Beermat articles. Short reads on starting, selling and growing.
Mike and Chris West on cash, cornerstones, networking, leadership and the myths that trip up people starting out. Each one takes about four minutes.
Start here
The Local Heroes series: your home business, step by step.
Short articles from Mike, in the order of The Beermat Entrepreneur. Read them in order, and do the one thing each one asks of you.
- 1
Business Is Simple!
How starting a home-based business is simpler than you might think
Read part 1 → - 2
Where’s the Pain?
How understanding your customers’ problems is the key to business success
Read part 2 → - 3
Networking for Profit and Pleasure
How to make business networking events both useful and enjoyable
Read part 3 →
7 more parts on the way. Get each one by email as it comes out.
Longer reads from Mike
- Starting a business →The Apprentice Entrepreneur's first steps: the Elevator Pitch, a mentor and your first customer.
- Growing a business →From Seedling to Sapling to Mighty Oak, and the team you'll need on the way.
- Mike's life story →Jazz bands, a mobile disco, The Instruction Set, Mike Fab-Gere and the Beermat books.
The Beermat archive
Every article Mike and Chris have written, grouped by what it helps with. Dip in wherever you like.
- Your first business
How To Be A Local Hero
Now is the time for everyone to develop that ‘side-hustle’: a home-based business
Read it → - Your first business
Entrepreneurship Part 1: My First Advice for Any Aspiring Entrepreneur
Spoiler Alert: It’s NOT ‘have a good idea’!
Read it → - Your first business
Entrepreneurship Part 2: Understanding Yourself
Experience undoubtedly brings knowledge, but without self-awareness there is no wisdom
Read it → - Your first business
Entrepreneurship Part 3: The Elevator Pitch
Fifteen seconds to win fifteen minutes: Pain, Premise and Proof
Read it → - Your first business
A Safe Pair of Hands – Alison Grade
It is good business sense to hire a freelancer – here are some top tips
Read it → - Starting out
Two Cheers for Entrepreneurs!
Entrepreneurs are great! But they're also human, and that's why Mike says they need help. The Beermat Cornerstone model is the answer.
Read it → - Starting out
Know Thyself
The common picture of the relentless entrepreneur forging ahead against everyone's advice does nobody any favours. Mike says this heroism is overrated: smart entrepreneurs open their eyes and ears to everyone around them.
Read it → - Starting out
As One Door Closes…
Many people use redundancy as the chance to investigate entrepreneurship. Sometimes it's the right answer. Sometimes it's not. Mike examines the right way to handle being let go - and the opportunities it presents.
Read it → - Starting out
Older Entrepreneurs
Some people think business is a young man's game. They're wrong on two counts: women excel, and the evidence suggests that older entrepreneurs also have a greater chance of success. Mike finds out why.
Read it → - Starting out
Sole Traders
Sole trading is hard: you take all the risk and your rewards are limited by what you can fit into a day. But there's a strategy for sole traders to maximise their chances of success and the rewards they achieve, and Mike says it's all about knowing what you're good at.
Read it → - Starting out
A Friend in High Places
Not everyone can have the Prince of Wales as a mentor, but the Prince's Trust highlights the value of getting a mentor: someone who's been there and worn the T-shirt to help you out. Here's Mike's advice for finding a mentor.
Read it → - Starting out
How to Be Good
How entrepreneurs can be good people and leave a lasting legacy
Read it → - Selling and networking
The Sales Cornerstone
Two revelations: entrepreneurs aren't necessarily great salespeople; and salespeople don't necessarily wear fat ties and shout a lot. At the heart of a great business is a great sales cornerstone, and here Mike explains what to look for.
Read it → - Selling and networking
The Networking Myth
Networking has become a bit of a science (instead of fun!). And worse still, especially with LinkedIn, many people just try to grow their networks in size. Mike says that's bonkers: there's an ideal network for you, your contacts, and your business.
Read it → - Selling and networking
Working a Room
Plenty of people find networking scary. It doesn't have to be; and that's partly because we can all fall back on a little civility. Here's Mike's tips for working a room full of people without annoying anyone!
