Entrepreneurs for TV show

CHANNEL FOUR SERIES “TRICKY BUSINESS”

YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS WANTED

* Have you recently set up your own business?
* Are you young, enthusiastic, full of energy and believe you can make it work?
* Do you want to turn your ideas into millions?

If you are aged 16-28 and have recently started your own business then award winning television programme makers would like to hear from you.

Budding entrepreneurs who believe they can turn their business dreams into reality are wanted for a new series of the successful Channel Four programme, “Tricky Business.”

Tricky Business is an 8 part observational series for Channel 4, which will follow 8 young entrepreneurial businesses through a period of key development and will feature the millionaire Venture Capitalist and former Scottish Entrepreneur of the Year, John Boyle as a Business Mentor.

“We are looking for entrepreneurs who have been running their own business for over 3 months and who are now looking to expand or develop their service, brand or product i.e. you will be reaching a crucial point in your business plans in the next five months.

We will be looking to film contributors over a 5 month period from late February to late July 2006, so we would need you to be available and committed for filming during this period. If you are having an important business meeting or new product launch we would want to be there to capture it all etc

REQUIREMENTS

Based in the UK

You will need to be a newly established business i.e. ideally you have already been operating for approximately 3 months.

You will be looking to expand or develop your service, brand or product i.e. you will be reaching a crucial point in your business plans in the next five months

Available for filming from mid Feb- July 06

Aged 16-28″

CONTACTS
If this applies to you and you would like more information on getting involved please contact us

J. G. Courtney, Chairman
Strategy Consulting Limited
john@strategyconsultinglimited.co.uk

business, entrepreneur, venture capital, business plan, television show

Funding: BUSINESS ANGELS - SMALL FIRMS LOAN GUARANTEES - GRANTS - PROPERTY FINANCE - FACTORING
Strategy: BUSINESS STRATEGY - BUSINESS PLANNING - WORKSHOPS - NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS
Marketing: MARKETING STRATEGY - NEW PRODUCTS - TELEMARKETING - SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION

A TV production company are looking for businesses to take part in a new television series

Does your business need a makeover?
Are you struggling and don’t know why?
Do all your best ideas backfire?

The production team will give businesses the opportunity to gain specialist advice from a prominent and successful entrepreneur who knows what you’re going through.

If this appeals to you then please send me a direct email with your contact details.

John

J. G. Courtney, Chairman
Strategy Consulting Limited
john@strategyconsultinglimited.co.uk

business, SME, small business, entrepreneur, strategy

Marketing:
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION - MARKETING - NEW PRODUCTS
Funding:
BUSINESS ANGELS - SMALL FIRMS LOAN GUARANTEES - GRANTS
Strategy:
STRATEGY - BUSINESS PLANNING - WORKSHOPS

What’s in store for us in 2006? Inspired by Google’s poor search relevancy and making friends with Wall Street rather than its users, disaffection is growing apace and surfers are switching their loyalties to Yahoo and MSN. Conspiracy theorists believe that Google influenced pay-per-click and the ranking process to crank up their share price to almost double that of January 2005.

But whatever negative sentiments are shared about Google, all of the major search engines have recognised that users are demanding far more specific search, a trend driven by localised search, personalisation and increased specialisation. These three initiatives are narrowing the scope of the current problems inherent in generic search.

Today, web users are demanding far more selection and choice, with personalised content gaining the upper hand. This has been achieved with syndication through RSS. Today, the web is no longer about surfing and passive reading; it’s about creating, sharing, socialising and collaborating. Increasingly, many new websites are disseminating news and views through blogs and articles.

RSS really did make headway last year – and expect even greater take-up this. Instead of the web browser, users are increasingly looking for content via news feeds. This allows them to see at a glance what sites have added new content on any of the topics they select as being of interest. This means less time is wasted on checking to see whether or not a site’s content has changed. It also ensures a more efficient delivery platform.

But it’s not just news sites that have converted to RSS feeds, companies are increasingly offering information via news feeds using WordPress as a seamless and integral part of their website. This method of information delivery helps users evaluate new content and, as a bonus, categorised sections of WordPress blog are being indexed from the home page. This in turn increases the volume of data on the site, thus boosting PR ranking, and broadens keyword exposure.

Also, professional blogging has a very bright future. Internet search now finds many blog sites on first-page returns. Many professionals are also using external blogs, such as blogger.com. When these keyword-rich blogs are linked to the main site, it helps the site to grow. However, the blog should be fresh, as it would be foolish to merely duplicate content and get the main site blacklisted.

The third aspect of the paradigm is article writing. The aim here is to provide interesting articles that, even though they have limited time exposure on the engines, do find themselves float to the top very quickly.

So the professional blogger has a lot to look forward to in 2006. And as business blogs start to take hold as the new standard for marketing, public relations and SEO, 2006 should witness a huge increase in demand for their services.

blogging, professional blogging, RSS

Marketing: SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION - MARKETING - NEW PRODUCTS
Funding: BUSINESS ANGELS - SMALL FIRMS LOAN GUARANTEES - GRANTS
Strategy: STRATEGY - BUSINESS PLANNING - WORKSHOPS

The following question appeared on an SEO Forum blog in September 2005:
I had read that separating keywords in domain names was purely a matter of choice, or does this only relate to file names - webdesign.html -v- web-design.html being the same?

