05 June 2014
What’s new on… COBRA for business start-ups
One of the resources we provide here at the British Library Business & IP Centre is free access to a number of business and intellectual property databases; helping entrepreneurs and businesses to research trends, markets and companies, and to utilise and protect their IP. If you’ve ever wondered what the market trends are in a particular industry, how to write a business plan, or where to search for trademark registrations, then you can use our databases to find out. The databases are regularly updated and in a monthly blog series, we take a look at what’s new.
This month, we look at the COBRA database (or, to give it its full name, the ‘Complete Business Reference Advisor’), which is probably one of our best-used resources. COBRA is essentially an online encyclopaedia of practical information for starting, running and managing a small business and includes over 4,000 fact sheets and local area profiles. It’s often the first stop for entrepreneurs looking at setting up their business, as it provides lots of helpful hints for start-ups and is very easy to search. COBRA is accessible from the Business & IP Centre reading room, and best of all you can also download up to 10 reports from the database per day.
One of the things that makes COBRA particularly useful is that it provides a very comprehensive amount of information, covering a wide variety of industries - from the global to the niche. For instance, in this month’s updates, we have profiles on business areas ranging from Hotels, to Health and Safety Regulations, to House Sitters (not to mention Goth Clothing Shops, which we like to think is in honour of National Goth Day last week...)
Our update starts with a look at the latest Business Opportunity Profiles (BOPs), which summarise the opportunities and requirements for a particular industry or business area. The profiles outline the qualifications and skills needed, key market issues and trends, main trading issues and relevant legislation, and a guide to sources of further information.
This month a number of profiles have been updated, including:
• Children’s Indoor Play Area
• Dating Agency
• Florist
• Furniture Maker
• Handmade Toy Maker
• Hotel
• Party Plan Sales Agent
• Residential Letting Agent
• Sandwich Shop
• T Shirt printer
• Taxi and Private Hire Service
Next up are Mini Business Opportunity Profiles. These provide a general introduction to a business area, an outline of trading issues, and a guide to sources of further information. The ‘Mini BOPS’ often cover more niche areas, and this month the following profiles have been updated:
• Data Management Firm
• Dinner in the Dark Organiser
• Female Taxi Service
• Goth Clothing Shop
• House Sitter
• Indian Fashion Retailer
• Party Supplies Shop
• Specialist Model Shop
Finally, on to the Business Information Factsheets (BIFs). These are guides and summaries which provide information on specific areas of general business - for instance marketing, legals, or funding. They’re a great resource for start-ups who need to investigate the practicalities of running a business.
The most recently updated factsheets are:
• Advertising Hotels, Guest Houses, or Bed and Breakfast Accommodation Online - A Guide to
• Business Grant - A Guide to Applying for a
• Business Rate Relief - A Guide to
• Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASCs) - An Introduction to
• Debt - A Guide to Recovering an Unpaid
• Finance for Starting a Business - A Summary of Sources of
• Health and Safety Regulations for IT Equipment - A Guide to
• Making a Small Claim to Recover an Unpaid Debt - An Introduction to
• Registering with HMRC as a New Employer - A Guide to
• Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 - A Guide to the
If you’d like to view any of the reports on COBRA, or use the other resources in the Business & IP Centre, you’ll need a British Library reader card.
Sally Jennings on behalf of Business & IP Centre
30 May 2014
Book review - How to get your product to market by Louise Guinda
“The biggest problem most people with great ideas have is just not knowing where to start and what to do. I think that’s the greatest barrier to market” - Patrick Mathews, Breffo
This is a quote from page 109 of How to get your product to market by Louise Guinda, which nicely sums up the purpose of this book
This book goes a long way to solving this problem. It is a step by step guide which can assist an entrepreneur in taking the idea in their head and turning it into a reality in the market place.
Written in easily digestible chapters covering topics such as ensuring that the idea is new, checking that a market for the product actually exists, and manufacturing and prototypes, the book takes the reader on a journey through the process of becoming an entrepreneur.
Each chapter includes a tip, based on the subject of the chapter, and a handy ‘Chapter Wrap-up’ reiterating the main points of the chapter.
