How to set up and run a small business
If you are starting up a business, you may have just a tiny budget for PR and marketing. Here are some ideas from the Bytestart team on how you can compete with your larger rivals for pennies.
An overview of the key business taxes you will encounter when you run your own business - including Corporation Tax, Value Added Tax, National Insurance, PAYE and Capital Gains Tax.
To create a successful business you need four things – a good plan, a good product that people actually want, good people who can make things happen and a good supply of money.
Running a business is also a way of life, which invariably takes up a lot of your time, so when you are starting a business choose something that you enjoy doing, something you have a real passion for. Continue…
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Most organisations and their leaders acknowledge that their reputation – establishing it, defending it, building it – is critical to their success in today’s always-on, connected and often very transparent world.
Reputation is really created by two things: what you say and what you do. This is heavily influenced by your approaches to brand management (what you stand for, what you promise, the products and services you provide) and talent management (the people who design, manage, and deliver the products and services you provide).
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Becoming a sole trader is the simplest way to get your new business off the ground.
Once you have told HMRC of your intention to become self employed, you can start trading immediately, subject to any industry-specific licences you might need.
As a sole trader, you will have complete control over your business and finances. You can adapt quickly to any changes in your business, without having to concern yourself with a great deal of bureaucracy.
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One of the beautiful things about running a small business is that it’s so much easier to motivate your staff.
As the leader of a small team, you will have the opportunity to get to know exactly why each employee is working for you – and use that knowledge to press the right buttons and positively influence productivity.
Managers of large companies can’t do that, especially when their hands are tied by daft schemes “sent from head office”. You can therefore use the advantages of a well-motivated team to sharpen your business’s performance against your bigger rivals.
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Setting up a business is an exciting, thrilling and all encompassing challenge! Personally, I think it is the best and most stretching form of personal and professional development that a person can do.
Creating and selling your own products and services, building a network of happy customers and managing your own time are just three of the perks that come with the job.
But all too often, I meet entrepreneurs who are burnt out, stressed and lacking in sufficient income. This is often because they did not trial their business ideas before they got stuck in. So today, I want to convince you to access the power of the ‘pilot’ factor!
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As more and more people choose to work from home, the question of how you can reclaim any home office expenses is frequently asked.
The general HMRC rule for claiming tax relief on business expenses is that you can only reclaim costs that have been ‘wholly and exclusively’ incurred in connection with your trade.
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Free publicity is a great way to spread the word about your business. If you can get your business featured regularly in the newspapers and magazines your target audience reads, it brings your business to the attention of potential customers, and at no cost.
Another advantage of being featured in articles written about your business is that editorial coverage gives you a huge amount of credibility. It’s an independent trusted person talking about your business – the total opposite of an advert, where you are delivering your message.
The good news is that getting free publicity for your small business isn’t difficult if you know what you’re doing. Continue…
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As a small business owner you may not have lots of money sloshing around. You know your staff are your most important asset, but you may not be able to afford to give them a pay rise. So how can you be an attractive company to work for, motivate and reward staff and promote loyalty without increasing your pay bill?
Believe it or not, introducing employee benefits may be the answer. There is a range of benefits which won’t be a cost to your company and will actually provide savings by reducing your tax liability. These are known as salary sacrifice schemes.
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Few people start a new business so they can do paperwork. Spending time adding up receipts or pushing invoices around a desk is nobody’s idea of fun (unless you’re starting up as a book-keeper or accountant!).
Unfortunately it’s a necessary evil and something you need to stay on top of in your new business. Being disorganised and putting off paperwork just isn’t an option. Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) will fine you if you’re late getting essential information to them. And the longer you leave it, the worse the problem gets. So here’s what every small business owner needs to know about book keeping.
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Tax isn’t the most exciting part of running your own business, but it is an issue that you will have to tackle at some point.
To help you to quickly get to grips with the subject, here are some handy tax tips based on our findings of working with small businesses over the past decade, and from our own personal experience at the ByteStart team.
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Writing a business plan is an important step in the business start-up process. And, if you want to raise funding for your new business, you simply must produce an up-to-date business plan to show potential backers.
Even if you don’t place much importance on the business planning process, the simple act of writing down your thoughts can help focus your mind on aspects of the business which you may otherwise have neglected. Here are 10 business planning tips to help you produce an effective plan;
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Cash is the lifeblood of any business. And in the first few years of your start-up, the ability to get cash into your bank account faster than it goes out again will be one of the main measures of whether it is a viable business.
Every year, many small businesses fail, simply because they run out of cash. Even profitable businesses can be brought down by cash flow problems caused by slow-paying customers.
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Here are 10 tips from the ByteStart team for anyone who is thinking about starting a new business in 2014.
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With the enduring popularity of entrepreneurial TV shows, a lot of attention is paid to finding a great business idea by the media.
To work out if your idea is brilliant or will bankrupt you, there are four key questions to ask before you get started.
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When you’re starting a new business, there are plenty of things to take into account – finding suppliers for any physical goods, suitable premises, a strong customer base, and so on.
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With late payment problems a constant burden for small business owners, we look at the most common delaying tactics used by customers, and how you can overcome these late payment excuses.
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If you’re doing well enough that your business is growing rapidly – and there are plenty of businesses achieving that no matter what you read in the media right now – then you may find yourself in a unique financial situation.
And that’s where you are selling so much that you can’t get the money in the door fast enough to pay for the next batch of products.
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In this article, we look at the role accountants play, and how to ensure you choose the right firm for your business.
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The ability to negotiate the highest possible fees without risking a client relationship or an instruction has become increasingly important to individual professionals and professional service firms in recent years.
The rising influence of procurement on the buying side has squeezed margins for many service providers. Those best able to withstand these pressures are usually those that have the ability to negotiate robustly on fees.
Clients often ask what makes someone a great fee negotiator, i.e. someone who is able to get clients to agree to pay as high a fee as possible without losing the work, or the client. Continue…
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One of the big issues when you’re taking on a new client is whether you can trust them to pay you or not – so how best do you deal with this concern?
Some people charge a deposit or part-payment upfront, but that can be off-putting to customers, who equally don’t know whether you’re trustworthy and might decide to go with a freelancer who doesn’t ask for payment upfront.
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