How often do you take time out of the day-to-day of running your business to take stock of the changes in your marketplace? Some of us may attend an annual conference or read the industry press which will, from time to time, remind us of the changes that the industry is currently undergoing such as new entrants, acquisitions and new products or services offered by your competitors. Although the news can sometimes be hard to swallow, often it can also be reassuring

So you've had a great idea for a business. You've done your research and you've set up your home office. But now what? How do you make it through year one? How do you make it to years three and five without becoming just another statistic on how many companies fail within their first years of trading?

Oliver attended the Business Growth Programme in 2010 whilst running his software company, Jupix. Having successfully built the company up, Jupix was later sold and Oliver focused his attention on founding a new business, Loop Software.

1000% sounds like a lot, and to be honest I wouldn't want to prove it, but there is research out there to suggest it's true and considering it will only take you two minutes to implement, it's got to be worth a try.