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2011 Budget for Small Business2011 Budget for Small Business The budget has been announced and the government has made a commitment to make Britain the best place to "start, grow and finance" an enterprise. There's a reduction in company tax, an increase in entrepreneurs...

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Scary UK Income Statistics every Business Owner should knowScary UK Income Statistics every Business Owner should... Let me hit you with some amazing statistics we discovered this week … The top 5% of income earners in the UK make over 40% of the income. Just 6% of companies are creating 50% of the new jobs...

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The p-myth: that sales and marketing drives profitThe p-myth: that sales and marketing drives profit Do you know "The P Myth"? It's the myth that sales and marketing drive profit. Most entrepreneurs believe that sales and marketing drive their profit. In fact, I did too for many years up until I met...

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Become a Key Person of Influence in 5 Easy Steps Become a Key Person of Influence in 5 Easy Steps What is a "Key Person"? In any industry there are "Key People" Their names come up in conversation ... for all the right reasons They attract a lot of opportunities ... the right sort They earn...

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Kanya King MBE will be speaking at Expand Your Brand on March 20-21

Posted by Daniel Priestley | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 09-03-2010

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Would you “bet your house” on your next business idea? Not so long ago, Kanya King had an idea that she thought was worth doing just that.

She is the founder of the MOBO Awards, today it reaches an audience of 250 million people each year. Amazingly she started it from scratch just 15 years ago.

In 1996, Kanya King had a vision to create a special way to recognise Music of Black Origin (MOBO). She dreamed of a special event that could inspire people all over the world.

Kanya risked it all to start her business. She took out a loan against her house and set to work on creating the first event.

She knew that if she wanted to grow the business as big as she imagined, she would need to attract some very big name partnerships. To do that she would need to present herself in the right way…

We spent a great deal of time developing our brand policy, which ultimately allowed us to expand into our business. It’s a huge part of our prime goal and vision and has allowed us to partner with organisations including the BBC and HSBC. Hand in hand with this is the belief that the sky is the limit – we’ve always believed in the power of thinking big, there is no such thing as being too audacious with your dreams”.

Kanya’s story proves that cementing a powerful brand can be the difference between impacting thousands of people and impacting millions (upon-millions). It can be the difference between receiving a pat-on-the-back or receiving an MBE from the Queen.

Success has not dulled Kanya’s sense of social responsibility, she regularly participates in community and industry events, encouraging youth enterprise and vision wherever she can.

She will be 1 of 10 inspiring speakers at “Expand Your Brand” on March 20-21, delivering her personal story in the unique style which has inspired so many to embrace their wildest and most incredible dreams.

If you believe in creative thinking, in taking risks and making sacrifices and, above all, if you want to make 2010 the year when you turn your ambition into attainment then you cannot miss this. Book your tickets here >>>

Watch and read more on Kanya King
http://www.director.co.uk/MAGAZINE/2010/1_Jan/KanyaKing_63_05.html
http://www.femalefranchise.co.uk/Features/1296

Enhance your brand by becoming an best selling author

Posted by Daniel Priestley | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 09-03-2010

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Imagine you walk into an important meeting and the first words out of their mouth is:

“I got your book on Amazon.com and I loved it, you really know your stuff and we’re excited to be working with you”

There’s no question that you are in line to do the business and you’re not going to be arguing over price.

Having a published book is just one way to enhance your personal brand and it’s not as difficult as you think.

Just ask Mindy Gibbins-Klien. She is a best selling author who has also helped over 300 people to write, publish and distribute their book.

Mindy Gibbins-Klein knows that every single person has unique experiences and these unique experiences can form the basis of a great book. The truth is, you have a great book inside you waiting to be written.

Mindy has developed a method to get it written fast and she has the contacts to get it published easily … she even knows how to get it selling quickly.

Mindy knows that whether your book is a NY Times #1 Best-seller or not, it adds a massive premium to your value. Instantly you become the recognised expert in your field and a valuable person to have around.

Mindy Gibbins-Klien is just 1 of the 10 speakers you will experience at “Expand Your Brand” on March 20-21. Her story won’t just be inspirational, she will be sharing exactly what you should be doing to have your book up on Amazon before September 2010.

If building your personal brand is important to you, don’t miss out on tickets to this event:
ttp://www.triumphantevents.co.uk/?unlock=1348-f4vnzqd3gzuw85qh3dc9tpm8

Watch Mindy Gibbins-Klein on YouTube

Taking a £20Million holiday.

Posted by Daniel Priestley | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 03-03-2010

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Wouldn’t a nice long holiday be great? Especially if it turned out to be worth a whopping £20Million!

For Deirdre Bounds that is exactly what happened. After taking time out to do a gap year holiday she arrived back to England without a penny in the middle of winter.

