Business Startup Course Content

Business start-up facts

2.1 Contents:

1. Small business statistics
2. SMEs & the economy
3. UK business demographics
4. SME business trends
5. Concentrations of business
6. SME home truths
7. Getting help
8. Being your product
9. Challenges
10. Startup myths

Startup Advice: do's & dont's

2.2 Contents:

1. Becoming an expert
2. Using resources effectively
3. The value of cash
4. Making it your own
5. Getting on with it
6. Embracing the power of "now"
7. The importance of passion
8. A need for focus
9. Product development

Mindset & attitudes

2.3 Contents:

1. What is an entrepreneur?
2. Entrepreneurs or celebrities?
3. How to be an entrepreneur
4. Doing it for the right reasons
5. Watch your attitude
6. Your ultimate goal
7. Benefits of business
8. Positive mindset
9. Size is no disadvantage
10. Small is beautiful

Why not to start a business?

2.4 Contents:

1. Fear
2. Age
3. Not being a salesperson
4. Lack of capital
5. Income worries
6. Not having a good idea
7. Because you're a control freak
8. Being risk adverse
9. Wanting to be a millionaire
10. Buy a business instead

Before you set your heart on starting a new enterprise and living a life of independence, it might be a good idea to consider some of the reasons why not to. It's a big undertaking and not without its risks. In this section, we explore some of the issues that might be holding you back. Fear of failure, a reluctance to act as salesperson for your new venture, insufficient capital and being risk adverse might be just some of the reasons you are reluctant to commit. Not to worry though- we grapple with each of these issues (and more) and consider strategies for overcoming these barriers. In all honesty, our course might teach you that you are not quite ready for the world of business in which case we hope that helping you to make your mind up one way or the other will save you a whole lot of time and money.

Learning from failure; why startups fail

2.5 Contents:

1. Lack of start up preparation
2. Lack of purpose
3. Bad timing
4. Insufficient skills
5. Not enough research
6. Absence of strategy
7. Poor finance & cash flow
8. Falling foul of legal issues
9. Ropey people & teams
10. Poor location

Preparing for enterprise

We explore what's involved in starting up in commerce. A high-level view of what's required and what can be expected as you strive for entrepreneurial success.

2.6 Contents:

1. Starting a business is scary
2. It's a character test
3. From ideas into action
4. It's fun (or should be)
5. It's about practice & learning
6. Turning consumers into customers
7. It's not just about new ideas
8. Maximising available resources
9. The advantage of agility
10. Secrets of startup success

Steps to take before launch

Section Contents:

1. Taking stock
2. Start developing ideas
3. Refining your products
4. Improvements based on feedback
5. Finding co-founders & partners
6. Sales & Marketing plan
7. Preparing a business plan
8. Company formation
9. Raising finance
10. Launching your venture

This section deals with the steps to consider before starting a company, we explore how to develop ideas and then refine and improve them based on customer feedback. After that you need to find partners, devise your sales and marekting plan, form your company and get your finainces in order.

Creating company identity

2.8 Contents:

1. Your business values & ethics
2. Company mantra
3. Mission & vision
4. Brand identity
5. Naming my business
6. Strapline
7. Positioning
8. Branding
9. Logos
10. Web presence
11. Staying in the spotlight

Business strategy

2.9 Contents:

1. Timing your startup
2. Mindset & attitude for business
3. Growth strategies
4. Positioning
5. Bringing on board partners
6. Business Models
7. Creating a culture
8. Your value proposition
9. PEST Analysis
10. Startup strategy summary

Business types for new entrepreneurs

2.10 Contents:

1. Women in business
2. Startups for over 50's
3. Your business
4. Buying a franchise
5. Digital ventures
6. Service enterprises
7. Wholesaling
8. Retailing
9. Social Enterprise
10. Ethnic businesses

Developing oportunities

Subjects covered:

1. Ideas versus opportunities
2. Identifying business opportunities
3. Observing trends
4. Using social networks for research
5. Reading the future
6. Trends- technological advances
7. Trends- changes in legislation
8. Creativity & idea generation
9. What kind of business to start
10. Choosing the right business

Coming up with business ideas

From brainstorming to researching how to clarify your decision making process and choose the opportunity that best suits you.

Subjects covered:

1. Brainstorming startup ideas
2. Ask "how"
3. Focus groups
4. Research
5. Using social media
6. Full-time or moonlighting?
7. Solving a problem
8. Examples of problems solved
9. Finding a gap in the market
10. Refining your idea with a mentor

Developing startup ideas

Subjects covered:

1. Business feasibility study
2. Measuring the value of your idea
3. Evaluating your idea
4. Pros & Cons of your idea
5. Evolving your idea
6. SWOT: Strengths
7. SWOT: Weaknesses
8. SWOT: Threats
9. SWOT: Opportunities

Finding profitable ideas.

