Winweb chief executive Stefan Töpfer asks whether work-life balance is as important as we make it out to be.

The term "work-life balance" has come to be a bit of a buzz phrase of late but what do we actually mean by it? And why is it so important?

Talking about a work-life balance has come to symbolize a problem many of us face; increasing work pressures mean we neglect our families, friends and hobbies as they pale in to insignificance with the pressures put upon us to climb the corporate ladder.

I have been there. I worked in an office, not seeing enough of my children and spending a considerable amount of my precious time commuting. When I left the world of the office to focus on my company, WinWeb, in 1999 I switched to working from home, enabling me to see more of my son and even pick him up from school.

Despite building a growing company my work-life balance was better than ever. But did only my family reap this benefit?

It is my belief that increasing work pressures have led to detrimental trends being established within society over the last 150 years.  Many problems within our social fabric can be attributed to too much focus being placed on slogging on the working treadmill and our eyes being diverted away from our health, relationships and families.

Working from home when building a business allows people to work from anywhere, and can help build a sense of local community that many of our small towns and villages now lack. Most members of my team work from home and during their lunch hour regularly visit the local coffee shop, bakery or corner shop, building a sense of community around them that would be lacking if they traveled to an office in a city each day.

The implications of working flexibly, either for yourself or within an organisation, cannot be over looked when considering both mental and physical health. Being given a certain level of autonomy over the completion of tasks and being able to fit around the needs of your family reduces stress, anxiety and makes employees happier. And in my mind a happy employee is a productive employee!

With this in mind it is no wonder that now there is an ever-increasing and encouraging trend of people breaking out of the 9-5 stereotype and instead starting their own small businesses.  

Starting a business is hard work, I know that as well as anyone, but the flexibility it brings can suit a family's needs better than many roles within a corporate environment.

Technological developments have meant that virtually anyone, anywhere, with an idea, drive and passion can start a small business. Determination to succeed means that this can be achieved whether you work 9-5 or 5-9! In my experience more demands are actively pursued within a home working or small office environment to maximize financial results while maintaining the optimum work-life balance.

So is work-life balance an unobtainable dream? Is it a buzz phrase that will just disappear? I don't think so, and I certainly hope not. In my mind the definition of a work-life balance is different for us all. But I know that by finding your own satisfactory work-life balance you could not only increase your happiness, but also your productivity.

• Find out more about Winweb by visiting their website - or follow Stefan Töpfer on Twitter.

GoCarShare.com's Drummond Gilbert on why support from his peers is vital.

I am just like you: I am risking potential bankruptcy and possible humiliation by starting my own business.

In my case living the dream involves setting up a car sharing website that has big aspirations to shake up the travel industry by making more people share car journeys.

I am entering an industry that a few months ago I knew virtually nothing about and am doing so with limited funds. The one thing I have quickly learnt is while I'm starting up on my own, I'm definitely not alone.

When you're first starting-up, some people believe if you reveal anything about your business idea it'll be copied and you'll be exploited, but I take the view you are better off talking to people, bouncing ideas off them and benefiting from their expertise.

Maybe it's my natural optimism but I've rooted for the latter. I'll happily bore anyone who will listen about gocarshare. With any good idea you need to accept there are plenty of people thinking about it. Your ability to succeed lies in how you choose to implement the idea and your persistence to actually do it.  

I ask people for feedback at every opportunity. I setup an online questionnaire at surveymonkey.com and posted the link on my Facebook page. As a result I realised not enough people would pay to use car sharing and the website must be free for individual users - a costly mistake averted.

I've also asked for feedback on a competition I'm running to design a logo for gocarshare on 99designs.com, where friends and contacts have been able to comment on the entries to help me decide which is best.

Facebook and Twitter are great for instantaneous feedback on ideas, but I think to really benefit from social media you need to start looking further afield. I am setting up a group on Xing that will allow the potential users of my site to have their say on how the website is built. This provides a double benefit, the website will be well designed as it will incorporate customers' needs and it builds up demand for the service before we've launched.

Once we're live I believe it is key people are still able to easily and openly voice their opinion. Why? 'Reputation capital'. People in online communities are driven in part by the respect for their peers; they love to impart knowledge and demonstrate they are an expert in a certain field.

