SPower started this topic @ 10:14 on 24/04/2006
I wanted to start a thread gaining people's opinion on Business Link:
Have you used them?
What service did you use them for?
How efficient were they?
What is your opinion, and has this changed since your engagement with them?
Thanks in advance.
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Sean Power
www.quadrigamotivation.co.uk
http://startup-it-security.blogspot.com/
"What I do today is important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it."
RE: Business Link
just.b | 24/04/2006 10:25 AM
I only saw them once about an idea to open a shop. I didn't have a business plan, and basically his advice revolved around How to do a Business Plan!
He gave me some great tips and hand-outs though and I would definitely use them again.
But I haven't gone forward with the idea (funding...) - so the info is buried in a drawer... whilst I grow my online business.
RE: Business Link
Phil Rees | 24/04/2006 05:41 PM
I must admit with all my encounters with business link there advice has been invaluble, direct and truthfull.
I would recomend anyone starting in business to utilise every business service you can where free or low cost advice is available and these guys certainly can point you in the right direction
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Philip Rees - Considering entering startups 2008 
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WWW.RESULTEUROPE.COM - 0870 896 4631
THE FRONTLINE FOR SALES AND MARKETING
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RE: Business Link
Zest4.biz | 24/04/2006 06:20 PM
Great for sign posting you to other sources of help but not very good at helping build a business in my experience. They seem to vary so considerably probably the best way forward is to try your own and see how you feel about the advice given. Our advisor on business set up was very good at giving leaflets and pushing services of others but knew next to nothing about the marketing business.
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Emma Thorpe
Zest
Carrington Business Park
Carrington
Manchester
M31 4XL
T 0161 775 1669
RE: Business Link
kingers | 26/04/2006 01:08 PM
The quality of advice available to small businesses varies greatly, and this applies to Business Link as much to anybody.
As has already been mentioned, they can be useful for signposting you to other sources of information. But the anecdotal evidence I have encountered suggests they tend to think in very orthodox, textbook ways which are not always appropriate to entrepreneurial ventures.
I have also met a number of people who have found them very defeatist (the great British “no, it can’t be done” attitude) and they have little idea about bootstrapping a startup.
The acid test is whether or not your advisor (Business Link, high street bank, or whatever) has ever run a business of their own – and by that I mean something more than a small consultancy telling other people how to run a business. It is a fairly reliable generalisation that those who have never run their own business have no real idea what it’s like. Would you expect a professor of brain surgery not to be a competent brain surgeon? How would you feel if your driving instructor had never driven a car?
And if I can indulge in a quick plug for myself, the very first episode of the Mind Your Own Business podcast discussed this topic in depth. All the shows are free to download from www.myobpood.com.
Guy Kingston
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Mind Your Own Business Podcast - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast
www.myobpod.com">href="http://www.myobpod.com">www.myobpod.com