NEW PROGRAMME STARTING 1ST JULY 2026
Businesses in Blackpool and Wyre are eligible for workshop support – however if you have attended workshops with us previously we would need to ascertain how this was implemented before offering further sessions.
It is an expectation of the programme, that by attending a funded workshop you are committed to implementing the skills learned in the session and this will be monitored by the project team. For this reason you may only book a maximum of TWO workshops.
ELIGIBILITY
- A business (or individual if you are not yet trading) that is based within the boundaries of Blackpool or Wyre Council (Fylde Council is NOT eligible – but you can pay to attend privately)
- If you have received fully funded support from us in the past, you may be eligible again if your business has continued to grow
September 2026
10am – 12pm
Search is changing faster than ever and the rules that worked two years ago won’t get you found today. In this focused, 2-hour online session, you’ll get a clear, practical roadmap for ranking in a landscape now shaped as much by AI as by traditional search engines.
What we’ll cover:
- Keyword research that works today: how to uncover the terms your audience actually searches for, focusing on intent over raw volume, and the tools that make the job easier
- On-site SEO best practice: optimising your content, page structure, headings, metadata, and internal linking so search engines understand and reward your pages
- Technical foundations: the behind-the-scenes signals that affect ranking, from site speed and mobile-friendliness to crawlability and indexing
- Off-site SEO and authority building: how backlinks, reputation, and external signals boost your credibility and rankings, plus practical ways to earn them
- AI-driven search methodology: how AI Overviews, answer engines, and chat-based search are changing the game, and what it means for how you’re found
- Optimising to be cited, not just clicked: practical tactics for staying visible when AI summarises answers directly in the results
- Future-proofing your strategy: how to adapt as search continues to evolve, so your approach stays effective beyond today’s trends
You’ll leave with actionable tactics you can apply immediately and a clearer understanding of where search is heading next.
Perfect for: You will already be implementing SEO, but want a clear, up-to-date framework that aligns with AI advances.
Suitable for: Growth or Scale up businesses
10am til 1pm – in person at The Robinson, Blackpool
This is the second session in the two-part series, with the first identifying Ai opportunities and this one in how to implement these changes:
- How to train Ai agents
- How to create automations and workflows
This is a practical session, and you should have attended Part 1 as we need to know ahead of this session which processes / opportunities you want to work on
Lunch is provided. This session is limited to 10 people – sorry we can only allow one person per business for this session to enable Nicola to be able to help everyone
This 2 hour Zoom session with Nikki is designed for businesses who are either approaching the time to hire their first employee, or perhaps they’ve already got one or two employees and may now realise they haven’t got a good understanding of payroll, contracts, holiday entitlement, sick pay etc and need to quickly get up to speed.
This session will cover:
- Planning the role and advertising it
- Effective interviewing process
- Legal requirements – insurance, holiday pay, sick pay, pension etc
- Employment contracts and employee handbooks – how to
- Processing payroll / payslips
- Concerns over ‘what if’… what if they aren’t very good, what if I find I don’t have enough work after I’ve hired them…
- Q&A
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Suitable for: Pre Starts and Early Stage businesses (less than 12 months trading)
10am until 1pm at Blackpool Enterprise Centre, Lytham Rd, Blackpool
This workshop will cover all the essentials of starting a business – whether you’re planning to start a business, or have already done so, but now feel you skipped past some of the important stuff such as:
- Business structures (sole trader, limited company, CIC etc)
- Legalities (insurance, licencing, etc)
- Financial compliance (tax returns, self assessment, book keeping)
- Business and budget planning
- Personal survival – how will you afford to live before it makes money?
- Funding – do you need to borrow money?
- How will you reach your market (sales / marketing etc)
This session includes a light lunch and refreshments.
October 2026
Suitable for: Growth and Scale Up businesses who are already managing social media pages competently
10am until 1pm at Wyre Civic Centre, Poulton
This workshop is for business owners and marketers wanting to take their skills to the next level beyond simply posting content to their pages:
- Understanding what the algorithm wants from you
- Growing your audience and measuring impact
- Monetisation of your pages and audiences
- Creating scroll-stopping content and Reels
- What’s new in 2026
This session includes a light lunch and refreshments.
Suitable for: Growth businesses with £75k+ turnover
10am til 1pm at Peel House, FY4 5JX with Nikki Hesford. Lunch is provided
The money is literally why most people run a business – but all the time we hear “oh the accountant does it” “I’ll have to ask the accountant for those figures”
LIKE HOW DO YOU RUN A BUSINESS IF YOU DON’T KNOW ARGHHHHHHH 🤯
This session will give business owners financial control – stop managing your business based on your bank balance. Know exactly how much profit you want, need and plan to make long before it happens. Know *𝗛𝗢𝗪* to make it happen.
Stop dreading end of year accounts, VAT returns and an email from the accountant that says “Please pay HMRC £8,456 by 5pm tomorrow” and run a calm, profitable business that prioritises healthy cashflow and the profit you deserve for your hard work!
Suitable for: all trading businesses (not pre-start)
10am til 12 held on Zoom. Delivered by Nicola Pickup
This is a 2 part series (the second part is in person at The Robinson on 3rd November 10am to 1pm) and will be an introduction to how you can apply Ai into your business to increase productivity
Covering
- Common repetitive tasks you could use Ai to automate
- Understanding which tasks in your business can be handled by Ai and which cannot
- Giving you the knowledge to identify opportunities in your business where you can increase productivity – when you come on the 3rd November you will work toward implementing the functions you’ve identified
Suitable for: Pre Start or early stage businesses
10am til 12pm at The Robinson Building
This workshop will cover all the financial management of your new business
- What accounts you need to file and when
- What taxes you need to pay and when
- How you manage your basic book keeping
- Cashflow planning and forecasting
- How to pay yourself (legally!!)
- How to make sure you don’t run out of money
Suitable for: Growth and Scale-Up Businesses (you MUST have a budget of at least £100 per month to spend on ads)
10am til 1pm at Peel House. Lunch is provided
Facebook Ads can generate leads into your business fast and they are cost effective, but they are more complicated than just ‘Boosting’ a post (spoiler—- boosting posts will lose you money and not generate leads)
This session will cover:
- Navigating Business Suite and controlling permissions for staff and partners
- Understanding how ads work and how you pay for them
- Installing a Pixel and why you need it
- Different Campaign objectives and which to select
- Different audience types and which to select
- Copywriting ads that convert – not tumbleweed!
- Live demo creating a simple Lead Gen campaign together on screen
Suitable for: Pre Start or early stage businesses
Wed 21st Oct | 10am til 12pm held on Zoom with Nikki Hesford
This workshop is designed for businesses who are moving to a cloud based book keeping system such as Quickbooks for the first time. Leave this session having a good understanding of:
- How to set it up for the first time (linking to the Gov Gateway)
- Understanding what it can/cannot do and how it will save you time and money in the long run
- Creating Invoices and getting paid
- Reconciling daily transactions
- Running basic reports and understanding what those reports mean
Workshop Booking Form
Please complete all fields in the form. If you have any issues please email: bookings@thesmallbusinessacademy.co.uk.
