Newsletter #130 - 4 great, free web marketing tools, What is a dormant limited company?, The Finance Act 2008 and HMRC's new powers, Guide to recruiting seasonal workers

With all the talk of the credit crunch, economic downturns and recession it's easy to get a little downbeat about things. Luckily, my issue of Better Business made a very timely appearance this month.

Reading about the success of fellow small businesses can be a great fillip when things are tough - giving you some fresh determination and ideas. And there's always an inspiring tale of someone that has fought through adversity and made a real success of their venture in Better Business.

The latest issue revealed how Darren Fell turned his business brainwave into reality and sold the business for almost £4 million.

Back in 2001, Darren hit on the idea of developing a 'party portal' - somewhere where you could create your own party page, produce invitations in HTML and send them out to guests by email and SMS. After the party you could upload photos and videos to your page.

The concept was successful but Darren quickly realised the site itself wasn't going to make much money. However, he could see that the emailing and SMS mechanism had huge potential as a marketing tool.

"So I put together the spec and the team. I had no money really, I was just using beer and pizzas".

Initially, the team was scattered across London which caused a few problems. Darren couldn't afford an office so to get everybody under one roof he got a bungalow in Brighton, where he, the programmer and the designer worked, ate and slept for 6 months.

When the product was ready, Darren got into some serious selling. He was on the phone eight to eight and was working 7 days a week. But the hard work quickly paid off as customers started signing up for their service.

Darren had always intended to build the business for sale and eventually sold the company to a US-based firm for $7.8 million

It's not only inspiration that can be found in Darren's success story. There are some practical lessons to be learned too. Here are his top tips to getting a new and successful business off the ground.

DARREN'S TOP TIPS

Just do it - get on with the idea every evening, every weekend. It is really painful but if you are intent on getting out of the 9 to 5, put in as much energy as possible because it will make a massive difference to your life.

Give equity in exchange for investment of time or money. There's no point having 100% of a very small pie - it's better to have 20% of something massive.

Create the best product at the best pricing point, with the most outstanding customer service you can.

Don't lose focus. It's so simple to go, "Oh should I add this service or this project?" But don't get caught up by the enthusiasm. Keep it simple and keep to one revenue-producing area.

You can read the full feature on Darren's journey in Better Business. The magazine is available by subscription only. You can find out more about it and a special offer for Business121 readers here

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4 great, free web marketing tools for small businesses
Small business owners are often accused of being notoriously selective when it comes to buying things. This trait can be even more noticeable when it comes to purchasing web-related services.

Given that web marketing is such an important process for online businesses, we've compiled a list of 4 great resources that will help you to propel your website up the search engine rankings, but won't cost you a penny to use.

What is a dormant limited company?
A dormant company is one that doesn't trade and has no accounting transactions. There are several reasons why you might use a dormant company, for example you may choose to buy a dormant company to protect the name from being used unscrupulously.

Alternatively, you might decide to allow a company to become dormant if you cease trading but may wish to trade again in the future. This guide looks at why you might need a dormant company, and what administrative duties are involved.

The Finance Act 2008 and HMRC's new powers
The Finance Act 2008 brings together a number of issues that are going to affect your future relationship with H M Revenue & Customs (HMRC). In future you will be penalised if HMRC believe you have not taken reasonable care in preparing any information (accounting or otherwise) that underpins any return made to them. Here's what you need to know.

Guide to recruiting seasonal workers for your business
Summer is here, which means it's a busy time for many seasonal enterprises. One of the unique challenges for seasonal businesses is ensuring that they have a skilled and committed workforce in place to cope with the extra demand. Here's a guide to help you recruit suitable workers for a seasonal business.

Top tips to cope while your staff are on holiday
With the summer holiday season about to begin staff leave will be at a peak for many businesses. This year, with credit being stretched because of the credit crunch, it is essential for firms to examine their debt collection and bill paying procedures, to ensure cash is collected and bills are paid while key staff are on holiday.

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SMALL BUSINESS NEWS

Small businesses warned over HMRC tax scam
The ICAEW is warning businesses to be careful when providing personal financial information following an email credit card scam. Small businesses and consumers are being targeted by emails purporting to come from HMRC, which request the user's credit card details in order to facilitate a "tax refund".

Law firm warns employers over new rights for agency workers
Employers are being urged to review their use of, and arrangements with agency workers, following an EU deal that gives them new rights. After a 12-week period of engagement, UK agency workers will now be entitled to the same pay, holidays and other working conditions, such as overtime and breaks, as directly recruited staff.

National Business Awards - only 3 weeks left for entries
Business leaders and entrepreneurs are being urged to enter one of the UK's leading business recognition awards. Entries are open until 31st July.

Start-ups - do you have a finance director?
Entrepreneurs will usually try to do everything themselves during the early days of a new start-up. Here's a good article from the FT which provides an interesting insight into the role of Finance Directors in new start-up businesses.