140 ideas in one afternoon

How absolutely fabulous was the weather today? Even though I got to spend most of it bouncing along on a train and the tube, the latter half was fertile with creativity and interesting conversation.

8 individual business owners, including a posse of Serco employees were joined together to discuss ways in which the government funded Businesslink website might be improved for UK business owners and new start-ups seeking help. Cool.

This was the second meet up (first meeting blogged here), and the pressure was on for us to brain storm a plethora of ideas, that our hosts could then gather-up. Once distilled, the results were going to be considered for entry into the already 'bursting at the seams' website, or may even kick-start the process of a structural change.

To begin with, it is an excellent website from a fledgling business point of view. Let's make no bones about it, this website is a treasure trove of business how to's, but also it is an exceedingly tough read. For those who have enough time and energy to plough through the information - awaits a large amount of knowledge through professionally written articles. It was mentioned during the workshop that a line must be drawn under how much information is required to be pushed upon us from the government, and how much is simply made available for us to explore at our leisure. My opinion is that you do not know what to look for unless you know what it is that you are supposed to be looking for - and shock horror,  not all of us can find the time to learn for learnings sake.

Part of the problem is that there are way too many info-avenues out there and it is hard to know where to start. If Businesslink is aiming to be the first and only stop for UK business owners who need to know more about regulations, then surely the following question has to be answered first. How do we skill ourselves up in a world jammed pack full of information cul-de-sacs and  data fatigue? The way I see it is that, firstly we have to admit that we need to continue the learning. Next step is to focus on a healthy rate of exposure and focus on what we need first. Somewhere in between we have to learn to enjoy the experience too. Very important. Can Businesslink solve this for us?

I believe that it can.

So watch out for the website - as hopefully, an essential tool for business owners... may well be changing, for the better.


Engine[er]

N.B. Today's weather was abysmal (Sunday 4th), so sorry for mentioning the great weather in London on Friday

Location:New Bridge St,City of London,United Kingdom