There are a few organisations out there claiming to support microbusinesses – I’m interested to know what experiences you have of them. If you’re a member of any organisation, please add a comment to this blog entry to say which one you belong to, what you think of it, and specifically what you feel you get out of it. Please put your comments into context by including information about your business- especially its size and nature.
I’m particularly interested in organisations that require you to pay if you join up but if you want to include the various free-to-join groups out there that’s also fine.
And if you’re not a member of any organisation (like me – hence my interest) I’d like to know why, what you’d look for in any prospective group and how much you’d be prepared to pay. I’m not going to be launching my own organisation, this isn’t a marketing exercise – I’m just interested to find out what fellow businesspeople think.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I might as well get the ball rolling. I’m not a member of any organisation but would like to join. Why? Because being a microentrepreneur can be a lonely experience and it would be nice to be part of a group of like minded people. Personally, I’d rather access to that group was paid-for rather than free so that only real, serious business people joined. I’d also like a voice in campaigning. I’d be prepared to pay £75 per annum.
Hi Kevin
Interesting idea, a quick Google gets you hundreds of local organisations from alleged campaigning groups (which really just want to make membership fee money) to alleged business support groups (some funded by government i.e. mine and your tax pounds) and some networking groups. After 20 odd years of this kind of business I find it is a rare networking group that does any good for business, although you can meet nice people! Campaigning groups mostly campaign for what they want, rather than what their members realistically want (perhaps because the membership is so diverse no one can agree on what they want). Finally regarding peer-supported groups let me give you an analogy. When I was learning Spanish my tutor would put is ‘into pairs’ and have us practice a subject. The only thing was, at the time, neither of us knew anything about the subject. So we chatted in bad Spanish, reinforced each other’s mistakes and passed on a few extra mistakes of our own. Not a great way to learn Spanish or business or even Spanish business.
Chris
Kevin,
As a business coach and consultant, I come in contact with a lot of business owners and as a result of discussion with many of them, in addition to my own challenges as a microbusiness, I’ve started something called I’m A Micro (http://imamicro.com). At the moment, it is just an email list, but within a couple of months it will be an association/community of microbusinesses/microenterprises. My current plan is to use a freemium model where there would be value provided to the public, and free members, but there would be paid level(s) of membership whose costs would be justified by the value they provide. These members would have a say (or voting) in terms of how the community develops as well as what it should focus it’s efforts on. Regardless, my goals is to keep these costs VERY low, so that all microbusinesses can take advantage of the services/benefits.
I sense there is a strong need for such an organization, given the speed at which my list is growing, despite how recently I’ve launched and that I’ve done little-to-no advertising. I do see Chris’s points, and agree with it, but I don’t see the value of this group being primarily in the networking area. Instead, I believe it can have a more significant impact with through support, knowledge sharing, leveraging buying power, and eventually, as way to help bring about change in the way Micros are viewed and treated in both their local communities and national-levels.
-Jim