It helps that the writer herself is an inventor and entrepreneur and has been there, done that, and has now written the book.
I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who has come up with a product idea, and who wants to bring it to the market.
Maria Lampert on behalf of Business & IP Centre
You can read a free PDF sample of How to get your product to market here.
Amazon review by Karen Wilson - Being someone with an good idea but no clue of what to do next, this book was extremely helpful and packed with information and great advice. It was easy to read and make notes and really gave me the inspirational push I needed to continue with my product idea.
25 April 2014
From Rock Stars to Orchestras – making music in the Business & IP Centre
Flashback to a few months ago, and I was really pleased to help a leather-clad American rocker in the Business & IP Centre. He was here to research the School of Rock franchise (not to be confused with the School of Rock film).
Both names are registered as trademarks on the UKIPO’s website – the former as a music school and the latter by Paramount for the film. Our customer reminded me of David Coverdale the lead singer from UK Rock band Whitesnake – it’s not every day that a rock-and-roller comes into the Centre. Although we do have a wide range of musicians from Disc Jockeys to Death Metal guitarists to classical orchestras, using the Centre for their market research.
Photo Source: School of Rock Trademark - “Inspiring the World to Rock on Stage and in Life”
Our Innovating for Growth programme has advised the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO), one of the most successful free-lance orchestras in the UK.
The Orchestra prides itself on its diversity, and ability to give crowd-pleasing performances with a small group of musicians to an intimate audience, or a full 80-piece orchestra at an outdoor event. The National Symphony Orchestra is also Katherine Jenkins’ orchestra for live concerts and UK tours.
They are regularly invited to perform in Russia, Scandinavia and across the rest of Europe.Their aim is to introduce symphony music to the masses.
At the heart of these businesses is the music itself, which has seen unrelenting innovation in the way we produce, consume, and enjoy music over the last ten years. By 2012 there had been nearly a billion digital tracks sold.
If you are looking for more statistics on the music industry, see our Music Industry Guide. This is a very useful starting point for anyone researching the music industry or starting a business.
Included in the guide is ‘Music 3.0: A Survival Guide For Making Music In The Internet Age’ by Bobby Owsinski. He covers changes from sheet music in the 18th century through to vinyl and the present day digital formats. Owsinski describes in detail what he calls the ‘Six life stages of Music’.
The book covers the pros and cons of recent developments, and includes interviews with leading industry figures. Owsinski also looks at the use of social media as a marketing tool, as well as for distribution and brand development.
If you are looking to find answers to: What has changed? Who are the new players? What are the new technologies being introduced that will influence how you sell or market? This is the book for you. To quote one of his reviewers - “I own close to a dozen books on the topic of the changing landscape of music and how musicians of the new era might fit in; and while some of these books were helpful, “Music 3.0″ was by far the best and most useful of them all”.
Musical Inspiration
However, if you are looking for inspiration to create music, we have that in abundance too. From across the British Library, you can listen, see and feel music from our Sound and Vision archives and at our events. I recently visited our Listening Service, ordering items from the catalogue, where we have a collection of 3.5 million sounds, including LPs & singles from the 1950s to the present. Why not have a look yourself?
You may also be surprised at what you find on our events page, and you can read more on our blog, Inspired by Vinyl. A few weeks ago I attended a talk at the inaugural symposium ‘Keeping Tracks: Music in a Digital Age’, where Sacha Sedriks Creative Director at BBC Future Media, spoke about the ways the BBC have had to innovate. Sacha also showed a video on the new ways users are consuming music, and how they are using technology to make the experience interactive, immersive and personal. The presentations and talks have been published and will give you insight from experts, as well as the clues to the future of digital music.
Needlessly to say, we have quite a few resources in the Business & IP Centre that provide insights and statistics on the worldwide music industry, including digital music trends. Geoff Taylor, Chief Executive of BPI, sums up the future in Digital Music Nation
“The music consumer in 2013 is dramatically different from the music consumer of 2003 and it is to the credit of everyone in this ecosystem – labels, artists, publishers, digital services, technology companies – that the platforms are in place to meet their growing expectations.”
