Tag: business mentor

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What should you expect from a business adviser?

Show Business (magazine)
Show Business (magazine) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

With supposedly serious small business magazines touting headlines on their cover that anyone can start a business without any cash, it seems as though business skills to develop a product or service idea and launch a business are hardly necessary.

But we all know small business magazines with controlled circulations battle on the newsstands. Their hyped up headlines are there to merely tease or tantalise prospective readers but when you turn the pages and find the article it’s the same feeling that you had as a kid when you opened a lucky packet to find some cheap plastic toys inside that break on first use. Oh boy, lucky those lucky packets are no longer around. Yet am told they could make a comeback at one of the larger grocery chains. Continue reading “What should you expect from a business adviser?”

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Almost 75% of small businesses are started from scratch

LOGO5John Janning was asked by his wife to find the bad bulb in a string of Christmas-tree lights. He investigated and this gave him the inspiration to come up with a way to keep tree lights lit even if one burnt out.

Knowing that he didn’t have the manufacturing expertise or marketing prowess he decided to obtain a patent for his lights and then research manufacturers and found one willing to mass-produce his product and sell it. He received an upfront fee, plus a royalty of 5% on future sales.

Research shows that more than 75% of small business owners start their small business from scratch. The remaining percentage buy a second-hand business, which could include a franchise. What this means is that at least 75% of aspiring business owners come up with their own ideas for a new product or service. Continue reading “Almost 75% of small businesses are started from scratch”