February 2008 Archives

Here’s a business idea (well two business ideas, actually) with a twist. T-Post describes itself as a ‘wearable magazine’ designed to ‘rewire the structures of news communication’. Basically, t-shirts with news.

As a subscriber you receive a t-shirt every six weeks based on the designer's interpretation of a current news story. The news story is printed on the inside.

According to co-founder and editor, Peter Lundgren, the shirts not only look cool but also provoke mental stimulation and social interaction:

“If you’re wearing an issue of T-post, people tend to ask what it’s about. The next thing you know, you’re talking about the ethical treatment of robots or some bank robbers in Brazil who got away with 45 million bucks, you’re forming your own opinion, getting someone else to think about the topic, and it just keeps going from there.

"Because the news is printed inside the shirt, the subscriber is left with an opportunity to interpret and communicate the meaning behind the shirt. It really becomes the subscriber’s interpretation of the story.”

T-Post started in 2004 and has more than 2,500 subscribers across 50 countries. It only prints the exact number of shirts for subscribers and never issues reprints, ensuring members are part of a unique club.

News on t-shirts might sounds strange at first, but as the American philosopher William James once said:

‘A new idea is first condemned as ridiculous and then dismissed as trivial, until finally, it becomes what everybody knows.’

Interesting to see Moneysupermarket.com founder Simon Nixon attribute the company’s 57% rise in pre-tax profits to the current economic downturn.

Far from worrying about a credit crunch, Nixon insists it’s good news for his company and other price comparison sites:

"One of the big issues for price comparison is consumer apathy," he said. "People basically have been pretty well off the last three or four years and they can't be bothered comparing and finding the best deal on their mortgage or their loan or their credit card.

"And I think in times of recession where they have to tighten their belts they come to a price comparison website because every penny counts."

Lucky for him, you might think, but it’s interesting to consider that while a recession limits consumer spending on the high streets it perhaps opens new opportunities for entrepreneurs to exploit.

Smarta spoke recently to a high street bank whose model is based on limited support services but low rates and minimal charges. It too admitted a downturn traditionally sees its switcher figures rise.

If the economic climate worsens it’ll be interesting to see what business models emerge and how the leading business suppliers react. Either way it’s worth reassessing not just how you price but also all your service agreements – there could be significant savings to be had!

A senior police officer was overlooked for promotion after posting information about his ‘gay lifestyle’ on Facebook.

We’ll leave you to decide if the Met would have reacted with such disapproval had he been superpoking girls not guys. It proves, however, that irrespective of what you deem appropriate for Facebook, others might think differently.

If you’re not super vigilant with your settings, turn your back for a second and it’s easy to return to see pics of your best moments from Magaluf ’96. There’s simply no escaping your past.

We’ve heard all about employers checking out Facebook pages as a part of the recruitment process, so surely investors are doing it already?

How impressed would a VC be with ‘Joe’s staying in bed today cus that meeting can wait’?

You could argument, of course, that if you’ve nothing to hide then where’s the harm? Isn't this all a bit Daily Mail?

The Facebook page of one of Smarta’s favourite entrepreneurs – who incidentally has raised substantial finance in the UK and US – links direct to his flickr account and shows him have a stonking good Glasto.

That's OK surely? You’d like to think so, but is that how investors see it? Would you take the risk?

Be a shame if business had to turn its back on Facebook. Perhaps it’s time Facebook introduced a multi-page profile facility so you can pick who sees which persona?

Back in the day before business met reality TV, apprenticeships were the bedrock of trade skills and the preferred method of vocational training.

Somehow we moved away from that and ended up with skills shortages, overpopulated universities offering BAs in Diddlysquat and a disenfranchised youth on benefits for life.

Onto the good news. Not all businesses abandoned apprenticeships and the 130,000 that didn’t have reaped the rewards, according to a report by the Learning and Skills Council.

Four out of five SMEs running apprenticeships claimed they’re more competitive as a result; 70% had higher productivity; 80% experienced reduced staff turnover.

Two thirds said running apprenticeships were more cost effective than hiring staff and 87% claimed they led to a better-motivated workforce.

