Several interesting case studies from the US in this article by Margaret Heffernan about “why midlife women make superior entrepreneurs“. It comes from More, an American magazine aimed at women in their forties and over.   Among the myths challenged are: Entrepreneur Myth #1: You Have to Be Young Entrepreneur Myth #2: You Need Heaps of Cash - – - read more >

A new small-business award has been launched for those who live on Merseyside, backed by the Liverpool Daily Post and Dominique Faversham Group. The prize is 12 months’ mentoring and support, and a loan of up to £100,000. There are three age categories, including one for people aged 50+. The closing date is noon on - – - read more >

Here are three good articles on business networking. The first recommends a systematic approach to business networking, complete with an action plan template you can download and print out. The article and action plan are both aimed at freelance journalists, but you can apply the principles to many other industries. Journalism is very obviously dependent - – - read more >

Enterprise Nation, whose podcasts you can see listed lower down the page, has launched a new award for home-based businesses. The closing date is the  17th of September 2007, and the winner will be announced on the 1st of  October. The free competition is easy to enter, requiring just 200 words under each of three - – - read more >

Some common business dangers 1. Failure to sell New businesses should concentrate on winning their critical early customers before anything else. If you are uncomfortable with selling, try another approach. Selling doesn’t have to be the traditional hard sell, but it does need to be done. Even if you are busy now, set time aside - – - read more >

Stelios Haji-Ioannou, founder of Easyjet and Easygroup, has teamed up with charity Leonard Cheshire and the British Chamber of Commerce to introduce a new £50,000 award. It is aimed specifically at people who have achieved business success despite having a disability. The deadline for entries is the 14th of September 2007. To be eligible you - – - read more >

If you are a new small business in Nottingham then you could win £3,000 in the fourth annual Spirit of Enterprise Awards, run by PRIME-partner Nottinghamshire Business Venture. There are also several smaller prizes for businesses in particular categories. Refreshingly you can enter “Young Business of the Year” whatever your age – because it’s the - – - read more >

There are several free on-line directories that are useful both for finding services you require and for researching the local competition. Near.co.uk is a good example, and one of the simplest and quickest to use. It provides a straightforward list of businesses by type and town. For example: Wedding services near Widnes Chain saws near - – - read more >

Damage to the wiring at our central office was worse than expected, so the power has been shut down till Monday while it is ripped out and replaced. This means we have temporarily lost email and phones until the start of next week (6th of August). However PRIME’s programme of free events in other parts - – - read more >