If you’re looking for a lesson in business visit a market stall

Nothing represents the essence of enterprise better to me than the (not so) humble market stall. At London’s Spitalfields Market a trader can rent a stall for just £10 a day (weekday rate). Here he or she can sell their products, whether home-made bags or second hand records. At the end of the day, they have a simple cash return for their efforts. Think about it: just ten quid, some homemade ‘stuff’ and you can try your hand at business!

Let’s not forget: ‘Business’ is not a complicated science – it’s just about taking an idea, and turning it into a reality.

Recently I have been acting as a mentor for a bunch of sixth form students at The English Martyrs School in Hartlepool. This is all part of Global Entrepreneurship Week’s Education Challenge where school students develop business ideas of their own. I was pleased to hear my students’ idea was all about selling Christmas kits on a local market stall. I’ve really enjoyed the process: the students’ questions about their business idea are refreshingly straight forward, simple yet also important. You can check out some videos where I captured answers to their questions here.

So if you’re looking to explore the basics of business, forget The City, Wall Street, business plans, board rooms, and big corporations – just check out the goings on at your local market. 

Make A Job, Don't Take A Job: The Essence Of Enterprise

The world of work and business has changed radically. I’m writing this in a bar in Spitalfields East London which I have commandeered as my office for the morning. There’s loud music playing and I’m taking advantage of the wifi, running my business sprawled on a sofa. To those not familiar with this style of working, I may look like I’m at play. But I’m working; and this is how thousands of people work today. We have created our own micro businesses, monetising our talents, working for ourselves, running businesses our way.

This is Global Entrepreneurship Week, and when I think of business and enterprise, I don’t think about the office blocks of the City a stroll away from here, I don’t think about business tycoons on their private jets, I think about people like me, and you. Through the window I can see the red awnings of lines of market stalls at Old Spitalfields Market - to me, this is the perfect example of business at its most basic. A bunch of stall-holders have paid £10 for a table for the day. Some are selling handmade bags; others prints and photographs. Someone else is selling second hand books, another clothes and jewellery. They may not think of themselves as entrepreneurs but they are: they are selling their wares in the market. Some may fail, others will succeed.

What unites the coffee-shop entrepreneurs and the market traders is that we have all made jobs for ourselves: there is not a job description or appraisal form in sight. The theme of Global Entrepreneurship Week is ‘Make A Job, Don't Take A Job’ and that’s music to my ears. It’s what I’ve always done in my career, whether I’ve been self employed or not. Carving out a role that reflects my talents and desires, breaking the boundaries of a fixed job spec. I’ve always encouraged working for yourself; my first book is a guidebook for people taking the leap. You don’t need a bunch of qualifications or a business education to work for yourself, but you do need the right mindset;and it’s not for everyone. Working for yourself and setting up your own business is tough: there’s no switching off, it takes stacks of perseverance, commitment, energy and passion. So ‘Make A Job, Don't Take A Job’ is a good mantra for entrepreneurship so long as we recognise that not everyone has the self-belief and motivation to make their business idea happen. To help people believe in their ability we need to bust a few myths about business, taking it out of the boardroom, doing away with the jargon. And that market stall is a damn good place to start.

Sometimes a lean and raw approach works just fine

I’m just back from a weekend in Copenhagen where our apartment faced this unassuming corner shop. Covered in graffiti, with no windows, and handwritten signs on the door, at first glance, it may have looked permanently closed. But it was very much open; inside it was dark, dingy and the wine bottles dusty.

But despite its appearances, there was a constant stream of people all day long. People came and went with their soft drinks, wine, bottles of beer.

And it reminded me how we obsess about our business propositions needing to be polished and elegant with added ‘bells & whistles’: we must have an awesome website; our logo needs to be stunning; our premises must be well-designed; our fixtures and fittings state of the art. Sure, sometimes those things count.

But other times, enterprise is more basic than that - it’s just about fulfilling a need. And like this corner shop, then, a lean and raw approach works just fine. 

