Rags to Wreckages ... to Riches » News

The upside of quitting…

Neil Lewis — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 10:23:54 +0000

Serial quitters explain why quitting is a smart strategic move (often) …. and why the professor of quitting can stop smoking!

Wonderful podcast with great stories – which distill all wisdom into ‘sometimes it is smart to quit, sometimes not’. Love it!

You can read (or listen) here…

Startup Workshop – Manchester, 12th Oct

Neil Lewis — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 13:46:47 +0000

Thinking of launching a startup business? Or perhaps intersted in joining one as an equity partner? Find out more on what it is like to startup – and whether you are cut out for it – at the Startup Manchester Workshop on 12th Oct.

Startup Workshop – Manchester, 15th Sept, UK

Neil Lewis — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 09:55:37 +0000

Enterprise Freelance Fair have announced their startup workshop for freelancers and entrepreneurs in Manchester on the 15th of September.

Click here for more information on the startup workshop…

Business Accelerators in UK, Europe, Germany, France and Spain

Neil Lewis — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 13:16:44 +0000

List of the current business accelerators in UK, Europe, Germany, France and Spain.

Success is going from failure to failure…

Neil Lewis — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 17:54:20 +0000

“Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm. ”
- Abraham Lincoln -

Success defined by failure – Winston Churchill

Neil Lewis — Fri, 13 May 2011 16:23:25 +0000

“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another without loss of enthusiasm”
Sir Winston Churchill

Richard Branson “British business people get too much education”

Neil Lewis — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 05:35:57 +0000

Richard Branson believes that British business people get too much education and that accademic life does not equip people for entrepreneurship. He is quoted as saying that “schooling does not prepare you for the business world.”

100 Rules: “A bible for anyone planning to sell to the Dragons or try out The Apprentice”

Neil Lewis — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 13:04:33 +0000

“A bible for anyone planning to sell to the Dragons or try out The Apprentice”
The Weekly News, 22/01/11

100 Rules – “Ultimate companion for today’s entrepreneur”

Neil Lewis — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 10:01:03 +0000

100 Rules – the ultimate companion for today’s entrepreneur” says Better Business

Click to read the review in Better Business

“100 Rules for Entrepreneurs should be in every business library”

Neil Lewis — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 17:13:26 +0000

Click any of the quotes below to read the full review of 100 Rules for Entrepreneurs by Valerie Dwyer, serial entrepreneur and business turn around expert.

As a serial entrepreneur who has been head hunted to turn businesses around I would like to see this book as a reference in every business library

These insights into what can go wrong when an entrepreneur’s first business booms then busts? Priceless! As is conviction, knowledge that it needn’t break anyone, true entrepreneurs just get over it! Start again!

Start up, student or seasoned entrepreneur, there’s valuable advice in 100 Rules for Entrepreneurs! Highly Recommended

Neil Lewis will be speaking to Aberystwyth MBA students on 8th December 2010

Neil Lewis — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 18:18:48 +0000

Neil Lewis will be speaking to Aberystwyth MBA students on 8th December 2010 about his experiences as an entrepreneur and what led him to write 100 Rules for Entrepreneurs.

Neil will be speaking to Loughborough University – 9th December

Neil Lewis — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 07:47:05 +0000

Neil will be speaking to Loughborough University’s Entrepreneurial Society on 9th December at 6.30pm. The audience will consist of MBA students and local entrepreneurs.

Neil Lewis to speak to Cardiff MBA students

Neil Lewis — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 16:26:34 +0000

Neil Lewis will be speaking to Cardiff MBA students about the experiences that led him to write 100 Rules for Entrepreneurs. The event will take place at Cardiff Business School on Wednesday 1st December at 2pm.

100 Rules for Entrepreneurs – out now!

Neil Lewis — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 10:32:06 +0000

100 Rules for Entreprenuers, by me, Neil Lewis, is out now and can be order via the publishers book website.

100 Rules for Entrepreneurs – Real-Life Business Lessons

Neil Lewis — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 17:27:43 +0000

Okay, this is a shameless plug – why not check out my latest book – 100 rules for entrepreneurs – real-life business lessons – due out on 18th October 2010.

Google celebrates business failure as it closes Wave

Neil Lewis — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 08:03:36 +0000

Google decided to close Wave, its project to replace email and transform how people communicate over the internet, whilst declaring that it had the courage to try new projects, a willingness to seem them fail and a desire to learn from that failure.