Based on this, apprenticeships are what they’d call on The Apprentice while screaming into a mobile, ‘a no brainer’.

To mark the launch of Apprentice Week, the government’s pledged a £1billion to increase numbers by 2010/11. Find out more at www.apprenticeships.org.uk.

It seems the UK is increasingly spending with a conscience. Already this year we've seen Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall prompt a 50% rise in organic, free range chicken sales and now the Fairtrade Foundation has announced sales of Fairtrade goods rose 81% in 2007 to £493m.

You know something's finally arrived when the big boys catch-up. Supermarket staples bananas (£150m) and coffee (£117m) accounted for the bulk of sales while Fairtrade cotton was up 660% to £35m.

Sugar firm Tate & Lyle has said it'll go 100% Fairtrade by the end of the year, while Scotland is attempting to become world's first Fairtrade nation.

"After years of chipping away, Fairtrade is finally beginning to make some significant impression on the way we trade," says Harriet Lamb, executive director of the Fairtrade Foundation.

As with most disruptive trends small business led the way, though.

Sophi Tranchell's Divine Chocolate is a favourite business (yes, and treat!) of Smarta and a fine example of a social enterprise that successfully entered a crowded marketplace with a premium and ethical Fairtrade product.

Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury's et al might be in on the act now – and of course that's a good thing – but the role of small businesses and entrepreneurs such as the late Dame Anita Roddick in pioneering ethical trading shouldn't be forgotten.

Today is 'Work your Proper Hours Day'. Before you clockwatchers start checking everyone’s in on time, actually, the idea is to highlight the adverse effect of the UK’s long hours culture.

According to the TUC, today marks the point in the year when staff regularly putting in unpaid overtime, actually start earning money.

And hang your heads in shame; apparently small businesses are the worst offenders. Thing is, according to Investors in People’s Simon Jones, it’s not a clever strategy:

“Just because an employee is working long hours, it doesn’t mean they are being productive – in fact, a long hours culture can have the opposite effect and breed inefficiency.

“Bosses need to be active in helping employees manage their workload so they contribute to a greater effect in the time they are at work. Those employers that take steps to encourage this culture are more likely to see a healthy, motivated and most importantly, productive workforce.”

OK there will always be those must-meet deadlines and there’s an expectation of ‘mucking-in’ that comes with working for a start-up. But exploit that at your peril. It’s your baby, not your employees’.

If you can’t give them money, give them love some other way, be it equity, perks, time-off in quiet spells, whatever.

Innocent Drinks is championed as a great employer because it does just that and more, not because it pays best. It looks after its people and they look after it.

Ask yourself, how much loyalty would you afford a client that keeps taking without paying?

It’s down to the negotiation. But no matter how much you plead to cling onto your precious equity they just stare straight back at you with that ‘take it or leave it’ smug smile.

Perhaps they’ll even throw in the old classic line, ‘what do you prefer, 50% of something or 100% of nothing?’ Then there’s the wealth of knowledge that comes with the investment to consider. Realistically, what are you gonna do but relent and take the cash?

Say ‘no’ of course! According to research out today, 65% of you would be brave enough to turn their back on a dragon. Easy to say, I guess, but there is evidence it’s sometimes a wise move.

Ling Valentine, owner of LINGsCARS.com, stunned Bannatyne and Richard Farleigh two years ago and has no regrets.

“They wanted too much,” she says. “I refused both of their offers and LINGsCARS more than doubled turnover to £28m in 2007. I am really glad I walked away. Businesses who jump at their first offer must be desperate or barmy.”

Gavin Wheeldon of Applied Language Solutions also walked away and admits he only went onto the show for the free publicity. “You can’t buy that exposure,” he says.

Be interesting to watch the next series, if this catches on…

Smarta spent a month’s worth of business cards in networking heaven as UK web 2.0’s leading web and investor faces flocked to Second Chance Tuesday last night.

