Recommended resources to build and run your business

I have found particularly useful the group trainings and workshops by these organisations: 

• UK BIPC (Business & Intellectual Property Centre) - Located in libraries all over the UK and online, BIPC centres organise recurrently all kind of workshops to support business owners covering all the topics mentioned about: one-of training covering start-up basics, to dedicated sessions to build a business plan, short out your marketing, learn to sale like a pro, or do market research. Additionally, if you go to the library, you can access several databases to do market research and research for grants. My recommendation is that you follow the BIPCs of your interest in Eventbrite to be aware of ongoing events. I particularly follow BIPC Bristol, BIPC British library, and BIPC London Network Events, as some can be joined online from anywhere. Each BIPC centre has its own webpage with multiple resources, including templates. Start exploring in this interactive map.

• Bristol YTKO-BrisBES provides different types of support for Bristol based business owners. They offer a training over three mornings that covers all the topics for business owners. It includes practical exercises where you get to practice your elevator pitch, describe your ideal customer/persona. They also offer: on demand online training, 121 coaching for entrepreneurs (I have not used it myself yet), and some grants. Follow YTKO-BrisBES in Eventbrite for next events or in social media. 

• Rebel business school: Unortodox approach to get anyone started with a business, even if you don´t have a business idea. Their mantra is to help anyone build a business without incurring in debt. Practical sessions that cover all the basics without spending money. Check their website for next courses. The support from the community continues in a Facebook group. 

• Enterprise Nation: Short and focus sessions organised multiple days a week about all shorts of topics can be found in their Enterprise Nation Eventbrite page.

Teachers in several of this events also offer free consultations in their areas of expertise. In my case they have been very useful:

• Totemo consulting's founder Lynn Lee was amazing in a power hour giving pieces of advice for my web, time management and finding my ideal customer. 
• Lisa Yelland coaches business women to up their sales game. In an hour with her she gave me personalised specific guidance to get me started from zero in a way that resonates with whom I am and my values. 

There are multiple opportunities. I share here some. My main advice is to choose the ones that work for you, you can't be everywhere.

• UK based business accelerators: I have personally used the one by NatWest and it is fantastic. Over 13 locations in UK, they blend co-working, training, group coaching and inspirational speakers in a 9 months programme. The programme also includes some support for legal services, business banking, discounts from Dell for technical equipment.  Link to the NatWest Entrepreneur accelerator. I recommend it 100%. It's great to build community, get expert support, accountability and learn about the great minds of UK's entrepreneur landscape. 
• Other banks and companies organised accelerators. Do research. Ask in your network.
• Virgin start up community that organizes events and offers funding opportunities. I have not used it myself. 
• Fiverr and Virgin StartUp’s run an annual Female Founders Competition. The prize for winners: a free mentorship from a successful entrepreneur and £15,000 to spend on building your business.

The following groups have been very helpful for me to join and grow as a business person

• International Association of Facilitation (IAF) socials in person and virtual. Organised in Bristol and London to cover England and Wales. Find in Eventbrite the IAF group that best works for you in your location.
• School of facilitation pods and WhatsApp group
• AI tinkerers club to discuss and learn all things AI in facilitation of workshops and trainings.
• Checking in Eventbrite for sector, role, topic of interest is a great way to find groups of interest to meet face to face or virtually.

• Multiple organisations offer mentoring services, some for free, some at a cost. 
• I got a mentor in the past from my university while I was studying.
• Professional organisations such as EMCC offer mentoring to their members
• Some professional networks offer mentors too.
• Dp you have a specific area of focus or problem? Think about someone in your network that could be your mentor for that topic and reach out.
• Several people have recommended to me https://digitalboost.org.uk to find a mentor. I have not used it yet. 

These books will help anyone in any business independently of what your service or product is. Only exception being the last one, which is best for services and less relevant for physical products.

• "Building a Story Brand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen" by Donald Miller. Companion website https://storybrand.com
• "Profit First: Transform Your Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine" by Mike Michalowicz. Companion website: https://mikemichalowicz.com/profit-first/
• "The Pumpkin Plan: A Simple Strategy to Grow a Remarkable Business in Any Field" by Mike Michalowicz. Companion website: https://pumpkinplan.com
• "Million Dollar Consulting: The Professional's Guide to Growing a Practice" by Alan Weiss. Note he releases new versions very often, get the last one for more up to date advice

Key podcast for me to get started as a business owner selling services to develop teams and individuals in organisations:

• "The rebel entrepreneur podcast"
• "School of facilitation podcast"

Many times when I want to find out about a topic I search for podcast and videos about it in Spotify and YouTube. I do this for entrepreneurship topics and also for the core skills of my business.

Some helpful tools:

• AI for profile photos https://submit.tryitonai.com/.  
• AI to generate text: I prefer Claude over ChatGPT.
• Pixabay - To download pictures I can use without copyright restrictions.
• Canva - Great templates to generate documentation, posts in LinkedIn and a freebie to share with my network. Also can be used to build a very basic website at no cost.
• Powerful tool to build a simple and good looking website free of cost  https://carrd.co
• Tidycal - To allow people to book appointments with me. I chose this as it allows payment integration without me having to pay a subscription, just one off payment. It integrates with my Google calendar.