Subjects covered:

1. Opportunities versus ideas
2. Opportunity development
3. What to avoid
4. The process to follow
5. What kind of opportunity
6. Opportunity recognition
7. Identifying opportunities
8. Feasibility analysis
9. Mapping your capabilities
10. Opportunity evaluation matrix

Start up business models

Subjects covered:

1. The importance of business models
2. Types of business model
3. The business model template
4. Disruptive business models
5. The auction model
6. The peer to peer model
7. The Franchise model
8. The razor & blades model
9. The freemium model
10. Other business models

Delivering customer value for new businesses

Subjects covered:

1. Value proposition
2. Mantra versus mission
3. The innovation cycle
4. Product & service basics
5. Developing customers
6. Understanding customers
7. Setting yourself apart from the competition
8. Offering unique benefits
9. A feeling of belonging

Common business terminology

Subjects Covered:

1. Margins
2. Profit
3. Gross margins
4. New Margins
5. Return on investments
6. Glossary of business terms

Exploring skills for startups

Subjects covered:

1. Margins
2. Profit
3. Gross margins
4. New Margins
5. Return on investments
6. Glossary of other business terms

Business start-up steps

Subjects covered:

1. Things to consider
2. Do's and Don'ts
3. Getting qualified
4. A winning name
5. Financial projections
6. Company formation
7. Startup business plan

Common mistakes to avoid in business

Subjects covered:

1. Making assumptions
2. Rushing your preparation
3. Old School business plans
4. Using tradition job titles
5. Blindly following a plan
6. Premature scaling
7. Managing by crisis management

What drives you

Section contents:

1. Is enterprise right for you?
2. Are you meant to be self-employed?
3. Reasons for being here
4. Personal skills
5. What floats your boat
6. If you've been made redundant
7. What's in it for you
8. Knowing your limits
9. Making business work for you
10. Summary

Taking your pulse

A 40 question survey to determine your readiness for business

Subjects Explored:

1. Your behaviours
2. Your attitudes
3. Your business knowledge
4. Your startup mindset
5. Startup Readiness
6. Your idea
7. Your finances

Creating a positive image for your startup business

1. Branding
2. What's in a name?
3. Names really matter
4. Getting your message across
5. Website for new entrepreneurs
6. Letterheads, logos & stationery
7. Email marketing
8. Print marketing
9. Promotion, packaging & advertising
10. Social media

A winning marketing strategy

Subjects covered:

1. Market positioning
2. The four P's
3. Product
4. Promotion
5. Price
6. Place
7. The 7 P's
8. Measuring your marketing
9. Marketing legislation
10. Market summary

Creating a dynamic web presence

1. Buying a domain name
2. Hosting & building your website
3. Search engine optimisation
4. Good site coding
5. Site structure
6. Online promotion
7. Do's and Dont's of web design
8. Monetizing your site
9. Blogs
10. Web site summary

Creating a social media presence

1. Types of social media
2. The business benefits of social media
3. Risks of social media
4. Social media tools
5. Twitter
6. Facebook
7. LinkedIn
8. Social media policy
9. Social media platforms
10. Social media summary

Conducting market analysis

Getting to know your market inside out before you launch a venture,

Subject covered:

1. What is market analysis?
2. Market size
3. Market growth rate
4. Market profitability
5. Industry cost structures
6. Distribution channels
7. Market trends
8. Key success factors
9. Market analysis tools
10. Market analysis summary

Power in business relationships

Subjects covered:

1. Introducing Porter's 5 forces
2. Concentration ratios
3. Rivalry
4. Competitive advantage
5. The rule of 3 & 4
6. Threat of substitutes
7. Buyer power
8. Supplier power
9. Threat of new entrants
10. Barriers to entry

The importance of customer perceptions

Subjects covered:

1. What is a perceptual map?
2. Defining perceptual maps
3. Constructing a perceptual map
4. Choosing product attributes
5. Assessing competitors
6. Scoring competitors
7. Positioning strategy
8. The multi-attribute model
9. More on the multi-attribute model
10. Perceptual maps summary

Creating your marketing plan

Subjects covered:

1. Key elements of a marketing plan
2. Define your strengths and weaknesses
3. Strategy versus tactics
4. Marketing objectives
5. Communication
6. Tips and pitfalls to avoid
7. Profiling your customers
8. Remember the 7P's
9. What to include in your plan
10. Marketing plan summary

Getting the sales ball rolling

Subject covered:

1. The importance of sales!
2. Elevator pitch for startups
3. Effective sales
4. Sales advice for new business
5. Presenting
6. Customer loyalty
7. Consumer protection legislation
8. More consumer protection
9. Learn from sales gurus
10. Sales summary

