Make Your Mark Blog

Microsoft have launched research today, which shows that over 80% of small business owners believe that the conditions for starting a business will worsen over the coming year. It also revealed that more than 40% would not encourage others thinking about setting up in business.  What was interesting was that financing projects was not of great concern so it seems that the issue is around confidence rather than money.

I went on some regional radio stations this morning to discuss these points alongside a spokesperson from Microsoft and was keen to point out the following:

• There is a market out there for more than you might think and, whilst entrepreneurs should be careful not to enter a particularly declining market, there will always be a need for innovative products and services
• You have to take risks to be an entrepreneur, no matter what the state of the economy is, so the trick is to manage these risks and take control of your own destiny
• Start small, but aim high. As my friend from Microsoft rightly says it is now possible to set up in business with only a good idea and a laptop based in your bedroom. You don’t always need to chuck your job in and remortgage your house to turn a dream into reality. Who knows you could create the next Google or Facebook which both started in someone’s bedroom!

And bearing this all in mind if you are (hopefully) still keen to take the plunge make sure you get out there and talk about your idea with others. Find people who can help you because a strong support network can get you through the hardest of times.

check out the world’s top bloggers under 21 from retireat21.com - http://www.retireat21.com/blog/top-young-bloggers-under-21/

The Social Enterprise Coalition (SEC) – the umbrella body for the social enterprise movement – has launched an animation explaining social enterprise. If you have something to say about it, drop a comment below.

last week, the global entrepreneurship week planning team in london met up with several host organizations from western europe. we all met in paris and were hosted by les journees de l’entrepreneur (http://www.journee-entrepreneur.com/) and ernst & young, who very graciously provided us a brilliant meeting space on the 38th and 39th floor of their building in la defense.

there were 9 countries represented at the table, including france, spain, germany, denmark, holland, greece, norway, italy - and of course us from the uk! campaign experts from make your mark led 5 workshop sessions over the course of the day and a half, covering topics such as possible activities and evaluation through to PR and sponsorship. (many thanks to hannah, cathy, scott, anjoum and mike paice for that!)

it gave us all a very good opportunity to learn more about the campaigns in each other’s country, share some best practice, and generate some fantastic new ideas for the first global entrepreneurship week this 17 - 23 november.

i took loads of pictures and videos from the sessions but i don’t have the cable to transfer them to my laptop! i’ll do that tomorrow, so stay tuned

in the coming days i will be creating an online space where will upload all of the materials we used and talked about, and where everybody who attended can share their notes and continue the discussion virtually. if anybody’s got a suggestion for an easy-to-use online service that could do this, let me know! somebody told me about basecamp?

for me, the 3 biggest things that came out of the workshop were…

1. work in national coalition! we want global entrepreneurship week to be huge in every country, so people need to work in partnership - and usually with organizations bigger than themselves. by spreading the responsibility, you will divide the cost - and reach more people.

2. work better internationally! hosts need to communicate more with each other and we need an easy and effective way to do this. once the online workspace is up and running, let’s share all our stuff and keep in touch with each other.

3. go with the glow! i think we were all impressed by how much support ernst & young offered us in paris. build on this by working with ernst & young in your own country, as well as with our other global sponsors and partners. if you need intros, you know who to ask… (this goes for people in the uk, too)

chris

Having left the BBC Your Game event last Wednesday I continued onto the Spark Women’s Business Workout (also in Bristol) which was a really inspiring event for women who either want to set up a business or grow an existing one. Amongst others I met the founder of Sew Bespoke who makes custom wedding dresses and was keen to grow her business further. We also heard from Alex Lovell,  a local BBC presenter who inspired us with her story of how she got to make her mark in TV presenting and news reading. There was a real sense of support in the room and it felt like people were really benefitting from talking to others about the issues they were facing. Being an entrepreneur can be isolating so events like this are a great way to link up lots of individuals.

Having left Bristol I went to Paris to run a PR and Comms workshop for some of the people hosting Global Entrepreneurship Week across Europe. It was a great experience and I found out lots about the state of ‘enterprise’ in different countries. We had a shared vision to encourage more people to be enterprising, and it was interesting to hear about the different ways this was being approached. I am even more excited about Global Entrepreneurship Week than I was before and think it promises to be huge! And I hear the latest number of countries is 56!

I worry that I can be too London-centric in my work so last week was a brilliant opportunity to get a fresh perspective. And the cheese at the lunch hosted by Ernst and Young was also a highlight. Bon Apetit.

It’s been a busy week at Make Your Mark and Tuesday was a real highlight….it was our London Make Your Mark Meet-up, the event we run for Connectors, Ambassadors and Enterprise Week organisers. Lots of you came along to find out more about Enterprise Week in November 2008 and there was a real buzz down at the Unicorn Theatre near London Bridge.