The response provided to this question:
There are two different issues involved with this question. The first concerns the characters that are allowed in a domain name and/or a URL, the second concerns how special characters are treated by the search engines.

For example, Nominet rules limit the characters allowed for a .uk TLD (Top-Level Domain) to:
• the twenty-six unaccented Roman letters (i.e. a-z inclusive);
• the ten western digits (i.e. 0-9 inclusive);
• and hyphens.

So the only possible separator character to use in a .uk domain is the hyphen e.g. keyword1-keyword2.co.uk.

There are fewer restrictions on which characters can be used in a URL (i.e. in the directory and file name section of a web address). Safe characters are the 26 letters, 10 western digits and $ _ - . + ! * ‘ ( )

All other characters are either reserved - have a specific meaning in a URL (e.g. / ? : @) - or unsafe (e.g. # ~ [ ] ^). Reserved characters must be and unsafe characters should be encoded in their appropriate US ASCII notation. e.g. a space is encoded as %20, # as %23 etc.

So, in theory, you could equally well use an underscore as a hyphen in a file name as a separator between two keywords as in: example.com/keyword1_keyword2.html.

However, Google decided in its early days that it would index the underscore as a recognisable character and the hyphen as a word separator.

There is a small advantage in having keywords in your URL that are discernable by search engines and the most reliable way to achieve this is to use the hyphen, the only separator which is acceptable throughout the URL, including in the domain name.

domain names, keywords, url

Marketing: SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION - MARKETING - NEW PRODUCTS
Funding: BUSINESS ANGELS - SMALL FIRMS LOAN GUARANTEES - GRANTS
Strategy: STRATEGY - BUSINESS PLANNING - WORKSHOPS

Factoring and invoice discounting (known as debtor finance) can dramatically improve your cash flow by releasing money as soon as you have completed an order and raised an invoice rather than having to wait for your customer to pay. This makes them ideal for funding growth. Because it’s linked to sales, factoring or invoice discounting is ideal if your business does not have the financial track record or security available to negotiate sufficient overdraft facilities.

A key advantage is flexibility. The amount you can borrow grows in line with sales and it is often possible for you to repay bank facilities and release previously pledged security.

Typically, when factoring is set up you can borrow about 80% of the value of your approved invoices less than 90-120 days old. Thereafter, cash will be made available against invoices on a daily basis with the remaining 20%, less charges, once the value of the invoice has been collected. Once the system is established, the level of advance you receive against invoices depends on a number of issues, but can rise as high as 100%.

Once in place, there is no limit to the amount you can borrow as the finance is linked directly to sales. This is in sharp contrast to bank overdrafts, which require regular re-negotiation and arrangement fees.

The cost of such a facility is normally up to 3% over base rate for the money borrowed together with a service charge linked to gross turnover of at least 0.5% depending upon the level of annual sales, the number invoices raised and how many live accounts are on the sales ledger. Small addition charges are often made for extra services such as credit insurance.

factoring, invoice discounting, debtor finance

Marketing: SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION - MARKETING - NEW PRODUCTS
Funding: BUSINESS ANGELS - SMALL FIRMS LOAN GUARANTEES - GRANTS
Strategy: STRATEGY - BUSINESS PLANNING - WORKSHOPS

The Small Firms Loan Guarantee scheme - SFLG -has been in existence to enable small businesses with a viable business plan, but lacking security, to borrow money from approved lenders. The Small Firms Loan Guarantee scheme (SFLG) is a joint venture between the DTI and the approved lenders.

The scheme will provide loans between £5000 and £100,000 for companies with a trading record of less than 2 years and this amount is increased to £250,000 for the older businesses. The DTI do not lend the money as they leave the commercial decision to the bankers.

The borrowers are not asked to provide personal guarantees although any personal security will be requested by the bank prior to a SFLGS application being considered. The DTI will provide 75% of the security to the bank on acceptance by them of the application. Certain businesses are not available for the loan and companies with more than 200 employees are not eligible. Turnover in the prior year to the application must be below £5m for manufacturing industries and £3m for all other businesses. In addition a premium on the amount outstanding is charged by the bank.

NOTE: Changes to the Small Firms Loan Guarantee scheme (SFLG) came into effect from 1 April 2003 meaning that more businesses may be eligible. The changes include:

• A single guarantee rate of 75% for all new loans;
• Sector exclusions removed for retailing, catering, coal, hairdressing and beauty parlours,
• The maximum turnover level for non-manufacturing businesses increased from £1.5m to 3m;
• The premium paid by the borrower set at 2% per year on the outstanding balance for all new loans.

Changes may continue to be introduced by Government, and Strategy Consulting Ltd are happy to advise on the current situation.