This is proved all the more so by the success of the recent Secret London website where people share lesser known, exciting places they have discovered in London. In my mind, secrets are all well and good but sometime sharing ideas and collaborating is better.

• For more information on GoCarShare.com, visit its Facebook fanpage, or follow Drummond on twitter at @drummondgilbert.

In celebration of yesterday being 'International Womens Day' I wanted to share with you all the reasons why I love being a woman in business:

• I'm my own boss. I have no one else, other than those I trust and respect telling me what to do.
• I get to put my son to bed nearly every night - even if I do work for 3 hours afterwards.
• I am responsible for making my dreams a reality.
• I am able to work with lots of supremely talented women (and men!).
• I am frequently asked to address conferences to talk about social media, starting a business, running a business and being a woman in business. As you know, I love to talk!
• I wake up every day looking forward to going to 'work', no matter how challenging the day might be. How can that be called 'work'?
• I love being able to make a small difference, even in just one person's life. For me, that's what it's all about.
• I am constantly inspired by the women I meet who are running their own businesses and juggling families too. There is no doubt that women are the ultimate multi-taskers.
• I see no ceiling strong enough to hold me down.
• And finally, I love all the men who have supported me along the way - and there have been many of you. Chris Eubank, Barry Hearn, Sir Bob Geldof, James Dyson, Nick Davis, Justin Randall, Dan Wagner, Theo Paphitis, Tosh and of course Pops AKA Sir Richard Needham. Thankyou.

Find out more about Sháá and read her blog at shaawasmund.com, or follow her on Twitter.

As entrepreneurs, there is always so much to do, so much to juggle.

We try to do everything - often that old saying, 'Jack of all trades, master of none' rears its ugly head.

We need to understand what really matters, what we really need to focus on. And we need to keep it simple. Really simple.

We need to write down the 1-3 most important things we can do for our businesses and FOCUS on them.

That means not getting distracted by obstacles that naturally come our way. It means not giving in to the 'busy being busy' syndrome. It means really understanding what is going to have the biggest impact on our businesses and focusing all our efforts and attentions on those few things.

As an entrepreneur, I naturally think I am good at doing almost everything, unfortunately that isn't actually true. The truth is, I am very, very, very good at one or two things and that is what I focus on.

In an earlier blog, I wrote about the 'pointless pursuit for perfection' and recognised that spending our lives focused on our weaknesses and trying to 'fix' them does not lead to success. Far from it.

A few years ago, I finally learnt the art of personal focus - that is to focus on becoming world-class at the one or two things that I can do better than anyone else. Now I apply the same rules to my business.

One thing's for sure: you can never become world-class without focus.

• Sháá Wasmund is the founder and CEO of Smarta.com. You can read more blogs by her at shaawasmund.com or you can get her wisdom in 140-character snippets by following her on Twitter.

The smartest business people I know are always hungry. They've insatiable appetites to keep consuming knowledge and developing understanding of the world. Their thirst for knowledge expands behind their comfort zones and the most astute frequently force themselves into the unknown or unappealing even it's to simply suck it and see.

It's no coincidence the same people were early and most passionate adopters of social media given its power to connect, consume, share and collaborate. And certainly no surprise to me they're typically the ones to react quickest to emerging trends or develop compelling products and services people really want.

Tim Smit, founder of the Eden Project, is so passionate about consuming information and meeting people he otherwise wouldn't, he only accepts every third invite regardless of what that results in him attending or missing. He's also introduced a policy at Eden where all staff frequently read books picked for them by others and must cook a meal for their colleagues.

Tim passionately believes "all strong leaders should regularly take their views to the cleaner". Check out what he had to say on the subject when we interviewed him

If you could do with stepping outside your comfort zone, here are 10 ways to consume something new:

1. Watch a TED talk every day - obvious once you're in the TED crew, not obvious when you're not.
2. Follow more people on Twitter. Forget the ego-flattery of having a high follower to following ratio and instead benefit from a wider stream of thoughts and opinions.
3. Use YouTube and Flickr as search engines - you should find what you're looking for AND something valuable you're not.
4. Engage in popular culture. Read tabloid newspapers, watch The Apprentice, X-Factor, Big Brother, Eastenders every now and again. Use iTunes and Amazon to keep an eye on the music and book charts.
5. Get into audiobooks - even if you can skim read a 300 page book on the tube, will you? Audiobooks get the job done.
6. Speak to children and young people. Ask them what they did today, what they're and what frustrates them.
7. Network erratically. Go to events for industries that have no relevance to you. You'll go from being the same as everyone else in the room to being the one who's different and interesting. Network in different cities.
8. Shake up your social scene. Visit your local gallery every month regardless of the exhibition. Let your friends pick the movie, play, gig, restaurant. Find out about talks in your area and go along. Take an evening course in something totally different.
9. Check out and sign-up to Springwise and other sites that give you regular idea and trend updates.
10. Read US magazines and websites. Watch live streams of US events.

