Courvoisier – The Future 500 is an invitation-only network of innovative, humanitarian and extremely driven entrepreneurs and rising stars in the business world. They have teamed up with cmypitch.com a great company owned by the charming Emmett Kilduff, who told me when I interviewed him this morning that he has made it his personal mission “to connect as many entrepreneurs as possible with suitable investors.”
The brainchild of this partnership is the brilliant Courvoisier Mentor My Business Programme, which is forging an ever-increasing positive impact on the entrepreneurial business world. The programme is unique because although many organisations are running Dragon’s Den style pitching competitions and events, this offers start-up businesses essential ongoing mentoring from highly successful entrepreneurs.
Members of the impressive Courvoisier network pitched their pioneering business ideas to a panel of 6 successful entrepreneurial mentors, including our very own Rockstar Group MD Jonathan Pfahl. The panel have chosen 6 excellent finalists. They will now receive invaluable, individual, monthly mentoring sessions with the panel for the next 6 months in order to fast-track the growth of their businesses. With business ideas as diverse as “the world’s most accurate golf putter” and a philosophical herbal tea company this is set to be a really exciting programme!
To make the programme even more dynamic there is a competitive element, with the entrepreneur who the panel deem to have achieved the most success at the end of 6 months being awarded an as yet undisclosed prize. Of course, the real prize for all the entrepreneurs taking part is having access to the business expertise and inspirational advice of the 6 terrific mentors who sit on the panel.
This great video gives you the opportunity to meet the panel and the entrepreneurs and perhaps start thinking about how to pitch your business idea in next year’s competition!
In my new capacity as Rockstar Group’s Social Media Consultant, I attended my first Rockstar Business Mentoring event last night and what a great event it was!
Owner and Managing Director Jonathan Pfahl, had the great idea of making the event a Q&A so that existing mentees and guests could ask 3 top business mentors for solutions to their most urgent business challenges.
The 3 expert speakers were the delightful Alan Bates, a Business Strategist with over 35 years of experience in running companies, Lisa Sorge, a very glamorous, down to earth and approachable Marketing and Sales Development Strategist and Warren Knight a funny, friendly and knowledgeable Sales and International Business Expert.
Here are some of the top tips the speakers gave in response to questions from the audience:
4 Essential Elements to a Successful Marketing Strategy – Lisa Sorge
- Choose a niche that is always in demand in order to recession proof your business.
- Research well and maintain your focus on your competition and their strategies.
- Enlist the help of a mentor who is an expert in your weaker areas.
- Use a clear marketing strategy with a proven success record and tailor it to feed your sales objectives.
3 International Relationship Building Tips that helped me turn over £1m in 1 month – Warren Knight
- Research the cultures of your international clients so you know their preferred business customs.
- Remember personal details about your clients and where appropriate enquire after their family and particular interests.
- Understand your products’ and services’ price point and placement in different global markets and strategize accordingly
3 Innovative Ideas for successfully Securing Funding for your business – Alan Bates
- Choose a recession proof niche with human interest and longevity, such as sustainable products and services.
- Seek funding from Angel Investors. They bridge the gap between small investments from friends and family and Venture Capitalists looking to invest large sums in established businesses.
- Thoroughly explore the possibilities of funding through Government Grants, based on factors such as your location and strong humanitarian aspects to your business.
If you are keen to know the solutions to your specific business challenges then visit the Rockstar website and book a FREE introductory appointment with the mentor of your choice!
Laura Hillman – Social Media Consultant
Lisa Sorge
Warren Knight
Alan Bates
Interesting Article on Mentoring in last Saturdays Financial Times. Link Below
Dear Mentees, Friends & Partners, programme for entrepreneurs by successful experienced entrepreneurs. We also give our group of entrepreneurs the opportunity to access private funding, provided by angel partners and funds for entrepreneurs’ businesses.http://tinyurl.com/lnlt79
The winner is decided by a public vote which also encourages candidates to ask their network to help them spread the word and voting.
We’d love your supporting vote!! http://www.o2.co.uk/xawards
Click the VOTE icon, scroll down and you will see the ROCKSTAR Logo there. Voting finishes at midnight on the 8th Sept with the winner announced early October.
We want to make an EXCITING announcement..
Rockstar has made it to the top 5 finalists for the O2 X Awards! We are in the category Shortlist Entrepreneur of the Year Award, successfully making the cut after thousands of businesses applied.
For those of you who are not quite sure what we’re all about..
The Rockstar Group is the UK’s largest entrepreneurial mentoring
Here’s a snapshot of Jonathan Pfahl, the founder and Managing Director of the Rockstar Group:
Simply go to www.o2.co.uk/xawards
The site is getting a lot of traffic at the moment so if it doesn’t allow you straight away please keep trying.
We appreciate your involvement & belief in us by truly transforming entrepreneurs’ businesses to achieve enormous success. Thank you everyone!
To Your Success,
Jonathan & Alma
We at Rockstar cordially invite you to a quality networking event to a very high standard.
MeetnLink on the 23rd July starting 6:30pm – 9:30pm
http://www.meetnlink.com/default.aspx
Make sure you RSVP TODAY to secure your place. First come first serve basis.
Looking forward to see you there!
The Rockstar Team
The story about Innocent…
I recently read, “A book about Innocent”, and I couldn’t help but share some insights with you. It’s the most relevant and practical entrepreneurial guide book I have read in years. The authors cleverly integrated solid business concepts with great humor to make it easy to remember key points. And a huge amount of colour photography that brings the story to life but most importantly, it’s so practical in today’s market without the usual “bragging” that you often find in other books by successful entrepreneurs.
We encourage those who have already finished this masterpiece; please share your thoughts, comments and insights with our fellow community of entrepreneurs. For those who haven’t yet had a chance to read through, we strongly recommend you do!
[Quoting one of the founders]
“This is a book for anyone who wants to start their own business, bring fresh thinking to their current one or has been told their idea won’t work. We’d like to help you prove the doubters wrong.”
Enjoy and we are welcoming your thoughts!
Jonathan and Alma
