Resources

Below is my huge list of links and resources for anyone interested in small business and entrepreneurship. Some are more relevant to those based in London but most of the information will be of value where ever you are.

Affiliation disclosure: I am not affiliated with any of the sites below except those owned by ActionCOACH who I work for.

I invite people to add or suggest their own resources. Please read this blog post for more information. Enjoy…

Free ActionCOACH Resources· Forums · Blogs · Education · Resource Libraries · Market Research · Funding · SEO · Social Media · Legal · Health & Safety · Free Software· Time Management · Government Resources · International · Leadership & Emotional Intelligence · Misc

My Youtube channel – I share any videos that I think you might find useful here

My Twitter feed – Regular short updates, links and quotes which I hope you find interesting

Free ActionCOACH Resources – ActionCOACH provides huge amounts of high-quality free resources to business owners. Make sure you make this your first port of call

ActionCOACH business health check

ActionCOACH business e-books

ActionCOACH Master Mentors series

Local ActionCOACH events

Forums – Often discussing challenges and problems with peers is a hugely valuable exercise. These forums are full of helpful people who are going through the same thing as you. And you might even spot me posting occasionally

www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk

www.a1businessforums.co.uk

Blogs – Blogs are a great way to expose yourself to new ideas. With the added advantage that you can usually ask the author questions after you’ve finished reading

businesscoaching.com

Brad Sugars founder of ActionCOACH’s blog

Jeff Gitomer

Education – Finishing school or university shouldn’t be the end of your education – it should be the start. I really can’t understate the importance of continual business education to anyone who owns a business

Business books reading list

Recordings of entrepreneurship lectures at Stanford University

MIT Sloan School of Management open courseware project

TED conference talks

Resource Libraries – Below are some huge collections of practical articles that might be of use to you

Chartered Institute of Marketers Resources page

Natwest resource library

HSBC Knowledge Centre

Market Research – Doing your research is vital before making any big business decision. Luckily massive amounts of information and statistics are available for free

Demographic information (age, income etc.) for each London postcode

Make free, simple online surveys

Trend analyser for Google searches

Office of National Statistics

British Library business and IP Centre “over 4k market research reports and market specific guides to more than 25 key industries”

Funding – Have a look at the links below for help in funding your business

The Dreamstake R&D rebate scheme

British Business Angels Association

Train To Gain Scheme

SEO – Most buying decisions today start with someone clicking the search button on Google. If your name comes up on the first page you’re already at a huge advantage

1st Page Prophets

SEOmoz beginners’ guide

Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide

Social Media – If there’s one trend that SMEs should take note of it’s the massive growth of social media. Social media marketing rewards expert knowledge and good customer service – which is where you should excel . Here are my favourite resources

Mashable

Social Media Examiner

Mari Smith

The Social Media Starter Kit e-book

Getting a foothold in Social Media e-book

Legal – Its possible to access lots of free legal advice if you know where to look

The Federation of Small Businesses

The Citizen’s Advice Bureau

Free privacy policy, T&Cs etc. templates for your website

The Bottom line e-zine – This one comes highly recommended by me.

Health & Safety – All the information you need relating to health and safety in your business

Directgov Health and Safety

Health and Safety Executive

Free health and safety leaflets and posters

Free Software – These days open source equivalents of many software programs are available for free. Often they’re just as good or even better than what you might pay £100s for

Open Source equivalent of Microsoft Office

Open Source photo manipulation software (equivalent to adobe photoshop)

Open Source vector graphics program (equivalent to adobe illustrator)

Free project management software

Free Customer Relationship Management software

Free accounting software

Free email marketing software

Free website analytics package

Time Management – Effective time management is essential what ever you’re doing. Here are some tools to help you get organized

web based time tracking tool

Really good to-do list type tool

Free calendar tool