Being Your Own Boss
Simple Steps to Business
Success
Workshop 1
Version 1.3 © Enterprise Growth Partnership Ltd 2014
Who’s this workshop for?
• You’re new to business:
– You’re about to start your business.
– You’re wondering about starting a business
and would like to find out what’s being
successful involves.
What this workshop is about
• What is an entrepreneur?
• Defining your goals and setting objectives to meet them
• Knowledge is power:
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Understanding the resources you will need
Identifying and managing risks
Researching opportunities
Planning and finance
• You already have it in you:
– Identifying your skills
– Giving you the tools to develop an action plan to get your
business started
• Finding out about further support
Objectives
By the end of these sessions you should be able to:
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Increase knowledge of entrepreneurship
Reflect on qualities needed
Know the importance of goal setting
Identify and manage risk
Develop a personal development plan
Your Action Plan
Introduce yourself
• What’s your name?
• What would you like to do in business?
• Why are you considering selfemployment?
• What do you hope to learn from this
workshop
It may not all be quite like Dragon’s Den or the Apprentice!
ARE YOU AN
ENTREPRENEUR?
Discussion
What Makes a Good
Entrepreneur?
Is there a difference between being selfemployed and being an entrepreneur?
In Groups discuss and list some of the
factors that contribute to being a successful
entrepreneur.
Definition of an Entrepreneur
Risk-taking business person.
organize
resources in new and more valuable
ways and accepts full responsibility for
the outcome.
Someone
who
attempts
to
Successful entrepreneurs, take control over how
much risk they are willing to accept and then
develop plans to control the remaining risks.
S.W.O.T. Analysis
•
Strengths are things we do well and really enjoy.
•
Weaknesses are things we don’t enjoy and often feel
we are not so good at doing.
•
Opportunities usually arise from our strengths but
can also be weaknesses that have been overcome.
•
Threats can arise from our weaknesses if we allow
them to. They can sometimes be changed to
opportunities.
S.W.O.T. Analysis
Internal
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats
External
Famous entrepreneurs
What are the skills and qualities of
really successful entrepreneurs?
> Qualities tend to be personality traits
> Skills tend to be more tangible
List some of the skills and qualities that
make for success.
Personal Skills
What skills do you have?
> e.g. computer skills, driving a car, good
at maths
How do you know?
> e.g. qualifications, appraisals from work,
certifications, people tell you so
List some of your skills and evidence to
support this.
Personal Qualities
What are some of the good aspects of
your personality that help you in life?
> e.g. communicating with others, listening,
planning, meeting deadlines, attention to
detail
List some of the things that you think
might help you if you worked for
yourself.
A Local Entrepreneur
• Richard Reed of Innocent Drinks was
born and brought up in Huddersfield.
• Here he talks about how to be your
own boss.
• Click the link to watch his video
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoecrekLloY
Your Personal Development Plan
•
What is a Personal Development Plan (PDP)?
– A PDP helps you increase your chances of success
– It is a way to plan how to improve your skills and review your progress
– After identifying some of our weaknesses by completing a SWOT Analysis, you
can start to identify and make improvements using a PDP.
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What does a PDP contain?
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Areas of weakness you want to improve on
How improving will help you be more successful
The date by which you will have successfully improved on your weakness
How you will go about improving on your weaknesses
What support or resources you will need
How you will know you have improved
You can also use your Four Simple Steps Action Plan as a PDP template.
Start working on your own improvements to enhance skills,
qualities and strengths needed to become more successful
in life, work or in a future business.
“If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or
things.” (Albert Einstein 1879 – 1955)
SETTING GOALS AND
OBJECTIVES
Goal Setting & Planning
Why are goals important?
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Aims are general statements that guide our intentions.
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Goals are more specific than objectives.
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“I’m aiming to set up my own business.”
“My goal is to become a self-employed plumber.”
Objectives are what specifically we expect to achieve.
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“By December next year I will have started trading and established a regular base of
twelve customers across West Yorkshire, paying me an average of £200 per month”
•
Planning is the process of identifying steps we will need to take to make it
happen.
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A plan contains tasks that break the steps down into manageable chunks.
Setting Goals & Objectives
Why do we set goals?
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What do you want for you and your family?
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Success and happiness are great goals but not SMART
objectives.
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What do success and happiness look like to you?
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To use our business to get us there we need to set objectives:
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Lots of money? How much?
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By When?
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How will we make it happen?
Setting Goals & Objectives
SMART(ER) Objectives
 Specific
 Measurable
 Agreed
 Realistic
 Time-framed
 Evaluated
 Reviewed
“Knowledge is Power” : Philosopher Sir Francis Bacon (1561 1626)
RESOURCES, RISK &
RESEARCH
Definition of Risk
To expose (someone or something
valued) to danger, harm, or loss
possibility
that
something
unpleasant or unwelcome will
The
happen
Successful entrepreneurs, take control over
how much risk they are willing to accept
and then develop plans to control the
remaining risks.
Identifying Risks Exercise
List some of the things
you think would pose a
risk to you personally or in
business.
Minimising and Managing Risk
 What are the risks?
 Who and what might be affected and how?
 What will you do?
 Do you need any other support to manage this
risk?
You may have to do more research or change your
plans to minimise risks. You should examine risk at
every stage of planning, pre-start and ongoing.
Resources
A resource is a source or supply from which benefit or
value is produced.

