Category Archives: Business & Careers

Speed mentoring at the British Library: over 1000 years of business experience in one week

Posted on by

Speed mentoring at the British Library: over 1000 years of business experience in one week

Monday 14th November – Friday 18th November – British Library

· The British Library’s Business & IP Centre (http://www.bl.uk/bipc/) is to host a series of inspiring and informative events for aspiring entrepreneurs as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week 2011.

· The centrepiece of the week, Question Time for Entrepreneurs (Monday 14 November) offers a rare opportunity for business start-ups to question some of Britain’s top entrepreneurs including Apprentice winner and Founder of the Bright Ideas Trust Tim Campbell and Co-founder and Vice Chairman of Metro Bank, Vernon W. Hill II.

· Introducing a series of ‘speed mentoring’ sessions following different themes over five days ? including Absolute Beginners, IP & Innovation, Women in Business, Marketing Maestros and Make it, Sell it – providing UK entrepreneurs with the inspiration and guidance information they need. In each session, participants will have access to over 100 years worth of business experience from our seasoned entrepreneurs.

Throughout Global Entrepreneurship Week the Business & IP Centre will feature an all-star cast of business experts and seasoned entrepreneurs who will be available to offer advice to any aspiring business. Covering everything from business basics and common mistakes to how to innovate and stay inspired, whilst protecting your ideas, these events will offer users just a sample of the support available through the Centre,

Small businesses can benefit from free access to over £5 million of business and IP information, including thousands of market research reports, giving them access to the same information as a multinational company.

Isabel Oswell, Head of Business and Research Audiences at the British Library, said:

“The Business & IP Centre is proud to be supporting Global Entrepreneurship Week in our role of nurturing entrepreneurial talent and turning fledgling companies into robust businesses. Over 5,000 SMEs have participated in our Global Entrepreneurship Week events programme during the past 5 years and we are looking forward to helping more businesses to prosper and grow through access to some of the best business brains in Britain.”

British Library Global Entrepreneurship Week Events Programme 2011

Inspiring Entrepreneurs – Question Time for Entrepreneurs

British Library Conference Centre

18.00 – 21.00, £10 (£7.50 concessions)

A special evening event will give businesses the opportunity to question some of the most successful and influential people in British business today. Speakers include Emma Bridgewater, Lara Morgan, Vernon W. Hill II and former Apprentice winner Tim Campbell. A networking reception will follow the event.

Find out more and book a ticket here.

Speed mentoring

Each day the Business & IP Centre will be running informal half-day speed mentoring sessions. Participants will have the opportunity to talk to question up to 8 seasoned business experts in an accelerated way in each session to get the advice and information to run their own successful business.

The themes for this year are:

Monday 14th – Absolute Beginners

On Monday, our experts can help advise you on all the basics to ensure success and help you avoid common mistakes.

Tuesday 15th – IP & Innovation

On Tuesday, meet the experts who can help with inspiration for new ideas and new products as well as explain how you protect your ideas.

Wednesday 16th – Women in Business

On Wednesday, meet a whole host of successful female entrepreneurs and experts to inspire you, whatever your business.

Thursday 17th – Marketing Maestros

On Thursday, meet the experts who can tell you how to differentiate yourself from competitors, capitalise on your brand exposure and achieve the maximum return on investment (ROI) from your marketing.

Friday – Make It, Sell It!

On Friday, meet experts who can advise you on how to take your designs to market, protect your ideas and manage the production process and scale. Our experts have particular expertise in the crafts and jewellery sectors.

The sessions run from 10.00am – 13.00pm and 14.00pm – 17.00pm and are free.

Book one half-day session here.

For more information about the Business & IP Centre’s full programme of advice sessions, workshops and events, please visit www.bl.uk/bipc

An Alternative To Ebay?

Posted on by

Ebay may have a stonghold, but now there are other ways to turn your old CDs, DVDs and games into cash.

TurnIntoCash.com is a new, free to use website that allows users to get cash for old unwanted discs without the hassle of an auction.

