By Mark Dixon, Regus Founder and Chief Executive

Regus hit its millionth customer when startup Innovative Database Solutions (IDS) took a flexible workplace at The Point of Inverness business centre in Denver, USA.

I’m delighted Regus has reached this key milestone in our journey to enable companies to work smarter and more productively. IDS is typical of the many small businesses that use us to achieve a speedy, cost effective start-up and to expand when they’re ready.

This historic moment shows how the flexible work revolution is fast becoming business as usual.  Today, more than one billion people globally work on the move and alternative ways of working in all kinds of business continues its inexorable rise.

Flexible working is a win/win for every business. It makes it easier for new businesses, like IDS, to start up, while established companies are going flexible to improve employee productivity and reduce overheads. Together with improved work-life balance, it’s easy to see why the flexible working phenomenon is going from strength to strength.

Research in the first month of the New Year points to record levels of new businesses being created and high optimism amongst small business owners. Will this confidence convert into international trade and expansion? We hope so! Enterprise Nation founder, Emma Jones, offers four steps to going global in 2012 and announces a series of events with DHL and Regus that will help you along the way.

This will be a good year to grow sales and Go Global. A sizeable opportunity is opening up with growth in markets beyond the Eurozone where more people are going online and wanting to buy British made products and services. Here’s how to make the most of it:

1. Know your product/service – this sounds like a basic starting point but what I mean by this is focus on your niche. Clearly define the look/feel and cost of your product so you know exactly how to position it in new markets and where to promote it.

2. Look beyond the Eurozone – in late 2011 the HSBC Trade Forecast predicted world trade to grow by 73% in the next 15 years, with forecasts showing Egypt, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, China and Brazil being the international powerhouses that will drive growth. These countries are not natural trading partners for the UK and for reasons of culture and distance the European Union remains the largest recipient of exports from the UK. Political figures have recognised the need for British companies to look further afield with the Prime Minister urging businesses to seek out opportunities ‘in huge modern cities from Bogota to Istanbul where people are hungry for the skills and services Britain is best at.” Research and visit emerging markets to assess the potential for your business.

3. Make the most of powerful platforms – upload products and services to international trading platforms and/or source the talent you need to serve new markets. Elance.com is a good place to promote yourself as a business service provider or identify experts and professionals and Alibaba.com is the platform of choice to source from and sell to Asia.

4. Seek help – there has never been so much support available to help you Go Global. Seek advice from peers who have been through the experience of international trade, from government agency, UKTI, and from industry experts and service providers.

Enterprise Nation is on hand to help and has partnered with DHL and Regus to deliver a series of events throughout 2012 to help you Go Global. Speakers at the free events are well qualified and include Christian Arno of Lingo24.com who will show how to localise your website to increase sales, Gabriela Castro-Fontoura who will offer a guide to doing business in Latin America and Tony Wheeler will share the story of how he co-founded Lonely Planet and built it into the UK’s largest independent travel guide publisher before selling a majority stake to the BBC. 

The Go Global series will offer the guidance and support you need to make the most of what is a growing opportunity to take your business to the world.
Emma Jones is founder of Enterprise Nation www.enterprisenation.com @emmaljones

Please click here to register for the Go Global events http://goglobalworkshops.eventbrite.co.uk/

Original post written by Emma Jones

The festive period is upon us! Most of us look upon this time of the year as a nice opportunity to take a well earned break from work, and spend some quality time with the family. However, this isn’t the case for everyone, as our recent survey suggests 54% of business people will be working during the Christmas break this year and 38% will be travelling into the office

 This seems to be particularly true amongst small businesses as 58% are more likely to work over the break than the larger firms (48% respectively)

Are you working over this festive period? Here on the Regus blog we’ve decided to provide you with some useful tips for increasing your work productivity over Christmas:

• Catch up - Use the ‘quiet’ period to catch up on some unfinished tasks, backup your data, re-organize your files and get rid of unwanted paperwork round the desk area.

• Cut the commute - Need to do work on the move? Or simply want to spend more time with the family? With 1200 global locations Regus can help you stay productive giving you the option to work closer to home, cutting that commuting, and letting you spend that quality time with the family.

• Plan ahead – Ensure that your work calendar is in order and take some time to think about the projects that lay ahead in 2012, how best to approach them and what needs to be done.

• Focus – Last but not least, during this festive period in the office make sure you have your play list in check, as the right soundtrack can keep you focused through out the days without losing touch with the wonderful festive period.

What top tips do you have for staying productive in the office this festive period?

For more information on Regus please click here

Regus wins Best Small Business Serviced Office for 2010

The Start Your Business Magazine recently announced the winners for the 2010 Small Business Service Awards, as voted by readers, writers, contributors and subscribers. We are glad to announce that Regus won Best Small Business Serviced Office for 2010. We would also like to thank those who voted for us in recognition of our ever improving service.

Full list of winners:

Best Small Business Bank - HSBC
Best Small Business Insurance – Hiscox
Best Small Business Software – Palo Alto
Best Small Business Webhosting – WebFusion
Best Small Business Serviced office – Regus
Best Small Business Accounting Product - Sage
Best Small Business Printing Solution - OKI
Best Small Business IT supplier – Dell
Best Small Business Mobile Network– T-Mobile
Best Small Business Resource – Google
Best Franchise Opportunity – Chips Away
Best Small Business E-Commerce Product –ekmPowershop

For more information on Regus please click here

Photo credit by The Wandering Angel via Flickr