GuruOnline Blog

Those of you who read this blog on a regular basis may have noticed we’ve changed over to wordpress. Whilst making sure all the old blog posts didn’t get lost I noticed that I’ve never really written a blog on GuruOnline itself and the theory behind it.

So this blog is going to look at Guru, why you should have it bookmarked as your number one business resource and what makes Guru better than anyone else out there offering free business advice.

GuruOnline is a video based business resource, offering hundreds of interviews on dozens of different industries – All the videos are instantly streamed, all feature recognised industry experts, massive range of topics covered and best of all, it’s available for anyone to use and it’s all free! Over the coming months, Guru is going to be broken down into industry specific channels, we’ve recently launched our international trade channel in association with the Institute of Export and now have an entire channel dedicated to international trade, here you will find everything you need to know about importing, exporting and international trade in general, any questions you have about international trade will be answered here and if you cant find what you’re looking for, get in touch and we guarantee we’ll be able to help you.

We all know you can’t spend two minutes on the Internet without tripping over someone offering your business free advice, so why use Guru? Well, first off, it’s all in video format, so you don’t have pages of solid text to sift through. All our videos are broken down into precise and accurate short videos (ranging from 30 seconds to 2 minutes). All the videos not only feature certified experts, but the team behind Guru are pretty good at bringing you the content in the most efficient way possible.

Secondly because it’s not anonymous text, it’s all video based which means you can see exactly who is giving you this advice and when you can see it’s IBM who are talking about IT security, you know you can trust the source. If you’re watching a video about export and it’s by the Institute of Export you can be pretty safe in the knowledge that the information they’re giving you is the most current, up to date and relevant. All this means you don’t have to just take our word that this person knows what they’re talking about.

So I’ve been going on about Guru and how amazing online video is, but what’s the big deal with video anyway?

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so, what’s a video worth? What’s hundreds of videos worth?

In a nutshell, online video brings you the information you’re looking for, as quickly and efficiently as possible, it’s the most user friendly and interactive way of browsing the web.

You don’t have to just take my word for it, a quick look at the history of the internet shows online video’s natural progression, YouTube is one of the most popular sites on the internet and arguably the most famous when it comes to online video, it was first launched in 2005 and within 12 months Google brought it in one of the most talked about and ground breaking acquisitions in the history of the internet, back then Google knew what a big part online video was going to play in the internet and they were right, according to Alexa, YouTube get around 18% of all internet traffic everyday, according to online monitors Hitwise, in 2007 it was said that YouTube consumed as much capacity as the entire internet took up in 2000.

Online-publishers.org found that in a study of Internet users, 40% watch online videos at least once a week and over 70% watched online videos at least once a month.

ComScore reported that 76.8 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.

In April 2008, The Telegraph has even predicted that the internet could grind to a halt within two years under the pressure of booming demand for online video.

So I’ve convinced you that online video is massive and it’s only going to get bigger, why would you use Guru when you’ve got all this apparent choice?

It only contains information that will be relevant to businesses:
Guru is not just any website offering you video content, it is all specifically aimed at businesses, (you’re not going to stumble across an angry teenager having a rant about totalitarianism just because their teachers wont let them wear a bolt through their nose to school). Guru features advice for almost every industry, no matter what sort of business you’re in, there is going to be something you’ll find informative.

Easy to use:
Everything is broken down into channels and categories, and it’s all cross referenced so you don’t have to worry about not finding what you’re looking for, if you want to know about financing a business venture in China, you’ll find what you’re looking for under finance and international trade (in fact you’re likely to find that one under world regions on the international trade channel too). All the videos and interview titles are clearly labeled with the question being answered showing alongside every video. The site is designed to be as user friendly as possible, we won’t gain anything by showing off how talented our web developers are by being complicated for complexities sake.

