Assessing your startup - where you have been, where you are now and where you are going

This is my moment to look both backwards and forwards in my startup journey. For those that have been with me from the start you will know how my journey has gone. For everyone else I will give you a short recap-

• The idea was to start an estate agency in the town where I live
• As I set about getting things in place I decided that I needed a residual income
• I started writing
• I blogged and I wrote my own eBooks
• From there I found freelance writing
• I started writing for others in my spare time
• I then abandoned plans for the estate agency and became a full-time writer

This has been the journey of a few years summed up in a few bullets points so there have been highs and lows but this is the basic timeline that has brought me to here. Writing is now my life, so as well as this blog I write several others for myself. I write my own books still and publish them on the Amazon Kindle store.I write for other people. And I write whatever comes my way-

• I ghostwrite books for people
• I write marketing materials for people
• I write the content for websites
• I write social media post on behalf of companies
• I write customer brochures
• I write business plans

I pretty much write what people need, with the exceptions of school work and reviews.From this my business has grown and I will use this blog to briefly outline where I am today and where I think I will be over the next 6 to 9 months.

Currently

I have two websites that give me an internet presence. They can be found here-

http://contentedwriting.co.uk/

http://ghostwriterservices.co.uk/

They let the world know that I exists and along with my social media presence are the outward face of my business. They give me access to customers and also give customers the opportunity to check out what I am and what I do before they get in touch.

A lot of my work comes from existing relationships that have come from varied sources and developed over the years. I work for people all over the United Kingdom, and indeed the world, on a regular basis and write for certain people month in, month out.

A great source of business is going to be the BNI networking chapter that I have joined. It is going to break all records as the biggest group to launch in the UK and Ireland and is doing this at lightning pace. I am very proud to be a part of the group and I look forward to being able to give my fellow chapter members a lot of business from my contacts in the future.

The future

I am growing at a much faster rate than I expected at all. The business is flowing and I am being asked more and more to help people with their writing, especially content writing for businesses. I can see a pint in the future 6 to 9 months where I will be looking for someone to help with the writing and join me. I haven't got through Christmas and January yet as my first year of full-time trading so I don't know how quiet it might go. But I am quietly confident that this will be more than I can produce fr myself in the not-too-distant future.

My new novel is being written now and I am around a third of the way through the writing process. It does tens to take a back seat when I am working hard for other people but the idea is to have it ready to be published in the early part of the new year and be generating sales from then.It will be the first fiction book I have written for myself and I am really looking forward to seeing it out there and marketing it. I think it will make a splash.

This has helped me as I have been writing to clear my mind and look to the future. I suggest that if you are looking for a bit of clarity in your startup business right now then you go through a similar exercise. It allows you to focus on what is important and where you want to take your business.

Get the winning smile without going to the dentist with Brighter Image Lab's innovative Press On Veneers!

At ‘245 days…’ I want to bring you the best in advice, news and things of interest in the startup world. Sometimes I talk to you about single issue topics, such as your business plan but on other occasions there are topics that can mean more than one thing for the startup business owner.

Today I look at a great business that you can learn from for your own startup and you can also use their product to enhance your presentation.

I’m taking a look at Brighter Image Lab™. They offer a service that you can learn from and benefit from. It is an online analysis of your teeth and then within 7 days they produce Press On Veneers™ by Brighter Image Lab to improve your smile, and your presentation. You can improve your smile without paying the high prices of a cosmetic dentist – in fact without even visiting a dentist!

As a startup entrepreneur you can learn from this business because they found a gap in the market. Dentistry is expensive, can be painful and a lot of people dislike a visit to the dentist. Brighter Image Lab™ has taken away this pain and produces an improved, redesigned smile online. When you think about your own business, you must look at how you can fill a niche in the market.  Brighter Image Lab™ have enhanced what they offer by clever marketing and the engagement of customers on social media. You need to consider how you can become successful through clever marketing. Take a look at their video-

POV - Sign In - Kristen US from Bil on Vimeo.

And how they engage their potential customers on social media platforms-

Facebook

Google+

Pinterest

Instagram

When it comes to your own smile, you need to think about how this impacts on customers and potential investors. We are living in an age where your image can make the difference between success and failure. Make sure failure is not an option. If you have a winning smile then you will be more likely to win. Get Press On Veneers™ by Brighter Image Lab and see the benefits-

·   Brighter Image Lab custom makes each veneer to fit every client

·   Brighter Image veneers are quickly gaining popularity

·   Brighter Image veneers are often the first choice people find that’s actually affordable.

·   Brighter Image Lab is a great alternative to the dentist.

·   Dentists who do offer similar veneers, usually charge 2-3 times more than Brighter Image and they require multiple office visits.

Get in touch with them today and you can see the potential in smile take you a long way with your dstartup business.

Your business plan transforms your startup - get help from Venture Formations

At '245 days…' I want to help my startup readers with all aspects of their business. If you get enough information and inspiration then I think that the whole business is setting up, launching and making a success of your own startup business becomes easier. I want to be able to highlight areas that can make your life easier and save you time and money.

There are so many things to consider when you set out in this road. There are so many aspects that you just have to get right first time. The one thing that ties everything else together is a great business plan. You may be great at what you do. You may have wonderful ideas about your product or service and where it fits in the market. You can be great at more than one thing but nobody is great at everything. The business plan is absolutely vital to your business. It sets out for you and any potential investor all of the things you need to take you from startup to success. A great business plan or investor pitch desk gets you in front of the right people. It gets you noticed. It helps to seal the deal when it comes to securing investment.

To get a great business plan that will elevate your startup above the rest take a look at the work of Venture Formations.

ventureformations.com

The business plans produced here are graphic-based and have an appealing and modern look which will be great for you to follow and for investors to get enthused about. This means that you can work with them straight away without the need to decipher and decode what is being said.

A great business plan, such as these, can literally transform your business from something that feels it has been made at home to that professional level that gets attention. Your startup needs to be firing on all cylinders from the very first day. Having what you need to do planned out in an easy-to-read and easy-to-use format puts you on the front foot when it comes to getting on the road to success.

Please consider how you can make use of a great business plan for your own needs and for showing investors. If you are looking for investment capital then the potential investor has a limited amount of time and will see hundreds of startups. What you want and need is a business plan that is concise, details everything that is important and stands out. That is why you should be looking at Jacob Fisher at ventureformations.com for guidance.

My weekend internet page reading

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Just found these-

http://www.mentorsme.co.uk

http://www.bitc.org.uk/london/what-we-offer/social-enterprise-mentoring-programme

http://www.greatbusiness.gov.uk

https://www.gov.uk/write-business-plan

http://www.icaew.com/~/media/Files/Library/collections/online-resources/briefings/start-up-briefings/01Buspla.pdf

http://www.greatbusiness.gov.uk/new-ideas/

I've got a lot of reading to do!