The Manchester-based company was founded by Rob Fox and Pete Petrondas, the team that developed the first ever cash for old mobiles website over eight years ago. It aims to give users the highest possible quality of service, while being more convenient to use than traditional auction websites.

Those looking to sell old CDs, DVDs and games simply enter the item barcode into the TurnIntoCash.com website for an instant valuation. When they have built up their trade (10 items) they are emailed Freepost labels or if they have 45 or more items, offered a free courier collection service. Payment for the old items is sent within seven days of receipt.

The TurnIntoCash.com system has been developed to provide a valuation for hundreds of thousands of CDs, DVDs and games including newer Blu Ray discs.

There is no limit on the number of items a user can trade-in and the amount offered ranges from 30p up to £10 depending on a number of factors including type, age, popularity and demand of the items. Old discs collected through TurnIntoCash.com are refurbished with new disc cases or by polishing out damage prior to resale worldwide. Items that cannot be resold are recycled responsibly.

“Users are always looking for ease, convenience and the highest possible quality of service, so we have made sure that quality is at the heart of our unique valuation and trade tracking system, “ commented Fox. “Our system regularly communicates with the user telling them what stage their trade-in is at, and, as our system tracks each item of their trade individually, we can tell them exactly the status of each item ensuring they receive their payment as quickly as possible with no delays.”

“If people want to sell their old CDs, DVDs and games they have a number of choices from car boot sales to auction websites, but because we have considered the user from day one, we think TurnintoCash.com will be first on their list in the future, “ concluded Fox.

 

 

Entrepreneurs encourage young people to become economically active

Posted on by

As the latest unemployment figures spike to a 17 year high, two young entrepreneurs prove that a disastrous job market is no obstacle

Unemployment in the UK has hit a 17 year high this month, putting pressure on the government to come up with a better economic strategy. The number of young people out of work is close to the million mark, with 991,000 16-24-year-olds out of work. The new figures, which take into account the last three months, are the worst since records began in the early 1990s.

Kevin Flood and Mike Harty, despite the doom and gloom of the employment market, have set up a unique online company straight out of university as an alternative to getting lost in the crowded jobs scrum. What’s more they are setting out to topple the online giants in the price comparison site arena.

Shopow.co.uk, their Social Shopping start-up, is a new type of shopping search engine that aggregates thousands of retailers and millions of products across all areas of consumer goods. Not only does this allow users to compare goods by criteria such as price, retailer, service and delivery, it also integrates various social functions so shoppers can find all the information they need to make the right decisions when buying online.

Kevin Flood, CEO of Shopow, said, “Our novel idea has meant that we were able to compete against some of the long established names from the outset. All budding entrepreneurs wishing to succeed shouldn’t underestimate the importance of a strong concept. We coupled this with our hard work ethic, detailed research and willingness to take the odd calculated risk in order to get our business off the ground and gathering momentum quickly.”

This momentum has resulted in the pair winning a Young Guns Business Award. Since the launch of Shopow in May 2010, the business anticipates revenues of over £3m in the first year of trading. The pair are confident they can achieve a ‘critical mass’ in the UK this year, and are looking to expand into the USA and mainland Europe imminently.

The message from Kevin and Mike is that business savvy individuals with a great idea can be masters of their own destiny and bypass the busy job market. Recent measures to tackle unemployment such as the Government Work Programme have generated optimism for some bright sparks, and opened other avenues so that they might create companies of their own.

Kevin Flood, Co-founder and CEO of Shopow, said, “We set up Shopow because of our love of business. There were so few opportunities in the job market that we opted to take a risk and move in a new direction, one which we would strongly encourage other young people to pursue.”

Carolyn Schulz On Making Good Jewellery. {Frost Interview}

Posted on by

When did you start making jewellery?
When I had my son, 25 years ago, I wanted be a stay-at-home-mum but needed to work, so I worked from home representing an American bead manufacturer by looking after their key accounts, in particular, giving support with training and education. I was trained in jewellery techniques as well as how to teach and train others. Teaching and sharing my love of beading is what I enjoy most!

