Business Intelligence

Warning – Never pay a “Business Angel” for the opportunity of making a pitch to them! Some unpleasant people have jumped on the bandwagon and are charging start-ups for the opportunity to showcase their business to a team of investors. This never happens in the legitimate world of enterprise.

Unless you have been living under a rock for the last few years you will have heard of Dragon’s Den, the TV programme where potential entrepreneurs present their business idea to a group of wealthy private investors who will then give them money in return for a share of their business.

This is exactly what Business Angels do in the real world outside of the pancake makeup and bright lights of The Den. They are normally wealthy people who have an interest in investing in companies. Often they have a particular area they are interested in, for example electronics, manufacturing, service sector etc and they will consider a business proposition that may be too risky for a mainstream lending source.

Business Angels bridge the gap between Venture Capitalists who deal in millions and really only want to work with BP and debt finance where you offer your first born child to the bank in exchange for an overdraft and get refused! read more »

Are you thinking about starting your own business? Perhaps you’re still employed but would like to start a business on the side. Or maybe you’re a homemaker whose children spend the day in school and you would like to earn some extra dough. Whatever your motivation, your mind must be full of questions about business plans, ideas and startup costs.

There are plenty of decisions you have to make, from broadband plans to business card printing. But for most potential entrepreneurs, the most difficult part of this process is coming up with business ideas. The truth of the matter is many potential business owners never get started because they have trouble coming up with business ideas. If you are lacking that creative spark then this article, which examines 5 ideas for starting a small business may be of some help to you.

If you love cooking then catering is a fun way to combine business with your hobby. Catering can be done on a small scale if you already have a well-equipped kitchen. read more »

A small business, home office file sharing network is a group of computers within the same network (Subnet), capable of sharing files with one another.

There are two methods of setting up a small business, home office network. The first method is to have one main computer as the share point for files and printers. This is usually the computer that will be powered on the most. Method two, each computer has its own share point. This is where every computer can connect to every other computer that has a share file or printer enabled. Either method works, but method one is easier to manage and setup.

Windows 7 can feel cumbersome when it comes to setting up share files. I’ll try and break it down very easy. Let’s start with making a share folder in your C: Drive. Open you’re “My Computer” and double click your Local C: Drive. Create a new folder called ShareFolder_A (For my examples I will end my folder names with A and B. You can change yours to make more sense, for example ShareFolder_TomsPC, or ShareFolder_WendysPC). Great, so we now have a folder. read more »