For businesses and consumers, the landscape is changing, and so are the formats and channels. But reassuringly, our love of music remains the same.
Seema Rampersad on behalf of the Business & IP Centre
Follow Seema on Twitter:@SeemaRampersad
08 April 2014
Portobello Business Centre Ask the Expert session at Imperial College
On Friday 28 March I attended an excellent Ask the Expert event hosted by Portobello Business Centre and sponsored by Lloyds TSB. The event, held in the prestigious Rector’s House, Imperial College, comprised of six experts who circulated round the room at twenty minute intervals to sit with tables of three or four budding entrepreneurs and offer advice and expertise. The event was chaired by Colin Rutt from Portobello, who used a judge’s gavel to notify the experts when to swap places!
The experts included IT consultant Sunil Patel, Chris Smith from the Intellectual Property Office, marketing expert Chris Griffin founder of marketing agency Pi Global, Uday Thakkar from Red Ochre, Bob Lindsay from Thames Productions and Howard Carter, entrepreneur and founder of Incognito.
The delegates were mainly small business founders and start-ups, with a variety of products and services.
After some brief words of introduction from Colin, my table welcomed Sunil Patel. Sunil has an extensive knowledge of the whole IT spectrum but it was on the subject of websites and ecommerce in particular that the delegates were keen to pick his brains. He offered some excellent advice on how to set up your online presence distinguishing between the different types of sites – blogging sites, shop fronts – and their suitability. He stressed the importance of business owners familiarising themselves with the processes of web development but ultimately the advice was to get someone in who knows what they are doing.
Once his twenty minutes was up, Sunil was replaced by Uday Thakkar, founder of Red Ochre and a familiar face to all of us at the Business & IP Centre. Uday has a wealth of experience in business mentoring and support, but it was the subject of raising finance that he was focusing on specifically. The conversation quickly settled on the subject of crowdfunding which has become a popular alternative to traditional forms of funding such as bank loans which are becoming increasingly difficult to secure in the current economic climate.
Uday stressed the importance of momentum when looking for crowdfunding so try to build up a good support base of family and friends to get the ball rolling. It is also important to offer incentives to encourage people to participate. If you are asking for gifts, offer something in return such as a free sample of your product or an invitation to an event. Uday also mentioned the importance of timing. Don’t start asking people for contributions just before Christmas or when they are about to go on their summer holidays.
Bob Lindsay from Thames Productions was our next expert. Bob has an engineering and manufacturing background but he was keen to find out what each of the delegates was doing and tailor his advice accordingly. He provided some particularly useful advice about approaching buyers. He emphasised the importance of being prepared for the types of questions buyers usually have, and being able to assure them the correct procedures are in place. He used the following examples of the types of issues they are concerned with: complying with ISO standards, logistics and complaints procedures.
Following some refreshments, we were joined by Chris Griffin, founder of marketing agency Pi Global. Chris underlined the importance of knowing your customer and explained that for a new business, word-of mouth was the most powerful marketing technique because it established a high level of trust.
I was keen to listen in on Chris Smith from the IPO to hear his take on Intellectual Property. He provided a very helpful overview of how businesses can protect their IP focusing specifically on Trade Marks and Copyright. Although you don’t need to register Copyright, it is a good idea to have a record of when you created a piece of work so he suggested sending a copy to your solicitor or even posting it to yourself by recorded delivery.
The event finished off with a question and answer session. Uday mentioned the Business & IP Centre as a great place to conduct further research into some of the issues we had discussed throughout the day so I took my cue and managed to say a few words about the Centre and what we offer.
I didn’t get a chance to speak to Howard Carter but he spoke a bit about his experiences as an entrepreneur. He expanded on a theme touched on by some of the other advisors, that all business founders make mistakes along the way but the secret is to learn from them and don’t lose heart when things don’t go your way. Passion and perseverance count for a lot!
Thanks to Colin Rutt and the rest of the team at Portobello Business Centre for hosting the event and for their hospitality on the day. Also thanks to Lloyds TSB for sponsoring the event.