Charlie Muirhead of Orchestream, iGabriel, Nexagent fame, and all-round friend of the stars, was our choice pick with his brilliant new venture T5M. The online video service profiling ‘extraordinary individuals’ is still in beta but already boasts the likes of Nelson Mandela, Ray Winstone and Kate Bosworth.

T5M uses Microsoft’s Silverlight technology and is part of its Accelerator Programme, which looks to support leading edge technology start-ups. Others on the programme were out in force last night, with notable mentions for SportsDo.net, Rugged Logic and Miomi. Check them out.

The schmoozing was separated by a compelling interview with web trailblazer Niklas Zennström, who gave the inside track on his fascinating journey that began with Kazaa, which scored 300million downloads without ever turning profit, peaked with the incredible $2.6bn sale of Skype to eBay, and continues with TV site Joost.

Niklas imparted too much to list here but key lessons were: timing is everything with disruptive businesses; the right product has more power than any amount of marketing cash; and persistence pays. Can you believe it took a year to fund Skype?!

Look out for Ben Cohen’s round-up on More4 and check out the SCT website for future events.

If you’re looking to escape the 9-to-5 grind and stress of the rat race, starting a home-based business might seem the perfect solution.

You can work hours that suit, save on travel and keep your overheads low in those crucial early months. You’ll see more of the family and enjoy a better work/life balance, right?

Wrong. According to research out today by BT, 45% of people running home-based businesses struggle to separate work from home life. In many cases, they actually work longer hours and enjoy less quality time with their families.

It simply doesn’t work for some businesses, either. Asking clients to hurdle trainsets, hold the baby and throw the dog a bone isn’t especially professional.

Now the illusion’s nicely shattered, let’s look at the upside. The home can be a great place to start a business and many of the UK’s finest companies started on the kitchen table.

It’s just start-up businesses themselves that aren’t great for escaping stress and freeing up your time.

Okay, in theory being your own boss let’s you pick your hours. But if you’ve any intention of growing a successful business probably the best you can hope to swap ‘9-to-5’ for is ‘7-to-10’.

Before you ask, no, that’s not a three-hour shift…

It seems every big web launch at the moment is some twist on social networking. It's easy to see why. Is there anything Facebook hasn’t been credited with/blamed for? Will Bebo’s founders bow out for a cool billion?

Two web design agencies told Smarta last week they’re inundated by corporates requesting Facebook apps. Why? Why doesn’t matter; they just have to have one. Everyone’s going interactive. Join the party or you’ll get left behind.

Is that really true, though? Do we really want to build a profile and upload a photo for everything we do online? Smarta’s a massive advocate of social networking but it’s not for every model and too many businesses are incorporating it without any semblance of strategy.

Three web success stories making the news this weekend certainly suggested there’s life outside social networking. BeatThatQuote, a price comparisons specialist Smarta flagged last week, has been named the UK’s fastest growing website beating, yes you guessed it, Facebook into second place.

Alex Burmaster, internet analyst, for Nielsen Online commented, “It’s a reminder the internet provides valuable services other than virtually poking friends.” Precisely.

Elsewhere, it was good to see the founders of Hotels4u.com strike it rich by selling their simple but effective bed booking site to Thomas Cook for a cool £22m, and the very ‘web 1’ looking but heavily populated www.holidaywatchdog.com acquired by TripAdvisor.com.

A critical mass switched onto social networking is incredibly powerful, but don’t get blinded by it.

Apparently… staff misusing company email, internet and phones costs UK businesses a whopping £10bn a year. That’s according to the ‘experts’ at Croner, anyway, who commissioned the research that conjured such a meaty figure.

The report claims of the 2,000 people interviewed, 22% misused work email, 21% telephoned friends and family, 18% accessed personal email and 11% looked at Facebook or MySpace. Worse still, a whole 6% misused a company mobile.

Croner’s math makes that £400 of abuse per person multiplied by the UK’s 29million employers arriving, magically, at £10bn.

Hey presto! And there’s the world’s greatest economic minds trying to avert a recession when those chatterboxes busy superpoking vampires via text were to blame all along. According to Croner and a few others, it’s time for a clampdown.

