In this episode, host Danny Gallagher, Business Gateway Highland Manager, speaks with Rachel Hanretty, Founder of Mademoiselle Macaron, and Keith Elrick, a Business Gateway Adviser who specialises in helping start-ups take the leap into self-employment and bring their business idea to life.

We all know that starting a business is never easy, especially in the middle of a crisis. But with the right planning and support it could be a lot simpler than you think.

Regardless of your situation, this podcast could help you kick of that business journey. We discuss how you can know your idea is viable, what support and tools might help, funding, finance, and all the legal stuff you need to think through. Essential listening for anyone considering start up and self-employment right now.

COVID-19 has had a profound impact on our lives, enforcing major changes, which for many have caused much stress and anxiety. In this episode, Business Gateway Highland Manager Danny Gallagher talks to Louise Stuart of Healthy Working Lives and Catriona Davies from Resolution Mediation Scotland.

They discuss what you can do as an employer to maintain good mental health, and the steps you can take to look after your workforce.

We also explore how you might start conversations about mental health, the power of OK, useful apps, courses and techniques which can form a toolkit in and out of work.

Useful links:

Come Alive UK
Health and Safety Executive
Resolution Mediation ScotlandMind
Healthy Working Lives

Meditation apps and resources:
InsightTimer
Calm
Headspace

For information on workplace health, safety and wellbeing you can speak to a specialist adviser for free by calling the Healthy Working Lives Adviceline on 0800 019 2211 or by webchat www.healthyworkinglives.scot (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm).

To access the free Healthy Working lives online learning suite, you can register for an account and then browse and select the course you want to enroll in.

In this episode, Phillip talks to Alison Bell of Bell HR and Ann Kerr, a specialist HR adviser for Business Gateway about restarting business operations. The post COVID-19 workplace poses many challenges for employers. This open and frank conversation touches on some of the burning issues facing businesses right now; from restructuring and making redundancies, to making best use of the furlough scheme and applying best practice in communication with staff.

Useful links:

http://www.bellhrconsulting.co.uk/

https://www.bgateway.com/resources/getting-back-to-business-hr-considerations

https://www.bgateway.com/resources/getting-back-to-business-hr-guidance-for-employers

In this first episode of our Business Gateway Connections Podcast series, Phillip talks to Jamie Watt of Innovair and Business Gateway Adviser John MacGillivray. They talk about the business landscape, and what changes have been made to their day-to-day operations during the lockdown. They also look at longer-term strategies and how Innovair has taken advantage of some downtime to improve their digital marketing materials. There are also some really handy tips on keeping employees engaged and protecting your mental health.

Find out more on Innovair:

Our Coronavirus Support page: https://www.bgateway.com/coronavirus-business-support-across-scotland

DigitalBoost resources: https://www.bgateway.com/resources/digitalboost/

Coronavirus funding support and grants (updated daily): https://www.bgateway.com/resources/finance-and-grant-announcements

In this episode, host Charlie Bell talks to UX Designer Sam Selbie about finding simple ways to improve your Businesses website.

We cover what mistakes to avoid, how you can create a great website on a budget, simplicity and hierarchy of information, the importance of catering for a mobile audience, and we talk a lot (a lot) about good content.

http://illustrations.co/

In this episode, host Charlie Bell speaks with Mike McGrail, Digital Marketing Consultant from Velocity Digital how to analyse the online presence of your business and the important role it plays in your success. 

Mike also shares some insider tips on tools and trends and recommends the best way to spend your time and money online.

For more information on how to analyse and improve your digital presence, discover our free workshops and guides here:

Our Audit Your Digital Presence Article

Other useful links:

https://moz.com/

https://sproutsocial.com/

https://www.facebook.com/business/insights/tools/audience-insights

https://uk.marketo.com/

https://www.hubspot.com/

https://www.mautic.org/

Fyre Festival documentary

In this episode, host Charlie Bell speaks to Sarah Johnson, Founder of IndigoLeap about the difference digital marketing can make to your business and how it has evolved over the last few years. With chat about PPC, setting digital goals, how to measure success and what 3 things businesses should be doing.

Useful links:

Links to useful digital tools:

Links to Platforms' resources:

Other good sources of info:

In our bonus bite, following on from our Boost your Twitter Game episode, Gary Ennis from NSDesign tells us his top tips on how small businesses could be harnessing the power of Twitter Lists.

In this episode, host Charlie Bell speaks to Gary Ennis, Founder of the digital training company NSDesign, to talk about how to get the most out of Twitter for your business. We look at the best ways for small businesses to start a conversation and engage followers. We also discuss the process of establishing your tone of voice and the importance of it.

For more information on Twitter, check out our DigitalBoost guide:

And other resources to help your business:

In this episode, we asked Angela Prentner-Smith from This is Milk, a Digital Consultancy, why digital upskilling is so important. We delve into the benefits, costs and how often you should be looking at upskilling, dissecting what the most valuable skills are for your business.

Useful links:

For more information on Digital Upskilling, check out our DigitalBoost article:

Link to the loan:

Resource mentioned:

And the book recommendations:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33517721-the-culture-code

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29939161-radical-candor