Spring to Action Ltd

Newsletter out Shortly

Just a quick update, we're just in the process of writing our second newsletter so if you'd like a copy straight to your inbox it's really simple.  Just tell us your details, or pop back to visit us and you can download it direct from here. 

But what do you want to hear from us:

News, views and updates?

Or advice, guidance and top tips for business success?

Or maybe more about our upcoming workshops and events?

We'd love to know what is most important to you.  Just leave us a comment and we'll do our best to act upon it.

Beginners Guide to Market Research for Startups

There are many things we all try to avoid and in the startup world it's no different. There is a clear look of apprehension on people's faces where market research is concerned, but there really needn't be. Recently a few people have asked me about this area, because the idea of asking people questions horrifies them or they

Research is all about finding out what customers want. That's it, just what they want. What they want to pay, what they want to buy, what they want to see improved.  For any business to be successful you need to know these simple things because otherwise you might buy products no one wants or you might sell them at the wrong price.

The most important market reserach is done with customers, because no matter what the statistics say, the size of your market just isn't that important if no one wants what you're offering.

So let's start at the beginning.  Please bear in mind you can make this as complex as you like, I'm just keeping it easy for everyone to understand.

What questions do you need answers to?

What does your business need to know?  This could be, will you have mainly female or male customers?  Where else do they shop? If it's a business, what do they currently pay for what you offer?  What are the main things influencing their purchase?  

Write out your questions and try to use tick-box answers so it's easier and quicker to answer. Be really clear and get someone to check for any errors.

How will you implement the research?

Talk to your customers directly and ask them to answer a few simple questions, try an online survey software like www.surveymonkey.com Ask as many people as you can, from different age groups, different genders, living/working/shopping in different locations.  If you need to ask businesses this is more tough - perhaps have an incentive or go through an organisation like the Chamber of Commerce.  Can you ring potential customers for 5 minutes of their time (prepare yourself for a few knock-backs)?

What next?

Collate all your research together and see what findings you have. Be really open minded about the results and look at your business from your customers viewpoint.  What are they telling you they want?  How will you provide it?  How will you be different from your competitors?  If they can already easily and cheaply get what they want, is this is the right business to be in?

What else could you do to talk to your customers and get under their skin?

How Do we Support High Growth Businesses?

Much has been made of late about where business support is heading, that is, should the government pay for it? The focus appears to be heading toward high growth businesses who apparently will be employing the masses of ex public sector workers who are likely to be laid off as a result of the cuts.

Sounds fair, doesn't it? Let's incentivise high growth businesses to employ lots of new staff, cutting the welfare budget and the public sector wage bill.  Win win, eh?

Little discussion or focus appears to have been made around how these high growth businesses will be found. How do we decide which businesses have the potential for high growth, and indeed which don't? What has worked either at home or abroad to 'make' these businesses dramatically improve their profits and employ more people (are the two always linked?).

There is another important question for me.  When we've helped these high growth businesses grow, and they are ticking along nicely, how do we assist the next generation of high growths? 

This is a discussion which will probably roll on, but it's important we start the debate anyway. And then let's continue the debate about how we should support all people, regardless of background, to start new businesses because that's a very important point. Something we at Spring are very concerned about.

Leicester Farmers Market

Thursday saw the much-anticpated return of the Leicester Farmer's Market, this time in Gallowtree Gate and around the clock tower.  Although the image above probably doesn't show it as well as it could've, the area surrounding the Farmer's Market was packed with foodies, looking for some unusual and tasty bites.

In the midst of much negativity about our economy and the recession, this was a real triumph of enterprise.  From rustic breads to homemade nougat, to rare-bread meats, there was something for everyone.  Before long my purse was empty and I'm sure I wasn't alone.

Although the traditional venue of the Leicester Market is much protected, this new venue seemed to really successful. Shoppers, people on their lunchbreaks, pensioners and young families all centre on this part of town and it was pretty hard to avoid. 

Everything looked scrummy, so well presented, with friendly stallholders who can tell you all about their produce and there was a real variety of items.  This has to be the future of local markets - gone are the days of sub standard veg (no matter how cheap it may be!), wilting plants or car boot sale items.  And now we've had a taste of what local produce is out there the demand will continue to rise.  Well done to the Leicester Market staff for arranging a very successful event.  Find out when the next Farmer's Market is in your area  - and let's all do our best to support them!

Tomorrow is D Day for the Budget

Finally the day arrives when we all get to hear about where the budget cuts are falling and just how fast.  Is anyone else feeling a little nervous?

Already we've heard snippets of news, that Business Link's regional offices will be shut, that public sector pay and pensions will be frozen, that startup support will drastically change, and that local workspace capital developments have been stopped.

Indeed, when I wrote about this a few months ago, I asked what would you cut?

The question is developing as the days go past...now I would ask what would you cut and WHY? Let's face it, we can go ahead and cut everything that costs a significant amount of money, but we really need to ask ourselves what projects does this country need to prosper?

Which projects or developments will help us create jobs, build more prosperous communities and businesses, make the UK a better place to live and work in these tough economic times?

I just hope these aspects are being considered alongside the monetary aspects. Otherwise it really will be a return to the 80's of boom and bust. 

Starting a Food Business?

Starting a catering business can be a complicated task with so many areas to consider - premises, employing people, health and safety, food hygiene, pricing.. the list goes on.