Got a top tip on something in business? Of course you do! You're the people actually doing business: you know how to save 45 minutes by doing this and £35 doing that, you know the insider tricks of selling big, accounting quick and keeping customers extra-specially delighted.

Very soon we'll be kick-starting a new Top Tips email. We'll pick a different business subject for each week and share the best five readers' tips with everyone who subscribes to the mail-out. If we use your tip, we'll credit it to you and link to your website and Smarta profile (if you have one - if you don't, get one now! It's free!). That means free PR for you to our thousands of newsletter subscribers.

The first Top Tips subject is...... (drum roll...) marketing and advertising on a budget.

If you've got a top tip, email editor@smarta.com with 'Top Tips' in the subject line or leave it as a comment below. We'll let you know when the first mail-out is about to happen. And we'll tell you how to subscribe soon.

To get the ball rolling, here are a few our Smarta's very own top tips on marketing and advertising on a budget:

1.    Pimp your services out to a printing company for one day a month in return for getting flyers printed for free.

2.    If you're doing market research, visit the British Library Business & IP Centre to read hundreds of Mintel and Nielsen reports for free - you usually have to pay several hundred to access them.

3.    Always, always bargain advertising sales people down from the rate card value (the original price they quote). They expect it, and you can often get up to 50% off that price.


Now over to you!

A big thanks to the wonderful people at eOffice, who are giving each of our Smarta 100 winners £200 in vouchers. eOffice provides flexible work-space and desk-space in prime city locations. Offices are fully serviced and you can rent space for anything from 24 hours to years, as suits you. eOffice also offers meeting rooms, virtual offices (with their own city-centre addresses) and call answering services.  A pretty snazzy range for any small business, I think we can all agree.

And this is indeed right up our winners' streets: more than half of the Smarta 100 don't have an office, with two thirds based at home. The rest spend their days working on the move out of coffee shops and business clubs. (Read further analysis of the winners here.) Virtual office solutions and the availability of impressive-looking meeting rooms as and when they need them (not to mention desk-space for when the kids are on school holidays!) are perfect.

Thanks eOffice!

Find out more about eOffice.

Smarta went to the 'Sunday Times 100 Best Small Companies to Work For' awards last night. And there were some great businesses up there. But you know what? You could have been one of them.

Winning awards is not the sole preserve of multinationals whose logo-printed tentacles reach every last corner shop from Uruguay to Uzbekistan. There are more prizes out there for the UK's small businesses than ever before. And, frankly, if you're not applying for them, you're being lazy.

You don't need to have dozens of staff and a turnover of millions to get noticed. You just need to be acting smartly with what you've got.

The Smarta 100 is an absolute case in point. We set it up to reward companies for achievement, whatever their resource or size. We've got winners who started a business for less than £20, and one-man-bands who've got no intention of serving any more than a handful of customers by themselves. You should be applying for awards like this. It can take less than an hour to put together an application. And for those 60 minutes, if you win, you get tons of free PR, increased brand awareness, boosted credibility with customers and a phenomenal shot of validation and recognition.

There are plenty of ways to win an award that don't require hand-nosed business strategy and super-fast growth. As last night's ceremony proved, you can win a major award just by making sure your staff are happy. There were winners who'd done simple things like give their staff free fruit, put on regular fun nights, set up a scheme where employees who don't know each other take each other out for lunch. These steps cost very little - many were free. But they can get you a prize that's going to be publicised in the biggest Sunday newspaper in the UK.

Look into every award going for your sector and region. You might think your organic egg stall isn't big enough to win a national business award, but it could win a local business prize or a trade magazine award. Go niche.