How did you get into designing jewellery?
I think I fell in to it accidentally! Once I had learned the various techniques, I found myself looking at the jewellery other people were wearing or what I saw in the shops. I would mentally take them apart to work out how they were made and then I would go home and try them out with my own beads. I like to mix techniques and I enjoy making jewellery to go with specific outfits that I wear. Sometimes I want something to compliment what I am wearing. Occasionally I want something to draw attention to my jewellery – not my clothes! But when I am designing jewellery to inspire others to create jewellery, I take into account the current fashions in style, beads, colour, textures and fashion accessories in general.

Where do you get your inspiration from?
I love to travel and I spend a lot of time looking at both the components available and the styles and trends of people in other countries. I love the flamboyancy of the Italians. I love the simple use of natural elements that I found in the Hawaiian Islands. I love the rich combination of colours that I found in Mexico and South America. Wherever I travel, I try to visit bead shops and if possible I take a class or two. I learn so much by making friends with the shop assistants and teachers. What are their hot sellers, what do the locals like, what do the tourists like, etc.

Tell me about your show on QVC
My Creative Jewellery Show on QVC UK gives the creative jewellery maker, whether a beginner or experienced, lots of opportunity to use their initiative and creativity but with lots of support with good technique demonstration and a wide range of finished samples to inspire. We offer very few complete kits. By that I mean, we don’t have many kits that make a specific piece of jewellery. Mostly we sell bundles of product, whether beads, tools or findings. For example, we will have bundles of beads and bundles of everything you need when using a specific technique. Some of our best selling bundles include our assortments of real turquoise (large and chunky or small and dainty), basic findings and tools such as the spinning seed bead threader and the Thing a ma Jig! I think the success of the shows is the excellent value for money and variety in addition to the technique support and design inspiration.

Do you prefer designing or teaching?
I don’t think I could have one without the other – but I get the most satisfaction from teaching. I love to share what I learn and I get the biggest kick out of seeing a student create something fabulous – often, much better than mine!

You have a book out soon, tell us about it.
This is my 4th book and it is aimed at women between 18 and 35 with limited experience of beads and beading. It will include more than 25 beading projects with an Asian element. Six of the chapters each has a different technique with a number of variations using that technique. I am already half way through completing the projects. Each chapter keeps growing because when I start designing – I find it hard to stop!

What are your tips for making good jewellery?

* Firstly, attitude – give it a chance!! It is like most things, it take a little practice to learn and perfect techniques.
* Secondly – start with simple techniques. With 25 years of learning and then teaching, I have developed my own fool proof way of learning, where one technique builds upon another.
* Thirdly – be observant! Notice the jewellery other people wear, that you see in the shops, or in books and magazines. Question what it is that you like. When you see things you don’t like, work out what it is you don’t like. You will soon start to build up some personalised design criteria.
* Finally – enjoy it!

You are an American in Britain, what do you love about the UK?
I love British culture. I love the British countryside. I love British history. I even love the British weather!!

What’s next for you?
I want to carry on as I am now – mixing it all up with writing books, travelling, time with my family (I have 3 gorgeous granddaughters!), travelling, presenting on QVC, travelling, teaching, travelling, travelling, travelling.

LONDON PROMOTES: New Rights For Models

Posted on by

Victoria Keon-Cohen has spent the last ten years working as a fashion model and knows both the highs and lows of the job. “I hated modelling for a long time because of the isolation. I was constantly gritting my teeth to get through the day. The industry is a far cry from what it was in the 1980s; there is now an oversupply of labour, and models are seen as disposable.”

Victoria describes the difficulties of the profession: “I was working in Milan and felt like I was a dog in the gutter half the time. I spent four hours every night in the gym just from loneliness. I had never been so unhappy in my life. The final pushing point came when I had a serious conflict with my agency, so I left.” After quitting the profession she moved back to London to study. Whilst there she met with Dunja Knezevic, a fellow model and friend, and they talked about their dissatisfaction at the industry.