Michael Pattinson Business & IP Centre Team
17 March 2014
10 Reasons Why Your Content Isn’t Getting Read
Managing Director of Grow, Alasdair Inglis, shares his top tips for making sure your online content gets read.
A recent study on internet trends published by KPCB estimated that by 2015, 8 zettabytes of content will be created and shared every day on the internet. To put that in perspective, 1 zettabyte= 8 trillion gigabytes. To put that another way, if you put that information onto floppy disks, the disks would cover every inch of the Earth’s surface 1,600 times over.
[CREDIT: IronRodArt - Royce Bair ("Star Shooter")
So how can you make sure that what you have to say gets heard above the racket?
Here are 10 of the biggest mistakes small businesses make when creating their own content, and how you can avoid them.
1. You Don’t Write Unique, Useful Content
Too many small businesses completely misunderstand the point of their blog, and end up sticking a bunch of posts up that are little more than drawn out sales-pitches.
We live in a world that is saturated by advertisements, and as a result we’ve all become pretty immune to them.
Your blog should provide readers with something valuable. If your company manufactures/sells fishing rods, you’d better make sure that your content provides fishing enthusiasts with information that they appreciate and want to read about, ie: “The Top 6 Fishing Destinations In The World” or “Our Favourite Fishing Rods Released in 2013”.
However, as well as providing useful content for your target audience, it’s also important that the content you provide is unique.
Make sure that the content you produce gives readers something new, a different perspective or content they simply can’t find elsewhere.
2. You Don’t Know Your Audience
A recent survey showed that, contrary to popular opinion, middle-aged women share the most online content out of everyone.
However, by looking at the most popular social publishing sites you probably wouldn’t have guessed this due to the huge amount of youth-orientated content on popular sites like Buzzfeed and Upworthy.
We’re not suggesting that you tailor your content to appeal to middle aged women in a bid to increase shares (unless your target audience really is middle-aged women), but do be sure to do a little research into who reads and shares your content.
By doing this, you’ll have a better idea of who you’re writing for, and what content they’ll appreciate the most.
3. You Don’t Embolden Important Points
Emboldening important points is an easy and effective way to make your content easily digestible.This means that your readers can quickly scan your article for the most important and relevant points. That said, don’t over-do it as too much bold is the same as no bold text at all.
Your readers are coming to your website to be informed,make sure that you get your point across as quickly and efficiently as possible.
4. You Don’t Have That Human Touch
Whilst it is important to make sure that your writing is concise, focused and to-the-point, it’s also important that your readers get a good sense of your personality too. People become attached to certain sites and writers due to the connection they feel with the writers, and this is an important part of getting your readers to share your content and keep coming back for more.
The way a story is told, and the character of the narrator, can be a great selling point for your content.
5. You Don’t Use Guest Bloggers
Using guest bloggers is a great, low-effort way to make sure that your content gets read.
Firstly, and most importantly, a guest blogger is going to be able to introduce your blog to their whole readership. This gives you the opportunity to win over some of their readers too, which in turn will result in a wider reach and more shares for your own content.
Your guest blogger is also going to widely share their guest-written content, which again will provide your site with a wider reach.
6. You Don’t Use Links
When writing good content that’s going to get shared and read, it’s essential that you include internet links, both outbound (going to other websites) and inbound (going to your own website).
When you link to other websites, it not only shows that you have thoroughly researched your subject and really know your stuff, but it should also point your readers in the direction of other resources and blogs that they’ll enjoy. You should also use inbound links to your other interesting and relevant content. This will make it easier for your readers to find more content that they’ll enjoy and keep them on your website.
7. You Don’t Use Numbered List Points
Websites, like Buzzfeed, that are constantly shared know that creating numbered blogs and headlines is a great way to get your content read and shared.
Creating a numbered list of points ensures that the blog remains focused and allows readers to know exactly what they’re in for.
It also shows readers who are looking for a solution that the content will be specifically geared towards their problem.
As well as this, the structure of a numbered list inherently lends itself towards being scan-friendly, which means that your content can be speed-read.
