As the profile of my business grows and through doing various talks and seminars I have seen a big increase in the number of people contacting me for advice and assistance with their own business ventures.

What strikes me though is the return to the dot com bubble way of thinking. People are basically coming up with a simple idea for a web based service or application and valuing it way to high.

I think this spawns from services such as Twitter which are setup, make virtually no money and are purely funded through investment money with the hope that one day in the future they will start to make money.

However Twitter has something most of the business ideas I hear about hasn't... it has an established network of users. It is the users which are valuable, the twitter service itself isn't.

Why isn't it? Well any programmer could replicate the functionality of twitter in just a few days, so the value isnt in the software or the website, its in the users.

Many people don't get this, and they basically build a system which may be very nice but is pretty much worthless without any users on it.

Ive spoke to people who believe that their idea is already worth £200,000 even though it has no users, no income and could be replicated by any development team in a matter of weeks.

When I originally setup ekmPowershop.com it took me years to get it off the ground, that was probably because I was doing something quite unique in today's world of web based applications... trying to make money!

The focus today it seems is to come up with a idea for a web based application and get investment money rather than to try and generate money from the users.

Fair enough if the idea is revolutionary and needs to get to market as soon as possible to stop any competitors the investment route might be the best option. But for the majority of ideas I have seen don't need that route at all.

I think we can already see another dot com bubble inflating and it will pop and again everyone will be reminded that all these great ideas for online businesses need to go back to basics... generating profit!

Talented entrepreneur Antony Chesworth, 29 based in Darwen, celebrated national success this week at the Enterprising Young Brits awards for his business ekmPowershop.com.

Antony scooped the highly acclaimed award from Lord Peter Mandelson at the Institute of Directors, which was attended by some of the UK's top business people. The competition is open to entrepreneurs who have made their idea happen in a new, innovative or inspiring way.

The award was presented in style by Lord Peter Mandelson, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills. It was Lord Mandelson’s first appearance since parliament dissolved for the run up to the General Election. 

Antony set up ekmPowershop.com in 2002 whilst unemployed. He ran up huge credit card debts to get his business going against all odds. His company which enables people to build their own online shop is now worth in excess of £20 million pounds. ekmPowershop.com is now the market leader in UK ecommerce, powering 1 in every 5 online shops in the UK.

Commenting on his achievement, Antony said: “The whole essence of ekmPowershop.com is to enable people to set up their own online business.  Winning the Enterprising Young Brit award is an honour and it shows that with drive, ambition and a bit of perseverance anyone can succeed.”

Lord Mandelson, Business Secretary of the State comments: “Despite the toughest economic conditions we have known for the past decades, this year’s competition has received a record number of entries. That says something about enterprise and about the young people who are committed to enterprise in this country.”

Antony will now become an Enterprise UK Ambassador. As an Ambassador for the organisation, Antony will network with some of the UK’s top entrepreneurs and help inspire the next generation of Peter Jones and Alan Sugars.

A talented young entrepreneur will be flying the flag for Lancashire after making it through the final of the national Enterprising Young Brits competition, and local people are being given the opportunity to back him in an online public vote.

Antony Chesworth has been named as a finalist for his Darwen-based Ekm Systems Ltd, an internet service provider whose main product ekmPowershop.com provides ecommerce facilities to one out of every five online shops in the UK. He will now pitch to a panel of judges at the final, due to be held at the prestigious Institute of Directors in London on 30 March 2010. In addition, the public can choose the winner of the coveted People’s Choice award in an online vote, open from Tuesday 23 March at www.enterpriseuk.org/youngbrits.

Commenting on his achievement, Mr. Chesworth said: “Reaching the final of such a prestigious enterprise competition is really encouraging. I know I’ll be up against some tough competition at the final, but I’ll certainly do my very best to bring an Enterprising Young Brit award back to Darwen”

Enterprising Young Brits shines the spotlight on talented young people who are bucking the recession by seizing opportunities to turn their ideas into successful businesses, generating jobs and wealth within their communities. Run by Enterprise UK and supported by the Institute of Directors, the Daily Mail, and the Department for Business, Innovation, and Skills, the competition highlights that age is no barrier to turning ideas into reality.

