Business Feet have launched a series of new trade shows, which aim to encourage the growth and development of small and medium businesses.

The shows which are free to attend and will become regular bi-monthly events will be held at the Holiday Inn Leicester Starting at 9am and running through to around 12.30pm, the events provide a good opportunity to Network

Developing Your Vision

If you are in business for yourself, or even if you are striving to accomplish any kind of a significant goal, then you must have a clear and concise vision. What is your vision and how do you decide what it is? There are some helpful hints and ideas.

Voice- in order to determine your vision, you must listen to your inner voice. Think seriously about your values, and about what is truly important to you. This will not be easy and you must think about it and write down any thoughts which come into your head.

Interests- What are your hobbies and passions? What interests you? These are different for everyone and thus everyone will have a different vision even if there are some similarities.

Style- What is your personal style? Everyone is unique and therefore everyone has their own personal style. What makes your way of doing business or your way of connecting with others unique? Who are you as a person?

Inspiration. Who and what inspires you? What causes you to get and stay motivated? What kinds of music and books are inspirational for you and uplifting for you? It may be self-help books, books by a certain author, religious books and music, music by a certain composer, a certain speaker, a business mentor, a friend or family member or a combination of the above. It is important to realize who and what inspires you because when you are struggling you will know who and where to turn to and knowing this helps create an important but often missed part of your vision.

Overcome. What trials and problems have you overcome in your life? With what kinds of categories of people do you feel you can relate? Who would you like to help become better and create a better life for themselves?

Namesake. What kind of a legacy do you wish to leave behind and to have associated with your name when you are no longer here on planet earth? What kinds of things to you want people to say about you and to remember about you?

Remembering and pondering on the aspects above will help you to create a solid and clear vision for your business and your life. It is also important to realize that a vision is not something you write once and then forget about. It needs to be publicly visible and can be changed as you change and as you grow. So write your vision today and work towards making it a reality.

Recruiters are being increasingly influenced by information they find about candidates on the internet, networking firm Viadeo has found.

One in five employers said that they used the internet to research possible candidates, and around two thirds said that what they found had influenced their recruitment decisions.

A quarter of employers claimed to have rejected candidates based on information they had found online on social networking sites like Myspace. "We found that the candidate was personally into some activities which did not fit ethically into my company," said one employer.

Viadeo said that the results were a wake-up call to anyone who has ever posted personal information online, warning that search engines like Google make it easier to find. "Google means that potential employers are never more than a few clicks away from information about you," said Viadeo manager Peter Cunningham.

However, around 15% of employers said that information they had found online has influenced a positive decision in terms of recruitment after HR staff uncovered information that they might not otherwise have known about.

"People must manage their ‘net reps’ closely, online information must be tailored to work to their advantage," added Cunningham.