The importance of a carefully prepared business plan is often under-estimated. The borrower must convince the potential lender that he or she has a viable business proposal. There is a need for a specialist funding plan to be created identifying closely the compliance with the requirements of the scheme and the banks and our consultants have wide experience in meeting these needs. A potential lender would expect to see information on:

• Management: key personnel, their experience, knowledge of the industry, age, education and training;
• Product or service: details of product or service on offer, state of product development, any follow-up products or services;
• Markets: description of the market and its size, customers, competitors, sales estimates and expected market penetration. Sales forecasts should be supported by hard evidence and research wherever possible. Also an explanation of how the business will succeed in the market against competition;
• The business: when started, results to date, borrowing history, existing commitments, current bankers;
• Objectives and Strategy: business objectives, timetable and assumptions, risk factors, longer term plans;
• Financial Projection: projections of at least one year’s future performance together with supporting assumptions and evidence (order books, customer enquiries). Projections should include profit and loss account, monthly cash flow projections, balance sheets and capital expenditure budget;
• Finance Required: total funding required based on projections, application of those funds, repayment assumptions. Purpose of finance, detailing capital expenditure;
• Security Available: what assets are available as security (personal assets as well as business assets). Also what assets have been used as security elsewhere;
• Management Information Systems: accounting systems used by the business, ability to produce regular management accounts;
• Principal Risks: most likely areas of risk and ability to cope with these. What happens in event of sickness or injury to key personnel?

small firms loan guarantee scheme, SFLG, small businesses, business plan, borrow money, DTI, approved lenders

For the United Kingdom there are some 850 different grants provided by UK national organisations or European Union sources. In addition, there are some 3,000 “grants” provided by local councils, economic development units, enterprise agencies and other specific local bodies.
The amount of grant depends upon the purpose for which it is given.

The main purposes are as follows: -

CAPITAL GRANTS FOR INVESTMENT
In reality these grants are more concerned with the protection or creation of employment. Grant levels range between 5% and 25% of overall project costs, alternatively, between £2,500 and £7,000 per job created.

TRAINING GRANTS
Grants and soft loans cover both design and delivery of training. Soft loans of up to 80% of training costs may be obtained by SME’s and other grants of between 20% and 50% of training costs are available in specific instances whereby engineering training is particularly favoured.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT GRANTS
R&D grants run at between 30% to 50% of the total project cost. Costs may include salaries, consumables, related capital expenditure, consultancy, IPR protection and a substantial contribution towards overheads.
• Feasibility Studies into innovative technology will provide a grant of up to 75% of eligible project costs to a maximum of £45,000. Eligible costs to be at least £30,000 and project duration 6 - 18 months for SME’s with less than 50 employees.
• Development Projects up to pre-production prototype stage of new products and processes involving a significant technological advance. This will produce a grant of up to 30% of eligible project costs to a maximum of ECU 200,000 (including any grant already received for a feasibility study). Eligible costs to be at least £60,000 and project duration 6 - 36 months. Open to SME’s with less than 250 employees.
On the face of it there is little change from the old SPUR/SMART system, however all awards are considered on a competitive or challenge basis.

INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS
These grants target specific areas which have suffered industrial or sectoral decline e.g. textile, fishing or defence industry locations.

EXPORT GRANTS
These may subsidise the cost of setting up export activities, or provide joint venture finance. Joint venture support may run at 50% of feasibility studies or a substantial 20% to 50% of joint venture set-up costs.

ADVISORY SERVICES
Free or subsidised consultancy or provision of specialist information. Consultancy grants for specific tasks will run at up to 50% of consultancy fees. Specialist information services, access to databases etc is free or requires a nominal contribution.

MISCELLANEOUS GRANTS
e.g. assistance for museums, the disabled, rail and water freight projects, craft industries and rural development.
The key point is that grants and soft loans will always only meet a percentage of the total cost. The applicant will invariably have to demonstrate that the balance of funding to see the project through to completion is readily available.

Why use a grant consultant?
Where capital grants or substantial grants for research and development are concerned, and some others, the application procedure and forms are complex. More importantly, the decision-making criteria with which civil servants both in the UK and the EU work are not in the public domain. It is thus difficult for outsiders to know or understand exactly what points would favour their application as opposed to those which would condemn it.

Grant bodies are invariably striving to give the minimum grant necessary, in their opinion, to assist the project. whereas the consultant acting, on behalf of the client, will be striving to maximise the grant obtained.
Consultants can help senior management, which invariably has many other priorities, by saving time and effort by carrying out the application procedures on their behalf.

Consultants are most valuable where grants are issued on a “challenge” or competitive basis. Almost all EU R&D grants are issued on a competitive basis, i.e. applications are submitted, ranked in order of merit and only those deemed the most deserving will receive funds.

The UK has been moving strongly towards “challenge” grant awarding. In these instances the use of a consultant is imperative.

business grants

Marketing: SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION - MARKETING - NEW PRODUCTS
Funding: BUSINESS ANGELS - SMALL FIRMS LOAN GUARANTEES - GRANTS
Strategy: STRATEGY - BUSINESS PLANNING - WORKSHOPS