What do music, word processors, and taxis all have in common? They are all moving toward business models based on access, rather than ownership—the fundamental principle behind the sharing economy. Rather than having a small group of people owning taxis and driving people around, apps like Uber and Grab enable everyone driving a car to pick up a passenger during their normal commutes. But this idea won’t work in every field, everywhere; certain foundations need to be in place first.

If you’re in the stages of starting a new business and looking into funding, you’ve probably come across the term ‘crowdfunding’. Crowdfunding is one of the fastest growing methods of funding new businesses and products, allowing you to pitch your idea/product and receive the validation and financial backing you need to get started.

However, be warned that crowdfunding isn’t an easy alternative to traditional funding, it takes a lot of time, effort and planning; three things necessary to launching a successful business.
​
If you’re ready to seriously consider crowdfunding for your start-up, I’ve put together some tips to help you get started: 

When you run your own business, you’ll find that your mind is often focused on your business – how to grow it, how to run it better, how to improve sales etc. Having your business constantly on your mind isn’t actually a good thing and can often lead to stress, burnout and lower productivity levels.

How do we combat this? By practising mindfulness.

The dictionary defines mindfulness as "a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique." 
​
But what does this actually mean? And more importantly how can you use mindfulness to boost your productivity? Keep reading to find out. 

I know what you’re thinking, “Not another New Year resolutions post!” You’re right, they’re everywhere at the moment. We’re three weeks into 2018 and we’re being hit left, right and centre with New Year resolution suggestions for our personal life, work life, family life etc. It’s a little overwhelming.
​
The thing is - these articles all have a point. The New Year is the perfect time to reassess your business goals and strategies, to reflect on what you learned over the previous year and to implement new ideas that can take your business forward. 

Many of you probably heard about Google’s warning prior to their release of Chrome 62 that all websites should have an SSL certificate to prevent their ‘Not Secure’ warning from being triggered and potentially driving away new traffic.
​
For those of you who have no clue what SSL is, or whether you need it for your website, keep reading!

Confession time: I live by my to-do list.
 
Without it, I’d have to sack myself, because I’d get absolutely nothing done. I’d miss deadlines, prioritise the wrong stuff and never make headway on the biggest tasks.
 
However, just like anyone who relies on a to-do list to get through the day, I know the perils of falling behind.
 
Unfortunately, it’s not always that obvious when you’re losing ground on your tasks. Often, the degree to which you’re becoming overwhelmed with work creeps up on you unawares.
 
Today, you can learn from my mistakes, with these five killer signs that you’re over-stretching that to-do list:

The internet is full of dire warnings about GDPR (EU General Data Protection Regulation). Non-compliance will be punished by heavy fines, they say: you’ve got a lot of work to do to reorganize all your data and mailing lists. You’d better pay a consultancy a large amount of money to help you, is the implied message.
​
How much of that is really true? And how much of it applies to you?