Business in a box | Franchises

Business in a box | Franchises

One very basic question applies to all Business Franchises of whatever flavour, size or type. It all comes from this.........

"Is the money you are spending to get a ready made business as much or even more than it would cost you to set it up anyway?”

You might be surprised how often the question is ignored and how often the calculation is a close run thing. There may be other reasons for using a franchise but – buyer beware! The considerations for buying a Franchise are not that different to setting up a new business. In some cases the....... To read the full Bob Shepherd Associates LinkedIn Article, just click here. Simple really.

Business Branding | What's In A Handshake

Business Branding | What's In A Handshake

Actually a lot. Get it right  and you are giving the right messages and no one thinks any more. Get your business branding wrong and you are giving impressions about yourself that will set you off on the wrong path. It’s one of the First Impression things you do better to get right. In a small way it is part of your branding.

Some years ago I had the pleasure of running some mock interviews for a local Comprehensive school sixth form. The CVs presented were wonderful. The interviews nearly all went wrong the moment the candidates appeared in the doorway. It seems incredible that some youngsters do not know how to walk into a room. As well as that they did not know how to greet someone or how to sit in a chair and look attentive and interested. Any one of those small attributes would make a difference between getting a job or contract or place of some kind.

Presenting yourself is a small part of being in Business. A wider part is presenting your business...... Click here to read the full LinkedIn Article by Bob Shepherd.

Business Systems | That Pile of Business Cards & Other Admin

Business Systems | That Pile of Business Cards & Other Admin

I was doing quite well until a couple of months ago. I had a filing system for cards and a cross reference book for business types – printers, accountants, marketing, banks etc. That reading pile was under control and I had a (small) urgent pile and a less urgent pile.

Then it sank. I had (inadvertently) several systems with the most effective being chronological order. How long ago did I see that person/document I now need to find? It must be so far back in the run then….  Click here to read the full LinkedIn Article by Bob Shepherd. Simple really

Business Planning | Executive summary or just an introduction

Business Planning | Executive summary or just an introduction

What on earth is an ‘Executive Summary’? For some reason the term grates with me. What happened to the word ‘Introduction’?

The trouble is that it has achieved a position of strength in the average business mind such that no business plan or feasibility study or similar document is complete without one. I am not saying it is not needed.  I adopt the Ladybird school of learning where if you are tackling a large project or subject it is invaluable to gain an introductory view and thereby a scope of the topic. That way you can see how much is involved and you can gain an appreciation of the whole thing.  To read the full LinkedIn article, just click here. Simple really.

Business Marketing | Increase your social media weight

Business Marketing | Increase your social media weight

One of the few areas where increasing your weight is necessary is where you have a business with a presence on-line but you have yet to grasp it and create some waves and positive consequences for your business.

Leaving aside all else for a moment there is something you can do with Twitter that is not so obvious. Assuming you have Twitter profile and you are posting a variety of messages with the occasional flag waving for your business – that’s another article in itself, then you are probably trying to find ways of increasing your followers with useful contacts.  To read the full LinkedIn article, just click here. Simple really.

Networking | People in business

Business Networking | People in Business

Business is about people to a large degree. People are always in the mix somewhere. They might be customers, staff, suppliers, contacts etc. Those who have the soft skills for dealing with people successfully can find it easier to get on and to be successful. The small business owner needs to network.

The sole trader or consultant trying to cover everything certainly needs to network. That may not be formal meetings though. Stopping to pass the time of day with people, in person, on the phone, by email, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook is always important. It is becoming the case that everyone is assumed to be in with it all and taking part in the conversations.

Some people are more gifted in these things than others.  To read the full LinkedIn article, just click here. Simple really.

Business Start-ups | Part-Time Entrepreneurs

Business Start-ups | Part-Time Entrepreneurs

If you dive head first into a new business idea too soon, you could potentially be risking it all too early, with the result that you lose everything very quickly. Successful entrepreneurs don't do this, because they pay more attention to the risk and spend more time preparing properly before devoting their entire time, energy and resources into their enterprise.

