More than 320,000 businesses are started each year in the UK, but only 40% of them survive five years. Whether linked to funding, finance, pricing, invoicing, marketing, premises, suppliers or a long list of other things, many people make classic mistakes when starting their own business.

Some mistakes are relatively small and easily corrected. Even if they’re bigger and more damaging, it may be possible to take remedial action and get a new business back into a better position. However, in some cases, new businesses never really get off the ground and fail in their first year because of a classic start-up mistake.

In this episode we speak to business adviser, coach, and mentor, Jenny Bracelin, who herself has started five businesses. She talks about six classic start-up mistakes and explains how you can avoid them.

Thanks to Sage for sponsoring this episode. Sage is currently offering listeners 90% off Sage Accounting for three months. Visit this link to claim your offer.

Show notes for the episode can be found on the Start Your Own Business podcast website. Visit Start Up Donut and sign up to the Donut newsletter for more free start-up news, advice and special offers to help you save time and money.

Globally, TikTok has more than 1.5bn active monthly users, making it the world’s fifth most popular social media platform. Reportedly, users spend more than an hour and a half per day on TikTok.

This hasn’t escaped the attention of marketeers, of course. Worldwide, an estimated 28% of marketers use TikTok, while more than 1.5 million UK SMEs also use TikTok for marketing. You may be one of them.

If you're not getting the returns on investment you'd hoped for, or you want to start using TikTok for business but urgently need a few good tips to help you get started, this is the episode for you.

We speak to Penelope Walker, marketing consultant, content creator, business growth coach and TikTok whizz. She provides tips on how to TikTok can help your business achieve greater success.

Thanks to Sage for sponsoring this episode. Sage is currently offering listeners 90% off Sage Accounting for three months. Visit this link to claim your offer.

Show notes for the episode can be found on the Start Your Own Business podcast website. Visit Start Up Donut and sign up to the Donut newsletter for more free start-up news, advice and special offers to help you save time and money.

Although they’re often unfounded, many of us have fears in different areas of our life, including our professional and business lives.

It’s completely natural to have fears in business, because starting and running a business involves uncertainty, big challenges, risk and having to make important decisions that have consequences. People running their own business often experience feelings of doubt, anxiety and fear, whether of making bad decisions, losing money, not being up to the challenge or ultimately not being able to run a successful business.

But you cannot allow anxiety to hold you back and there are many ways to overcome your fears. In this episode we speak to applied behavioural neuroscientist and leadership psychologist, Dr Lynda Shaw, who specialises in this area.

Thanks to Sage for sponsoring this episode. Sage is currently offering listeners 90% off Sage Accounting for three months. Visit this link to claim your offer.

Show notes for the episode can be found on the Start Your Own Business podcast website. Visit Start Up Donut and sign up to the Donut newsletter for more free start-up news, advice and special offers to help you save time and money.