Upcoming Panel Appearance: AI Upskilling & the Future Talent Pipeline

Close Focus are delighted to be included on the 2025-2028 Cavan LEO Consultants Panel for Green for Business programme

This is the flagship business development support programme for established Micro businesses in Cavan county council area to assist with Carbon Reduction and Resource efficiency. Helping business become more resilient, efficient and environmentally friendly.

For details and an application, check out the link

Close Focus are delighted to be included on the Consultants Panel for the Sligo Co Councils Green for Micro programme

This is the flagship business development support programme for established Micro businesses in Sligo county council area to assist with Carbon Reduction and Resource efficiency. Helping business become more resilient, efficient and environmentally friendly.

For details and an application, check out the link

Close Focus are delighted to be included on the Consultants Panel for the Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Councils ‘Optimal’ Business Growth Programme.

Managed by Mallusk Enterprise Agency, this is the flagship business developement supprt programme for trading Micro and SME businesses in the Borough.

Close Focus will deliver against the Try Export, Sustaining Business, Sales and General support categories.

For details and an application, check out the link

The project is part funded by Invest Northern Ireland and the European Regional Development Fund under the Investment for Growth & Jobs Northern Ireland Programme and is available to new start-up or existing businesses with a registered business address in the Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council area.
Businesses can access either 1.5 days, 3 days or 5 days free mentoring.

We are delighted to be included on the specialist providers list for the UK Gov SME Brexit Support Fund.

This is a new, fully funded, grant scheme to help importers and exporters manage the new UK-EU trading relationship by gaining valuable training and insights into customs procedures, regulatory compliance and using new software.

The grant scheme will be in place until August 2021 or when the funding runs out.

Here is a link to the UK Gov website where you’ll find our listing so you know it’s legitimate.

If you’re a small business that struggling with aspects of the EU Exit, and would value professional advice and training on supply chains, regulatory compliance or customs procedures feel free to check out our testimonials page to see what other business owners say about us.

To connect with us send a message via our website contacts page or reach out to Frank on our LinkedIn page

As we approach the tail end of the Belfast City Council mentoring support programme, here are my top 6 key takeaways:

6. Break down the problem into manageable chunks. Brexit is a behemoth of a problem. If you let it get too big in your own mind then it can stop you dealing with the specific issues that impact your business. Look for the issues that are impacting your customers that you can solve for them.

5. A lot of Brexit issues can be solved over the phone or via a quick zoom/ teams call. A lot of business just need a burning question answered. For some it might be clarification of a technical issue such as Commodity Codes, Tariff rates, or Rules of Origin. For others it is about understanding if they have missed anything or if they are missing an opportunity. Whatever the issue, look for opportunities to address them.

4. Gaining practical experience of customs processes and software takes longer as you need to get used to the quirks of the software systems. Whoever you use for training, make sure there is a walk through and practical activity on a live system as part of the process.

3. Think carefully if new processes should be done in-house or outsourced. I have seen a lot of businesses put good people in positions that they are not suited to. It causes unnecessary stress and it can set them up to fail, which benefits no one. Look and learn from your other business contacts to see what has worked for them.

2. It tales resources (time, money and people) to roll out expertise. If you are light on resources or under pressure on customer delivery, consider outsourcing processes for a short period of time then bring it in house gradually.

1. There are a lot of opportunities out there if you build expertise in an ‘in demand’ area like customs procedures  software. For outsourcing administrative companies, like bookkeeping or virtual assistants, this is a great string to your bow. Look for government support for upskilling opportunities.

If you’re a small business that is struggling with aspects of the EU Exit, and would value professional advice and training on supply chains, regulatory compliance or customs procedures feel free to check out our testimonials page to see what other business owners say about us.

To connect with us send a message via our website contacts page or reach out to Frank on our LinkedIn page

Delighted to be included on the panel for the Mid and East Antrim Borough Council LED Business Escalator Plus Programme as a Mentor.

This is a council framework we successfully tendered for.

The areas we will be supporting business with are; Strategic Business Growth, Business Planning, Innovation, Sales and Export.

The Derry City and Strabane District Council B.I.G Programme is the flagship business growth programme for the council area.

The B.I.G (Business Innovation and Growth) Programme wants to help local business get a head of the curve and tackle the challenges head on. There is a strong contingent on Digital Marketing, Tendering/ Bid Management and International Trade.

This ambitious programme kicks off in September 2020 and runs until December 2022.

I am delighted to say I’ll be working on the programme as a business mentor as part of Full Circle’s delivery team.

If you’re a small business owner or self employed and want to know more about how the programme can help you get on, get click on the free consultation button and well get back to you pronto.

As the COVID 19 pandemic took effect in Europe in April, I wrote a short LinkedIn article on access to free educational resources and online training for people who wanted to use the downtime to refresh their skills.

As the wave of job losses becomes apparent this takes on a new life in what will be the most competitive jobs market since post the 2008/09 financial crash.

As the post title reads, it’s not just about finding a quality course to delve into, it’s about finding one that adds value to your life.

The short answer is ‘it depends’.

You really need to answer 3 fundamental questions.

1. Do I have the time?
2. Do I have the discipline?
3. Can I afford not to?

With a NO answer to any one of those then it will be a struggle.

• You need to have the time – I struggle with this in my practice as it’s a busy time for business consultants across the sector. Blocking out a time slot is easy when it’s a classroom based course, but when its on demand, there’s always a more pressing email, phone call, cup of tea to make, odd job around the house to do or even post to write for your website!!
• Discipline, and with it the physical and mental space to learn, is critical to success. Online learning is a skill that needs to be learned, as is getting yourself into a frame of mind to learn.
• Finally the ‘need to succeed’ and the pressure of falling behind are equally important. Mid positioned professionals are the most likely to fall by the wayside during the next jobs cull.

When I was 29/30, I was out of work and needed a new job to pay the bills. Dusting off my CV I hadn’t done any educational development since University. So, I went to a local college and booked onto a course in occupational Health and Safety to ‘pad out’ my CV. The course was interesting, I enjoyed it, and thought it would look good in basically similar roles that I had done before.

This came up when interviewing for job in a sales role, very different from my purely technical background. I was up against a seasoned professional with decades of experience in the industry. Although the course had nothing to do with that particular role, the MD said when offering me the job, ‘you have the ability to learn’.

That became, and remains, the most important skill in my toolbox.

Stay curious.