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Duport is celebrating the incorporation of its 5,000th business with the opening of a new coffee shop in Frome.

The Nine Bar Coffee Shop, in Catherine’s Hill, was set up by Chris Heath.

Duport was called in to handle the company formation by accountants Burton Sweet.

Chris, who also runs Weston Innovations Ltd, manufacturers of self-adhesive label stock, says the Nine Bar Coffee Shop will be a family affair, involving both his wife and daughter. The coffee shop will specialise in high-quality coffee, and will become a place for people to catch their breath after the walk up Catherine Hill, as well as to survey the beauty of Frome’s conservation area.

Going the extra mile

‘ I like good value for money,’ says Bob Knight of Xensis Ltd. ‘When setting up my first company in 2000, I looked around for a company which would provide the basic company set-up service, rather than use expensive solicitors or accountants. I found Duport on the web and used them to set up Xensis Ltd, which they did in a fast and professional manner.’

Insight # 1: ‘Following the set-up, Duport offered guidance over and above what I had paid for. Since then I’ve recommended them to a few friends who have been very pleased with the service.’

Xensis is an independent software company based in Cheshire. It develops software to manage intellectual property. The software helps file patents and other types of intellectual property with patent offices around the world. The software also helps companies manage trade marks and domain names.

Originally the software was developed for use by large corporations in the US and Europe. Now Xensis has adapted this software for the SME market. ‘We now offer a range of intellectual property management programs that are reliable, secure and also, as important for growing companies, scalable,’ comments Bob. The software starts at £495 for a single user.

Insight # 2: ‘I started up another company in 2002 and had no hesitation in using Duport again - and to my surprise the service had got even better. They now issue a bound document containing all of the request documents and step-by-step explanation. They are a cost effective, efficient and helpful company with no hidden extras.’

Insight # 3: ‘Six months following the company set-up, I asked Duport a question about registering more shares, and again they went out of their way to help. You can’t ask for more than that!’

Duport is shaping the future of company formation, just as Xensis is shaping the way forward for intellectual property management.

Contact details:
Bob Knight, Xensis Ltd
www.xensis.com

If you would like information on setting up a company or a website for your business, click here or contact Derrick Phillips on 0117 330 8910.

How to create a vision that propels your business forward

Are you so busy you haven’t even got time to think about next week, let alone next month or next year? It’s the plight of many managers and business owners. The trouble is, unless you dare to dream it’s never going to get better.

Visionary businesses often have bold missions. These can also be called BHAGs, Big Hairy Audacious Goals.
Stimulating progress
A BHAG is a powerful mechanism to stimulate progress. Most businesses have goals, but there is a difference between merely having a goal and becoming committed to a huge, daunting challenge.

In the 1960s, President Kennedy didn’t just have a goal to ‘do a bit more in space’. Despite there being a less than 50:50 belief in putting a man on the moon, in 1961, he still declared ‘that this nation shall commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning safely to earth’.

At the time this statement was outrageous. It was a BHAG – and what a BHAG does is provide a unifying focal point of effort, often creating tremendous team spirit.
A BHAG engages people – it reaches out and engages their emotions. It is tangible, energising and exciting; it has a clear finishing line. As the goal becomes the focal point, so the leader becomes less important.
How other people use them
BHAGs are particularly well-suited to large and small companies alike, and even departmental managers.

• Sam Walton’s BHAG was to make his first dime store the most successful in Arkansas within five years. It later became Wal-Mart.
• Tom Watson Snr’s goal was to transform his tiny one-building company into the International Business Machines Corporation – now IBM.
Case study
KJ Printing Systems was a small printing firm. Lacking clarity about the future, KJ worked through the process of developing a BHAG. The results are as follows.
Core purpose:
• To make it hassle-free for advertisers and their agencies to get superb quality print advertisements on their hoardings.
Core values:
• Customer-led.
• State-of-the-art technology.
• Dedicated.
• Professional.
• Growing profit.
BHAG:
• To create a reputation for quality and reliability such that 70% of advertising agencies actually stipulate that they want KJ to print the advert (to be achieved within three years). To be known as the only printer worth working with. To be the leader of the pack, proven by awards.