You know you can trust the information:
As I’ve mentioned before, if you want to know about how to implement a good IT security systems in your office and you’re watching an interview from IBM you know you can trust them. Every contributor on Guru knows what they’re talking about and they’re the leader in their field, if you’re researching a completely new business venture and you’re not sure who the company is, all interviewees have links to their own website for your validation (or even to contact them if you’d like more information). If you want to know about starting a business venture in Russia, who better to listen to than the Russia Chamber of Commerce? Or Google if you want to know about social media?

That really should be enough to convince you why GuruOnline is the definitive business resource, there are several links in this post, if you’re new to Guru why not follow one of them and spend five minutes having a look around the site, we’re adding new content all the time so dont forget to keep checking back. If there are any topics you feel we are missing and you think you could be a Guru please don’t hesitate to get in touch and maybe we could be filming you?

When it comes to business advice, Business Link are one of the most recognised names in the UK, they cover a whole host of topics and GuruOnline are proud to have several exclusive interview with some of Business Link’s most authoritative international trade experts. This blog is just a quick look at a few of the questions they answer; don’t forget to follow the links at the bottom of the post for more comprehensive advice on international trade.

The primary reason most companies trade internationally is to reduce risk, if you think of the old adage of not putting all your eggs in one basket, the same applies to the business world and international trade, if you’ve got a stable market here in the UK it might prove prudent to look at how you can grow your business internationally.

The first step you would take when looking into international trading would be examining your business here in the UK, this would make it easier to start looking for a market internationally that might compliment your own. It’s simply a case of thorough research

One of the main factors to take into consideration when trading internationally is finance; this is again going to involve thorough research. Whichever country or countries you choose to trade with you will need a very comprehensive knowledge of their currency both in relation to your own currency and the value of your product or service. One of the more secure ways to trade internationally is with letters of credit, these are a banking instruments you use to insure that you’re paid, if you have a letter of credit against any transaction you are guaranteed to get the money as long as you adhere to a set of criteria that you agree with your customer at the outset.

When it comes to international trade, you should always make sure the export price has been carefully researched and you understand the different elements of that price, this means your product or service is very unlikely to be marketed at the same price you might charge in the UK. There are several factors you’ll need to take into consideration before concluding a price you wish to market your product or service at. The first is how much it might cost you to collect and convert any foreign currency. Secondly you’ll need to make sure all your logistics are covered and thirdly, you will have to do some form of market research too and this cost will also need to be covered in some shape or form. These are just three very generic points and you may come across many more especially when you start to deal with the specifics of individual countries.

Preferential trade agreements are agreements set up by trading blocks, an example of a trading block would be the European union as it’s a block of countries that work and trade together and have agreements. Basically, it means it’s easier to do business with some countries than it is with others.

European Union regulations have dramatically changed the very nature of international trade. In terms of distribution, you are no longer allowed to sell exclusively in any specific market, you can’t be restricted, but your marketing activities can be. As far as agents are concerned, they actually have employment rights and you have to be very careful about how you appoint them. When it comes to international trade it would advisable to research very thoroughly before you signed anything.

It’s not just the business world which you’ll need to research when trading internationally, you must also understand local customs, cultures and etiquette too. One of the nicest things you can do is actually be observant of the business etiquette you’re looking at. For example if you were to spend a period of time working with the Japanese, you would learn they are not very keen on hard sell, you’d also learn they have a tendency to nod their head and say yes a lot as you’re talking, this doesn’t necessary mean they’re agreeing with you but that they understand what you.

Punctuality can also be a major area of importance with international trade, culturally we tend to vary in the way we treat our meetings, in the UK we like to be punctual and we try very hard to keep our meetings down to about an hour, if you went over to Italy, they’re not so punctual and it’s not an offence not to be punctual. In Germany it’s a huge offence to be late for a meeting, some Germans will not see you if you’re more than ten minutes late. These things need to be looked at and planned into any visit you make.

