BiWhizz TV was down in South London last Sunday enjoying a roast with the founders of BallerzLeague, Nana Sechere and Kay Sarpong. We caught up with them and discussed their business venture and entrepreneurial development. Ogo even had time to show off his silky skills on the football pitch before the heavens opened up and put an abrupt end to that. Catch the interview on the BiWhizz platform, coming soon.

Hi,

Whilst you could be forgiven if you thought BiWhizz had prematurely wound up, following a two month hiatus, I can reassure you all that this isn’t the case. We’re still here, working hard to deliver the platform as promised. The goal posts may have shifted a bit but the goal remains the same: to provide the entrepreneurial and small business community a holistic platform that promotes growth, awareness and the collaboration of knowledge.

Has it been easy? Hell no!

Working on this has been physically and emotionally draining at the best of times but the truth is I love it. There’s never a dull moment in business – it’s polarised between moments of extreme happiness and some serious lows. However, you have to learn to take the good with the bad. Goodness, I do sound like a bit of a seasoned gambler .

So what have we been up to since you last caught word from us?

A rather good question, if I may say so myself – well we’ve done a lot behind the scenes. As you know, we’re essentially a two man team, not taking into account our developer Sudeep, so we’ve had to bring in some extra hands. With growth comes extra work – it got to a point where we realised we wouldn’t be able to maintain the quality of work and consistency in all facets of the business without bringing in extra hands and brains. This same reason is what resulted in the somewhat negligible level of communication on this prelaunch over the past two months.

I can happily say that we’ve snapped up some top individuals on the media side of the business. They’re heavily involved in BiWhizz TV; we’ve started filming so look out for that coming soon.

We’ve also spent a lot of time testing and refining the platform, which, if I may add, will look nothing like this prelaunch site. No, no, I’m serious – apologies for stating what may seem like the obvious but you’d be amazed if you knew the number of people that have asked me whether this site is the actual platform.

You’d think that after a year-plus of development the platform would be running like clockwork but the stark reality is that it’s never that simple. Cue the words of Eminem, Lose Yourself, 8 mile soundtrack:

“Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity to seize everything you wanted in one moment, would you capture it? Or just let it slip?”

In that same vein, we want to deliver an initial platform that we are proud of and believe will provide genuine benefit to our users. This isn’t extra pressure on us because we already know what is required and what is suitable enough for launch. Until we have that, we have no qualms holding back until its ready. Despite this, I can assure you the platform launch is imminent.

From here on in, I’m going to use this prelaunch site as a gauge into our development and current activities as well as a window into my emotions as a budding entrepreneur.

Thanks,

Ogo

I was reading an article about forming small strategic alliances, it was a short but insightful read however I began to think how I could extend this chain of thought.

As budding entrepreneurs with blossoming ideas, or a recent start up new to the scene, you are always looking for potential partnerships and possible introductions. Some will argue, concentrate on your product and business in the early days and others will say that looking for potential suitors/partners is good forward thinking.

I believe social media makes this process viable and achievable if done correctly. Some entrepreneurs and small businesses believe that social media is all about Twitter and Facebook and generally fail to see the depth and creativity that social media offers.

This post will hopefully alleviate their cautious nature towards the beast. Read the rest of this entry »

Previously, I mentioned how, over time, I’d come to perceive business as an art-form. Today, I thought I’d elaborate on that point, more specifically from a ‘bootstrapping’ perspective. In addition, for all those aspiring entrepreneurs, I’ll touch on how money is not the be-all and end- all to the successful start of a business, take it from experience.

What is bootstrapping?

Although I couldn’t tell you where the term was originally coined, bootstrapping refers to starting a business with little to no financial resources. How? By using unconventional methods to develop, promote / market or sell your product / service. As a bootstrapper, you are essentially doing everything yourself. The key is making the little you have go as far as possible, to the best possible effect.