Typically resources are materials, money, services,
staff, or other assets that are transformed to produce
benefit

Benefits of using resources wisely may include
increased wealth, meeting needs or wants, proper
functioning of a system, or enhanced well being.

From a human perspective a natural resource is
anything obtained from the environment to satisfy
human needs and wants.
Generating Business Ideas
What do customers WANT?
A successful entrepreneur has identified an opportunity worth
pursuing.
He has understood what people (customers) want.
What’s the difference between WANTS and NEEDS?
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Needs are essential
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Wants are desired
A potential customer may need a vehicle to get from A to B but may
desire a sports car so we should explore both wants and needs
Why do customers buy?
• To solve a problem
• To satisfy a basic need
• To satisfy a desire
• To feel good (ego or well-being)
• To feel safe and secure
• To increase wealth (investment)
Steve Jobs Obituary
“As we have tried to come up with a strategy and
vision for Apple, it started with What incredible
benefits can we give to the customer? Where
can we take the customer? not with ‘Let's sit down
with the engineers and figure out what awesome
technology we have and how are we going to market
that.’ I think that's the right path to take.”
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/oct/06/steve-jobs-obituary
Market Research
How do we develop the idea?
Don’t make too
many assumptions!
ASK your potential
customers what
they want.
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Is there a market?
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What are the trends?
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Who will buy it?
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Where will I sell it?
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Is someone else doing the same or similar?
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Do I need to source suppliers?
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Can I do it on my own?
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How much will it cost to do?
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How much will I sell it for?
Change is Here to Stay
• Shift Happens 2014
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdvo5FlRqmM
Planning Your New Business
Why plan?
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We aim for an outcome and decide the steps to take towards the
outcome.
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If we think it might happen, it might happen.
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If we write it down we have a better chance of it happening
because we are committing
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“Whether you think you can or think you can't, you are right” (Henry Ford)
Your short-term memory is temporary and can only hold about 7 pieces of
information at any one time.
If we review it we have an even better chance of a successful
outcome.
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Circumstances change and you need to update your plan based on the
new world.
WS2 Business Plan Bootcamp
Planning Your Finances
“Annual
income twenty pounds, annual expenditure
nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness.
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty
pounds nought and six, result misery.”
•
Your Personal Survival Budget is calculated from your personal
income minus your personal expenditure.
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This tells you how much you need to draw from the business to pay
personal bills such as rent, running a car, food, birthday presents
etc.
Financial Planning
How much do I think:
> I will sell?
>
Over 12 months to 3 years?
> It will cost me to run the business?
>
Over the same period
> I will need to take in wages, drawings or
profit from my business?
Your Result: Misery or Happiness?
Understanding Your Skills and Getting Yourself Ready
YOU ALREADY HAVE IT
IN YOU
Transferrable Skills
Using your list of Personal Skills and SWOT
analysis, can you identify a skill that could
be used towards a business idea?
> It could be several of the skills or qualities
identified
How would it provide a solution and what
would the benefits be to potential
customers?
Next Steps
Downloads
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Business Doctors
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Downloads
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Action Plan
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http://businessdoctors.co.uk/assets/WYEAActionPlan.pdf
Business Plan
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http://www.businessdoctors.co.uk/yorkshire-west/News-Article?id=82
http://businessdoctors.co.uk/assets/WYEABusinessPlantemplate.doc
Cash flow Forecast
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http://businessdoctors.co.uk/assets/WYEACashflowtemplate.xls
Sources of Support
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Mid Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce •
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West Yorkshire Enterprise Agency
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www.mycci.co.uk
Networking and membership benefits
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www.wyea.co.uk
Funding and support
Training Courses wyea.eventbrite.co.uk
Business Doctors
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Free business seminars
Fully funded and subsidised mentoring
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www.businessdoctors.co.uk
Federation of Small Business
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www.fsb.org.uk
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Representation and membership
benefits
Businessballs
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Groundwork
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www.groundwork.org.uk
Free training in the event of redundancy
HM Revenue & Customs
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www.businessballs.com
business models, tips and stories
www.hmrc.gov.uk
Tax, VAT, expenses, mileage, help
Your Local Council
UK Government
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www.direct.gov.uk