Creating a customer service culture

Subject covered:

1. What is customer service?
2. The customer journey
3. Customer journey maps
4. Monitoring complaints
5. Systems & proceedures
6. Creating a service culture
7. Brand loyalty
8. Bad customer service
9. Customer service benefits
10. Customer service summary

Employer legislation for startups

1. Employer responsibilities
2. Employment law
3. Health & safety
4. Maintaining a safe environment
5. Discrimination
6. Maternity leave
7. Parental leave
8. Handling a downturn
9. Sacking employees
10. Record keeping

Finding the right team

Subjects covered:

1. How to hire
2. Understand what motivates people
3. Start up co-founders & team building
4. Employment law
5. Planning, prioritising & delegating
6. Improve your own skills
7. Networking & partnerships
8. Sharing equity with staff
9. Finding a mentor
10. People summary

Getting the best from your new team

Subjects covered:

1. Leadership
2. Motivating a start-up team
3. Engagement & empowerment
4. Organising people
5. Team building
6. Interviewing
7. Managing performance
8. Rewarding people
9. Resolving people problems
10. Team managment summary

The art of stakeholder relations

1. What are stakeholders?
2. The Mendelow matrix
3. Stakeholder interests
4. External stakeholders
5. Other stakeholers
6. Stakeholder power for start ups
7. Determining interest & power
8. Charitable action
9. Stakeholder management
10. Stakeholders summary

Setting and measuring objectives

Subjects covered:

1. Understanding objectives
2. Setting goals
3. What to measure
4. Customer acquisition costs
5. Customer retention
6. Lifetime value
7. Revenue
8. Financial KPI's
9. Non-financial KPI's
10. Critical success factors

Managing risk and protecting your business

Subjects covered:

1. Intellectual property
2. Non-disclosure
3. IP protection
4. Business name
5. Licensing
6. Data protection
7. Risk register
8. Credit risk
9. Insurance
10. Managing risk summmary

Protecting your business with insurance

Subject covered:

1. Business Insurance Basics
2. Buying insurance
3. Employer’s Liability
4. Professional indemnity insurance
5. Vehicle Insurance
6. Other Insurance
7. More insurance!
8. Pensions
9. Summary

Keeping your startup legal

Subjects covered:

1. Business law Introduction
2. Licences: Do you need one?
3. Data protection
4. Distance selling
5. Trading Standards
6. Consumer Rights Act 2015
7. Hire Purchase Agreements
8. Digital Content
9. Business Rates
10. Business legislation summary

Understanding finances & leasing

1. Budgets versus forecasts
2. Bank Accounts
3. Cash-flow Forecast
4. Invoice finance
5. Tenancy Agreements
6. Leases & Licences
7. Lease Lengths
8. Allowed Use
9. Tenancy Contracts: Key Terms
10. More Tenancy Terms

Understanding financial ratios

For those seeking investors, we help you to understand financial ratios and other common ratios applied by investors when deciding to invest or not.

Subjects Covered:

1. Activity ratios
2. Inventory turnover
3. Receivables turnover
4. Payables turnover
5. Asset turnover
6. Liquidity ratios
7. Liquidity cash ratio
8. Solvency ratios
9. Profitability ratios
10. Financial ratios: summary

Creating a startup business plan

Subjects Covered:

1. Why prepare a plan?
2. What is a business plan?
3. Topics to include in your plan
4. Avoid pointless plans
5. Your audience
6. Make it a "live" document
7. Presenting your business plan
8. Tips for presenting
9. Business plan summary

Common business plan mistakes

Subjects Covered:

1. Making it too complicated
2. Lack of credibility
3. Lack of clarity
4. No market knowledge
5. Thinking your plan is complete
6. No real focus
7. Making crazy predictions
8. Overvaluing your business idea
9. Unsatisfactory demand
10. Not paying attention to detail
11. Too much detail for later years

Structure of your plan

Subjects covered:

1. The executive summary
2. Your product & services
3. Supply chain
4. Markets & competitors
5. Sales & marketing
6. Your people
7. Operations
8. Location
9. Management information
10. Information technology
11. Finances
12. Risk analysis

Documents and templates are available for this section

How to raise finance for a startup

Subjects covered:

1. What investors won't do
2. What you will need
3. Open your own wallet first
4. Sign up strategic partners first
5. Bootstrap
6. Types of finance
7. Sources of finance
8. How much to raise
9. Pitching your business

How to secure finance

Subjects Covered:

1. Startup loans
2. Crowdfunding
3. Angel investment
4. Family & friends
5. Credits cards
6. Bank finance
7. Equity funding
8. Venture capital
9. Business partners