Rip Up The Rule Book

Virgin Media Pioneers is a new initiative here in the UK to help young entrepreneurs ‘make their ideas happen’. It’s an online space where people can get help to develop their idea, pick up new skills and create their own network. The Virgin Media Pioneers Programme is a joint initiative between Virgin Media and Enterprise UK. I’m getting involved in the project as a mentor, giving advice: here’s my first video for them, reminding people that to be a success in business you don’t need to follow the rules, it’s more important to do it your way, and be the smartest not the biggest. 

if the video above does not display properly, watch it on YouTube here

What are your business by-products?

One thing that got me thinking at SXSW was Jason Fried’s suggestion that we should work out what are the by-products of our businesses. What takes no additional effort to create, but are natural by-products of what we do? I kind of visualised it as the sawdust on the floor. In my own business and through my story, my natural by-product is know-how that I have repacked into a series of books: “Juggle!”, “Leap!” and now “Unplan…”.

As I write this I’m listening to a trailer for Zappos Insights. What’s ‘Zappos Insights’? It’s a management programme/ learning package developed by Zappos, the online retailer. It’s not what they ‘do’ as the core business, but in getting such great feedback from the marketplace on the Zappos factor, and requests for ‘how can we create a culture like Zappos at our company?’ they swept up their sawdust – their know-how – and packaged it into a development and learning programme.

So, what’s your by-product and what are you going to do about it?

*Picture credit Waldoj on Flickr

Juggler Stories #3: Rajeeb Dey

My book 'Juggle!' is full of stories from people who have created multi-dimensional work lives that reflect their talents and goals. I love meeting new jugglers; last week I met Raj Dey. Raj only graduated from Oxford University in 2008 but already has carved out an impressive portfolio of business interests. He’s Founder and CEO of Enternships -a service connecting talented students and graduates to start-ups/SMEs; he sits on the Education Advisory Board at Channel 4; he’s a partner at Hereward Peer Ventures; a Trustee of UnLtd; an Advisory Board Member of the UK India Business Council; Founder of the English Secondary Students' Association and last year was named O2 Entrepreneur Of The Year. 

I chatted to him about why he chose to embrace plurality in his working life. Raj has found that having a diverse range of interests is really valuable as he can cross-pollinate ideas and contacts. Here's the video:

If the video above does not display properly, watch it on YouTube here.

Andy Hudson: Taking A New Idea To Market

Here’s a short video interview with Andy Hudson. I first met Andy in 1988 when I was doing work experience at a television production company. When I returned to the company in a full-time role in 1990 I worked with him on the music series ‘Friday At The Dome’ for Channel 4 and a number of other music and arts shows. We then worked together at his music events start-up Sol Entertainment and then at The Unique Broadcasting Company. Especially in the early part of my career Andy was a real mentor and encouraged me to think ‘plural’; that I could apply my skills to more than one area. It’s great to see how he’s reinvented himself from music and events to be founder of a technology business as he’s now COO of The Broadband Computer Company. The company has just launched ‘alex’, which offers safe, secure and easy computing especially for inexperienced users. I met Andy at the London launch last month and talked to him about how he’s developed the business from idea to market.

if the video does not display above, watch it on YouTube here

Creating Rapid Opportunities From Random Ideas

Being enterprising is about creating opportunities, often out of nothing. These are the opportunities that don’t appear on any plan; they’re more likely to arise from a chance mention in a lift or from an idea you had in the shower.

You just need to be tuned in to what your client’s needs are, and good at reacting fast.

I emailed a client congratulating her on an industry award and suggesting an announcement out to their clients. We’d need to be quick. I assembled a copywriter and designers, got a print firm on stand by and a few days later, a special edition newsletter landed in the in-trays of their clients. It was a great success. Then last week another client mentioned – in passing - an upcoming conference where the management team needed to communicate key messages to staff. “Why don’t you do something on video?” I suggested. We came up with some ideas, filmed and edited this week and the results are now sitting on dvd, just 10 days after that notion.

There was no brief for these projects, they were unplanned (and unbudgeted). But if your ideas are good enough and you can be quick at execution, there’s a stack of unforeseen opportunities out there.

It’ll take innovation on your part, flexibility and vision on your client’s - and sweat from everyone. But it’s always satisfying to come up with a random idea and see it come to fruition just days later.