Recent content by Colin Smith CBP

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    Advice needed, buying a restaurant

    Totally agree with the above. Being a minority shareholder in someone else's business is fraught with difficulty without a shareholder's agreement that protects your interests. I would be tempted to broach the subject of an earn out agreement rather than a straight purchase. That way, you...
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    Sales Help

    I think that choosing a positive response to circumstance, however difficult, is incredibly important. However, it's equally important to realise that this involves more than just "positive thinking" or a self-psych approach. Unbridled optimism that refuses to acknowledge what is actually...
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    B2B marketing for startups

    Ste, Sounds as if you have nailed the positioning of your service. I regularly speak with clients whose products and services are so similar to those of the competition as to be indistinguishable to the casual user. However, a 40% price differential would be hard to miss. I think you can...
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    B2B marketing for startups

    Ste, Happy to help. It's definitely worth pausing and doing some strategic thinking now as once you have committed yourself to a position, it is notoriously difficult to re-position your business. It seems from your reply that you are positioning yourself as a low cost provider of time...
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    B2B marketing for startups

    Ste, Welcome to the forum and to life as a small business owner. In response to your question, there are literally dozens of different B2B sales and marketing tactics that might be appropriate, but these will be a function of your market entry strategy. What you have described above is a list...
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    Has anyone used investors/mentors?

    Scott, Speaking from my own experience as a small business owner and now from my experience working with clients, I would suggest that business angels/venture capital firms are a last resort for most businesses. I would look to self finance a project in the first instance. This may involve...
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    Business Rates Magistrates Court Summons

    Great news. Really pleased it worked out for you. As you said initially, I think it was always just a case of them trying it on. Obviously some people when faced with a magistrates summons must just roll over and pay and they were playing the percentages. Hopefully, they'll make the bill...
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    Business Rates Magistrates Court Summons

    I'm pleased to hear it. There is no chance now that you can be made personally liable for that debt. I would be tempted simply to leave it and wait for the process of the company being struck off to run it's course. If the council is the only "creditor", they may object, but there is...
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    Why Advertise Your On Email ?

    It never ceases to amaze me how few businesses have defined processes and standards that ensure that they are consistently meeting customer expectations in the key areas in their business. I couldn't imagine what could possibly take precedence over new business acquisition. Some people don't...
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    Work / life balance

    Feel free. Happy to help.
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    Work / life balance

    Much like yourself, my client work has me spending probably two out of five days on average at their sites. The other three days I go to an office that I have rented locally. Yes, this is an extra expense but I've found that it more than pays for itself in terms of increased productivity. I...
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    Advertising Boards at Football Grounds

    In a previous business, we did exactly what your client did and spent a decent proportion (about 15%) of our annual marketing budget on an advertising hoarding with a league 2 football club. Despite our reservations about the effectiveness of this kind of advertising, we persuaded ourselves...
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    Great tool for getting work done in half the time

    I've picked up lots of productivity tips and techniques over the years, but none have had the instant impact this technique had when I first tried it a few years ago. The technique as described by the OP is a variant of the classic Pomodoro technique. They advocate shorter "bursts" of activity...
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    What Market?

    That was just an example of how targeted a niche might have to be in an extremely crowded market place. It wasn't a researched suggestion of a niche that might be sustainable. The point that you have made about who will search for certain terms is important in terms of assessing market size...
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    What Market?

    The advice that you have been given to seek out a market niche in which to operate rather than compete in a crowded market place on an undifferentiated basis is sound. However, I would just make two observations on what you have said above. The niches you have identified are still very broad...
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