A purveyor of environmentally friendly cleaning products, Living Clean taps into popular concern about what we expose our bodies to and the environment in general.

Founder Julie Bishop tells BOB about how she started the business, which has just taken on its first franchisee, and how Living Clean stands apart from other cleaning franchises.

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From the BBC: As Bill Gates prepares to end his full-time work at Microsoft, he tells the BBC in an interview that it wasn't just what Microsoft did, but what his rivals didn't do that let Microsoft get ahead.

"Most of our competitors were very poorly run," he tells Fiona Bruce, for The Money Programme.

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A business book like no other on the market has just been published.

The Book of Business Inspiration doesn’t just feature the usual step-by-step business guides, it also has interviews with people who have started or bought their own business or franchise. These everyday entrepreneurs talk about how they did it, the problems overcome and the lessons learnt, and offer advice on how you, too, can have your own business.

The book also features how-to guides, ranging from how to buy a business to how to make money via the web; profiles of various businesses, from newsagents to nightclubs; profiles of legendary entrepreneurs; information on relocating your life to another country; and much more.

The Book of Business Inspiration is available to buy on Lulu.com for £14.95, or £5 for a downloadable copy.

The Book of Business Inspiration is published by Dynamis, the online media brand behind BusinessesForSale.com, FranchiseSales.com, BusinessOpportunities.com and BusinessWings.co.uk

From Businessweek: Accidental entrepreneur Bob Williamson's personal turnaround led to the creation of his 180-employee, $26 million company.

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From The Independent: Many people dream about developing a business around their hobby, although few realise that dream.

Of those who do, fewer still make a go of it. But Christina Doré, 50, has done just that with her craft centre business, A Maze of Memories.

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David Griffiths had been working as head of marketing for Europe in a market-leading payments company called Bottomline Technologies for five years – all the while thinking of how he could get to run his own business again.

The first company he had owned had specialised in developing and selling high-end web-based tools. Now he was impatient to get up and running again, and worked out that buying an established business offered the best route.

“To be honest, I wanted a faster start,” he says. “I’ve done it from scratch before and it takes a year and a half to get things going, and can be quite painful.”

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From Businessweek: Author Gregg Vanourek on applying entrepreneurial principles to your life, why a recession can be a good time to start a business, and more.

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Starting a business needn’t involve getting a huge loan and forgoing a secure salary, if you sell through the internet.

The founder of WeddingInvitationBoutique.co.uk, for instance, still holds down a full-time job, which pays for her mortgage and enables her to reinvest profits back into the business. Overheads are low, because Carly Flanagan handcrafts wedding invitations and runs the website from her Stockport home.

Flanagan, a 26-year-old communications graduate, launched the website in September 2007.

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Patricia Karter, Dancing Deer Bakery CEO, tells Business Week that a better gender balance in the business world could improve society as a whole.

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It’s been said many times (though it goes without saying), but there’s nothing better than turning your hobby into a business.

Two keen skateboarders have not only turned their own hobby into a business, but they get to run the business in one of their favourite environments: Pete King and Andrew Willis take the biggest portable skateboarding ramp in Europe to music festivals and other events and projects around the country. They also get involved with any projects that promote the sport.

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Not long out of university, Gareth Simpson nevertheless brought an appreciable amount of coaching experience to Premier Sport when he bought it in June 2003.

As a recent sports science graduate his business skills were less developed, but with a franchisor to provide administrative, marketing, and managerial guidance, the 27-year-old has been able to establish and grow a business successfully.

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Originally Premier Soccer, Premier Sport now coaches youngsters in a wide range of different sports and physical activities, including football, rugby, cricket, gymnastics and basketball, to name a few.

Apart from the increasing willingness of schools to outsource PE lessons to third parties, Premier Sport, which also holds holiday camps and after-school clubs, also benefits from a growing demand for safe, fun, physical activities for children amid concerns about rising obesity levels.

CEO David Batch told BOB about this franchise opportunity.

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With two decades of experience working for major retailing brands and having spotted a gap in the market, Mel Serpen could justly feel the time was ready to go it alone.

BOB spoke to Mel, 44, from Middlesex, about how she set up neesh in August 2006 with the help of her husband Ali.

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Young and female, Sophie Hughes and Lucy Cohen were met with a lot of scepticism when they decided to set up Mazuma soon after leaving college.

But one year on, the Cardiff-based 24-year olds now have an office with two additional staff, and revenues are rising impressively.

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From TimesOnline: He started the craze for no-frills flights; now Stelios is simplifying the Caribbean cruise.

Hilary Rose went aboard to meet the man who makes it all look easy.

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Ubops.com The Business Opportunities Marketplace

Robert Ward (52) is a man who knows his stuff.

Not just about his chosen profession, but about buying and selling businesses too, having started, sold and then bought back his own company in October 2006.

Robert says he drifted into the financial services industry after finally realising he was never going to make it as a professional cricketer.

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From The New York Times: Clay McGee was soon to graduate from Arizona State University with a degree in marketing when he realized that the corporate world wasn’t for him.

He wanted to be his own boss and run a business, though he had little experience or cash.

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“My wife, two kids and I landed here with a suitcase each,” recalls Bruce Nethersole (38), a serial entrepreneur who emigrated from Zimbabwe because of the turbulent political and economic situation.

“We used to have a 10-bedroom house in Victoria Falls and a five-bedroom one in Bulawayo. Now we had to start all over again.”

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From Businessweek: BusinessWeek.com recently asked a cross-section of experts if entrepreneurs are made or born. We want you to weigh in, too.

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From NEW YORK BUSINESS.COM: Ronald Johnson remembers what it was like when he opened his first Papa John's Pizza restaurant in Harlem seven years ago.

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