If you couldn’t make it and you want to sample a piece of the action, check out this Animoto clip I’ve just created. 

If you want to make a clip like this then visit www.animoto.com. I’ve just spent two days on a Mediasnackers course and this is one of the things I discovered. There really are some amazing things on the internet, and they’re free too!

We held our first Make Your Mark Meet up event in London last Tuesday afternoon with over 100 of our campaign friends and partners (including lots of MYM Ambassadors, Connectors and those lovely people who run great events in Enterprise Week!). The event was the first of a series of Make Your Mark Meet ups around the country and was a great chance for us to see some familiar enterprise faces and meet some new ones too!

There were some great ideas unleashed for Enterprise Week 2008 in the three sessions on Global Entrepreneurship Week, Digital Media and building partnerships - as well as the fantastic ‘doughnut of chat’ aka Talkaoke in the Foyer and our Connect Me photo wall where we snapped all the guests and how they want to Make their Mark!

A big thank you to all those enterprising people who took part in the event and helped create such a great buzz!

( ps. Don’t just take our word for it! Check out more event photos here: http://www.makeyourmark.org.uk/news_and_features/galleries/72157604472500481)

Professional networking group First Tuesday, in conjunction with leading web conference Internet World, have announced the First Tuesday Award. A distinguished panel of judges from companies such as the Financial Times and the London Business School will bestow the title of ‘UK’s Most Promising Internet Company’ to the most qualified candidate, at the Internet World conference in London on April 30th April, 2008.

Covering a broad spectrum of web-based UK businesses, the companies will be judged on their degree of innovation, growth rate and future potential. The winner will be awarded a lucrative business booster package including personal introductions to some of UK’s top VC and Angel investors, a professionally produced corporate video, access to meeting facilities across the UK and business plan coaching. The full package is valued at upwards of £10,000.

“London specifically, and the UK in general, are experiencing a resurgence in web-based entrepreneurial culture,” said First Tuesday Chief Executive Christer Holloman. “What largely disappeared after the dot-com bust of 2000 has reemerged, with a vibrant mix of young start-ups and experienced venture capitalists starting to make waves.”

Internet World event director James Drake-Brockman commented: “With the UK’s premier web companies and most promising entrepreneurs in attendance, Internet World provides the perfect forum for First Tuesday’s ‘Most Promising Internet Company’ award. First Tuesday’s formula of bringing together venture capital and entrepreneurship will add a valued dimension to the event.”

Companies that believe they should be shortlisted can nominate themselves free of charge on the First Tuesday website ( http://www.firsttuesday.org.uk/award ). The nomination process takes then less then 10 minutes. Members of the public are also encouraged to nominate companies they would like to see win, for a chance to collect a cash prize and tickets to the official after party at Paul Allen’s private members club, The Hospital in Covent Garden.

The Networks team here at the Make Your Mark Campaign produces a monthly newsletter bringing you the latest news from the world of networks. Get it here: connect-newsletter_mar08.pdf

Take a look inside this edition for a word on Social Enterprise from Phil Tulba, Make Your Mark’s Social Enterprise Campaigner and find out more about becoming a Connector. If you’re already a Connector then you’ll be excited to know that there are nine regional Make Your Mark Meet-ups coming up and details of the first two are inside. To begin with it’s London on 8 April and Leicester on 15 April. We’re also in Bristol on 16 April for some Connector networking at the Women’s Business Workout, so book your places now as we’re really looking forward to meeting you at these events.

Kirill Makharinsky, 21, and Bob Goodson, 27 have just launched a new website for start-ups. It is called YouNoodle and is a place to discover and support the hottest early-stage companies.

You can browse innovative startups and follow their progress. You can also register your own startup and use YouNoodle to build up a following as well as develop a team of specific supporters.

It over turns one of the biggest fears that many people have - that if they share their idea in public, someone will steal it. It’s refreshing to see a tool that highlights the importance of collaboration. By sharing your idea you are more likely to attract the right people to support your business, find deals, find opportunities and ultimately succeed.

The founders of YouNoodle are also developing a model which will predict the future success of a start-up. This will use rigorous mathematical analysis to track how social networks and business contacts impact the company’s performance. Definitely one to watch…

Did you know that the Make Your Mark campaign has an office in Tees Valley?

Julie Nelson, Networks Campaigner for Make Your Mark in Tees Valley is excited by the number of local networks that have recently become involved with the campaign. In the last 8 weeks a total of 20 networks have joined the campaign, 12 from Tees Valley and 8 from the wider North East region. 

