They are the qualities shared by all successful entrepreneurs; skill, vision, determination, and when it comes to making tough decisions, balls. What has tested the mettle of these exceptional business leaders? Here they reveal their bravest business decisions…

So, let’s state the obvious, it is not a full-blown Masters in Business Administration, but a short and intense day where you can visit the key points of a 12-month MBA course. In fact, I have just come across a three-hour MBA. Imagine that!

In my journey of looking at how we create new, invigorating and regenerative ways of being, working, learning, I have increasingly become aware that the way that the language we use shapes our thinking and how we ultimately engage with the world. Hence giving it close attention in the book.

Like all children, I was often asked what I wanted to be when I grew up. After I had moved on from bus conductor and orchestra conductor, my standard reply was that I wanted to be a millionaire. Now I wish that I had chosen to think about something more worthwhile, but money it was.

An entrepreneur called Danielle Morrill just kicked up a bit of a storm with a nicely titled "Zombie VC" post. It's a nice pendant to her recent Zombie Startups post in which she deals with her own fears of becoming a living dead company after pivoting her startup, Referly.

I am very, very sad to hear the dreadful news of Lady Thatcher’s passing. I think it is a devastating loss for us all; she is a British icon. I would like to pass my condolences to her family at this very sad time.

I know that a lot of eCommerce businesses try to ignore or disregard the importance of managing the costs of selling online. However, it is something you MUST do before even considering selling online. By costs, I don’t just mean your website build - there are so many additional costs you need to consider.

As we use the world wide web for hours on a daily basis, we take for granted the amazing technology we have available to us. As someone who relies so heavily on the internet, especially for business, I was astounded to read the amount of information that is shared in one internet minute.

The UK housing market has been at the sharp end of the recession. Prices have fallen by 18% from the August 2007 peak and the number of transactions is running at half the levels seen before the financial crisis. House building has collapsed. In 2011/12 the number of new homes built fell to the lowest level since 1923.

We all know that generating new business is not easy in this economic climate. We also understand that it’s far more practical and tremendously cheaper to keep our existing customers and develop them into higher yield customers than finding new ones.