This handy guide from the Food Standards Agency gives a quick and simple run-down of all you need to know.

Often, the main considerations are seen as being 3 things: pricing, customer service and most importantly the food itself.  How many places have you been to where at least one of those areas doesn't make the mark?

Mary Saves the Local Shops

The BBC has started it's new series of Mary Queen of Shops - one of my favourite TV programmes about business. I love it because Mary is so focused on the success of the business, and on bringing the owners and employees along with her, celebrating their positives.

In her last series she focused on the charity shop and I wonder how many people sat on their couches and thought that they'd never shop in a charity shop as they currently stand, because of the quality of clothing. Yet she turned that perception around and created an inviting shop with branded bargains.

This series focuses instead on small independant shops. Often the lifeblood of our communities, they have to compete again the big guys ,with their influential marketing budgets and volume pricing discounts.

But this week I realised what a fool I was. When Mary approached the shop, the owner was resistent to say the least ... and I realised immediately that she wasn't going to take well to change.  The owner needed to realise just what is at risk.  I knew it wouldn't be an easy task and the time needed to be spent on this first and vital stage. Mary didn't take that tact, but I guess that's why I'm not on TV and she is!

When people are resistent to change there really is no sense forging ahead regardless. They will just push the pressure back towards you - in this case the owner ended up chucking Mary and the TV crew out of her shop! A business can only adapt if it's owner is read to.  I still love the show, but take it at face value - just a TV show. Mary is successful and there is no doubt she knows her stuff.  She is inspirational, genuine and frank.

But I would imagine that the majority of the time businesspeople call her in because she can help them make more money. In this case the bakers in question just wanted to make enough to keep going, to keep them in employment - no more, no less. This is a completely different mindset to the big businesses, the big brands. It's about people, community, history, personal self-respect and hardly ever purely about money. Well done Mary for giving it a try, but in the end the Bakery is happy moving along as it is.

Business Funding Cuts Announced

The coalition government has announced £6.2 bn of funding cuts to reduce the deficit. Much of it will come from the Department of Communities and the Ministry for Business Innovation and Skills.  This will include stopping or reducing project funding, stopping the Future Jobs Fund and reducing spend by Local Authorities.

Whilst much of this was to be expected, it won't be painless.  These cuts are certainly headline grabbers, but I wonder what redundancy payments will need to be made and what they will amount to? Who will undertake some of these jobs - for example work by the Skills Funding Agency? They said it wouldn't be painless and they were right.

The breakdown of cuts by the BBC is very interesting.  Notably, ministers will no longer have their own ministerial cars but will be encouraged to use public transport or pool cars.  Are these the only spending cuts ministers can personally take? Could we reduce some of the House of Commons expenditure - removing their cosy privildges? It may not total up to a huge amount in the scheme of things, but it would certainly lead from the top.

For my money, I have a few proposals of my own. Removing the penalty of underspend would be a great start.  Projects are often strongly encouraged to spend all of their year's budget, wherever they can. Giving back money at the end of the year is a no-no because funding bids ask if you have ever underspent.  This is crazy. We must change our approach and celebrate when projects achieve and underspend. I think the public would be outraged if they knew how many projects essentially threw away cash (in the thousands) every year.

The coalition has also released it's Coalition Agreement, outlining it's policy priorities and restating the urgency of reducing the deficit.

What budget reductions do you support? What issues can you see with the governments proposals?

First Newsletter Finished!

Yes, really, you didn't read incorrectly! I have put the final touches to our newsletter (the first ever!) and it's now available for download. 

We'd love to hear what you think, any improvements that could be made or any bits you particuarly liked.  We have broad shoulders, please be honest!

If you like it, you can sign up for future editions, making sure you receive it automatically.  Just makes life a bit easier, doesn't it?

Training for Startups: Skills, Knowledge or both?

Today I led one of our workshops again in Leicester for startups.  It occured to me that several things were happening during the course. Experiences that aren't always evaluated using our usual tick-box methodolgies that we're encouraged to use by funders. 

Not only were participants learning specific knowledge (e.g. what breakeven is and why it's important) but also learning to learn.  What I mean by that is, practising and playing out the understanding that at times in business there will be things you don't know the answer to.  And that's ok.  In fact, that's great.  The important thing is knowing who to ask to help you learn new things.

Often during startup workshops we tell people that by the end of the course they will know how to start a business.  We even encourage them to think that they will have started a business by the end.  That they will have all the expertise and knowledge required to run a successful business.

This is a lie. I don't think we mean to do it, but we do.  We raise expectations that can't be matched. Sure, there are people who will have started by the end.  But realistically it takes time for most people to research, learn, understand what's required, check out their finances / benefits situation.  And often things will come along to blow their best laid plans off course.

So what are the important things to learn or cover during a course? My ten penneth is this:

• What you bring to a business - your life experience, communication skills, knowledge of the customer (if you have it), any specific talents or expertise, any financial backing you might have
• What you don't yet have, but can work on - finances, skills gaps, expertise, confidence, contacts
• What it takes to run a business - time management, finance management, understand of laws / regulations, insurances, taxes, web / IT strategy

What do YOU think - have I missed anything? Or do you agree with the (present) government's Business Start up/business simplification workshops agenda?  What would you write into a course online?