“We exchanged stories of frustration. We’d both had great experiences as well but the inconsistencies were intolerable. One day a girl was dancing in the park for money to get a motel because her agency refuses to advance [money for] their own flat, the next day she’s in a luxurious villa in Spain” said Victoria.

Their conversation led them to consult Equity, the union for performers in the entertainment industry, and ask them to allow models to join. Towards the end of 2007 they succeeded in their request and the Equity Models Committee was formed.

One of the Committee’s biggest successes occurred last year when Equity, working alongside the British Fashion Council (BFC) as part of the Model Programme, introduced the first ever catwalk contract for London Fashion Week, setting out minimum rates of pay, private changing areas, breaks and refreshments. It also included a clause stating that nudity or semi-nudity must be agreed in advance, helping younger and more vulnerable models avoid being pressured into agreeing work that makes them uncomfortable.

This year Victoria, Dunja and the rest of the committee are focusing on a campaign called London Promotes in association with the BFC and the Model Programme. The campaign will include a viral video due to be shown on fashion blogs, social networking sites and both the BFC and Equity websites. The name highlights the important aspects of the campaign:

Privacy: care and backstage code of conduct.

Rates: ensures payment at least equal to the Model Programme recommended minimums.

Opportunities: for models to obtain prestigious British and international campaigns.

Model Programme: an alliance of the AMA, BFC and the Greater London Authority (GLA) working together for models’ welfare.

Of Age: Only models over 16 walking on the London Fashion Week catwalks.

Terms: conditions of employment covered by the Model Programme’s minimum terms.

Equity: joining the Union for models offers the right to Union protection.

Sanctuary: The Models Sanctuary provides a safe haven for models working during London Fashion Week.

One of the key benefits of union representation for models is legal support in case of any dispute with an agency or client, as well as facial insurance in case of accident. Dunja gives this advice to models starting out in the industry: “Join the union before you have an issue at work because Equity cannot help with any problems you may have had before becoming a member.”

She goes to give a realistic view of the job: “It’s nothing like what you would expect so treat it as the serious business that it is. Forget the glamour and exorbitant cheques. But expect an incredible experience of travel and making connections that you never would have made otherwise.”

This latest campaign looks set to change the fashion industry for the better once again at London Fashion Week. As Victoria explains, “London Promotes is looking to the future for an industry built on respect and support, with opportunities and a strong network of collaboration between Equity, the Models Programme and the Mayor’s office [GLA]. It’s a massive turning point for an industry where no one is just out for themselves anymore; it acknowledges that we have to work together for a stronger workplace for us all.”

Alexa Brown is an actress and model and a member of the Equity Model’s Committee. www.alexabrown.co.uk

This article was previously published in the September issue of Style Capital magazine.

Hand Dryers Help Out Environment

Posted on by

 

We all know that climate change is becoming a bigger problem than most of us ever imagined. Deforestation is destroying the environment and making entire species extinct. It is a much better idea for businesses to invest in airblade hand dryers. They cut down on paper towel usage, and all of the hand dryers you could possibly want are at that site, and you can search for energy efficient hand dryers, automatic or push button hand dryers. It also has a 30 day no hassle refund policy.

You want to make sure you buy a good hand dryer, my favourite are dyson hand dryers, especially the dyson air blade hand dryer it really gets your hands dry quickly and effectively. Something not every hand dryer does. A brilliant investment. It is good to invest in a dyson hand dryer.

Hand dryers are tidier than paper towels as well. No scrunched up paper towel balls lying around. I reckon hand dryers are a great investment for businesses and the eco conscious.

IMDB: Using IMDB Resume and IMDB Starmeter To Boost Your Career.

Posted on by

IMDB is a great resource, not only does it have a page on every movie and every film industry professional you can think of, it is also an amazing tool for an actor to promote their career.

IMDB has a resume section that you can join for a reasonable price. When you have IMDB resume you can add pictures to your IMDB, and of course your resume. You can also link your blog and your twitter to your page.