That’s complete tosh, of course. For a start, flip the figures and don’t they make UK staff practically saint-like? 78% never emailing pals, 94% never using a mobile to ask 'what’s for dinner?' Come off it.

Besides, especially in start-ups and small businesses, how many of you have staff putting in extra, often unsocial, hours without extra pay? Turn Big Brother on the advice of this rubbish and we bet you’ll lose more than you save.

Got an enterprising idea but not sure how to make it happen? Here are some fantastic ways you can develop your idea and Make Your Mark:

…in 60 seconds

Can you change lives in 60 seconds? Pitch your idea for social or environmental change on bebo for your chance to win £5,000. Closing date: 18th February

…in music

Play THE GAME – a revolutionary new, super-realistic role play game that puts you in charge of your own record label. Play against industry players for a chance to win £5,000. Register to play by 22nd February

…in fashion

Can you design a new range for an established, sustainable fashion label? If so, Make Your Mark in Fashion is for you. Closing date: 29th February

…with a ball

Take one or more balls, come up with an enterprising and creative idea, and raise as much money as you can! All the money raised through Make Your Mark with a Ball will be donated to Sport Relief. Closing date: 16th March

Smarta partner Make Your Mark is a campaign that helps young people to make their ideas happen. To find out more visit www.makeyourmark.org.uk

Well it’s Valentine’s Day; loved and loathed with equal passion by those cupid strikes and misses. Seems it’s the same for business, too.

If you’re in retail or the hotel/restaurant trade, Valentine’s Day can’t come quick enough. According to research by PayPal, the average Brit will spend over £70 on gifts totalling a whopping £1.6bn.

And who said romance was dead? Well, a few people actually and not just those that dismiss Valentine’s Day as a capitalist creation.

Experian has issued a report claiming it breaks more relationships than it makes, and businesses have been warned to be on their guard when love is in the air.

Poor old Marks & Spencer boss Stuart Rose will arrive at the BITC conference today to find Amicus members dressed as giant chickens giving out Fairtrade roses in protest at the company’s food sourcing policies.

Meanwhile, bosses could face potential sexual harassment claims after Facebook began offering e-cards with nicely litigious comments such as ‘I liked you from the minute I heard you were desperate’.

One law firm claims even saying it with flowers can end in tears… if employers fail to provide hayfever sufferers with suitably aerated working environments. Crikey!

Smarta keeps getting press releases asking us to write about online specs retailer Glasses2you.com. The reason we haven’t until now is it’s basically the same business as Jamie Murray Wells’ Glassesdirect.co.uk, which also sells frames and lenses from prescription at a fraction of the price of high street opticians.

Jamie’s story is well documented. Outraged at the cost of specs he used the final year of his student loan to start the website while still at uni and within months had an instant hit on his hands. The opticians he caught cold did their best to shut him down but he persevered to scoop numerous awards and raise substantial finance to take the business to the next stage.

Without doubt Jamie got there first. But why should that matter? Glasses2you isn’t original but does the consumer really care? Presumably not if they’re getting a good deal.

Business is littered with handsomely profitable companies riding on the coattails of innovators. John Paleomylites openly admits he started price comparison site BeatThatQuote.com by looking at market leader MoneySuperMarket.com and thinking ‘I’ll have a bit of that’. Inside two years he'd built a £10m turnover business with £3m profits. A year on, turnover's doubled. Enough said.

Budding entrepreneurs often waste years searching for that all too elusive ‘big idea’, when all they really need to do is find a way of doing an existing idea better – or even, if the market’s big enough, just as well.

MyBnk’s Lily Lapenna’s definition was apt at describing the mood at last Thursday’s Women Social Leadership awards, organised by Servane Mouazane, founder of Oguntê and the Global Tribe Network.

Candidates flew in from as far as the USA and India to take part in the annual event, set up to celebrate inspirational women who are diving positive social change in the UK and abroad.

Smarta couldn’t miss this occasion for the world, so we teamed up with exciting new citizen journalism start-up Newspepper to bring you the highlights…

A big thank you to Servane for welcoming us with infectious energy and enthusiasm!

