This was well worth waiting for!  Superb article on Steve McCulley of LIOS Bikes and how he created the business with a little help from Heropreneurs.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/connect/small-business/steve-mcculley-came-to-terms-dying-trench-in-afghanistan/

All too many veterans find leaving the Armed Forces, and returning to civvy street, a huge struggle due to physical injuries and mental health issues.  This may result in homelessness, unemployment, family breakdown, and a dramatic deterioration in their well-being. The Veterans’ Foundation is a charity that was created to raise funds for military-related charities and other organisations that do excellent and effective work in helping veterans in need.  This Heropreneurs Award category seeks to recognise an individual in civvy street, or a business, that has given outstanding help to such veterans.

Nominees of the Veterans’ Foundation Award must be an individual who is a civilian (not necessarily from a military background), a former member of the Armed Services, or a UK business.  The winner of this Award will receive the prize of a grant of £10,000 from the Veterans’ Foundation to be given to the charity that the winner runs or works for, or the charity of their choice provided that it helps Armed Forces’ people in need and is approved by the Board of the Veterans’ Foundation.

People can be nominated for this Award by applying here.

The Heropreneurs Awards is a new initiative created to celebrate the achievements of ex-Armed Forces personnel in business.  It is run by Heropreneurs, a charity created in 2009, that helps ex-Armed Forces personnel and their dependants on the road to creating their own businesses.  The Awards are run in association with The Telegraph and the Warwick Business School, and with support from the Ministry of Defence.

Peter Mountford, the Chairman of Heropreneurs, was recently interviewed by Richard Hatch and Verity Geere on BFBS Radio’s Forces Breakfast Show about the Heropreneurs Awards.  You can listen to the interview here:

In this month’s guest blog post, Peter Starbuck sets out the founding steps for any new business venture. Read the piece below and feel free to digest and share on your own website or social media accounts.

All new ventures, whether they are businesses of not-for-profit organisations need what used to be called ‘a business plan’, which is now called a strategy.

This is because as little as 50 years ago management meant business for profit. Now management is an essential part of our lives. The first is the basic idea, which is the inspiration to create the organisation.

It is the purpose – the ‘Why’ question? The second is research to determine if there is a market demand for the proposed project, which may be a product or a service or a combination of both.

The research may throw-up a range of answer that may include the need for a better product than exists, which may be more complex and sophisticated, or more surprisingly, more simple.

Also revealed may be the demand for something that the customer has not realised they require, be it a new product or service. It could be new access by different forms of delivery, which includes gaining access to previously inaccessible countries of the world.

The next action is to answer the question what are the resources needed: human, material, and capital to produce the product or service. This leads to the questions are they affordable? And if they are not readily available how can they be made so?

With the resources in place and the support required, a start can be made as the final mechanics of performing management can be implemented. This is when the plan is organised into action with the necessary controls to measure essential performance.

Always to be remembers is the essentiality of integration to keep the function in balance.

Sales traditionally the description was ‘sales and marketing’, which were lumped together as the majority incorrect view was that the sales would look after themselves.

Generally so little was known about sales and marketing that they were labelled in the wrong order as marketing is the preparation to make sales work.

Fortunately, through observing the best performers in sales, such as IBM and Unilever, it has been recognised as the essential dynamic force by converting the output effort into cash.

Cash is as essential to the organisation as blood is to bodies. For as without it, the body dies. It has been correctly observed that organisations can make losses several times and survive, yet it can only run out of cash once.

About Peter Starbuck

Starting his career as a quantity surveyor while completing National Service in the Royal Engineers, Peter is now a Visiting Research Fellow to The Open University Business School and a Researcher and Contributor on Management to the British Library. 

He holds fellowships with the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, the Chartered Institute of Building and the Chartered Management Institute.

Other notable positions include: Peter StarbuckFounding Visiting Professor, University Centre Shrewsbury Visiting Professor, University of Chester Visiting Research Fellow, The Open University Business School Researcher and Contributor to the British Library, Alma Mater: The Open University Business School Subject Matter Expert, Chartered Management Institute.

Find out more by visiting his site http://www.starbuckonmanagement.co.uk

In this week’s blog post, Jess Sands talks us through her experience as a military spouse, business woman and her first experience at a Heropreneurs networking event:

“We’ve just been posted from RAF Brize Norton, where I enjoyed the some productive and incredibly successful networking through The Oxfordshire Project and I missed my local business friends. So when I spotted Heropreneurs networking I thought I would give it a try.

Now, as a military wife I am often exposed to the ‘other half’, that being the serving personnel – male or female. They come in various shapes and sizes but have a few things in common. They usually have a short back and sides, they often talk in acronyms and they are very rarely seen out of chinos and a freshly ironed blue shirt. So when I walked into the conference room of the RAF Club for my first Heropreneurs networking talk I was expecting something similar. What I was greeted with couldn’t have been more different.

First, let me tell you about Heropreneurs. Primarily set up for recent Armed Forces leavers and veterans, Heropreneurs is a charity and social enterprise that provides business advice and support. I’d originally heard about them through my work with Forces Enterprise Network. They provide workshops, mentoring, and networking and unit talks from business leaders throughout the country, many with established businesses and a military link.

I cannot tell a lie. I was expecting it to be a bit of a boy’s club. I’ve been to far too many business networking events with middle aged men in suits and ties looking very wary of a young female business owner.

I have also spent too many mess functions with similarly thinking sorts of men, not sure how to place me….to be honest I wasn’t expecting to get much.

What I actually found was an open minded group of genuinely interesting professionals, some of which were veterans and others have no service background at all but with an interest in supporting the military.

They were keen to find out about my company and how they could help after our recent posting to North London and were curious about my work with both FEN, FEN HUB (with Recruit for Spouces and Evolution Forces Families) and the Supporting the Unsung Hero Start-Up Business Course.

The evening began with some informal networking (and lovely RAF wine), and was followed by a fascinating talk from a young veteran about his successful business he has launched since leaving the Army (http://thegoodrubbishcompany.co.uk/). After a quick Q&A we had our round table elevator pitches and I was met with sincere interest and a little bit of surprise.

I was the only spouse there that evening, and although I know a lot about military way, the hurdles that I faced for my business were different to the majority of previous attendees.

I spoke of our struggle to find employment every two years after a new employer sees a patchy CV. I mentioned how difficult it was running a household, a business and a family during yet another detachment, and the joys of a posting and losing clients.

I think it struck a chord and I hope that a few went home to talk to their other halves about their careers and the possibilities out there for the ‘trailing spouse’.

I am not sure that they knew about our amazing spouse network, but I promised to bring some more of ‘us’ next time.”

About the author:

“Jess Sands is the founder and senior designer at Design • Jessica, where businesses come for stand-out design and marketing literature.

Since graduating with BA(Hons) Jess has worked for the last ten years with major companies such as Oxford University Press, Disney and Marks & Spencer. Now, as a military spouse of a current serving RAF officer Jess has diversified into designing for the military community, working with companies such as Forces Enterprise Network, The Army Widow’s Association and the RAF Benevolent Fund using her special knowledge of the military.

As brand specialists, businesses specifically commission Design • Jessica to set them apart from their competitors and appeal directly to their client base.”