These spare-time enterprises actually increase their chances of success for the following reasons:

To read the full LinkedIn article by Bob Shepherd Asociates, just click here.  Simple really.

Business Finance | Paperless Or Just Less Paper?

Business Finance | Paperless Or Just Less Paper?

In the 1980s we were promised a paperless office. I am not the best at technology but I have some of the tools and make an effort. Nevertheless, I have just spent 2 days sorting through some of that stuff that has accumulated. In the old days there was a pile on the end of the desk. ‘That’s interesting, I’ll read that later’ sort of pile. I have a pile like that and I have the equivalent in e-newsletters and emails as well.

When it comes to reading masses of text on screen I hunch up and eventually go to sleep. I need to make notes to keep myself awake and interested. So I still have masses of paper…

My Bank wants me..... To Read the full LinkedIn Article by Bob Shepherd Associates, just click here.  Simple really

Business Planning | The big risky tickets in one basket

Business Planning | The big risky tickets in one basket

Small is sometimes better. Take the railways for example. The government has pinned a lot on HS2 the high speed line that will unzip economic miracles for that foggy bit they are unsure about up the M1 somewhere. £55 billion is big by any standards and I bet it's more by the time we have finished. It'll save a few minutes off journey times apparently.

Return on investment is a subjective interpretation in many ways . That money would be better spent financing smaller rail projects and rail regenerations. There is a stack of evidence that local rail regenerations work, and then some. The Ebbw Vale line to Cardiff is a local example for me. Lately the Midlothian "Borders railway" is a recent one.  To read the full LinkedIn Article by Bob Shepherd, just click here.  Simple really

Business Finance | No System

Business Finance - No System

"46% of small businesses apparently have no idea how much they are owed or how much they owe."

I have met some of them but I have to admit being surprised at how high the figure appears to be.
‘Surely that is basic?’  To read the full LinkedIn article by Bob Shepsherd Associates, just click here.  Simple really.

Business Advice | Anything for a clear desk

"Hey! I am a consultant!".

Don’t do what I do, do what I say! The reason I know about this problem in any detail is business experience – my own experience. Before we had fancy online efficiency modules we used to examine efficiency in the corporate workplace by manual statistics and measurement called ‘Work measurement’.

It was interesting to see what you did actually do all day. One difficulty was recording it consistently; another was the interpretation. For example, the patterns showed that customer flows usually dropped away at certain times of the day on certain days of the week. Therefore, staff were presumably not needed at those times and we would save money by using part time staff and giving others non time related jobs to do at those times. Result? Utter shambles!  To read the full Bob Shepherd Associates LinkedIn article, just click here.  Simple really,

Marketing | Brand Building and all that

I have been into a number of businesses lately who haven’t grasped something I think is clear. Your presentation to the big world out there will have much more effect if it is a coherent one. Think about some of the big brand names that have infiltrated our souls, whether we like it or not or whether we actually use them or not. It is quite disturbing in some ways. Becoming a household name has a bit of a relationship with brain washing or brain conditioning of some sort.

There are brands I have in my head that date back decades and there’s nothing I can do about it. I was exposed to them at some point and they will live with me as part of my culture until I pass-away. Certain phrases inevitably finish themselves off in my head with the rest of the message. That shows just how powerful branding can be. To read the full Bob Shepherd Associates article, click here.  Simple really.

Business Planning | Networking South Wales

Business Planning | Networking South Wales

There are dozens of business networks in South Wales . I help businesses with business strategy and planning (“Business Building”) and I deal with business finance and organisation. Not a shameless plug altogether because my point is that the business planning for growth requires experience and knowledge in networking as a major sub heading under the all embracing term “Marketing”. You need all this in place to get your finance sorted to show you are a functional business, by which time you have a plan to put into action, if you have done it properly.