Read it → - Selling and networking
Turning “Yes But…” into “Yes And…” – Neil Mullarkey
How to supercharge office communication through improvisation
Read it → - Selling and networking
Customer Case Studies
How to get your clients to add credibility to your business
Read it → - Selling and networking
Adding Consultancy
We live in a service economy. People want solutions, not widgets - and Mike says it can be very profitable to sell the all-in answer to people's problems…
Read it → - Selling and networking
Alliances
It takes time to get bigger, so smart start-ups leverage the strength of like-minded partners. Here Mike explores the characteristics that make a great partnership, even when they're much bigger than you!
Read it → - Selling and networking
Let Battle Commence?
Some folks quote Sun Tzu's 'Art of War' as the template for business. It's not the Beermat way (although it's a good read!). Mike says smart businesses - especially smaller ones - are born to collaborate.
Read it → - Selling to the public
How to Rise to the Occasion
A learning platform built on curiosity, expert knowledge, and the belief that self-development should actually be enjoyable
Read it → - Selling to the public
The e-Commerce Elephant in the Room: Heikki Haldre
How and Estonian company ON24 is taking on larger competitors and winning
Read it → - Money
Watch the Cash
Businesses go broke for one reason: they run out of cash. Mike explains the best piece of advice he ever received from a mentor: ‘Watch the cash, laddie”.
Read it → - Money
The Finance Bogeyman
Mike asks a really simple question: why is it that finance is always the entrepreneurial weak spot, the bit that go-getters hate? Perhaps it's fear, perhaps it's because money demands discipline, not exuberance. Either way, the finance bogeyman needs taming. Here's how to do it.
Read it → - Building a team
Building a Dream Team
If there's one thing that characterises Beermat, it's people. And once you've got your Cornerstones, the five people at the heart of the business, you'll need even more people. They're your Dream Team, and here Mike explains what they look like.
Read it → - Building a team
The Legend of the Lone Entrepreneur
The lone entrepreneur, fighting battles with a world that doesn't understand, is a popular one (and some nurture it as part of their personal image). But in most cases, it's an undeserving myth. Great entrepreneurs deploy their vision, but they also deploy a great team too. In this article, Mike shows you how to do it.
Read it → - Building a team
Leadership
At Beermat, we're pretty skeptical about some models of leadership. Mike says leaders do need to be visionary, communicative and energetic. But they don't have to be gung-ho and unwavering: we prefer something more collaborative - the right metaphor is sport, not war.
Read it → - Building a team
Life after 25
No, this isn't about getting older! We're talking about the number of employees. Because after 25, a company suddenly, magically and irrevocably changes in character. It becomes more administrative - a different beast to the startup. And not everyone will cope with the change. Here's Mike's advice.
Read it → - Ideas and invention
Brunel
The man behind the Great Western Railway was a true entrepreneur: ambitious, indefatigable, enthusiastic, eternally curious. And he was blessed with the technological advances of the Victorian era too! Take a stroll with Mike into the world of Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
Read it → - Ideas and invention
Lessons from Menlo Park
Inventors aren't automatically entrepreneurs. Because great ideas don't automatically become great businesses. Mike looks at an inventor who did achieve fame and fortune - not least by relying on some talented help: Thomas Alva Edison.
Read it → - Ideas and invention
The Technology Trap
Technology is everywhere - and for 20 years it's been a rich seam of innovation and profitable business. But Mike says more tech isn't always the answer - and selling amid the noise of a tech-driven world is harder than ever!
Read it → - Inside big organisations
Intrapreneurship and Structure
We're big fans of intrapreneurship; the chance to bring entrepreneurial zeal to departments and companies. Here, Mike debunks the myths that hold intrapreneurship back, to make sure that both a company and its intrapreneurs can live side by side.
Read it → - Inside big organisations
Intrapreneurship in the Public Sector
Intrapreneurship - being entrepreneurial in-house - is a hot topic in big businesses. Here, Mike argues that the public sector has more to gain than most.
Read it →