How to set up and run a small business
One of the main benefits of becoming self employed is the ease with which you can start and run a business. Here are five things you need to do when you decide to go self employed.
The area of tax for small businesses is not straightforward but, if you take a little time, it’s usually possible to save some tax. Here are ten ways you could cut your tax bill.
As a business owner, it’s likely that you struggle to find time to do the performance appraisals for your team.
You are not the only one.
Surveys have indicated that owners and managers hate doing performance reviews and as many as 58% think it is a waste of time. Continue…
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If you’re starting to employ people in your business, mastering payroll is going to become an essential part of your business. Get it wrong and you risk unhappy employees and potential penalties from HMRC.
There’s a lot more to it than simply paying staff money. So we’ve put together this guide to help you get it right and stay in line with what HMRC expects. Continue…
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The GDPR gives people more control over their personal information and requires organisations to clarify exactly where Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is stored – and how it is used.
Less well-documented than data protection regulations, but no less important, are data retention regulations. To outline what your legal obligations are when it comes to keeping business records, we asked Paul Ravey of Access Records Management to explain.
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Organisations tend to be fairly poor at defining their projects in terms of criticality and risk. Yet these are key attributes when it comes to deciding how much management and governance a project needs.
Instead, the importance of a project is often seen as directly related to how large it is, how many people are involved, how long it will last and how much budget is assigned.
Yet it’s often the small projects that get completely out of control, experiencing scope creep, or eating up resources before it gets onto the radar of the project’s sponsors. Continue…
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From IT and recruitment, to marketing and sales, it’s safe to say as a startup you have a million and one things to do to get your business up and running.
Finding time to devote to accounting and financial matters isn’t always at the top of a startup’s list of priorities. Nonetheless submitting annual accounts is mandatory for any business and being on top of your finances will help your new business succeed so it’s something you want to get done quickly and efficiently. Continue…
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A failed business can have a devastating impact on a business owner. However, the lessons learned can also make an entrepreneur stronger, wiser and more determined to succeed next time.
Author and international speaker, Jonathan MacDonald, was floored by a business failure, but after the initial despair, he picked himself up and used the experience to shape his future success. Here, he shares his story and explains how to bounce back from a start-up failure.
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According to the latest Zurich SME Risk Index, almost one in six UK SMEs have fallen victim to cyber attacks in the past year, costing a fifth of victims over £10,000 and 1 in 10 over £50,000.
It’s clear no SME should gamble when it comes to cyber security, especially with the new GDPR regulation in force. Delaying action will put your business, your employees and your customers at risk.
It may seem like a challenging task but as Adam Louca, Chief Technologist – Security at Softcat explains, there are simple and affordable ways small businesses can strengthen their cyber defences.
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VAT is one of the more complex accounting practices you’ll have to undertake as a business, which is why it can help to make it as simple as possible.
The Flat Rate VAT scheme does exactly this and, if you’re eligible, could save you the headache of unnecessary work. Continue…
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It would be fair to say that employment status has been a contentious issue in recent times as business owners and staff in various sectors dispute the true nature of their respective working arrangements.
As a business owner it is important that you are familiar with the differences between the three main categories of employment (employee, worker and self-employed) as this will help determine the rights of the individual and the obligations you have towards them. Continue…
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Technology is constantly advancing and with technological advancement comes change. If you want your business to stay competitive, then you must be prepared to embrace technological changes.
You may think that you understand the current sales market, however, the sales game is changing, and these changes are coming about thanks to technology.
If you want to achieve sales success it is no longer about selling, but about helping. Continue…
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Cash flow is the lifeblood of any business, and managing it effectively can mean the difference between make or break.
When we refer to cash flow management, we’re talking about making sure there is enough cash available to cover all your outgoing expenses. If your outgoings are more than your sales and you run out of cash to pay staff or suppliers, your business will risk insolvency.
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Getting coverage in your local press may not have the kudos of being featured in national newspapers but it often delivers a better return on investment, especially to locally-based businesses.
For small businesses, local newspapers are a more realistic target for press coverage than the national press. Readers of local papers want to read about local news, stories and events so if you can help a journalist deliver this, then you are well on the way to getting valuable press coverage for your business.
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The juggernaut that is GDPR has now come into force. We’ve known about this radical new change in privacy and data protection law for over two years and on 25th May it became law across the EU.
The past two years have allowed plenty of time for numerous myths to bubble up about the impact of the new rules on UK businesses. But which are the GDPR myths and which are GDPR facts? Continue…
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The goal of any equity crowdfunding campaign is to catch the attention of investors and convince them that your business is worth backing.
But how does the mind of an investor work?
With more equity crowdfunding campaigns run each year, it’s crucial to know what motivates potential investors and how they make their crowdfunding investment decisions.
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There’s never been a more exciting time to be an entrepreneur, the amount of new options and opportunities can also feel overwhelming.
Moreover, your customer has become ever more fickle and mistrustful of how companies operate and what they promise.
So how do you futureproof your business in the face of so many choices and a changing landscape? Continue…
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To generate new leads in today’s online world, your business needs to be optimised for search engines – in particular Google.
Most small businesses know this and invest good time and money in their online strategy.
The challenge lies in achieving sustained search success and business map listings are a key part of this. Here’s how to achieve this with Google My Business. Continue…
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This year, Mental Health Awareness Week (14 – 20 May) is shining a spotlight on stress.
With one in six adults experiencing depression, anxiety or issues relating to stress at any one time, it’s important for smaller employers to recognise the signs that their team may be under too much stress.
Here, Jaan Madan of Mental Health First Aid England, highlights five ways small businesses can address workplace stress.
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1 in 4 of us will experience a mental health issue at some point in our lives and the UK Government is taking this statistic seriously, recommending all companies with more than 500 employees should provide tailored mental health support for their staff.
But what about smaller businesses? With millions of small businesses in the UK, making sure these businesses are equipped to support the mental and physical wellbeing of their staff is essential for keeping the majority of the working population healthy. Continue…
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The Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) is designed to help smaller, risky businesses raise funding to fuel growth.
Early-stage businesses can find it difficult to secure investment, so the EIS was set up to encourage more investors to back fledgling businesses by offering generous tax-breaks.
To help you see whether the EIS could help you raise funding for your business, we asked award-winning chartered tax adviser, Jonathan Amponsah CTA FCCA to explain how it works. Continue…
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One of the main benefits of becoming self employed is the ease with which you can start up and run your new business.
You can even become a sole trader (another term for self-employed) whilst working as an employee for someone else, so you can test the water and see whether working for yourself suits you.
To help you understand some of the most important issues, you’ll need to tackle, here are 5 things you need to do when you decide to go self employed: Continue…
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