Brits believe competition brings out the best in businesses and winning is important to almost 65% of people. As Britain prepares for a summer of sport, Steve Backley former javelin world record holder and Olympian turned business motivator and author, calls on British businesses to encourage competition following two polls showing many embrace competition at work. 

I recently got back from an amazing event called Be The Change. What I love about these events is that I learn tons of things, get new ideas, find inspiration, build new relationships, discover opportunities for growth and, of course, uncover new paths to profit.

These events are amazing brainstorming sessions on steroids!

As a business starts to grow, it’s crucial that your actions don’t strangle it in its infancy.

By avoiding the mistakes that so many business owners make you have a far greater chance of succeeding beyond the first two years.

In my experience working with many business owners from a variety of sectors I’ve identified seven key mistakes that business owners make again and again and that often lead to the death of their company;

1.    Doing Too Much Yourself

You're under pressure to meet a challenging deadline. You have a presentation to give that you haven’t had time to prepare. Your finances have taken a dive and you don’t have enough to pay the mortgage. Your partner is threatening to leave you because you spend too much time at work. In case these pressures aren’t enough, the one person you depend on for support at work has just gone off sick.

Small business confidence has improved despite rising overheads and problems accessing finance, according to a recent survey by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).

Small businesses are looking to employ in the coming months as small business confidence picks up after a quarter of shedding staff, new figures from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) show.

Flexible working is directly linked to productivity and increased revenue, according to a new study from Regus

A new survey of 1,000 business leaders by the Institute of Directors (IoD) shows that companies are relatively confident despite the weak economic outlook.

Let's face it - we're all busy, and that can make it difficult for us to manage our time, no matter how diligent we are about organizing, scheduling, and re-scheduling our tasks. Having a routine schedule can make it easier to streamline and group our tasks and activities, but not every profession or job lends itself to this sort of regularity.