Scott Cain, Deputy Chief Executive of Enterprise UK, comments: “Enterprising Young Brits such as Antony have shown that age is no barrier to entrepreneurial success. I’d encourage people of any age to take inspiration from the finalists’ ideas and their can-do spirit. With so many talented young business brains competing this year, it’s sure to be an exciting final.”

This year’s 25 finalists are split over five categories:

·         New startup – For enterprising individuals who have started their own business, large or small, within the past three years.

·         Social, ethical or environmental – For ventures combining the principles of a successful business with an emphasis on the social, ethical or environmental benefits it can provide.

·         Teen – For anybody aged 13-19 who is making their enterprising idea happen.

·         Creative – Rewarding enterprising individuals in the creative industries such as fashion, music, design, or the arts.

·         Open category – Entrants who business did not immediately fit into one of the four categories above were welcome to enter the Open category.

The winner of each category will take home £1,000 and a trophy.

Photograph shows Antony Chesworth 
(Hi-Res Version at http://www.antonychesworth.co.uk/page/Photos.aspx)

For more information please contact Steven Hickey at Ekm Systems Ltd at stevenhickey@ekmsystems.co.uk or 0871 230 7116.

Press Release:

ekmPowershop.com, the UK’s leading shopping cart provider surveyed over 6000 online shops in the run up to Christmas 2009. The biggest independent survey of its kind in the UK found that independent retailers are growing more resilient against the perceived clout of the ‘retail giants’. 

Most of the headlines were rather predictably grabbed by the bigger retailers like Play.com, Amazon and John Lewis, but what about the SMES? They are the heart and soul of the British economy and employ the bulk of our population. Independent businesses are thriving online as our studies show. 

Across the board, merchants have seen an increase on last Christmas (2008) in the region of 23%. That’s solid proof that despite the recession, retailers can still grow their businesses by diversifying through online channels. It’s also an encouraging sign of consumer confidence picking back up as we start to loosen the purse strings. 

Steven Hickey, Head of Commercial Development at ekmPowershop.com reflects on the biggest annual survey for online retail in the SME sector – one which the online retail industry looks forward to every year:

“As a hosted platform with more merchants than any other company in the industry, we can query our servers and get live, accurate data like no other provider can. The stats we produce are used by both the hosting and payment service providers as a glimpse at the coming 12 months and any changes or shifts in buying patterns we may be in for. At the moment the big shift seems to be in value based purchases; as people shop around for the best price and make a more considered purchase with their diminished funds compared to 2 years ago before the recession set in. Stocking hard to find products and offering a more personal level of Customer Care also seems to be a big advantage for the smaller online businesses.”

Caroline Rutter from online retailer www.PrettyCool.co.uk comments on how smaller retailers have greater flexibility which gives them a competitive edge over the retail giants:

“We have many, many products that the retail giants only stock when they see shops like ours selling weeks before hand. For instance, our bendy necklaces have been on our site for two years and we sell many each week, but you will not see them on the retail giant sites”.

Stocking hard to find items and offering a more personal touch makes smaller online shopping websites a more popular choice than in previous years. As they develop over time it seems as though things will only get better too. 

Sarah Burns from online jewellery retailer www.Jewellery2clear.co.uk observes how her business competes with the major retail brands online: “It is possible for smaller companies to compete if they rank high enough within the major search engines, and can provide diverse products at the right price. Such a service that can in many respects be better than larger organisations”.

Even industries where we might expect there to be a downturn over winter months such as swimwear and swimming equipment have felt the surge online this Christmas. Carla Lloyd from www.FunSwimShop.co.uk added:

“The online environment does create more of a level playing field for retailers, smaller companies can compete if they offer products people want and invest time and money optimising their site for the search engines. Orders are up 100% on this period last year.” 

