With unemployment expected to rise to about three million by the end of 2010 – more and more people are looking to the web to start up and run their own business.
Research shows that 60% of those surveyed said they wanted to get more control over their lives, and 54% said they made their entrepreneurial move in order to be ‘happier’. They make up nearly 70% of the UK’s small business market, running approximately 2 million micro-businesses and generating over £2 billion in annual revenue. (newlifenetwork.co.uk)
When faced with adversity, you can either choose to sink or swim. And people using redundancy as an opportunity to begin their business are choosing to swim. But what’s great is that the web is giving them a lifeline. What’s more, BT Tradespace is giving them a lifeline.
Charles from Clear as Crystal Web Design was one who saw opportunity amidst despair – “I was made redundant in June of last year. Everyone had been talking about the credit crunch, and the job market was incredibly competitive, with up to 80 people competing for each job vacancy advertised in North Wales. Having studied web design for some years, and managed several websites for friends/family, my wife and I decided to go it alone and set up Clear as Crystal Web Design.”
10 months later, Charles has a portfolio of over 20 clients all over the UK and is not just designing websites. “We’re providing all sorts of services, from email campaign management to print solutions. It’s been a lot of hard work, butgreat fun along the way, and we’ve met some fantastic people who have helped us no end.”
On her website, Janet Davies, founder and editor of www.newlifenetwork.co.uk comments “Being made redundant is certainly no picnic and so you need to have a practical approach to surviving the experience and moving on to build a new life for yourself and/or your family.”
Granny Jackson’s Jamie Wallace was one who took the practical, positve approach – “Work was stressing me out. I was uncertain of my future career. I had never done outdoor trading before, though I did have experience in selling at car boot sales and from my younger years – I used to have a sweet/juice/popcorn business where I would go door-to-door.” explains Jamie. “But being made redundant, completing my degree and having a desire to be a millionaire by the age of 30 all spurred me on to start up Granny Jackson’s”.
Jamie decided to take his confectionary business online and start selling by mail-order. It was a decision that would turn his business around because business is booming via his website and BT Tradespace.
Lynda of OutofOffice is yet another redundancy start-up. After being made redundant, she is now offering her personal administration services to other SMEs via her Tradespace. Her mission is to “provide small to medium businesses with executive level business and administration support that would otherwise be unavailable to them due to space or financial limitations.” A newbie to BT Tradespace, Lynda is hoping to find the opportunities she is looking for to revive her passion and life.
If you’re looking to turn your loss into a profit on BT Tradespace, here’s how to do it.
How to be a successful start-up on BT Tradespace
Join free – BT Tradespace is the perfect way to start promoting your business free. So make a start by joining us!
Have a strong profile – Our website is all about giving you the tools to showcase your business and the people behind it. So have a profile that has a picture, talks about yourself and your passion and is completed. This will give you an identity and also increase your search ranking if you choose your words well.
Activate and set up your Tradespace – A lot of people join us with the best of intentions but forget to activate their Tradespace by logging back in to the site. Make sure you come back once you’ve signed up and set up your Tradespace.
Have a Tradespace that rocks – The more you put into your Tradespace the more you’ll get out of it. Make sure you’re blogging regularly, listing your products and services, have at least one video of what you do or a product demo. If you don’t keep it updated, you lose the SEO benefit and your customers will think that you couldn’t care less.
Check out our video on ‘Five steps to Tradespace success’ for help.
Participate in the communities – Word of mouth DOES happen online. So make an effort to connect with other people, find leads and customers in the communities.
Link your online profiles – Spread your presence, connect those presences and promote them to build your links and give customers several routes to find you.
Ask for help when you need it - If you’re still confused and want help, one of our experts can help. It costs £99 for a one-off session, but you’ll get advice that will last in the long run.
Charles’ top tips to turn your redundancy into a business
Do your research – make sure there’s a market for your services out there, and know how you’re going to find your customers.
Co-ordinate your marketing strategy - remember that your website is only part of it, and make sure that your message is consistent across all advertising platforms.
Find communities to participate in - help people as much as you can by giving honest, impartial advice without pushing too hard for a sale, you’ll establish yourself as an expert and you will get work because of it, but not necessarily from the person you’re giving free advice to.
Use the services that are available to you – Speak to Business Link http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/ and your local council’s economic development department. You may be surprised what help you can get, and the contacts you can make.
Shout about your business – Tell your story wherever you can, online and offline. Get as much publicity as you possibly can to let people know that you’re out there, you’re good at what you do, and better than the competition!
Under promise and over deliver – Don’t take on more work than you can handle, and don’t make promises you can’t keep. If you think the job will be done on Monday, tell your client it will be ready on Tuesday. That way, if you come up against an unexpected delay, then you haven’t let the client down, and if the job goes according to plan, the client thinks you’re fantastic for getting it done early!
Don’t get downhearted – If you have a bad month, analyse what went wrong and put it right. Did you advertise in the right places? Did you do enough selling? Is your approach right? Pick yourself up, dust yourself down and go back at it harder than ever!
Keep your life! Above all, whilst you’ll have to work hard to make your business a success, don’t forget to spend time with your family. It’s all very well having loads of work coming in, if you’re missing out on what your kids are doing at school, and not spending any time with your loved ones. You work to live after all, you don’t live to work.
Courtesy of Clear as Crystal Web Design