My view is that there is not just one answer to networking. Some networks work best with a business that can be easily pigeon holed by everyone. (Accurately or not – doesn’t matter, you can sort that out later on). Other businesses do not. Click here to read the full LinkedIn article by Bob Shepherd

Running A Business | It's Lonely At The Top

Running a business | It's lonely at the top

If you are running a business you need to wear many hats, you need to know everything and you need to know it now.

More than this - in many case you are isolated and alone. It is therefore, important that from time to time you take off all those hats and create some time for you to reflect, some time for you to learn, some time for 'You' to improve. In fact you will get more done, be more directed and more efficient.  To read the full LinkedIn post by Bob Shepherd Associates, click here.  Simple really.

Leadership | The thing about business, big or small

Leadership | The thing about business, big or small

Whatever the flavour, size, style or type of  business you have there are some common features - some common characteristics. This is the secret behind how I can contribute to a business. I do not actually need to know the technical and finer points of the business to know what needs some attention, needs a fix or needs some development.

For example all businesses need to communicate with the outside world in an attractive and constructively encouraging way. The methods for doing that may have differences in detail and sophistication and will have a different focus on one channel over another, but still the principle is there.  To read the full LinkedIn post by Bob Shepherd Assocaites, please click here.

Business Running | No Word For 'Entrepreneur'

Business Running | No Word For 'Entrepreneur'

George Bush is famously supposed to have remarked that the trouble with the French is that they have no word for ‘Entrepreneur’. Quite funny but there is another aspect here. Any business needs to have a spirit of enterprise amongst its employees. It has been called Intrapreneurialism.

The best companies invite a spirit of ownership in the doings of their employees which instils a sense of value and helps with staff retention. According to some UK small businesses research.... To read the full LinkedIn post by Bob Shepherd Associates, just click here.

Setting Up A New Business

Setting up a new Business

Anyone can set up a business - Observation and experience has taught me that not everyone has the make up to do so successfully. Most professional Managers have come across those psychometric tests beloved of the HR people. Some people say they can manipulate them but I always wonder why you would want to do so. The corporate career world is full of people who are round pegs in the square hole of their employment and who are basically unsuited and unhappy with their lot. The‘Peter Principle’ pops up all over the place as people are promoted one step too far. Heaven help us when that step puts them in a senior position that carries such a bow wave of credibility that they are unassailable and too senior to be criticised. There are enough of them out there!  To read the full LinkedIn article, click here.

Business Ethics and Presentation

Business Ethics and Presentation

What is it about the human condition that promotes corruption? By corruption I do not just mean out and out dishonest extra payments to circumvent a procedure, such as seems hopelessly endemic in some parts of the world. I mean any attempt to pull a fast one, to gain an edge by underhand means, to mislead with some sort of commercial gain. Simply to not bother is almost as bad. To read the full LinkedIn article by Bob Shepherd, click here

Time Is The Biggest Resource

Time Is The Biggest Resource

Many small businesses have started up in the last few months. Some born of opportunity and some born of necessity.  If they have been careful the owners have made sufficient headway to show they can maintain their course and develop their business. Planning and forethought is a major key to this.

Resources is the baseline for any progress. Directly or indirectly money is the lowest common denominator here and the business needs money at least to keep the domestic expenses going until the business can take up the load. Then the business itself needs money to get going. There are a hundred and one things to spend out on in the first set up stage.  Click this link to read the full post, on LinkedIn

Several things to get right at networking

Several things to get right at networking

Networking may seem daunting, but it is an essential business skill. The best net-workers accept they are not on a mission with a sales pitch. The real point is to build up your circle of contacts and your influence out there. It’s a big mistake to think you are going to turn up and everyone will slap their foreheads in wonderment that they have somehow managed without your services until now. It is said you need to be in touch with someone seven times before they’ll start to consider you as a colleague for working.  “Kissing frogs to find a princess”, is the analogy that is trotted out to illustrate the point.

This post contains some essential advice to the art of business networking.  Click this link to read the full post on LinkedIn