International trade can be a very complex but very rewarding business venture. As with all business ventures, thorough research and due diligence is essential. There are plenty of organisations out there which are designed to help you, whether it’s step-by-step assistance you need or just a general nudge in the right direction.

Business Link is there to offer free business advice and support on almost any topic; GuruOnline has over 50 exclusive online videos from Business Link offering free international trade advice on a whole host of topics from incoterms to international marketing to managing risk to operational requirements.

The Forum of Private Business is a must view for any SME, with six sets currently live they cover a broad range of subjects ranging from finance advice to employment terms and conditions to maternity leave to redundancy advice. Although these sets contain invaluable information for employees, the information is particularly educational for employers.

The Forum of Private Business is a member support organisation established in 1977, which currently represents 25,000 companies employing in the region of 600,000 staff and their members cover all sectors of industry across all regions of the UK. The FPB are recognised by government as being one of the six major business support organisations in the UK.

The aims of the FPB are to provide business support solutions for its members and to campaign and lobby on their behalf. The FPB achieves this in three ways, by looking at small businesses and start-up businesses and see what campaigning needs they have and what lobbying needs to be done to support them within government. The FPB also provide specific business solutions for that sector of the small business market. Secondly, they provide similar support mechanisms for those companies which are in a business growth environment and thirdly the FPB support local businesses around the UK.

Jane Caven is a non-executive director of the FPB and a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD. Jane offers advice on Maternity Leave and explains exactly what women are entitled to in terms of time off, pay, benefits and holidays.

Jane also explains redundancy from the employer’s point of view; she clarifies exactly what redundancy is, as well as the considerations an employer must take into account before making redundancies.

In Jane’s third set, she clarifies employment law and explains employment contracts and what this contains. All employees should receive a statement of main terms and conditions or an employment contract within the first eight weeks of starting their employment.

Phil Orford joined the FPB in 2008 as Chief Executive. Phil explains all about the Forum of Private Business and exactly how it can benefit small businesses. The FPB is recognised by the government as being one of the major business support organisations in the UK, this means the FPB is invited to regular government meetings and are able to take the views of their membership and other small business and campaign and lobby hard for the interests of the small business sector. Phil also clarifies the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme, which provided a new fund of £1.3 billion of available lending to small businesses from all the major high street banks. As the Government backs 75% of the loan, it means the businesses with a slightly riskier business model should find it easier to secure funding through this scheme.

Noel Guilford is Chairman of the FPB and has considerable experience in advising the shareholders, directors and management of private companies on raising finance.
In Noel’s exclusive set, he offers detailed advice on how small businesses can still access finance in today’s economic climate.

The Forum of Private Business are the experts when it comes to business support solutions, these sets not only offer practical advice when it comes to the day to day running of your business, but they explain the laws and regulations in easy to understand bite sized videos.

One of the most recent contributors to GuruOnline is the China-Britain Business Council (CBBC)
The CBBC is the UK’s leading source of practical services to British companies doing business in China. They are there to provide help to businesses of all sizes who are looking into doing any type of business in China. They have offices throughout the UK and a strong presence throughout China. Whether you’re just after some advice or you need step-by-step support to do business in China, CBBC is the definitive expert in the industry.
There are several sets on Guru from the CBBC covering, basic information about CBBC, doing business in China and how it can benefit your business, operational business advice and the culture of China, the more intricate details of suppliers and selling in China and setting up HR in China.

Chris Cotton gives a comprehensive introduction to the China Britain business Council before going on to talk about the basics of doing business in China, and how it can benefit your business.

Giles Backburne talks about the operational aspects of doing business with China and how culture can impact on this, from the language barrier including meetings and website translations to traveling and factors like finance, transportation and customs.

Ralph Rogers explains the practicalities of setting up HR in China, covering topics like how to set up a representative office, to hiring staff and contacts in China. He also covers the legalities of leasing and selling technology to China.