Smarta is all about encouraging entrepreneurs to collaborate and learn from each other. So when we heard about the launch of The Web Mission, we had to tell you about it.

The Mission will see 20 of the UK’s top web entrepreneurs jet out to Silicon Valley in April to build relationships with US companies and investors and explore opportunities for collaboration.

It’s backed by UKTI, Microsoft, Polecat, as well as Smarta partner Mark Your Mark, and is organised by networking extraordinaire Oli Barrett. The trip will take in Microsoft’s ‘Momentum’ event and the Web 2.0 expo, while Oli’s organised an agenda crammed with ‘must meet’ one-to-ones.

The application process will be filtered by UKTI, Mike Butcher from web 2.0 blog Techcrunch and entrepreneur Doug Richard. They’re looking for innovative companies with strong market potential, technology traction, commercial viability and strong management.

The trip’s heavily subsidised and successful companies will only pay a nominal fee towards flight and accommodation.

We think it sounds super. But don’t believe us, believe web vet Michael Smith, of Firebox, MindCandy and Second Chance Tuesday: “Europe is a growing hotbed of entrepreneurial talent and this initiative will greatly help accelerate that. This is a wonderful opportunity for both sides of the Atlantic to share ideas, make new contacts and forge alliances.”

The deadline to apply is midday on 29 February. Visit the website for more: www.webmission08.com

Supermarkets have squeezed more than profit out of UK farming over the past decade. So in a week that’s seen Tesco twist the knife with its £1.99 chickens, it’s lovely to have a farming success story land in the Smarta inbox.

Staffordshire farmers Roy Critchlow and Karen Ballington traditionally reared sheep at Heathylee Farm, but have found a lucrative new line in breeding wild guanacos, a relative of the llama.

The fibre from the prized guanacos is three times warmer than wool and finer than cashmere and is used by fashion designers such as Armani.

Unorthodox perhaps, but money talks: “Our last wool cheque was just £19.99 for 200 top quality fleeces whereas fibre from the guanaco fetches from £250 to £1,000 a kilo,” tells Roy.

A legion of llamas won’t solve the farming industry’s woes of course, but it’s great to see farmers innovating and proactively seeking new markets - especially ones where the likes of Tesco are out of the equation.

Roast llama, anyone?

London’s new private members' club designed specifically for business, One Alfred Place, opens today. Smarta’s had a sneak preview and is suitably impressed.

With the likes of Robert Devereux (ex MD of Virgin Media), Mike Rutherford (Genesis) and Nick Mason (Pink Floyd) behind it, you’d expect a plush pad and it’s certainly that.

But One Alfred Place is more than a creatives’ hang-out or city boys’ party place as other well-known ‘business’ members’ clubs have become – here, the emphasis is strictly 'doing' business.

Opening hours of 7am-9pm ensure the taxman classifies it as a serviced office and tax deductible, while the business facilities are top drawer.

It’s fully wireless, offers conference and meeting rooms; study areas, all the technology you’d ever need from skype headsets to laptops and phone chargers; bar, restaurant and lounge areas, shower and locker facilities and even a bedroom for those jet-lagged highfliers desperate for a power nap.

The club aims to be the London business base for the UK’s entrepreneurs not just those based in the capital and that stands up. You can even have your own PA, 0207 phone number and email address based at the club.

No more shouting over screaming kids in Starbucks for Smarta or lingering in lifeless hotel lobby rooms.

Who are we kidding? The real reason we’ll really be hanging round One Alfred Place is the whisper that a certain Sir Richard Branson has a membership!

Dragons’ Den’s Peter Jones is celebrating after securing a deal with Sainsbury’s to stock his latest investment, The Little Bag of Bags.

Those of you quick enough to catch Peter’s rather less successful show Tycoon before ITV culled it from prime time might remember founder Justin Chieffo’s idea for storing and re-using carrier bags.

A small fabric bag made from Fairtrade certified cotton, it has an elasticated opening at one end and a hanging loop at the other to hook onto shopping trollies or around the home.