Picture the scene… it is ten years hence. We are in the car park at KJ – there is a series of company cars ahead of us – convertible Saabs, the new BMW sports. We enter through the glass double-doors. The ground floor is a hive of activity. It is a high-ceilinged hallway that has hoardings adorning its walls. It is like a church dedicated to the art of tasteful persuasion. You would never know that behind this room dedicated to style is a printing works. Young designers with portfolio cases are engaged in passionate conversation with print managers…
Action point
Do you have a Big Hairy Audacious Goal – or do you have dull, uninspiring goals like ‘do better than last year’? Where’s the passion and excitement in that? Rewrite your vision until it is a BHAG – this, in turn, will inspire you to rewrite your mission and will affect your strategy.

• What is your core purpose?
• What are your core values?
• What is your BHAG?

Now write down a brief, vivid description of your BHAG.

• Is it clear?
• Is it compelling?
• Does it require little explanation? It shouldn’t.
• Is it a goal (rather than a statement)?
• Does it get people’s juices going?
• Is it outside the comfort zone? It should be.

Who’s to say you shouldn’t be the next Sam Walton? But you have to dare to dream…

Robert Craven
Contact
Robert Craven is author of Kick-Start Your Business – 100 Days to a Leaner, Fitter Organisation, published by Virgin Publishing. He is one of the UK’s leading marketing consultants, and also specialises in mentoring. T: 01225 851 044. rc@robert-craven.com
www.robert-craven.com

Rent reduced for disability access work

You may be able to get rent on your business premises reduced to help you pay for the cost of complying with the Disability Discrimination Act.

Donaldsons, property consultants, represented tenants in three recent rent review arbitration cases. The outcome was that the landlord was made to reduce the rent to take into consideration the cost to the tenant for work to help the building comply with the DDA.

Employers in phone ban alert

The new ban on the use of mobile phones when driving could prove expensive for employers who don’t explain the law to employees.

The warning comes from commercial law firm Beachcroft Wansbroughs in response to the new law, which takes effect from December 1.

Anyone using a hand-held phone or device when driving will risk a £1,000 fine – but any employer who requires allows an employee to breach the regulations could also be fined.

This will clearly implicate employers requiring employees to make business calls on the road, but could also mean that employers who fail to forbid such an act are also exposed to prosecution.

‘Employers must act now – or face the potential consequences,’ warns Rachael Heenan, Associate with Beachcroft Wansbroughs’ national Employment practice. ‘They must carry out risk assessments, introduce clear policies on the use of mobile phones when driving and communicate these rapidly.’

Warning over gay discrimination

A legal expert is warning every business to prepare for new anti-discrimination laws or risk facing costly claims.

The comments, from Sue Morrison, head of employment law at the Manchester office of Mace & Jones, follow revelations in a survey that 57% of companies were not fully prepared for the new laws.

The Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003 and the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003 come into force at the beginning of December.

Under the new regulations, any discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, religion or belief will be illegal in the same way as race, sex or disability discrimination.

Sue commented: ‘Companies need to ensure they have comprehensive harassment, bullying and equal opportunities policies, covering the requirements of all the relevant legislation.

‘Company policies must state that any action not in accordance with these rules will not be tolerated and could be a disciplinary offence. They must also set out the form of redress a worker can take if they wish to make a complaint.’

For more details, visit www.dti.gov.uk/er/equality/eeregs.htm

Business rates: paying too much?
Every business must pay business rates. But according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), many people may be paying too much.

So RICS has launched a Business Rates helpline, which offers free advice to businesses across the UK. 0870 333 1600.

Date a new business partner!

A new ‘dating’ service has been launched to help entrepreneurs find people to get involved with their business.

‘All the books and expert advice is about writing business plans and raising finance – but they’re missing the fundamental point,’ said Lawrence Gilbert, director of Company Partners.

‘Yes, you’ve got to plan well, but more basically you have to just get on and do it. It can be very daunting to start off all on your own. However, with a colleague, perhaps with complementary skills to your own, you can try out ideas and generally motivate each other.

‘Without that mutual support, many good ideas that people have will unfortunately fall by the wayside.’

Company Partners is hoping to set this right by launching an Internet matching service. When you go to the website, you can register for free, post your details and search the site for other people or existing small businesses that meet your particular needs.

A monthly fee is charged when you convert to a full member to get all the contact details and use the extended matching capabilities.

There is also the opportunity for investors to search the database of the prospective entrepreneurs while keeping their own details private should they wish.

‘It’s a bit like a dating agency for those wanting to get their business going,’ said Lawrence. ‘I really believe it will make all the difference.’

For more information, visit www.companypartners.com