A Handful of Places to Go for Inspiration

Support Organizations

• The Prince's Trust (PSYBT in Scotland)—It offers grants, loans, advice and mentoring to hundreds of young people setting up in business every year.

Websites

• Shell-Livewire.org—Advice for start-up entrepreneurs, grants and an annual Young Entrepreneur of the Year competition. Check out the online discussion forums, where you can talk about your ideas with other people starting out in business.
• Springwise.com—This site features innovative new start-ups from around the world and is a frequent source of inspiration.
• Trendspong.com—This site comments on trends in society with a view to them being inspiration for business ideas.
• PSFK.com—A site about trends, new ideas and innovations from around the world.
• Smarta.com—Advice, interviews with entrepreneurs and information about grant funding.
• Coolhunting.com—Cool new products from all over the world.
• Startups.co.uk—This site has a discussion forum, interviews with entrepreneurs and several competions that you might be eligible to enter.

Books

• A Book about Innocent (Michael Joseph, 2009)—The story of how the founders built Innocent into a £100 m+ brand.
• Ben & Jerry's Double Dip (Simon & Schuster, 1999)—The story of Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield.
• Business as Unusual (Anita Roddick Books, 2005)—Anita Roddick's book on using business as protest and a way of bringing about social change.
• Crush It! (HarperBusiness, 2009)—Gary Vaynerchuck's story of Wine TV and how you can use social media and the web to promote your business and your personal brand.
• Delivering Happiness (Business Plus, 2010)—The story of Zappos.com and its founder, Tony Hseih. How he built a $1 billion online retailer selling shoes with the help of a great company culture and amazing customer service.
• Good to Great (Random House Business, 2001)—Jim Collins investigates why some companies make the leap and become great, while others don't.
• Raising the Bar (Jossey Bass, 2004)—The story of Clif Bar, a cool and ethical company that makes snack bars for athletes.