Perhaps most importantly, it immediately shows potential readers that there will be a range of solutions for their problem.
8. You Don’t Produce Content Regularly Enough
Google loves regularly updated sites which are brimming with new, up-to-date content. This means that by regularly posting on your blog, you can improve your search engine rankings.
As well as this, someone doesn’t become an authority in their field overnight. It takes tenacity to keep posting new and interesting articles, but this tenacity is rewarded with your brand becoming more and more reputable.
It’s also important to remember that your content has an expiry date! It’s important to regularly post new content, to show readers that what you do is always up to date and therefore relevant.
9. You Don’t Use Different Media
Variety is the spice of life. You should try to introduce new elements to your content, such as video blogs, infographics and info-products.
Everyone learns in different ways, so by introducing more visual media to your content, you can attract a whole new audience who prefer visual information.
There are other advantages too, as some information lends itself towards video seminars or picture guides.
10. You Don’t Use Keyword Research
Make sure you know what the most searched terms are for what you’re writing about and make sure that they are in your headline.
If your target audience is searching for “Best ways to improve email marketing”, make sure that your blog post will show up on their search.
You can also use keyword research tools to find out what questions your audience are asking and what they’re searching for. This means that you can tailor your content to suit your readers and attract new readers too.
If you want to learn more about how to market your business more effectively, come along to Grow's monthly Online marketing masterclass in the Centre. You can also apply for a free Ask an Expert session with Alasdair.
Alasdair Inglis on behalf of Business & IP Centre
Follow Alasdair on Twitter
Have a look at www.wearegrow.com
10 March 2014
Your online content must be more like terrible journalism
Managing Director of Grow, Alasdair Inglis, shares his top tips for online content.
It’s pretty hard to imagine a more insulting put down for a journalist than being called a “hack”. Hack journalists fill the remote pages of any newspaper with salacious, trashy stories written in an unimaginative, derivative way.
However, as unappealing as that sounds, there is a thing or two hack journalists can teach you about writing great, easy-to-read content, such as:
1. Write in the "inverted pyramid style"
You should structure your paragraphs like a news story, with the most important information at the beginning, and the less essential information nearer the end.
If you read a short news story you will notice that is structured in an unintuitive way. Instead of following any sort of narrative the story is instead written with the most important aspects first, tapering off with the less important information at the end.
By structuring your posts like this, you give your readers access to what they want straight away.
2. Use short, sharp language
Another defining characteristic of a "hack" journalist is their use of to-the-point, concise language. These guys aren't Oscar Wilde - they write to get the job done in as few words as possible.
A 1997 study showed that 79% of people on the interner scan text instead of reading, and as people have got more used to reading online content, this number can only have gone up.
Too many online writers write to make themselves sound clever; you need to write to make other people feel clever. Big fancy words are no good here. To write good web content, think caveman language.
Remember, your readers aren’t here to experience some top-notch literature. They’re here for a solution to a problem, and they want to take in that information as quickly and easily as possible.
3. Put big ideas into bite-sized chunks
Your readers don’t have time to sit, think and unravel your message. You need to communicate what you want to say in the most direct way possible.
Don’t meander around the point at hand, and don’t get too bogged down in the details of what you’re saying. Break down your message into something anyone can understand.
This is another trick hack journos have nailed down; they say what they need to say in the easiest way possible for you to read and understand.
4. If it's not essential, cut it
If an added detail doesn't add to the story in any significant way, cut it. Your readers will love you for it.
Remember, unless you're writing for a comedy website, or your blog is celebrated purely for your writing style, your readers are on your site to be informed. Don't make them dig through swathes of text to get to the good stuff.
5. Use clever, attention catching headlines
Headlines are probably the single most important aspect of your post. You could write mind-blowing, world changing content but if you don't write good headlines, no one's going to click through and read them. Therefore they need to be attractive and intriguing enough to make readers check out your blog.
Here are some great tips to help create better headlines:
- Go with numbers or numbered lists. There’s a reason why your Facebook feed is choking on articles like “11 sexist cats that look like Ryan Gosling”. Learn from sites like Buzzfeed and maybe one day your content can annoy the whole of the internet, too.
