Barefoot Business News from Robert Ashton
| August 2010
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No budget for events? Let's Be Enterprising
With Business Link and
RDA's facing a very uncertain
future there's little public money out there at the moment to fund
inspirational business events.
Yet for those battling to start and grow
an enterprise, there's never been a time when encouragement and good
business advice has been more important.
To
help you stage a successful, informative and entertaining business
event yourself, at potentially no cost at all, we've put together a
series of four presentations, each based on one of my books.
Two are
new titles, being published in 2010 and two are best sellers,
particularly topical in today's challenging times. You'll find a summary of each talk below.
We've also designed an event
budget calculator
(click on the image to try it out!)  which you you can use to
play around with delegate numbers and ticket prices.
Most people will
willingly pay to hear an author, particularly as in this case, when the
ticket price includes a signed and personally dedicated copy of the
book you've heard him talk about.
Take a
look, feel free to share and give us a call or email us if you'd like to know more or get a potential date in the diary.
For business networks,
budget conscious service providers and cash strapped support agencies,
this programme provides a unique opportunity to raise your profile,
promote your own brand and make a difference - all at little or no
cost! |
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And the talks are...
(just click on the book covers to find out more)
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How to be a Social Entrepreneur
A
great
opportunity to get people not only thinking about 'Big Society'
but
doing something too!
Brilliant Checklists for Entrepreneurs
A
compendium of proven common sense business tips that will make you laugh as well as be more successful.
How to Start Your Business
A fast moving
but easy to follow safari for newcomers to the business
jungle.
The Life Plan
Find out what made this
very British 'self help' book so
popular in the USA.
Learn,
laugh and make life better too.
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Are you following..?
| Many of you are already following my People blog, but I'm saying things as I see them every week and I'm enjoying it.
If you haven't checked in lately, why not take a quick coffee break, have a look here to see what I've been up to - and leave a comment please!
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Big line up for Britain's first Business Book Festival - save the date!
| As you may have heard, I'm helping fellow author and
professional speechwriter Brian Jenner stage the nation's first ever business
book festival. We've got some really great names lined up including Rachel Elnough, Geoff Burch, Brad Burton and of course The Barefoot Entrepreneur to name but a few - there are many more!   It's taking place on Friday 10 September in Bournemouth
is a 'must attend' event if you are either thinking of writing a business book, have a business idea or run a business. The authors are bound to inspire you and the event may help you with your next steps! It'll also be a really enjoyable day.
You can find out who's now speaking from the
festival website here and buy tickets online here (they include a £10 book voucher to spend at the festival).
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Stop Press - Social Enterprise to Sing About!
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I've just met Duncan Johnson, Founder
of Yodelay.
He's a brilliant example of tomorrow's social entrepreneur and well worth
meeting. His business model is simple. Yodelay helps you market yourself online.
They have some very clever online tools and to get you started are running some
one day SEO workshops at the Forum in Norwich. Book your place here and perhaps I'll
bump into you there!
http://www.yodelay.com/bookings?supporter=robertashton
Why am I so excited? Well not only
does Duncan know
his subject, which makes the course a sound investment, but he's giving half the
income away to five local charities. I'm a Trustee of one of them, Norfolk
Community Foundation. So you can invest in your own business by working with
Duncan and see
some local charities benefit too.
And Duncan's not alone. I've also been talking with
Peter, Dean and James at Ethecol. They provide small businesses with credit
and debit card merchant accounts that save them money and contribute to a
charity too. Credit card charges are a real issue and a major cost for many
small businesses and Ethecol work with banks keen to grow their market share and
willing to support Ethecol's fundraising philosophy. Once set up, the retailer
finds they pay less commission to their bank on card transactions and a
nominated charity gets a small percentage too.
Both are excellent examples of how business will be done
in the future. Remember, in tomorrow's world, every enterprise will be a social
enterprise!
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Quote of the Month
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Remember
that once you've made the commitment to start, it might be
years before you can safely step back and let
others take the
lead. What you do has to be right for you. Don't become a
martyr to a cause for which you will lose
enthusiasm. That
does no one any favours.
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I send out a monthly ezine to everyone who finds
it useful. If
you'd like to receive a copy, you need do nothing. If you'd rather not, please
click on the link below to unsubscribe.
Sincerely,
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