licensing, registration and inspection

It is amazing how many businesses require some form of licensing, registration or inspection. Bed and breakfast establishments, for instance, may need to be inspected by fire officers, to be registered with the local authority, and may even need planning permission and official approval of their signs from local planning officers. That’s before they start taking on catering, in which case there is another host of rules to contend with. These rules have been set up for the public good, wisely or otherwise. But many people do not know about them. Unfortunately, ignorance is no defence and you could end up being fined heavily if, for instance, your kitchen is not up to environmental health standards for a catering business, or if you are an unregistered childminder. If you make toys which do not comply with safety standards or sell clothes without the correct labelling, you could also end up in hot water. ..more

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Once you’ve done your market research and worked out if you can make a profit from the business, the next step is to take advice. This will not only confirm whether your calculations are realistic, but can take a lot of the pain out of setting up. The good news is that there’s lots of advice available - and much of it is free. What’s more, experts on small businesses reckon that over 60 per cent of small business failures could be avoided if only people took advice in three areas - money, management and marketing.

1 TECs/LECs A good place to start is your local Training and Enterprise Council (TEC), or Local Enterprise Council (LEC) . These can also put you in touch with other helpful agencies; such as your local Enterprise Agency and Business Link. You can find them through your telephone book, Yellow Pages or local library. The Department of Trade and Industry also has a hotline. ..more

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It is a sad fact of life that most small businesses require capital to start up. There are a few businesses which require only the minimum of equipment and stationery (journalism, PR and teaching, for instance), but most will require some form of outlay either for equipment, for stock or both. Then there are other considerations. You may need a budget for advertising, for accountancy and legal fees, or even for adapting your living room.

Before you even try to raise money, it is well worth thinking about the minimum amount needed. If the business is in the fledgling stage, try to keep only to the bare essentials — there will be time for a mahogany desk and state-of-the-art printer at a later, more successful stage. ..more

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There are thousands of grants and low interest loans available for small businesses. The problem is finding out what they are and whether your business qualifies. Some fields are more liberally provided with grants than others. For instance, the Crafts Council has a setting-up scheme which allows selected craftspeople to receive a grant of £2,500 for maintenance and up to £5,000 for equipment (they pay half of equipment costs), provided they apply within two years of setting up. While this would not cover your start-up costs entirely, it could certainly be a very useful addition. Other areas where grants may be forthcoming include : ..more

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After an interview, send a thank-you letter to the person who interviewed you. If there was more than one interviewer, write the note to the one who has the power to hire you. Mail the letter that day so the person doesn’t have an opportunity to forget you. Now continue your job search, meeting managers and lining up interviews— keep working at it. Your goal is to have at least two or three offers to choose from.

When you get a job offer, generally by phone, thank the person sincerely. Write down the details; starting date, wage, hours, and so on. Tell the employer that you’d like to accept but you need a day to discuss it with your family. Now talk it over with your parents and some close friends. Compare the job offer to your original goals. Sometimes in the excitement of landing a job you can lose sight of your own best interests. ..more

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Because until you do, until you begin to take it seriously, until you give it the earnest attention it demands, your Prototype will continue to be the only thing it could hope to be under the circumstances—a crap shoot!

At GERBER Business Development Corporation, we have created tools for our small business clients to begin the often arduous task of making demographic and psychographic determinations, and how to position their Prototype in the mind of their consumer. The impact has been astonishing.

Small businesses that acted like small businesses when we met them began to operate with intelligence.

Their customers came vividly alive to them, often for the very first time.

Inquiry, the active solicitation of specific information, and controlled experimentation replaced the guessing, blind hope, and feverish busy work that preceded them. ..more

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