Stuck in Leads, sharing a tiny bed-sit apartment, Deirdre couldn’t stop thinking about how wonderful it was to be free in the big wide world, and how terrible it was to be stuck freezing Midlands.

So she started i-to-i Travel, a business she hoped would encourage a few teenager to travel abroad on the best gap year holiday ever.

Deirdre was starting with nothing, but she imagined her brand would one day be the market leader in “ethical travel”.

Ten years later, Deirdre’s company had offices on 4 continents and was the biggest Gap Year Travel Business in the world… And her share was valued at £20Million!

i-to-i was sending tens of thousands of teenagers around the world teaching english, building schools, working in wildlife parks and supporting charities.

In just 10 years, Deirdre Bounds had started with nothing more than an idea and ended up setting thousands of teenagers free in the world.

Creating a powerful brand doesn’t just make you rich, it can also make the world richer and for that reason alone it’s worth getting right.

Dierdre Bounds is just 1 of the 10 speakers you will experience at “Expand Your Brand” on March 20-21. You won’t need to travel to Africa, it’s happening right here in London and tickets are half price through this link (note: only 8 tickets are left at £59 and they are due to increase tomorrow):
http://www.triumphantevents.co.uk/?unlock=1348-f4vnzqd3gzuw85qh3dc9tpm8

Deirdre Bound’s story isn’t just inspirational, she will be slowing it down and giving the exact things she did in the early days that enabled her to expand so rapidly. You simply won’t want to miss her presentation. Register today >>>

Find out more … Watch Deirdre Bounds on YouTube

Introducing you to Dan Wagner

Posted by Daniel Priestley | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 02-03-2010

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Today’s sunny weather in London reminds me that no winter lasts forever. It’s always followed by the new blossoms of Spring.

No recession lasts forever either. Tough times are always followed by periods of growth where small businesses have big opportunities.

Take a look at Dan Wagner (see Wiki article), he founded his first company in 1984 when unemployment had hit 11.9%. The country had felt the effects of 4 years of a terrible economy.

In 1984, Dan’s company was little more than a good idea but by 1994 he had floated it on the London Stock Exchange for £120m (he was just 30 years old!).

Dan went on to do business with some of the biggest brands in the world – Microsoft, BT and IBM to name a few.

He also got a listing on The Times Rich List and recognised by the Prime Minister as one of the UK’s most innovative entrepreneurs.

Through all the fast growth Dan was known for his dynamic personal brand and his ability to attract the biggest companies in the world to do business with him.

Today he has ecommerce solutions provider, Venda Ltd, which is helping to expand some of the biggest businesses in the UK on the web (Tesco, De Beers, Jimmy Choo, JVC and more). Best of all, Dan is secretly more passionate about helping small businesses to expand their brands and his talk will share the very best strategies he’s developed.

Dan Wagner will share with you his very best experiences on doing business with big businesses and how to make your small business blossom this Spring.

Dan is just 1 of the 10 speakers you will experience at “Expand Your Brand” on March 20-21. Limited tickets available for £59 … book now before tickets increase:
http://www.triumphantevents.co.uk/?unlock=1348-f4vnzqd3gzuw85qh3dc9tpm8

Read more on Dan Wagner >>>

The harshest critics helped make a billion pound brand.

Posted by Daniel Priestley | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 01-03-2010

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In 1998, Mike Harris had an idea for an “Internet Only Bank”. He figured that the internet could be a great place to do your banking without having to go into a branch and see a teller.

But it wasn’t received well, not even by his closest advisor. Mike’s wife Sue joined the opposition “The internet will never work for banking, it’s slow, unreliable and impersonal.” she said.

Rather than getting discouraged, Mike used her feedback to help construct the “Egg Brand Promise”.

Mike realised that Egg had to be known as fast, reliable, friendly and personal if it was going to make sense for customers.

It was the critics who actually helped Mike to build the worlds first internet bank and get it right. Egg grew from nothing to a valuation of £1.3Billion in just 3 years.

Mike Harris has built 3 multi-billion pound businesses in his career and each time he says that it was vital to get the brand right before the growth and success could occur.

When he takes the stage at “Expand Your Brand” he will be sharing the three key ideas that has led to billions of pounds in value that started as nothing more than an idea.

Mike is one of 10 speakers at “Expand Your Brand” who has achieved staggering success and who wants to share the key things he learned along the way.

At this event you will also be hearing from a man who has created over 150 “brand enhancing” products, a woman who’s brand goes out to 250M people a year now, a 19 year old who’s sold 50,000+ books and a woman who built a £20M business starting with nothing more than her frustrations. Click here to find out more >>>

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