My Destiny Inc. is a not for profit organization that has as its objective the empowering of individuals and businesses in the areas of entrepreneurship, leadership and capacity building.

Dr Peter J. Daniels is a Christian multi-millionaire, international statesman and businessman and is committed to helping people attain financial success in their own businesses. Dr Daniels has served as a director of several international companies and continues to advise many of the world’s leading organizations. He is the author of 13 bestselling books including ‘How To Be Happy Though Rich’ and ‘How To Be Motivated All The Time’. In Pursuit of Destiny’s opening session is at 7pm on Friday 4^th March followed by two sessions at 10am & 2pm on Saturday 5^th March.

This two day Conference is for both those who are looking to take their first steps into business and those who are already established in business, and is a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn from one of the best business minds of our time. The Conference will be held at The Albert Hall Conference, North Circus Street, Nottingham NG1 5AA.

Seating is limited, so please register early to avoid disappointment. To register please visit www.milestonechurch.org.uk or call +44 115 822 0606.  We are able to offer a discount for block bookings.  Please call us for details.

Duncan Cheatle runs entrepreneur networking firm The Supper Club. With 200 full-time members and 320 events a month, he’s a veritable treasure trove of entrepreneurial knowledge.

Cheatle’s £1.3m-turnover firm puts on a host of events, forums, speakers and of course suppers throughout the year; primarily in London. His members include some of the cream of the entrepreneurial set.

Chatham House rules apply at all Cheatle’s events, so names and circumstances behind his stories remain shrouded in mystery – unless the entrepreneur gives his express permission. But here’s a real gem.

At a recent event, the subject of recruitment was aired around the table. One diner posed a question, which drew an unusual response.

”Does anyone know where I can hire good telesales staff?” he said.

“I always use actors,” came the response from across the table. “They learn the script easily. They take rejection well. And above all, they’re cheap!”

Then an entrepreneur behind a successful provate member’s club piped up: “I was so sick of recruitment agents calling me up and offering me staff,” he said. “I don’t want the kind of people who have been trained up at serviced offices.

“But then I had a brainwave. Where do you get the most courteous, well trained staff? In high class hotels! Plus, they’re on crap pay, antisocial hours. They’d probably jump at the chance of a 9-5 with a decent wage!”

This guy visited a whole range of premium hotels, eyeing up staff. When he saw a particularly talented individual, he poached them! Now that’s lateral thinking.

This is a must for every entrepreneur when sales and deal-making should be the high of your business day!

Expert speakers include:

Steve Brewer, author of “100% High Octane Selling”, has an almost magical ability to transform ordinary salespeople into sales superstars operating at the very top of their field.

Mike Southon is one of the UK’s leading experts in sales, co-author of ‘Sales on a Beermat’ and ‘The Beermat Entrepreneur’. He has a weekly column in the Financial Times.

Ashley Latter is the Selling Coach and has personally coached over 40,000 Sales & Business People helping them improve their performance in front of clients. He is the author of a series of CDS ‘If you Don’t Ask the Customer cannot say YES’

Tim Roydshas 25+ years experience in Sales, Sales Management and SalesConsultancy. He is a Fellow of both the ISMM and CIM, and lectures on the prestigious Masters degree in Strategic Sales Management at Portsmouth University.

Richard Denny has been described by the Times as the ‘Master of Professional Salesmanship’. His book ‘Selling to Win’ has been hailed as the world’s best book on sales. An inspirational and fascinating speaker.

Frank Furness is an international sales and technology speaker who has helped organisations and individuals in 48 countries to increase sales performance. He is the author of best selling books ‘Walking with Tigers – Success Secrets of the World’s Top Leaders and ‘How to Find New Business and Clients – Prospecting your way to Success”.

Book your place here.

Women’s Enterprise Day is taking place on Wednesday November 14th as part of Enterprise Week. There are numerous events taking place across the country and some of the country’s leading businesswomen including Gita Patel, Martha Lane-Fox and Apprentice star Saira Khan.

Highlights of the day include:

— Retailer’s High Tea, hosted by Beverley Aspinall the MD of Fortnum and Mason. Leading female business leaders will discuss what the sector can do to encourage young women in retail to break the glass ceiling.

— Gita Patel of Stargate Capital will launch Make Your Mark with Stargate – a series of masterclasses by Gita on female entrepreneurship, especially for school girls.

— Girls! Make Your Mark ambassadors will be attending events across the UK, using the theme of ‘who inspires you’ to encourage more young women to consider running a business.

— Make Your Mark will distribute its new Girls! Make Your Mark role model booklet in schools – featuring inspiring real life and celebrity stories including Lorraine Kelly and Saira Khan.

— The National Everywoman Conference will give women new ideas about how to grow their business and increase sales.

— Make Your Mark in Wakefield is bringing together all the women’s networks in Yorkshire for a networking event with school girls.

