This month our featured business book is Going It Alone by Jane Bwye, a practical guide to starting your own business, and we have 1 copy to give away!

The first stage in developing growth plans for your business is to determine where you want to go in a personal context – in other words, why you want to grow your business. You need to decide this in a personal context, before you can approach the business context – otherwise, the two may be out of sync, and lead to disaster. Here's some food for thought on growing your business: a personal perspective:

2017 was really “the year of the data breach”, seeing a higher than ever level of data breaches in companies across the world. All businesses can be affected, and because the cost of a potential breach can be very high, extra attention needs to be paid to potential data breaches and cyber security. Here's how to protect your company from a data breach:

Team meetings create the foundation for project planning, goal-setting and team communication. When the team begins expanding, it can be tough to keep everyone on the same page. To improve the productivity of the team meeting, there are a few important methods to use to get the most out of it and hold better team meetings. Here's how to have an effective team meeting:

In the last decade, mobile apps have positioned themselves as one of the most effective tools for companies, especially in the field of e-commerce. According to a study conducted by the company Flurry Analytics, the average user spends around 5 hours a day on his phone and more than half of this time he devotes to apps. In the year 2017, the income through apps generated a total of 76 billion dollars. In short, the use of apps changed the dynamics of marketing forever. Here is how mobile apps can help drive success for companies:

Owners and managers of early-stage growing companies often have mixed views toward the institutional venture capital industry. On one hand, they welcome the money and management support they desperately need for growth, but fear the loss of control and various restrictions that are typically placed on the company by the investment documents. Here are the key things you need to know about obtaining venture capital funding:

Email marketing is a great way to increase sales and improve your business – if you do it properly. There are some things that can lower your chances of connecting with your customers or making a sale – broken links, bad offers or grammar mistakes as well as wrong emails sent to wrong segments – but there are also some good practices that you can implement to get the best results. Here are 7 top tips for email marketing for your business. 

It’s been said that the world will not beat a path to your doorstep, even if you have invented the best mousetrap. Real success lies in finding the right customers for your ‘better mousetrap’ and attracting them to your door, repeatedly for purchasing. This is known as market segmentation, and here's how to do a market segmentation strategy for your startup:

At a recent How to of Going Global event in Cork sponsored by KPMG Private Enterprise, supported by Enterprise Ireland, Ulster Bank and Business Achievers, companies discussed challenges and opportunities of scaling and going global. Here are top tips that companies shared for how to go global:

There is a view that there is a single “business plan document”. In reality, there will probably be several different documents representing the business plan, across a spectrum from an operational manual to a fund-seeking document like the slide pack you use to put together your presentation. Here are some tips on tailoring your business plan for different readers:

Social media has emerged as a key marketing tool to market to consumers but it can also be successfully used for marketing to businesses. And serious businesses are using content to establish credibility, attract prospects, generate leads and make them aware of their brand. Here are some tips for building a successful B2B marketing strategy using content and social media:

Has your business tried their hand in the tender market? The figures speak for themselves - Ireland is a long way behind in the tender market. EU data tells us that fewer than 250 Irish SMEs won European tenders in 2013, with only 2% of Irish companies winning EU tenders since 2003. These figures make it clear that Irish SMEs are reluctant to throw their hats in the ring alongside the brightest and best in the EU. This aversion to the intricacy of applications means that Irish companies are missing out on a new business pool that has over two trillion euro up for grabs. It takes time but here's why your business needs to invest in tendering:

InterTradeIreland’s all-island Acumen programme has been running for more than 15 years and is regarded as a huge success by the business community on both sides of the border with companies typically reporting an average increase in sales of £250,000 following support. Find out how one company, Viltra Wastewater Technology has used this programme to increase turnover from exporting:

A global e-mail goes around to the whole company, announcing that the senior management have drawn a new organisation chart and front-end staff are being cut. It doesn’t have to be this way, yet it’s a typical scenario across organisations. I’ve personally been on the end of such moves numerous times in my career as an organisation design consultant and I have never seen a positive version of it that doesn’t damage moral and the psychological contract of the survivors. Here is why employees should play an active part in organisation redesigns:

Being the leader of a team isn't a piece of cake. As a matter of fact, NO team is actually easy to manage. Whenever several people with different beliefs, coming from different walks of life are put to work together as a team, miscommunication and chaos are potentially going to be there. However, strong leaders know how to keep their teams together and how to motivate people to cooperate towards common goals. Here are 7 ways to improve team efficiency and productivity.

SMEs are being encouraged to follow the example set by Cookstown-based CDEnviro to complete InterTradeIreland's Challenge Programme and transform their approach to innovation. Find out how CDEnviro increased innovation and developed a growth pipeline:

Energy bills can end up being a big cost to your business, and costs are only likely to rise in the near future, so becoming energy aware (and energy smart) can not only help businesses boost their bottom line, it can also dramatically reduce their carbon footprint – making for a more profitable, greener company all round. Here's are 6 simple ways to reduce your business energy costs:

Even if you haven't got any, yet, you still need to have a comprehensive plan in place as to how you're going to take in payments, organise credit terms, and manage your accounts. Here's How to Put in Place Financial Management for Your Startup: