Invest in Angus

Writing a business plan – Why it's essential for ALL businesses
2022-02-10 10:00 - 12:00 UTC
Just starting up or looking to update your business plan to get funding or take forward developments? Then this session is for you.
We will walk you through what should be included within a business plan, how a business plan is used to improve your prospects for a loan or a grant and how you can develop a business plan to meet your needs.
We will cover:

The business plan structure
What should be included within each section
When and how to use a business plan
The connections (and importance) between the words and the numbers
How to identify and manage cashflow within the business planning process

Building a circular economy
2022-02-10 10:00 - 11:00
All businesses will be impacted by the need to become circular eventually, and it is expected that businesses that show leadership and innovation will make significant economic gains at the expense of those who do not embrace the changes. Circular Economy concepts involve every element of a product or service, from its design right through to its disposal or regeneration.

Event Details
We are passionate about the Circular Economy (CE).* By becoming more circular, businesses can be more resilient, competitive and resource-efficient. SMEs have become increasingly aware of the benefits associated with resource efficiency. However, most SMEs have limited resources and do not see CE as a priority nor do they perceive its benefits.
*A circular economy is “a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible”.
This webinar will focus on the viewpoint of the SME; why going circular is important to business now, providing real life examples of businesses that have made the change and felt the positive impact of that change. There will be links to free resources along with some hints and tips for small changes that can be implemented immediately. We will also detail further learning available through the University of Exeter Centre for Circular Economy.

Meet the Adviser - General Surgery
2022-02-10 09:00 - 17:00, 2022-02-03 09:00 - 17:00
Whether you are thinking about starting a business or you have already started one, the Meet the Adviser General Surgery is an opportunity to meet with one of the Business Gateway Tayside team over Zoom to ask any business related questions you may have.
We have slots throughout the day and you will be matched up with an adviser that suits whichever stage of running a business you are at.
These surgeries are for businesses based in Dundee, Angus and Perth.

Starting a business: Everything you need to know
2022-02-09 14:00 - 16:00
Whatever your reasons may be for considering being your own boss, Business Gateway is here to support you and this webinar will help you decide if this is the right path for you. We will explore your potential customers, the problems your business can solve for them and how you can do that better than the competition. Once that is clear, we will look at the key activities and costs involved in starting and running the business and tools for determining the commercial viability before considering the main options for business structures (sole trader, partnership, or limited company).
We will look at:

Personal finance planning – how much do you need to earn?
Researching your market – to develop an understanding of your market, who your customers are, understanding your competition and what the trends are within your chosen field.
Business structure – what are the main business structures? How to decide which is right for you and how to register as a business.
Creating your start-up action plan – an outline.

International E-Commerce: Develop Your Digital Strategy Masterclass
2022-02-09 09:30 - 13:00
Strategy is critical to success in any project , digital projects have a high failure rate so even more critical your business is focused.
About this event
International expansion can at first be a daunting prospect but is always helped by having a clear plan to follow. We will introduce you to the key components needed to create your own International Digital Strategy
Roddy Maclean -Presenter
Roddy has a track record of launching and scaling successful businesses online. He has managed several successful multi-million pound e-commerce businesses from start-up to maturity in markets including the UK, France, Italy, the US and China and in his last corporate role spent 7 years as the Global Head of E-Commerce and Digital Marketing for a $120M, US Internet Retailer Top 200 e-commerce business.
In recent years, Roddy has established two successful new ventures, Feral, a digital marketing and e-commerce consultancy helping brands to produce authentic pillar marketing content and building high performance websites and an e-commerce retail business selling home décor products. This business is now a key player in the UK home interiors market.

Psychological Safety in the Workplace
2022-02-09 09:30 - 11:30
Business Gateway, in partnership with Skills Development Scotland, is here to support you to develop your workforce. This webinar will be run by Laura Royale on behalf of SDS.
In this comprehensive workshop, you will learn the importance of psychological safety for effectiveness and performance for individuals and the team. Learning the value of psychological safety enables higher levels of collaboration, innovation, and performance.
Find out how to shape and foster psychological safety through engaging communication skills, and great conversational coaching and feedback skills to enhance wellbeing and strengthen commitment and engagement.
You’ll come away knowing how to strengthen awareness and management of self and others by developing your emotional intelligence skills and identifying and solving problems before they occur.
Your action plan will include:
Actionable steps to shape and foster psychological safety for your work teams.
What you will need to put into practice following this session.
What support you need and where you can find it.

An introduction to business websites & what you need to consider
2022-02-08 14:00 - 16:00
This webinar will take you right from the beginning of website building. You will learn about:

The need to determine website objectives
The importance of knowing who your audience is and measuring results
Setting clear calls to action and creating engaging content.
Create your brand’s visual identity online, your site’s blueprint and how you can structure your site map.
What’s involved in registering and maintaining your site content and options for hosting it.

This webinar will also offer guidance on when and how to outsource your website development. Covering topics such as where to find a contractor, what to organise first and costing for the work.

Tourism businesses: Make your website work for your customers – Best practice in user experience (UX)
2022-02-08 14:00 - 15:00
Your website is your shop window to the world, so it’s important to provide a great user experience (UX). Get top tips & best practice to help you attract customers.
This webinar will cover:

The importance of knowing your online users’ experience
Great examples of making user experience work

This is a joint VisitScotland and DigitalBoost event which is funded by Digital Scotland and delivered by Business Gateway.

Online user experience: How to analyse it and improve it
2022-02-08 10:00 - 12:00
In this webinar you will discover and define your business goals, design a user-friendly experience and learn how to test and launch your online platform.
Once you have completed this webinar you will know more about how to continuously maintain and improve your digital platform, acting on data and results. You will be able to engage with more customers (or potential customers) and sell your products and services to a wider audience.

Start-Up: Awareness
2022-02-07 18:00 - 20:00
The workshop will provide you with the opportunity to network with other business owners and will also highlight useful sources of information, advice and guidance.
This webinar is for businesses based in Dundee, Angus or Perth.

Facebook for business
2022-02-07 14:00 - 16:00
In this webinar you will:
– Learn how to get the most out of the most popular social media platform in the world and how it could fit into your digital marketing strategy.
– Better understand the algorithm behind Facebook, and how to create great content that achieves a bigger reach and impact.
– Learn from the stats and data you can get from the system and discover who your most interested customers/clients are.
– Understand the power of Facebook advertising, and other selling options available to you.

Paid for advertising
2022-02-07 11:30 - 13:00
After this webinar you will be able to make more informed decisions about where paid-for advertising fits in to your strategy. We will explore the relative merits of all the different types of paid-for online options available to you, as well as the mix of social media platforms you can choose from.
We will cover:

Strategy, ad content guidelines and ad sizes
Keyword planning, tracking and analysis to optimise your campaigns.
You will gain a clearer understanding of how to evaluate and analyse existing social media advertising campaigns
Pinpoint areas for improvement and be on top of legal guidelines.

Complete Storytelling - Dundee Workshop
2022-02-07 09:30 - 16:30 | Verdant Works, West Henderson's Wynd, Dundee, DD1 5BT
This one day workshop is designed to help tourism businesses with their recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Delegates will learn new communications and sales skills to help enhance customer service delivery and re-build income streams. Successful consumer experiences are the product of creating and delivering engaging and memorable stories. Stories effortlessly transform consumers into ambassadors; generating repeat visits, recommendations and increased secondary spend.
Complete Storytelling is a highly motivational workshop that breaks down the fears and boundaries that prohibit truly effective communication. This is achieved through teaching and practicing practical methods in a safe, supported and inspiring environment. Using performance techniques, the experienced trainers will hone participant’s skills in Body Language and Voice by teaching tried and tested tips and tricks used regularly by actors and presenters.
Over the course of the training, attendees will learn how the power of your story can motivate staff, create exceptional consumer experiences and generate income in a COVID secure environment. Attendees will be taught how to use storytelling to engage, sell and create brand loyalty.
Cost: The delegate fee is £50, inclusive of VAT.
Venue: This event will be held in Dundee, at Verdant Works.

Taking a strategic approach to developing your business
2022-02-03 14:00 - 16:00
The webinar is practical, and outcomes driven.
Content will focus on a pragmatic approach to Strategic Planning designed to fit with the needs of small businesses in both B2C and B2B environments.
Topics covered during the webinar will include:

Looking at your business today – identifying your strengths and areas for development
The key pillars of a business and why balancing all areas is essential for success
Personal and business ambitions and using these to guide strategy development
Ansoff’s Matrix as a tool for identifying core growth strategies
The core components of your business delivery
How to develop a methodical, strategic approach to developing your business for future success

You will understand:

How to undertake a balanced review of where your business is that helps identify areas for development
Ansoff’s Matrix and how to use it as a core strategic planning tool
How to create a strategic plan for growing your business

How to build a digital marketing plan
2022-02-03 10:00 - 11:30
This webinar will guide you through the steps needed to create an effective digital marketing strategy to meet your business objectives and create more leads.
We will cover:

Setting measurable goals, establishing what your customers are looking for and competitor analysis.
Developing your brand
Content strategy
Prioritising digital channels
Marketing communications planning and evaluation

Pinterest for business
2022-02-02 14:00 - 16:00
Thinking about using Pinterest to showcase your business? Move from being a beginner to knowing enough to gain commercial benefit from the use of Pinterest.
We will cover which type of audience you can reach via this platform and the factors and analytics such as cost and timing of posting content and how that can maximise impact.

How to Reduce Single-Use Plastic in your Hospitality Business
2022-02-02 11:30 - 12:30
Greener Guest and its sister organisation Travel Without Plastic, have been working to reduce plastic waste in the hospitality industry since 2011. Workshop presenters Rachel McCaffery and Jo Hendrickx have a wealth of UK and international experience in sustainable hospitality and have worked with some of the best known UK and global brands, like Thomas Cook, Virgin Atlantic, Red Carnation Hotels, TUI, WWF Netherlands and The Apple Leisure Group in The Caribbean.
So much single-use plastic is used as a matter of course in hospitality and catering that trying to stem the tide can feel overwhelming. Rachel and Jo’s practical approach will show you that reducing plastic doesn’t have to be a headache. It also shouldn’t need to cost the earth or impact on customer satisfaction. Based on collaboration with one of the world’s leading Health and Safety companies, they’ll also focus on how you can reduce plastic , while maintaining hygiene standards and keeping customers safe.

In this workshop, we’ll share our 4-Step strategy to reducing single-use and share some of the innovative ways businesses are driving behaviour change to achieve plastic waste reductions and cost savings.
Consumers and businesses want change but are often confused by the huge variety of alternatives on offer, some of which aren’t as green as they seem. So we’ll help you to identify and avoid greenwash tactics, and give you the information you need to be able to make more informed purchasing decisions for your business.
We’ll look at how to maintain health and safety standards while still reducing plastic and finally, we’ll introduce you to some of our favourite leaders in the alternative products space that are not only helping hospitality businesses to reduce waste and costs, but to achieve significant steps towards NetZero goals too!
The content of this workshop will help anyone working in the field of hospitality, particularly in any of the sectors highlighted below.

Hoteliers
Airlines
Restaurants and Cafes
Airbnb Owners
Bed & Breakfast Owners
Serviced Apartment Providers
Tourist Attractions
Event Organisers
Campsite, Caravan Park and Glampsite Managers
Conferences and events organisers
Train and coach companies

Twitter for business
2022-02-02 10:00 - 12:00
This webinar will help you develop and hone your social media strategy in order to amplify your message using Twitter. You will gain a deeper understanding of where Twitter fits into your overall plan, how it relates to other platforms, and the relative benefits of sponsored posts, as well as how to create them.
You will also learn about:

Twitter best practice content and what makes the perfect tweet.
Dashboards such as Hootsuite to help you manage and integrate your social media accounts and schedule content.
Advanced techniques for social listening and pro-actively finding content and customers.

The 5 key strategies to profitable business growth
2022-02-02 10:00 - 11:00
With budgeting and business modelling as the focus, this webinar, delivered in conjunction with Advice4Business North East, will cover:

Ways to reduce working hours in the business
How to tweak your business model to become more profitable
Techniques for improving cash flow

Our expert speaker, Linda Lowther, will introduce you to the 5 main drivers of business performance: Revenue, Costs, Receivables, Payables and Stock (or WIP). These drivers help you develop a profitable business model and determine which Key Performance Indicators to use so that you can confidently budget and plan business growth.

Get Real Results From Your Website
2022-02-02 09:30 - 12:30
Stephen Whitelaw has a proven track record of managing and growing businesses in the fast moving technology sector, through strong financial and personnel management skills. This sound and prudent foundation is complemented by a drive and ability to think “out of the box,” giving the businesses he works with a competitive advantage in planning for the future.
By the end of the webinar you will have the knowledge necessary to improve your site and increase visitor numbers.
This webinar will cover the following:
explain what makes a good website
getting your website found
competitor research
customer journey
assist you in preparing a detailed plan for a new or revised website
prepare you to work with suppliers to create an effective site

Cloud for business
2022-02-01 18:00 - 19:30
How can you keep track of customers, manage resources and keep in touch with everyone efficiently? Is a cloud-based solution right for your business? How do different back office strategies compare on cost and value?
At the end of this webinar, you’ll have:

Up-to-date information and tools to help you make strategic back-office decisions.
Real-world examples will help you understand different cloud-based platforms, their functions, and their costs.
You will be able to identify which platforms suit your business, and how their scalability could complement your plans.