Antony Chesworth, Managing Director of Ekm Systems Ltd has seen the year on year growth of independent online retail since he created ekmPowershop.com eight years ago: 

“"We see too much emphasis given to the giants of the retail sector both online and offline, when year on year we see how small independent businesses with small budgets win big by having their own online shop. Many of these small independents today will become the giants of tomorrow."

Full Press Release at http://www.sourcewire.com/releases/rel_display.php?relid=52809

In recent years, ‘Cyber’ or ‘Mega Monday’ has been coined by the online retail industry as the busiest online shopping day of the year.

This year it seems to have fallen early – before the advent month of December had even started.

So are we all buying presents a tad early this year? Or are we in for a bigger Monday in December? Last year’s busiest day fell on Monday 8th December in the UK.

Industry analysts are already counting the pennies spent, and have blown the whistle a week early in declaring this year’s Cyber Monday as the 30th November – with Visa estimating around £300m being spent online.

According to ecommerce software provider ekmPowershop.com, a survey of over 6,000 online shops revealed that online spending is up on last year by around 21.3% in the independent retail sector.

Antony Chesworth, Managing Director of ekmPowershop.com comments “We have seen another year of increased spending in the online sector. Despite the recession and businesses closing due to the climate around them, consumers still seem to be increasing their online spends. The perceived savings offered by online retailers over the high street is proving to have counteracted the impact of the recession for online retailers in general. Some are still facing the challenges of the economic downturn, as despite year on year growth in demand; supply chain failure is now becoming a more prominent issue. The continued rise in demand pitted against issues of supply seems to be the biggest challenge for the online sector over the next 12 months in the UK. ”

To put the level of year on year growth, and popularity of online shopping into perspective: John Lewis actually recorded bigger sales in one day last month (November 22 2009), than on Cyber Monday last year (the biggest day of 2008). Could they be in for an even bigger Monday in the December weeks to come? Along with the rest of the online community, they will be hoping, and probably projecting ‘Yes’.

Steal from the rich and give to the poor. The current taxation system in this country is all wrong for entrepreneurs.

You spend all your time building up a business, creating wealth, creating jobs, creating a future for the country and how are you rewarded? By having your hard earned money taken away from you in every single possible way from corporation tax, personal tax, capital gains tax, employers national insurance etc… etc….

Sure everyone is taxed and most people (although they may say they don’t) will probably agree that tax is a good thing, it after all pays for our country, our schools, our health service etc… the things that are important to us.

However anyone who has ever done maths at school will have been taught about percentages and how 20% of a little is a little and likewise 20% of a lot is a lot…. So if you're earning a low wage your 20% tax is relatively low and fair… if you're earning a large wage 20% tax is considerably more however it's fair because you're paying the same percentage.

The system whereby the more you earn the higher the tax percentage is just isn’t fair, nor does it encourage the majority of people to go out and create wealth. You're better off in a lot of cases if you just stay at home watching Jeremy Kyle having children because you not only get a free house but you can also claim for "essentials" such as cigarettes and sky+ HD.

Creating wealth just means that at some stage you will not just have 20% taken off you but 50%. Is that a reward for setting up a business? Is that a reward for employing people?

Taxes should be on things we as a country don’t want or things that cost the country money, so for example higher taxes on cigarettes, alcohol even fatty foods… if you choose to spend your money on these things then fair enough you can pay tax, however people with jobs and especially those with their own businesses employing people should be rewarded by lower tax schemes.

Don’t get me started on the real taxation in this country because as we know it’s a damn sight higher than 50% when you account for VAT, fuel duty and the hundreds of other stealth taxes.

With the new 50% tax bracket all that will happen is successful entrepreneurs will look to move out of the country and/or setup offices and homes abroad.