When people google you, it is usually your IMDB link that comes up first, so it is a false economy not to have it. If you do not have a project on IMDB (and you need one! Work for free for an IMDB credit is my advice) then you can still be on it if you get IMDB Resume.

People do lie on their resume, but I don’t recommend this, and do not list extra work unless you were heavily featured or had a line.

Even more important than IMDB Resume is the IMDB Starmeter. This is IMDB explaining what the Starmeter is http://www.imdb.com/help/show_leaf?prowhatisstarmeter

The Starmeter is important for actors and here is why: if you get a good starmeter ranking that means you are bankable. If people are searching for you then you will be offered movies and auditions. My starmeter has been as high as 6,000 and is usually between that and 31,000 on a bad week. Which is very good news and has helped my career. So, if your IMDB rank is not very good what can you do? I previously wrote about this in my personal blog http://balavage.wordpress.com/2011/07/25/charting-imdb-becoming-obsessed-with-starmeter/ and I am going to go into more detail here.

Step 1) This site is very good. http://www.karmalicity.com/b/?r=218 I know people who have done barely anything who now have good rankings, the site gives you publicity for your IMDB, Facebook fan page, YouTube and Twitter. It Is free so join now. The premium version is cheap and very good too.

Step 2) Make sure you have your photo on IMDB. Very important. Also put film stills and on-set photos on and modeling shots as well. If you want a photo, you can click the following link and go to add photos only: http://resume.imdb.com/

Step 3) Use social networking. Post your IMDB link. Add it to your email signature, your website, Twitter, anywhere you can think of. Share the films you are in, not just your IMDB page, every time a movie your in goes up, so do you.

5. Create an e-mail list. Only email when you have something to say. Do not spam people. Invite people to a screening, tell them of an award you won, an amazing job you just booked. Add your IMDB link into the email.

6) Get people to click on your IMDb profile (post the link on your Facebook or Twitter profiles, have it in your email signature, etc.)

7) Get interviewed and mentioned in TV guides and news articles.

This brilliant article has a run down of what the numbers mean and it says that a rank of 14,999 – 1,000: This is generally working actor territory and this about 999 – 1: You’re working. A lot. Good chance you’re repped by one of the big 5 agencies…or are about to be. Alternatively, you were recently on the cover of National Enquirer.

Give it a read.

I also recommend you get IMDBpro, and so does Harrison Ford, Blake Lively and Kevin Smith, if you are in the film industry, you need it.

To round up; IMDB is an amazing resource to help your career and I wish I had paid more attention to it earlier. Click on your friends links and put nice comments on their message boards. Keep coming back to Frost for more acting tips and career guidance. If you liked this article give my IMDB a click or post a message http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2952107/

QVC Making Jewellery Event With Carolyn Schulz

Posted on by

I have always been creative and remember making my own jewellery when I was in my early teens. I was clearly ahead of the game, craft is now big business. The recession has spun an entirely new generation who love making their own jewellery, cloths and anything else you can think of.

QVC are big, one of the world’s leading TV and online shopping channels, and they are big on craft, they sell jewellery making kits – amazing jewellery making kits if I do say so myself- which is why, when they invited me to a jewellery making event on Tuesday the 13th of September wild horses could not stop me. I arrived at the impressive QVC headquarters in Battersea and spend the next few hours chatting, drinking champagne, eating canapés and making jewellery, I even have my own pink pliers and wire cutters.

I have a good chat with Carolyn Schulz and she give me some good tips, talks about her new book that is due out soon, and promises to give Frost an interview.

I decided to make a ‘charm’ necklace, and I quite like it. I have a wonderful afternoon and also meet fellow writers and bloggers @FashionNBarbie and @Glittershim. I thoroughly recommend making your own jewellery, it is relaxing and fun. You will also have original jewellery, you might even have a good eye and be able to make a business from it.

Do you like craft? Do you make your own jewellery? Tell Frost your story and keep an eye out for more craft articles in Frost.