Purpose

Whatever you can do or dream, you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic to it – Goethe, 1749.

This resource has been designed so that you can enable your clients realise their dreams of becoming self-employed and creating sustainable businesses. Being a Business Adviser in the community means working with all kinds of people with all kinds of exciting business ideas. The diversity of individuals and their business dreams requires a versatile service that responds with encouragement and an excellent understanding of the challenges and opportunities encountered by potential business people.

The provision of community based business advice is generally offered as part of a range of services in a community organisation. Community based business advice differs in this respect from more mainstream specialist business advice. Many of your clients will be starting from a point which could be described as “pre-pre-start-up”. This will call for a client-centred, holistic approach to business advice that will enable you to develop a relationship with your clients as their businesses develop.

The essence of community based business advice seems to be exactly this: the in-depth, individually-tailored nature of the work. Each person who seeks advice will bring different life circumstances and a different business idea. No two people will be the same, so you will need to develop a creative, versatile approach to working with your clients.