Marketing your business on a budget
2022-02-01 14:00 - 16:00
When budgets are tight it can be difficult to find the funds for marketing. This webinar will help you use marketing to increase customer engagement. We will offer marketing tips and advice that you can then use across your business. Without bursting the bank!
We will look at:

How marketing extends way beyond what most businesses consider it to be and how that provides opportunities for businesses to make transformational change with little or no extra spend.
Identifying Marketing Priorities and using these to reshape your business.
The Marketing Mix as a tool for reviewing how your business plans and delivers its marketing activity.
How your marketing activity is delivered successfully and effectively in your business.
A series of top tips including the importance of understanding your customers, the core components of a brand, the value of strong and consistent branding and the power of of a clear focus and creativity.
The many options available with traditional Advertising and Promotion as a way a company communicates what it does and what it can offer customers, but also looking how this has changed in a world where marketing has moved online.

Digital fundamentals for tourism businesses
2022-02-01 12:00 - 13:00
An introductory session to the fundamental elements of promoting and managing your tourism business online.
At the end of this webinar, you’ll have learned:

How to increase the visibility of your business online with the right content, at the right time, on the right platforms.
How to assess the quality of your online presence and know if you have reached your intended audience.
About the different online booking and distribution platforms available to tourism businesses.
How to make the most of your digital marketing.
The first steps you can take to ensure your content is SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) friendly

This is a joint VisitScotland and DigitalBoost event which is funded by Digital Scotland and delivered by Business Gateway.

Generating ideas for your business
2022-02-01 10:00 - 12:00
Many people would like to start their own business but don’t have a business idea to focus on. This session will help you:
1. Clarify your motivation behind starting your own business
2. Appreciate your skills and experiences
3. Use a range of techniques for generating new business ideas
4. Gain an appreciation of how to evaluate these ideas
5. Prepare to get started!

Bookkeeping and finance: The essentials for business
2022-01-31 14:00 - 16:00
This webinar is for those who are entering business for the first time or require an understanding of what is involved in financially managing a business, including developing basic bookkeeping, and creating a profit and loss account. You will also get an understanding of what expenses the business can claim and then how to fund both start up and growth. At the end of the session, you will receive a workbook on excel to help you manage and monitor costs and sales.
After this webinar, you will be able to:

Implement basic bookkeeping skills across your business
Create a profit and loss account
Understand what expenses can and cannot be claimed
Use financial management to increase revenues and profits
Understand how you can fund your business

Instagram for business
2022-01-31 10:00 - 12:00
Thinking about using Instagram to communicate with existing and potential customers? Want to showcase your products or services using it? During this webinar we will cover:

Getting the setup right and benefitting from the available business tools.
Best practice profiles, and some strategies to help your business stand out from the crowd.
Learn which type of audience you can reach via this platform and the factors and analytics such as cost and timing of posting images and how that can maximise impact.
The various types of content you can post to Instagram, from regular posts, to Stories, Reels, and Live Video.

Building your brand and promotional graphics
2022-01-28 11:00 - 13:00
This webinar will define what a brand is (and isn’t) and explain how it’s more than just creating a logo. We will explore how a business can use their brand to show its identity, purpose, personality, message and values in order to stand out from competitors, build a loyal customer base and make more sales.
This webinar will:

Provide you with a clear understanding of the difference between brands and branding
Help you learn how to develop your brand’s positioning, character, and purpose to differentiate your business from its competitors
Demonstrate how to set up a brand kit and style guide to ensure consistency across websites, social media, business cards, posters etc.
Teach you how to create simple promotional graphics using a variety of tools including Canva
Highlight a variety of free tools including Google Drive, Hubspot and Mailchimp that can save time and simplify marketing tasks

Mindset in Business
2022-01-28 10:00 - 11:00
Dundee & Angus College have teamed up with the fantastic Enterprise Team at Royal Bank of Scotland to deliver this short and sharp session designed to give you the tools and techniques you need to use your mindset to positively impact your business.
Whether you are starting, growing or maintaining a business now more than ever it is essential we understand how to control our mindset to stay resilient.

Routes to Funding
2022-01-27 18:00 - 20:00
There’s a choice of funding options out there for businesses and the self-employed, but how do you know which is right for you? GrowBiz and Business Gateway are bringing together a panel of expert speakers to discuss the different funding formats available to you and your business. We’ll discuss the pros and cons, the application processes, and introduce you to some helpful contacts. Following the presentations, there will be breakout rooms which will give attendees a chance to network and ask questions.
The funding options we’ll discuss are:

Crowdfunding – and additional funding available from Perth and Kinross Council
Loans – from DSL
Grants – we’ll hear from Perth and Kinross Council’s Economic Development Team
Angel Investment – specifically Perth and Kinross Council’s Angel’s Share scheme

Join us to find out more and to meet some like minded businesses for informal networking. This is an ideal opportunity to get into the swing of 2022 and start the year with some great ideas from friendly faces.