Having already helped The Little Bag of Bags into Tesco stores, Peter sealed a deal with Sainsbury’s after face-to-face talks with chief executive Justin King. Who was it that said 'it’s not what you know, but who you know?'

“I am very proud of the achievements of Justin and Michelle (co-founder). Their business is really taking off, which is great to see,” said Jones, announcing the deal due to start next week.

Funny then, that Justin didn’t even make the final of Tycoon. Just goes to show what makes good business sense doesn’t necessarily make great TV.

Naomi Campbell has hit out at the fashion industry for its continued reluctance to use black models. Speaking to the thelondonpaper she said: “Women of colour are not a trend. That’s the bottom line. It’s a pity that people don’t always appreciate black beauty.”

It got me thinking, how many of you use black models in your advertising campaigns, promotional literature, websites etc?

If you’re representative of the advertising industry, then not enough. Black and Asian faces were unseen in adverts until the 90s. There’s been real progress in the past decade led by the likes of Renault’s Thierry Henry ‘Va va voom’ campaign and Halifax’s Howard Brown.

However, while there’s plenty of talk about chasing the pink, grey and now green pound, many businesses fail to appeal to the brown pound of multi-cultural Britain.

According to the Multi-Cultural Insight Study released last year, ethnic groups account for five million consumers in the UK with a spending power estimated to reach £300bn by 2010.

The report also revealed three quarters of Black and Asian and half of Chinese people felt mainstream brands had no relevance to them, with the majority feeling advertising campaigns were either not aimed at them or stereotypical.

Time to start reviewing those marketing policies?

Microsoft’s $44.6bn swoop for Yahoo has got every analyst speculating the future of search and online advertising. All theories essentially start and end at who can catch Google, the friend and foe of small business.

Google dominates two thirds of global search. It also controls 70% of search advertising, which accounts for 45% of all online advertising. With 13.1% of search, Yahoo is its nearest competitor by almost 10%.

With 90% of all web traffic coming through search, Google effectively controls the internet and online advertising – especially if its bid for DoubleClick gets the OK. Certainly, it can no longer claim to be the David to Microsoft’s Goliath.

But that’s why we’ve loved it.

Google created a global audience and provided the smallest businesses with a way of reaching it on a pay-per-click (ppc) basis for a matter of pence. Google Adwords has helped thousands of businesses get off the ground that otherwise wouldn’t have.

But note the past tense in loved. There have been murmurings of discontent at the increasingly spiralling costs for exposure. Long tail is all very well but there are only so many ways you can differentiate in 100 characters and still make page one of 'florist+flowers+delivery+leeds'.

Supposing a deal is sanctioned and Microo! / Yahsoft (or whatever they decide to call it) does prove a genuine competitor to Google, then surely business can only benefit? After all, competition should always breed choice and value.

I guess the real issue is, are we looking for short or long-term competition? Microsoft subsuming Yahoo would establish a clear No.2 but also make an already seemingly insurmountable challenge impossible for smaller emerging challengers to Google’s hold.

With time would a two-horse race offer much more value than a monopoly? Should we hope, like Yahoo’s shareholders, for one of the other players to mount a rival bid and throw the race wide open? What do you think?

Here are some highlights from a recent US survey on how essential an MBA is to entrepreneurial success: 

• 57% of respondents felt an Undergraduate degree on the other hand increased chances of success.
• On the whole, the majority agreed that general education although not essential, increased chances of success (44% stated formal education was very important, 51% somewhat important, 5% not important).
• In ranking entrepreneurial success factors, formal education came last. Drive and ambition topped the list, closely followed by passion for a specific business venture, and hands-on experience of the industry.

What wasn't clear was which respondents actually held an MBA and whether there was a difference in their answers with those who didn't. A 'before and after' MBA survey would have been particularly revealing.

That aside, the bottom line is, whilst MBAs have established themselves as crucial to certain careers, they aren’t seen as essential to entrepreneurial success.

What do you think? whether you're an MBA, a graduate, or a school leaver who's started a business, we'd love to hear more about the impact of your particular course of education on the success of your business.