When you apply, emphasise all the fantastic qualities a small business can offer that give it a competitive edge over larger competitors: brilliant customer service (include testimonials), a close-knit team (ask your staff to provide quotes and mention staff retention figures), an eye on ethics or nicheness of service.

If you don't apply, you'll never know.

(One word of warning - some business awards can charge ludicrous amount to attend the ceremony. It's still worth applying, as even to be shortlisted is an accolade - you can then just not go to the actual ceremony to save costs. But focus your efforts on free or cheap awards. The Smarta 100 is completely free to enter and to attend, and there are others like it out there. Just persevere with finding them.)

What are you waiting for? Read our feature on how to win small business awards for more advice on the application process and for info on where to find awards, then get applying!

Intuit senior marketing manager Melanie Vala attended yesterday's We Mean Business conference, and couldn't resist passing on a few more of their useful tips and tricks for small businesses.

Here are 11 great tips from Deborah Szebeko, founder of thinkpublic, who started her business based on being inspired by wanting to help improve the patient experience in the NHS:

1. Be adaptable: things will change, be open to this and stay flexible
2. Learn the lingo: listen to others and record what they say, use this to develop your language.
3. Develop your story and brand: each opportunity has a story and their story is their brand, embrace this and include it in all your branding, right down to your logo.
4. Build relationships: don't underestimate your clients as your advocates.
5. Give people respect and responsibility: by giving people opportunity they will be empowered to learn and innovate, and this will help the business to be great.
6. Failure can sometimes be a good thing.
7. Create a positive working culture: this draws the best people to work for you and creates an environment where the team members are accountable to each other.
8. Find a great accountant: they will become the backbone of your business, just because there's money in the bank doesn't necessarily mean you're making money. An accountant can advise you on how to grow the business and reinvest.
9. Find a mentor: just having someone to listen and reassure you is invaluable to keeping you on track.
10. Don't forget to have fun: it's not worth doing if you're not having fun.
11. Trust and follow your instincts: disconnecting with your heart will often disconnect you from why you started your business.

And finally, one great antidote Deborah shared was how she and her team have their own 'Come Dine With Me' competition at lunch time - each team creates a lunch and they vote. The challenge being that they only have a microwave at their office! Talk about a way to develop a fun, innovative and passionate work environment.

Blowing your own trumpet is a good thing in business. I don't mean a full-blown daily concerto of 'I'm so unbelievably brilliant'. I mean a quick, chirpy fanfare when you've earned it. You need to celebrate your achievements with the people who love your business. Tell them about your exciting store opening on Twitter, Facebook your latest product, and when you meet someone for the first time, tell them what's going well rather than droning on about your woes.

In the UK, we're very prone to downplaying our achievements, to shuffling about awkwardly when someone gives us praise, to being overly modest. We murmur and shake our heads and pooh-pooh claims to greatness. This doesn't do anyone any good. It makes you look unconfident and shy and makes your business sound unappealing.

Who's going to partner with a start-up that can only say: "Yeh, it's going okay, I suppose. Could be better, could be worse - you know how it is." Rubbish! Instead, shout about the fact you've just signed a brilliant deal with a major player in your industry, that you've just taken on a new member of staff, that things are really looking quite bright for the future. Blog it, tweet it, tell people the good stuff when they ask how you are and how business is going.

Enthusiasm is infectious and engaging. If you're obviously excited about your business, other people will be too. Contacts will want to hop on the happy bandwagon and help you out with anything they can. New customers will turn to you rather than your sour-faced competitors. Suppliers will warm to you, and smilingly give you that 5% free you ask for. When you believe in what you're doing and aren't afraid to show it, other people will believe in it too.

The Smarta 100 are a case in point. We've been working hard here to pull the list of the UK's smartest businesses together, to build a microsite to showcase our wonderful winners, and to publicise them through our personal and @smartaHQ Twitter accounts, offline media, network of contacts and on Smarta. Result? "Smarta 100" is now trending on Twitter UK. We are pleased as punch. And, of course, we've tweeted about it.

And our winners are busy tweeting about being in the Smarta 100 too, and calling up their local papers to get some coverage out of it, and putting it on their websites. They're going to get plenty of PR out of this, and their customers will see that they're one of the smartest businesses in the UK. That means more brand loyalty and, sooner or later, more sales. You don't get that without putting yourself out there and proudly sharing your achievements with the world.