Chen Wu gives advice on suppliers and selling in China. He talks about verifying Chinese business information and gives tips on making sure you can trust your business contacts especially when you use the Internet.

If your company is thinking of doing business with China, these sets could really get you started.

You probably already know what a great business resource Guru is, through it you can access loads of business advice on dozens of industries and hundreds of topics. If you don’t think we’ve covered a topic thoroughly enough or if there’s something specific about one of the sets you would like further information on, then please don’t hesitate to contact us and we’ll do our best to help you.

We all know there are hundreds if not thousands of business resources and online information centers out there but there are a few things that make Guru completely unique, the first is the format in which you can access the advice, everything is streamed through instant online videos. There aren’t pages of text that you need to sift through to be able to find the information you’re after, because every set is broken down into individual questions you don’t even have to sit through the whole interview. You can find the relevant information you’re after and just watch that, you can even pause it or listen to it over again, then if you decide you would like some more information on that subject the rest of the questions are right there clearly labeled and ready to go.

Secondly, because all the information on Guru is in video format, you know you can trust the source of the information. We only film industry experts (as you can see), which means you know these people know what they’re talking about.
You can never be sure who has written content you find online, you cant even be sure they’re who they claim to be and validating that information can be very time consuming.
With GuruOnline you can see exactly who is providing the information, what company they’re from and what gives them the authority to talk about their topic, there is even a link to their website too.

We are pleased to announce the launch of our new document archive. This feature, available from the homepage or main top navigation (see ‘Documents’), provides users with an invaluable set of PDF material to complement our Guru’s video interviews.

We are currently working on automatically indexing the content of all PDF documents to provide even more power to the search facilities we offer to registered users.

After many months of planning and a complete redesign (and lots of pain!), we are proud to announce GuruOnline version 2 is now live. We have listened carefully to our community and worked really hard to make sure version 2 of our popular platform has included as many of the features they wanted as possible.

• New Design – the site and whole user experience has been totally revamped to make the site easier to use and navigate.
• Community Tools – we’d added a raft of new community tools such as sharing on social bookmarking sites, send video sets to friends via email, rating system, comments, favourites (save your favourite sets to your user area), links (link to specific interviews from your own website
• RSS Feeds – we’ve added RSS feeds in various places so if you use an RSS reader (e.g. Google read) you can now save specific feeds of your favourite interviews directly into your read software. We’ve also add inbound RSS to the new homepage so we can pull in the latest UK business news for our users.
• Channels – we are currently developing new content for special interest channels to provide a more targeted experience for certain site visitors, we will announce these new channels soon.
• Content Categories – we have revised our content categories to make information fall into more logical sections, we are currently working at developing categories specific to type of business as well as subject specific (e.g. mid-size businesses)
• Brand New Player – our new video player brings some much needed new features like full-screen mode, faster playback and a brand new playlist to make your viewing experience even better than before.
• Company Homepage – all site contributors have now been provided with their own micro sites which are essentially their own branded area on GuruOnline. This is a great way for them to get all their interviews in one place to make accessing content easier for users.
• Downloads – due to popular demand we have added the ability for our contributors to add downloadable information to their company pages and on each interview page. These downloads contain great free information for any site user and support the video content fantastically.

Over the following months we have an exciting development route map for GuruOnline.tv to bring even more great features to our community, some of the things that are work in progress are better accessibility support (subtitles, text transcriptions etc) and other way to access content such as audio version downloads.

We’re working hard to make sure GuruOnline.tv is the #1 UK business advice resource on the Internet!

If you have any suggestions on how we can improve our service please email us by visiting the contact us area on GuruOnline.tv

Visit GuruOnline.tv now

We thought it was about time we started blogging on the development and news on GuruOnline.tv, we’ve had a fantastic year since we launched and have a brilliant line-up for 2008/2009 so we’ll keep this blog updated with all new developments and guru news.

You can also register free on the site (www.guruonline.tv)