Lastminute.com co-founder Brent Hoberman today finally launched his latest venture MyDeco.com after over a year in development.

Heavily-backed by SPARK Ventures, MyDeco will ‘change the way the way you design and shop for your home’, says Brent who pocketed £26m from the sale of Lastminute to Travelocity in 2005.

MyDeco allows DIY enthusiasts and interior designers to build 3D models of their rooms and decorate them from a range of one million real products from around 500 retailers. Social networking will also play a core role, with users sourcing inspiration and feedback from each other.

The site will take a commission of any of the 20,000 items of furniture users buy directly through it, but advertising will be the key revenue stream with Brent eyeing a slice of a UK home décor market worth a reported £20m.

The idea came from Brent's own frustration at failing to find furniture advice online, but it was the lure of being involved in a start-up again that persuaded him to take the plunge. In an interview with The Times, he said:

“I'm still passionate about lastminute.com and I still love to see them do well. But the learning curve, the ability to innovate, reduces when you get that big. The responsibility of managing people increases a lot more, the responsibility to cut costs increases a lot more and you get less time to do the things you enjoy.”

It just goes to show, once you've got the bug for acting on 'gaps in the market', it rarely leaves you…

Derby County FC might be propping up the Premiership, but the city’s bedroom entrepreneurs have been crowned eBay champions.

With London not even figuring in the top 10, quite why more people are opening eBay accounts in Derby and neighbouring East Midlands’ cities Nottingham and Leicester remains unclear.

Assuming it’s not the dourness of the football driving them to it, a safer bet is that the locals have clocked on to what’s undoubtedly the world’s largest marketplace.

Almost 180,000 people are making a living buying and selling goods on the site, eBay claimed this week. It also announced sales volume now exceeds £2bn. Wow, that’s more than WH Smith’s turnover and the combined wealth of entrepreneurial knights Stelios and Dyson.

With 20m users and 10m items listed it’s not hard to see why eBay is a boon for would-be entrepreneurs and bargain hunters alike. But a quick word of warning if you’re looking to join the gold rush: big brother might be watching.

HM Revenues and Customs has been monitoring over fears of a ‘black economy’ while eBay itself is coming under increased pressure to ensure users adhere to new distance selling legislation.

And with so much competition just how will you make your auction or shop stand out? I’m tempted to caution that selling on eBay can be a bit like opening a shop in the middle of Sherwood forest (nobody’s likely to just pass by and drop in), but then again the locals in that neck of the woods don’t seem put off.

Are you an eBay entrepreneur? Is it time those of us outside the East Midlands took it seriously as a business revenue stream?

Programmes like The Apprentice, Dragons' Den, The Secret Millionaire and Millionaire's Mission have put entrepreneurship firmly in the media spotlight. There have always been high profile entrepreneurs but have we entered a new age of 'celebrity entrepreneurs'?

Training and support company Everywoman thinks so. In a survey to find out which female entrepreneurs provide the most inspiration to other women, the celebrities who came out on top were JK Rowling, Anita Roddick, Margaret Thatcher, Jacqueline Gold and Martha Lane Fox.

Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur or already running a business, entrepreneurs who are at the top of their game can provide a lot of inspiration - but it can also be helpful to take inspiration from people who are just a bit further along on their business journey than you are.

Which entrepreneurs inspire you? Leave a comment to let us know.

If you feel you’re being bombarded by words like slowdown, downturn, recession, and countless doom and gloom reports over the future of the economy, you’re not the only one. The latest report we came across was predicting that the economy is set to experience its weakest period of growth in 15 years and was at a risk of a recession in the next two years. What a great start to the year!