— A women’s enterprise dinner at the Hoxton Apprentice Restaurant in association with networking group Striding Out.

— Building Bridges – women in construction, is an Enterprise and Skills Company event introducing young women to opportunities within the construction sector.

— Ethical Inventor, Emily Cummins, speaking at The British Library’s Teenpreneurs – the youthful guide to starting business.

— A one day conference – Enterprising Women Make a Difference – showcasing Gloucestershire’s flourishing businesswomen and offering expert advice and guidance.

— Churchdown School will be setting up a Girls Enterprise team to design and make items ready to sell at the school’s Christmas Fayre.

— Workshops especially for girls on how confidence, assertiveness and presentation skills organised by Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College.

— South Devon businesswoman, Sue Thomas, will give an inspirational talk at South Devon College. The college is also hosting a speed networking event for young women.

If you would like to take part or need more information visit www.enterpriseweek.org

timesonline/enterprise

Sorry gents, one for the ladies!

A seminar for women looking to raise funding to start or grow a business will take place on the 19 September in Newbury, West Berkshire.

The seminar will offer female entrepreneurs the chance to network with other women, access support organisations, get business mentoring and field questions to the panel of experts.

Speakers will include Kiki Mauray, who owns business consultancy KMC, Nini Sian from Slough Enterprise Gateway, Anne Minter from Finance South East, Caroline Salmon from Leap Consultancy and a representative of Natwest bank to talk about the and the government-run Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme.

Other topics covered in the seminar include grants, loans, venture capital and business angel investment.

The seminar is taking place in the Hilton Bewbury Centre in Newbury, West Berkshire and is starting at 9:30am and finishing at 3pm.

The event is organised by Business Link Berkshire in conjunction with Slough Enterprise Gateway and Finance South East, and is part financed by the European Union.

For more information call Nina Sian on 01753 610010 or click here.

The show will bring together thousands of owners, directors, entrepreneurs and a high profile bill of inspirational speakers at Royal Windsor Racecourse next month, including the former Director General of the BBC Greg Dyke; former retail tycoon Gerald Ratner; and Ben Kench, the UK’s No1 Small Business Growth Specialist.

James has won a plethora of accolades including the Shell LiveWIRE Young Entrepreneur of the Year and the Start Up Awards Entrepreneur of the Year.

“The fact that James achieved this accolade at aged only 22 makes him a particularly inspiring individual” says Will Allen, Sales and Marketing Director of Ideal Business Show.

The proposition of finding a consumer problem to fix and then developing a solution, might sound like a cliché but that is exactly what James Murray Wells did when he launched his business ‘Glasses Direct’ from his parents’ front room as a 21 year old university student. 

In 2004, James Murray Wells invested the remains of his student loan to sell prescription lenses online at a big discount to high-street opticians.

The notion first presented itself, when James purchased a pair of prescription reading glasses for £150.  Annoyed at paying through the nose, he took a closer look to see if there was a real business opportunity.  He said:

“I just thought there’s got to be a business idea.  This is a piece of metal with some glass and there is more metal in a teaspoon than a pair of glasses and how come they’re so expensive?”

Despite encountering significant resistance from the optical industry and challenged the very real prospect of failure during the early stages of the business, James pursued his vision of an internet business selling prescription glasses and challenged the dominance of the high street retail giants.

In two short years the business has grown from one young mans moment of inspiration to the largest direct-seller of glasses in the world, selling a pair every seven minutes around the clock and enjoying multi-million pound turnover.

The future success of the business appears to be secure with forecast sales in excess of £10m by 2008. Talks are underway for a worldwide brand rollout and the possibility of a Glasses Direct.com USA operation is being mooted.

But the story doesn’t end there – James has recently signed an investment deal injecting $6 million into the fast growing internet business.  The additional funding has been secured through high profile venture capitalists Index Ventures ($4m), the no.1 VC firm in Europe, Highland Capital Partners ($2m) and The Accelerator Group.

James Murray Wells has major plans for the growth of the business over the next financial year and aspires to make Glasses Direct a household brand name within a year in the UK.  Other developments include white-label initiatives with some of the largest household names in UK retailing and the launch of a range of designer frames from brands such as Storm, Diesel and Gucci.

Ideal Business Show runs from 25 to 26 September and expects to see more than 3,000 visitors and over 100 exhibitors. Speakers will provide a valuable insight into their experience and offer advice for visitors throughout the two-day event. The show is in partnership with Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce Group and is supported by the Institute of Directors, the Federation of Small Businesses and Vendita Consulting Ltd.

On-hand will be developers from the BBC and Yahoo to provide advice about how best to use the technology.

When we see the word hackers we think of nerds sat at home hacking into corporate agencies and stealing information, but the true meaning of a hacker is:

“a person that is highly computer literate, especially in terms of programming”

Take a look at the Hackday website