- Use compelling, emotive adjectives. Whilst this isn’t your high school creative writing class, using more engaging words like: “amazing”, “beautiful”, “inspiring” etc will make your article sound much more interesting.
- Make your headlines are intriguing, but not too vague. Upworthy do a great job of this, giving you just enough information to whet your appetite, whilst not giving away the payload.
- Use keyword research. Make sure you know what the most searched terms are for what you’re writing about and make sure that they’re in your headline. If your target audience is searching for “How to write better headlines”, make sure that your blog post headline will show up on their search.
www.upworthy.com
If you want to learn more about how to market your business more effectively, come along to Grow's monthly Online marketing masterclass in the Centre. You can also apply for a free Ask an Expert session with Alasdair.
Alasdair Inglis on behalf of Business & IP Centre
Follow Alasdair on Twitter
Have a look at www.wearegrow.com
05 March 2014
The A List: A guide to who's who in media, marketing and advertising 2014
New for 2014 in the Business & IP Centre, The A List directory, published annually by Haymarket Media, takes a sideways look at the world of advertising via short interviews with over 300 individuals in the UK advertising industry. The questions range from favourite campaigns and Twitter recommendations to preferred funeral songs, and interviewees are allocated categories including ‘party animal’, ‘intellectual’ and ‘powerful’.
Whilst the style is clearly light-hearted, it can prove a useful way to understand the ethos, atmosphere and focus of different agencies, as well as highlighting some current and future industry trends. Finally, it gives contact details (including Twitter handles) for many of the individuals featured; handy for those researching trends, job-hunting or looking to commission a campaign.
For more information on advertising resources in the Business & IP Centre, see our Industry Guides.
Sally Jennings on behalf of Business & IP Centre
14 January 2014
Empatika: fitted furniture with a difference
I first met Tristan Titeux of Empatika when he joined our Innovating for Growth programme in September 2013 after attending one of our special ‘bring a friend’ Growth Clubs.
Empatika specialises in designing and making contemporary bespoke fitted furniture and also offer an eco-friendly option of furniture made of recycled cut-offs (see our post on Recycling Business Resolutions).
They are passionate about what they do, listen to the ideas of their customers, consider their needs and in partnership with them create a design that matches exactly what their customers have in mind.
Random Floating Tubes, designed by Empatika
Although already a thriving business, Tristan applied for a place on the programme because he wanted to grow. Innovating for Growth gave him one-to-one advisory sessions with our expert partners and advice on his business growth strategy, his branding and marketing approach, his product development strategy and his trade mark protection.
I chose to follow Tristan during his time in the Innovating for Growth programme by attending his one-to-one advisory sessions and observing his progress throughout the programme.
As a member of the Innovating for Growth project team, I did research work for Tristan and helped him identify market and consumer trends in the home and furniture industry, relevant quality and environmental standards, contact details of possible partners. I also helped him with trade mark clearance search, before he applied for new trade mark registration.
The programme helped Tristan identify the essence of his business and the business values that make his products and services different from his competitors, so that he can then establish a network of partners around the UK who will apply the same values and principles under his brand.
As a result, he is in the process of re-designing his website, trade mark and promotional material to reflect his business essence and values. He is also in the process of acquiring suitable business partners who will follow his stated business values and ethos.
Watch this space for the next stage for Empatika!
If you are an ambitious London-based established business want to apply for up to £10,000 worth of funded advice and support tailored specifically for your business, have a look at our Innovating for Growth programme and apply before 24 March.
Irini Efthimiadou on behalf of Business & IP Centre
09 December 2013
Helping to make a success story - Children's Qur'anic Pop-up Book
Crowdfunding is all the rage these days, as it has proved a real alternative route for funding a new idea or product.
The current top three are Kickstarter, Indiegogo and RocketHub, with new players appearing almost daily.
So I was not surprised to find that one of our customers had taken this approach to get funding for her Children's Qur'anic Pop-up Book and 3D app. Hajera Memon is the Managing Director of Shade 7 Limited and has launched their funding campaign this week on Indiegogo.
