First Community Project

by Dennis Howlett on March 2, 2006

SocialText has agreed to sponsor the creation of a small/start-up business community resource wiki. I’m in the process of building the framework for this now. This was inspired by David Terrar’s post and the original work done in the US by smallbusiness.com. The success or otherwise of this project is 100% dependent on the extent to which the UK’s community of business bloggers are prepared to add value by contributing to the wiki.

Why would you want to do this when there are commercial resources? Several reasons:

  • By giving something to small/start-up businesses, ‘we’ are demonstrating we want to be good citizens. Heck, if my main sponsor can do it, why not the rest of us?
  • The community will refine the ‘advice’ contained in the wiki, making corrections and updating to ensure the resource is as valuable as possible to those who need the most help. This is impossible with commercial ventures where the content is secondary and frequently out of date.
  • As the wiki grows, professionals will benefit as they see the types of issue that new business start-ups are interested in exploring. They will be able to align their services to the needs of those that require assistance.
  • It will be made clear there is no substitute for professional advice. Therefore, those that contribute will benefit from links back to their websites.
  • As the wiki grows, I’d anticipate asking certain people to take responsibility for moderating content. This is important because no one person knows everything about everything and its value will depend on the integrity of the information it contains.

Any PRs/marketeers out there that wish to contribute then please drop a comment or an email. Anyone with subject matter expertise in HR, general health and safety and training (just for starters) please get in touch. Anyone with section ideas that would be of general value, again please get in touch.

UPDATE: I’ve posted a request into the PR community at ResponseSource. If you see this but don’t feel you can give time, please consider passing this on through your networks of people. I should have said but I’d really like to hear from women as in my experience they are so often poorly represented and have a harder time than men getting taken seriously as potential business leaders.

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  • Да, автор блога просто молодец! Пишите еще!
  • Hi Dennis

    will certainly help on the PR front and also as someone learning to manage a small business

    Oh and i tick that box as one of the women you would like to see contribute!

    Kate
  • Then count me in !! :)I can contribute too !
  • Thanks Arun - and yes - there will be a section on offshoring
  • This is indeed a nice start Dennis. This will help lot many and have a nobel motive.

    Great Job !!
  • Happy to contribute as both an accountant and entrepreneur

    The second is the tough one!

    Richard
  • Thanks everyone - plenty to think about. I've posted where we're at on the next post up. If i've not been in touch personally, I'll get to it in the next couple of days. I'm shattered at the moment so that's all I can sasy right now. As Vinnie Jones might say: 'It's been emotional.'
  • Dennis, as I said to you earlier, I will be happy to help and recruit others to pitch in as well. What a great idea!
  • Hi, Dennis. Happy to help. I can speak about doing business in the UK and the US. I can cover specific PR issues or can talk about broader business operations issues and the major differences between the two countries (business-wise, of course. I'll leave cultural and political discussions for others). :-)
  • Wild horses, etc ;-)

    Count me in - from participation to collaboration indeed...

    http://www.joncollins.net/wordpress/?p=161
  • On behalf of Smallbusiness.com (which is my project and passion), I can't thank you enough for saying we've inspired you to do this. As I've said on the site, I hope that others like you will adapt whatever we are doing with your focus. Anyway we can help, just let me know! Good luck.
  • Count me in. Looks like it's quite a team.
  • Count us in. From our experiences as (women with) a start-up to the expertise of our clients which could be useful - in particular, recruitment and computer cleaning.
  • Jenny Rose
    My clients Ivan Massow and Leila Wilcox, the winning business mentor and entrepreneur of Channel 4's 'Make Me A Million' will help where they can.

    Leila (MD of Halos n Horns) is particularly keen to to help other young women setting up.
  • Oh crap, here I go, Dennis if we can be of help please count us in, as you know we deal with the start up market a lot and would actually be more than glad to help!

    I will also have a word with a colleague of mine, who is a tax expert, lets’ see if we can give a bit of expert tax help to the start-ups of this country.
  • Telecoms is a minefield for SMEs and start-ups. We have an expert on tap who can help explain the various telephony options available and which are most cost-effective
  • Happy to contribute on a variety of subjects: training, people management, marketing.
  • Dennis,

    Count me in - if i can help in any small way at all, I will.

    Tom
  • Dennis, count me in. I've actually had similar thoughts, based in part on dissatisfaction with UK government services such as Business Link. Andrew Stone, writing on the Sunday Times Enterprise blog, is also unhappy at the services on offer.
  • Dennis, were you in the Army? What with WWII acronyms and my "volunteering" (I AM volunteering BTW) I just seemed to detect the Sergeant Major in you!

    No doubt David will have a view.
  • If you need any legal content Dennis, then I'd be delighted to help out. You're clearly blogging up a storm these days and I definitely think you are onto something here..
  • Stuart, actually you are the first to volunteer. Glad to have you on board.
  • A surfeit of accountants no doubt!
  • dennis we are a small H&S consultancy and we may be able to help with "stuff" on the subject. Please advice what the next step is and busy site.

    regards
    Peter
  • If you need anyone from the Web 2.0 / Web applications sector, I'm game :) Keep up the good work. Just subscribed a few days ago..
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