Despair not. While economists are busy predicting the future, here's some advice to get you ready:

• Leverage your strengths: as a small business you are inherently more flexible than your larger competitors. Responding quickly to your customers' needs and supplying a personal service to them will give you an edge.
• Plan for the worst: analyse in advance where & when you'd need to make changes if your revenues were to significantly drop.
• Manage your cashflow: stay on top of your balance sheets and cash flow statements. This will help you manage spend and spot important trends.
• Manage your invoices: keep detailed records of what is owed, by whom, by when and chase them on a regular basis.
•  Pay what you owe: take a flexible payment plan that allows you to share the risk with your creditors and ideally enables you to pay them after you’ve been paid without meaning you’ll be late. 
• Stay close to your customers: stay loyal to your most valued ones, understand their pressures during this period, and work to ease them. Listen, as there might be an opportunity for you to provide a service you hadn’t previously thought of. Remain flexible and open to change.
• Stay close to your staff: your people are your best asset and it's especially important to support and listen to them during this period when morale can slump. So, communicate, motivate, reward, and ensure you continue to retain the best.

Finally, for the Thinkers among you in need of a business idea, recession-proof industries are a good place to start looking for new opportunities.

Have any more tips on riding this storm? share them with us!

Have you got time to be reading this? According to a survey by for BT, most of you haven’t. It reckons that small businesses waste an average of 24 days a year detangling themselves from non-core business activities like Finance, IT, and HR.

Admin is also a big distraction. 10% of you seem to be spending 1.5 days every week on it.

To top it off, government red tape is also now so bad, it’s the main business concern for 56% of you. That’s double the number of those who point to the more understandable worry of finance. Not good, but what’s the solution?

Unsurprisingly, BT thinks it’s to get all your IT and communications put onto one easy bill. That might solve some of your issues but the key is to focus on your core competencies. Improving your organisation and outsourcing your non-core support functions could prove to be a potent solution.

What are your hints and tips for easing the pain of admin and red tape?

Hello, I'm Jo from Make Your Mark Connect - a free listings website run by the Make Your Mark campaign to promote and support local networking activity. Each month I'll be bringing you a round-up of some of the best networking events around the country. Here's my pick of February's events...

Deal or no deal? The great artist / label trade off
The music business is moving away from the unit sales model and with deals for emerging media increasingly covering a label’s entire repertoire, traditionally ‘non-attributable’ revenues are increasingly becoming core business. This session will explore the redefinition of the artist-label relationship.
5th February | London

Multipack February 2008
A community of multi-talented individuals from across the Midlands that comes together to discuss all things web and share their knowledge, skills and talents.
9th February | Birmingham

NOLCHA Fashion Week
A range of networking events will bring together fashion designer talent with industry and business professionals.
From 11 February | London

Beers and Innovation: Developers and designers
In the old days, web developers made it work and then the designers made it pretty. But that’s no longer quite what happens. So how can developers and designers at digital and creative agencies work best in this new world?
12th February | London

Chinwag Live: Measuring Social Media
2007 was the year of social media. As marketers’ attention is drawn towards social media, the questions about its effectiveness inevitably follow. What constitutes success in social media? Traffic? Return on investment? Accumulating social capital?
18 February | London

Enterprise Tuesday: Avoiding big mistakes
Learning from mistakes is important. Dr Hermann Hauser CBE, Co-founder of Amadeus Capital Partners, who has had his share of failures, explains why they happened.
26th February | Cambridge

Successful low risk / high return marketing strategies
Successful entrepreneur Robert Clay shares his low risk, high return marketing strategies that can help you to grow your business.
27 February | Luton

If you're organising an event that you think Make Your Mark Connect should know about then let us know in the comments or head over to www.makeyourmarkconnect.org and add the details there!

How does the UK compare to the rest of the world when it comes to entrepreneurship? According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2007, 10.5% of us are involved in setting up or running our own business.

This puts us at a pretty mediocre 15 out of 23 high income countries. Iceland, Greece and Ireland top the list, with the US coming in at number 6 and Japan at number 10.

Amongst the rest of the population, 24 per cent are 'potential entrepreneurs' who feel that they have the capabilities and opportunities to start a business. But fear of failure often holds people back - 37 per cent of people say it's an issue for them.

We're developing Smarta to give practical support and advice to people at all stages of the business journey, whether they're 'thinking', 'creating' or 'growing' their business.

What else should the UK be doing to encourage more people to take the step from thinking about starting a business to actually doing it?