First post

This is the first post on "Risca Business Startup Blog" or "rbsb2.blogspot.com".

I've spent the past year teaching BTEC Business. I've had to do a lot of research to help my lesson preparation. In this time I have found some useful links on the internet about business. I was looking mostly for sites to help me teach BTEC. Along the way I have found resources that help people start up their own business.

The most useful resource I've found is not on the internet - as I understand - but is available on the intranet in Newport Library. It's called CoBRA. This stands for Complete Business Reference (can't remember what the "A" stands for!). To access it you have to go into the Reference section of the library and ask to be logged into CoBRA. They will put the passwords in for you and get you started. They will probably give you a little tour of the site depending on which staff member you get or how busy they are.

CoBRA has many Business Opportunity Profiles (BOPs) - e.g. BOP 504 Private Music Tutor. This profile would contain a lot of useful information about starting up a business as a private music tutor. It would tell you what sort of equipment you might need, how much it would all cost, any legal issues you might need to consider, useful websites and services you can register with etc.

Also, CoBRA has a vast array of information and weblinks for everything you might need to know when starting up a business. I used it recently and wrote down a load of links that might help me with my lesson planning but also help me with my interest in starting my own business - I started my own record label with a friend in 1998 and I am a private maths tutor. Now I am thinking of starting other ventures.

So, whilst lying in bed just now I thought about setting up a blog to record all the links that I find about starting up a business. I can use it as an "aide memoire" and it enables me to share this information with others.

The first website that sounded useful as a business resource is www.scavenger.net

This site has business opportunity profiles - but you have to pay for them - about six quid each. You receive then as PDFs in an email. This would be the same info that you could get for free in Newport Library on CoBRA (I presume so as I've not bought any).

What I will do with this blog is publish all the links that I've written down so far about setting up your own business. I linked the scavenger site first as it is the most memorable name I came across and not because it is neccessarily the most useful.

Oh yeah, if you're thinking of setting up your own business - good luck!! Just thought of another useful link - igotmunchies.co.uk