The art in bootstrapping a business lies in the ability to bring together the resources to make a venture happen regardless of the resources in your current control – creativity at its best. Read the rest of this entry »

This is a free eBook by author David Meerman Scott he is a marketing and leadership speaker.

It is truly a fantastic read, great insight and very inspirational.

It discusses a number of viral marketing case studies and how the word of mouse spreads your ideas for free.

Most start ups and young businesses are always looking for new information/material to help them market their product or service, this eBook does exactly that.

Bootstrapped companies and Internet start ups will need this kind of material, to learn from and build their business also.

Great Read – Let Us Know Your Thoughts

Viral Marketing

BiWhizz is back with a short piece of advice,  check out the rest of the series here

Lets Begin!

If you lack passion, you are destined to fail, so learn to love your idea and business. As brutal as that sounds I believe this to be true, an entrepreneur cannot get through the tough patches if he or she does not believe in themselves, the business or the people involved.

Make sure setting up a business is the only thing you want to do, there is no middle ground, remember, the people in the middle of the road always get run over.

Passion leads to small successes, this then builds momentum, giving you the energy and desire to hunt down your goals and targets one by one. Utilise this momentum, strike when the iron is hot as they say. As entrepreneurship is a rollercoaster ride, I am of the belief that when you are on a streak of good news and successes attempt bigger and better.

Other passionate entrepreneurs are the people you need to be around, whether their business relates to yours or not. Join social groups, find clubs, seek and build your networks; just surround yourself with passionate entrepreneurs, you will find yourself feeding off their energy and stepping up your ‘game’, due to the healthy, competitive, individual natures.

Amongst the passion it is critical you remain level headed and business focused. It is possible for entrepreneurs especially young start ups or actual entrepreneurs to let the excitement get the better of them. This kind of behaviour may lead to rash decisions, premature business thinking and ultimately fatal business mistakes.  At all times remain prudent and just take a breather now and again.

With that all said remember passion is the name of the game.

BiWhizz is a business networking and management platform catered towards budding entrepreneurs and small business. We are a new start-up company and are currently in the process of developing a unique platform that we believe will promote, develop and inspire the entrepreneurial scene in the UK. The platform encompasses elements of social media, project management tools / technology and informative content in the form of articles and videos.

Due to current growth and imminent platform launch we are looking for writers to join the team and help consolidate the BiWhizz content database. More specifically, we are looking for efficient writers who enjoy writing for the web, have an avid interest in the entrepreneurial / small business scene, social media / networking and online marketing / communications and, finally, can produce a number of articles per month.

You may have personal experiences, thoughts and opinions that our entrepreneurial users can share, gain insight or learn from. Alternatively, users may simply want to read your take on current business news, events, technologies or the future of the small business industry.

Benefits:

• We will give you the freedom to write about what you.
• Opportunity to meet and interview known entrepreneurs
• Opportunity to attend select events
• We will consider offering columns to writers creating significant buzz and excited followers.

It doesn’t matter who you are or what you have achieved or failed to achieve, we want to get the entrepreneurial community involved, provide a refreshing quality content stream and eventually become the vessel for entrepreneurs (could be you) to be heard.

Bloggers, Enthusiasts, Experts, Commentators, Spectators, University students, Recent Graduates or Entrepreneurs, all are welcome.

If you feel you meet the above requirements and would like to consider writing for BiWhizz, we’d love to hear from you.

This morning I read a short and insightful article on socialsmallbiz.com; it outlined how the usage of social media amongst small businesses had doubled in the last year. Although these figures related to the US market, it was interesting and got me thinking as to what small businesses expect, want and need from social media?

Over the last couple years, social media has become hugely popular and extremely mainstream. Technologies within social websites and platforms have increased rapidly and an individual can do a lot over the internet today. However, enterprises have been much more cautious and reluctant to engage and jump onto the social media bandwagon, reasons vary, however the general consensus is that they (industry) do not want to experience another tech bust. Those days seem to be long behind us and the enterprise industry seems to be indulging and engaging with platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and much more. Read the rest of this entry »