Google Chief Exec, Eric Schmidt say ‘we celebrate our failures. This is a compnay where it’s absolutely OK to try something that’s very hard, have it not be successful and take learning from that’.

Social Media marketing provides growth for young entrepreneur

david.gray — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 22:30:38 +0000

Digital magazine “Growing Business” have recently announced the winners of their marketing competition, one of whom was young entrepreneur Fraser Doherty, with his enterprise Superjam, which specializes in pure fruit jam.

Doherty’s approach was simple; when asked about his target audience, he explained that he used social media to encourage loyal customers to assist him in building his connections with major retailers.

Mr Doherty’s company now supplies all major supermarkets with his jam, and he credits his social media marketing approach for his success. So don’t underestimate the power of the digital world.

‘It is wrong to suppress enterprise in any way.’ – Alan Sugar

david.gray — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 22:28:40 +0000

Last week Lord Sugar expressed his concerns about the Coalition plan to raise CGT from 18% to around 40%.

He explained that he felt confused that the Tories should wish to diminish entrepreneurial motivation, but acknowledged that there is a problem with ‘individuals who manage private equity funds who somehow magically turn their commissions made by creating gains for their clients from normal income into a capital gain.’

It seems as though that the Coalition are struggling to make distinctions between enterprising individuals and tax-dodging schemers. Hopefully George Osborne’s speech tomorrow afternoon will clarify a few things for Rags to Wreckages readers.

Stupid employment law?

Neil Lewis — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 07:05:53 +0000

Quote from today’s FT “Lawyers have warned that employers who extend facilities for employees to watch England games must also consider requests to watch other fixtures to avoid discrimination claims”

Okay – the logical conclusion of this is therefore; no employees (so no rights) or no England football games.

Stupid, but true.

Junior Apprentice – final tonight

Neil Lewis — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 17:13:49 +0000

For fans of live business programmes, Alan (Lord) Sugar’s Junior Apprentice finishes tonight on BB1. If you miss it, catch it on iplayer

Employee pensions problems lead to sale of Harrods

Neil Lewis — Wed, 26 May 2010 22:51:37 +0000

London’s iconic department store, Harrods, has been sold by current owner successful entrepreneur, Al Fayed due to problems with pension trustees. Not because it went bust – but because it became ungovernable.

IR35 History – say PCG

Neil Lewis — Fri, 21 May 2010 15:35:55 +0000

PCG have been lobbying to get the hated IR35 tax legislation reformed and today they are hopeful of success after a clear mention in the coalition government’s joint manifesto stating that they will…

“Review IR35 as part of a wholesale review of all small business taxation, and seek to replace it with simpler measures that prevent tax avoidance but do not place undue administrative burdens or uncertainty on the self employed, or restrict labour market flexibility.”

New Government Expected to Review IR35 Legislation

Neil Lewis — Wed, 12 May 2010 15:18:40 +0000

PCG, the tradebody representing freelancers and contractors, believe that the new government will review and remove the unfair aspects of the IR35 tax legislation.

John Brazier, MD said “both parties have expressed the need for change with regards to IR35, and both parties value the flexible, skilled workforce PCG members provide.”

UK Budget within 50 days plus £6bn of cuts

Neil Lewis — Wed, 12 May 2010 05:46:35 +0000

The new UK coalition government will cut £6bn of non-front line services and set out plans in an emergency budget within 50 days (or by the end of June).

At greatest risk are thought to be Government quangos, regional development agencies and associated organisations.

Austerity starts here…

Neil Lewis — Wed, 12 May 2010 05:26:47 +0000

Now the UK election is out of the way, and indeed, a new Prime Minister has started work, UK businesses are being warned to expect austerity.

In addition to the known cuts, the events in Greece and Europe have put further pressure on Governments (especially Spain and Portugal and hence, implicitly UK) such that cuts will come faster and sooner then previously expected. Successful entrepreneurs are already preparing for an increase in business failures and a loss of national business.

Surge in Construction Sector Insolvences in 2010 2nd Half – says FT

Neil Lewis — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 09:40:09 +0000

The FT is reporting most construcion businesses will be struggling late 2010 and 2011.

Entrepreneurs: How to engage your freelancers

Neil Lewis — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 23:02:14 +0000

The PCG have a launched a useful guide on how to engage freealancers. Now, there is no excuse!

Is Employer’s National Insurance the Achilles’ heel of small businesses?

david.gray — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 17:26:17 +0000

In their monthly newsletter, People Per Hour have recently found freelancing to be ‘the winner of the recession’, amidst their findings in a survey of 530 small businesses. The statistics show that since the beginning of the recession, the temp sector has gained a 5% market share, whilst all other recruitment sectors have shrunk, and continue to do so despite overall economic recovery.

Given that the FSB are running an online petition urging the Government to freeze the National Insurance rate to give small businesses a chance of survival, does this not suggest that employer’s National Insurance is one of the greatest flaws in the conventional business model? The solution: follow the example of the small businesses interviewed by People Per Hour and use freelancers instead! The results are in and the report finds that by using freelancers, small businesses save ’23% of their total staff costs’.

Change Management is ‘driven by fear’ – but is that a good thing?

david.gray — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 08:42:04 +0000

In the current economic environment, businesses are driven to change “by fear rather than ambition” says Executives Online. But is this a good thing? Does a fear of failure drive us to make the business survive?

The survey also claims that 85% of UK companies are either average or poor at managing change. Is that why we need fear to drive us to do something about it?

Independent newspapers would have cost £28m to £40m to close

Neil Lewis — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 21:28:10 +0000

Following the sale of the Independent Newspaper (UK’s 5th most popular quality daily newspaper) for £1, it has been revealed to the FT that the cost of closing the paper would have been between £28 and £40 million.

This explains why the current owners will also meet £9m worth of liabilities as part of the sale.

However, the key is that it shows how long term liabilities can sink a business. How on earth did the independent get it self into this state? Probably by negotiating cheap print deals in return for long term commitments? And, of course, staff redundancy costs and office leases…. Time for a new way of doing business – contractors and freelancers and short term contracts, anyone?

Smaller firms hiring sales and marketing talent

Neil Lewis — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:26:32 +0000

The UK’s Forum of Private Business reports that ‘after cutting operating costs to the bare minimum, many smaller firms are hiring sales staff, improving their websites and boosting marketing activities in an effort to tackle tough trading conditions’.

Let’s hope they are hiring these guys on a freelance or agency basis…

UK plc still missing the benefit of Interim Management

Neil Lewis — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:02:36 +0000

A new report from Executives Online and produced by the Institute of Directors (IOD) says that “UK plc uses change management defensively, not proactively”. In other words, the interims are used to cover gaps and holes, they are not yet being used to help grow business… which is the missed opportunity… which is why successful entrepreneurs are engaging with interim management.

FSB resist National Insurance Rise – when using freelancers is easier

Neil Lewis — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:22:16 +0000

The Federation of Small Businesses is asking members to sign a petition against the rise in National Insurance at http://www.no-nics-rise.co.uk/.

However, as Rags to Wreckages readers know, there is an easier way – use freelancers instead. What you can’t achieve with your vote, you can achieve with your feet. Change the way you do business!

Business Support comes under fire

Neil Lewis — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:14:21 +0000

Fine individuals doing their best – but the policy of business support as a Government funded activity is flawed because it fails to focus on the 1 in 10 new businesses that really will create jobs.

That’s what Robert Craven says at
http://robert-craven.blogspot.com/2009/06/business-support-bsbis-industry.html

Pompy Football Club’s Lesson on How Business Goes Wrong

sean — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:34:08 +0000

If you are a director of company – or aspire to be one – then you need to understand the rules which govern how companies get wound up or closed down.

This is a very complex area, so thanks are due to Portsmouth Football Club for their public problems as it helps us all understand the issue at the the critical point of putting a business into adminstration etc…

And thanks too to BBC journalist Mark Slater for laying out the issues to helpfully at http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/mattslater/2010/02/portsmouth_fc_in_crisis_qa.html

PCG Launch campaign to show business benefit of freelancers

sean — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:33:46 +0000

The PCG – trade body for freelancers and contractors – has launched a powerfully argued new campaign to show business leaders the value of using freelancers. The new research shows there are 1.4 million freelancers in the UK and they add £21 billion to UK GDP. However, it is the potential of freelancers to add a competitive advantage to business and enterprise that is the main conclusion of the report.