The other week I headed down to London for an Entrepreneurship 101 Workshop run by Hiscox and Start Up Academy. I’m such a business geek so this was right up my street. Also, I’ve recently joined the world of freelance and am about to launch my new business, Indiecana so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to gain some extra knowledge.
The workshop was held at Joe Blogs HQ and I have to tell you that they have the best staff chill out room I’ve ever seen. We were supplied with fruit and pastries at breakfast and I spent some time chatting with the other bloggers before the workshop began. We were then treated to a delicious lunch of sushi. As if that wasn’t enough we were able to help ourselves to biscuits, fruit and coffee throughout the day, so I’d just like to say a huge thanks to the team at Joe Blogs!
Anick Akbar from The Start-Up Academy ran the workshop. The session was laid back and fun, we were encouraged to ask questions and he supplied us with lots of useful tips, personal experience and things to think about. We covered a wide variety of topics including; funding, networking, process, the reality of being self employed and identifying customers. I’d love to go to one of these workshops again, The Start-Up Academy also run networking events so if you’re in London they’re worth checking out.
Here are 10 things to keep in mind as a start-up:
– Forget the work/life balance
It’s all about a lifestyle when you’re self employed
– Ensure your mission statement and strategic vision are in place
Target based goals for the business as well as personal goals
– Get your processes in place right from the start
Track those expenses and implement a process into anything and everything you do
– Learn to use Google Analytics and convert the information into useable data
Use the information to optimise your website
– Learn to delegate
Focus on your strength sand outsource timely activities
– Know your customer
Create a customer profile and ensure you have brand guidelines
– Funding such as crowd-funding, VCs, family and friends
Research fully because it will give you access to time and people
– If something is important and easy to do then do it now
Respond to that email now, take the bin out now and yes, take those product photos now
– Don’t forget to network IRL as well as online
Try using Eventbrite and Pickevent or maybe host your own event
– Track your progress
I find tracking my social stats in an Excel sheet very helpful
I nearly forgot, I found this handy article for freelancers on the Hiscox website about chasing late payment – something we all need from time to time.
I want to say a big thank you to Hiscox for inviting me, I was in my element and Anick did a fantastic job of inspiring and motivating me. Gary from Hiscox put together this fantastic post about the workshop.
Are any of you thinking of setting up your own business in the near future?