I don't really need to tell you too much here about the project to fund their first book Story of The Elephant: Surah Al-Fil, because the funding page is pretty comprehensive. But their aim is to become a global, multilingual publisher of premium pop-up Qur’anic educational story books and digital apps that help children learn about Islam in a fun way.
It was great to hear that Hajera was invited to the Small Business Saturday launch event at No. 11 Downing Street in early December:
I had the amazing opportunity to meet Chancellor George Osborne and show him the pop-up book – which he really liked!
Even nicer was to read her comments about the Business & IP Centre:
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank you all so much for your extensive time, patience and support with the development of this project and for getting us to this exciting stage!
You’re a really special group of people whom I’m very grateful to know and you make me feel so pleased with the decision to try and join the entrepreneurial world, regardless of how things turn out! You’ve all added your own special contributions to my start-up journey and I really wanted to say thank you.
It is with your encouragement that I have had the strength to continue with each stage of the business and I really appreciate the efforts and invaluable advice you’ve all shared with me throughout. I pray this venture is successful and will be something you can all be proud of!
Neil Infield on behalf of the Business & IP Centre
25 November 2013
Aartizen – a healthy fruit and veg success story
One of the best things about my job is hearing from our customers about how we have helped them start or grow their business. And this can happen in the most unlikely of circumstances.
It would appear that my daily source of for coffee and croissant is turning into an adopter of Business & IP Centre success stories. First I discovered that Sourced Market in St Pancras station was selling the amazing Amelia Rope brand of chocolate, which has now become an occasional treat for me or lucky recipients. But just yesterday I discovered Aartizen cold pressed fruit and vegetable juices.
While waiting patiently waiting for my Monmouth Street cappuccino to appear I was asked if I would like to try a sample of a new brand of juice. I plumped for the Beetroot, blackcurrant & apple juice, and found it delicious, and noticeably less sugary than more familiar brands. The friendly and persuasive stall holder encouraged me to try the remaining three flavours of Carrot, orange & apple, Orange & Wheatgrass and Apple, cucumber & kale. After chatting for few minutes about her new venture I offered my business card in case the Centre could be of help in growing her business. It was at that point I discovered Aarti Bhanderi-Shah had been using us for several months to research the market and plan her business, and that she is a big fan of the Centre.
Aarti felt she was too new a business to be counted as a success story. But to me, the fact she has pursued her dream of becoming her own boss and established a strong brand with four delicious products in new niche sector of cold pressed fruit and vegetable juices is a great achievement. I also love the way she has combined her name with a suitably artisan sounding trademark.
On her leaflet Aarti explains the advantages of cold pressed juice.
Most juices you buy in the shops are pasteurised or flash pasteurised so they have been heat-treated using at least 60C or 140F to preserve them. The heat destroys many vitamins and minerals so you end up drinking a sugary stew.
We don’t like the idea of losing nutrients so we use a cold press method that does not use any heat and respects the ingredients. The final result is a fresh and delicious juice bursting with goodness and vitality.
Contains juice AND pulp… as Nature intended
This wonderful pulp contains fibre to help your digestion and maintain a happy tummy. So shake the bottle, smile and drink up for a glorious glow.
On her About Me page Aarti talks about her inspiration:
As a pharmacist and alternative health practitioner, my mother appreciated the power and necessity of conventional medicine as well as recognising the healing powers of alternative therapies. She would recommend her patients with skin conditions such as eczema to consume "good fats" such as avocado, nuts and seeds. To help treat colds, a soothing hot drink made from fresh lemon, turmeric and honey would be recommended alongside Benylin. As a society we are starting to realise that Mother Nature usually has something in her precious garden that will heal and repair.
...
As a foodie and a nutritionist-in-training, I am fascinated by the concept of “you are you what you eat”. Consuming fresh, natural produce that is minimally processed will boost your energy levels and you’ll feel truly alive. Sadly, many children and adults overload their bodies with processed foods that tend to be high in salt, fat and sugar. And this is what lies at the heart of the obesity and diabetes epidemic.
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