Julie attended the Middlesbrough Forum Breakfast Exchange on Thursday 28th February which was supported by Middlesbrough Council. The aim of the Breakfast Exchange was to provide the local business community with a friendly, social networking environment in the centre of town. Everyone enjoyed a 10 minute ‘Business in the Spot light’ session where local entrepreneur Jo Hans gave advice on setting up your own business. After that, everyone spent time networking in the very pleasant setting of Al Fornos’s restaurant.

If you run a network in the North East why not use www.makeyourmarkconnect.org to raise its profile and publicise your forthcoming events. Simply click on ‘Register Your Network’. To contact Julie call 01642 451 840.

LUYES is the Lancaster University Young Entrepreneurs Society and it’s run by three of our very own Connectors Steve Crossley, Matt Smith and Himanshu Kumar. They’re certainly an ambitious trio as next month, starting on Friday 7^th March they are hosting the UK’s very first university-based international entrepreneurial summit. The event, which is partnered with Lancaster Chamber of Commerce and sponsored by Lancaster House Hotel, Accenture, Furness Enterprise, IEED and LUMS-CEEC, will bring together students, business professionals, entrepreneurs and enterprise support organisations from across Europe to provide an exciting range of talks, workshops and networking opportunities. And…..there’s an exclusive invitation for all Make Your Mark Connectors to join them for the highlight of the weekend; an exquisite 3 course meal on Saturday 8^th March at the Lancaster House Hotel, with Allan Kenny as the after-dinner speaker.  

Striding Out has just launched The Big Leap - which is looking for fresh, innovative, high-growth businesses, who are ready to ‘take the leap to turn their idea into reality’.

The competition is looking for ideas in the information technology, new media, creative industries, environmental solutions, and product innovation and manufacturing sectors, and will select two finalists per sector in the North and the South, to be entered for the grand prize.

http://www.startups.co.uk/6678842910557315235/competition-seeks-young-entrepreneurs.html

I read a great article by Seth Godin last week called Flipping the Funnel

He talks about how to create a fan club for your business or idea. He says that fans emerge when you:
- turn strangers into friends,
- turn friends into supporters
- turn supporters into fans.

In order to create a fan club, you need to:
1) give people a reason to really love you
2) give people a clear message to shout
3) give them a megaphone to shout with

This got me thinking – in the last two weeks I have become a BIG fan of two things.

Kiva.org – a brilliant online community where individuals like you and me can loan funds (from as little as $25 ) directly to microentrepreneurs in developing countries. It’s not new but I only tried it out recently and was stunned - the scale and speed of the transactions is astonishing. For example this group of Pakistani women entrepreneurs raised their target of $1300 within 3 hours from a total of 30 individual lenders from around the world.

Every week over $700,000 is loaned, 976 new businesses are funded and nearly 7000 new lenders join the community. I am a huge fan of kiva.org – and haven’t been able to stop telling people about it!

Ottolenghi
This weekend I was doing a 3 day course in Islington and was looking forward to trying out the Ottolenghi café because I had heard good things about it. Every lunch and coffee break I walked along Upper Street only to find a huge long queue outside Ottolenghi – it was impossible to get a table. The displays of salads, cakes and fresh produce dripping off the shelves were divine. I did manage to squeeze in and get a takeaway salad – which was so delicious it made my taste buds weep. I eventually did manage to get a table at 4.30pm on Sunday after my course finished and stayed until I was gently ushered out at closing time. The food is so, so, so good – go there if you can.

The power of fan clubs….Green MyApple
I love this campaign by Greenpeace who got Mac fans to target Steve Jobs with messages asking him to create less toxic substances in their products. Tens of thousands of Mac fans sent in photos of themselves hugging their beloved Macs – with a message saying that they wished they could be greener. The campaign resulted in a change in environment policy at Apple – read more here.

So in the spirit of Valentine’s Day, let’s share the love… what are your favourite businesses / products / campaigns / ideas / people who have inspired you / hairdressers / plumbers / cafes…/  – things you love to tell other people about – things you can’t recommend highly enough. Be a fan and shout about them here …..

Yesterday morning I was one of 350 people that gathered at Lord’s Cricket Ground for a special ‘Big Breakfast’ networking event organised by BNI for International Networking Week. With over 3 hours to meet new people you couldn’t fail to make some useful connections.

Why not seize this opportunity to search www.makeyourmarkconnect.org for a network that interests you. Networks exist in all kinds of forms; formal vs informal; subject specific vs general; £ vs free; morning vs evening; large vs small; age limited vs open to all. If you’ve got an idea and you want to get connected to people that can help you, find a group and start talking. You’ll be suprised who you might meet!