This morning I met with my brand new Business Adviser, Richard. A jolly pleasant chap he is too. Richard managed to condense the opening spiel about the regional consolidation of the BL empire down to two whole minutes. He pointed out that what ever my previous dealings with BL may have been, now my customer journey should be an all new experience.
It is worth noting we did spend a bit of time discussing the professionalisation of the business advice industry paying particular attention to the qualification of advisers. Richard seemed to be under the impression that SFEDI assessment would see him through. Of course this is a debate that is currently running, and of particular interest to the adviser readers of this blog.
The chap was very efficient in outlaying the practicalities of three different funding options. As a budding SE, Third Sector Media should have no problems tapping into the SEBA grant discussed earlier in this blog. However, there may be a difficulty engaging in the oft quoted Business Transition grant. The number of hoops required may make the transition grant an unattractive proposition. There is however a new business development grant unlocked through membership of the e-Business club. This seems to offer capital and revenue funding up to 50%. Four half price laptops fully loaded seems worth a bit of form filling and hoop jumping to us so I shall explore and keep you all posted.
As ever, I would urge all readers of this blog to apply for the SEBA grant, we can then sped a happy six months hiring each other as bona fide SE’s whilst spending someone else’s money. What better reason to engage in a network?
Optimistic
Alan
Gone are the busy days of last week. Welcome to the even busier days of next. You may have noticed that this blog has had a recent face lift. The new image is of the Nottingham Eye. But more importantly the new name: East Midlands Social Enterprise Network.