You’ll be in good company. The vast majority of the UK’s 5.8 million self-employed — 59% — are registered as sole traders. This stands to reason. Registering as a sole trader is easy and inexpensive to do, so it’s the ideal way to test the waters of self-employment.
One of the first and most important decisions you make when you set up a new business is to decide what type of legal structure you should work under. So which business structure is best for you?
Aside from the sole trader route, the limited liability company is the most popular business structure to trade under in the UK.
The cost of printing, scanning, and copying can quietly mount up for small businesses. But by making some straightforward adjustments to the way your business approaches printing you can save money, reduce environmental impact and increase staff productivity. Here are ten ways small businesses can save money by making a few simple changes.
If you think lack of time is stopping you from launching your own business, think again. In this guide, we look at how you can realistically start your own small business by working in the evenings.
When you start a business with someone else, it’s always a good idea to lay down some rules on important issues, such as; how you will run the company, your respective responsibilities and what happens if someone wants to leave the business. Agreeing on how you will handle these, and other important matters, will save […]
How can I forecast my cash flow when the business doesn’t even exist yet? That’s a question most new startups wrestle with as they are planning their new business. It may seem to some to be an impossible task, so we asked Robin Booth of Brixx.com to show how you can produce a cash flow […]
Making the decision to go it alone and leave the relative security of life as a PAYE employee is a big one, but it can pay dividends (quite literally) when it comes to your potential earning power.
Increasing cash flow and being tax-efficient are usually near the top of every small business owner’s agenda. One way to achieve both these aims is to take advantage of the various tax incentives available to businesses.
Marketing your business should be fun and simple. Surely there can be no better way to spend a day than working on something which is going to help you achieve your objectives more quickly?
Look around at the world’s many unpredictable events and it could not be clearer that our political, and social, tectonic plates are shifting. Fueled by the digital revolution of young technology adoptees who are now reaching adulthood, it is unsurprising that the connected generation is favouring the peer-to-peer model over outdated intermediaries.
Many small businesses are successfully started up from home, and there are huge advantages of doing this while you get your business off the ground.
Hiring the right people is vital for the growth of your company. It is likely to go some way in contributing to the development of the business and helping it to become successful.
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 […]
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.
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.
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.
The gig economy is one of the UK’s fastest-growing ways of working. According to IPSE, the body representing UK freelancers, there are now around 1.9 million freelancers in the UK alone.
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 […]
One of the biggest obstacles to growth for start-up businesses is investment. Investors are often reluctant to commit their money to a new business with a promising idea but no track record of success. Fortunately the Government lent a helping hand in 2012, and introduced the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) to help smaller, riskier […]
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 […]
If you’re looking to raise money, from either a bank loan or outside investors, a cash flow will be one of the financial forecasts that you will need to produce for prospective lenders and investors.
Public liability insurance will protect your business if you cause an injury to a member of the public, or property belonging to another business or individual. You should consider taking out public liability insurance if members of the public visit you at your place of work, or if you perform work at places of work […]
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 […]
For many companies, staff retention is a key issue. Giving employees a slice of the business can foster a sense of ownership and can be a key element in retaining and rewarding them.
Claiming business expenses can help you to cut your tax bill but, knowing what, and how much you can claim for isn’t straightforward. Fortunately, HMRC allow the self employed to use ‘simplified expenses’ to claim certain allowable business expenses without having to make complicated calculations.
Life can be great when you’re running your business as a one man band. You get to escape the shackles of employment including a boss telling you what you do and when. Of course there are downsides, such as the loss of a regular salary and other employment perks. And the most serious of these […]
If you are thinking of starting up a taxi business, the most important and initial steps to take are to research the UK taxi industry as a whole, find a unique selling point, choose a brand name and obtain the relevant equipment, employees and licenses. Nowadays, with emergence of taxi apps like Uber and Get […]
Businesses operate by planning and executing a series of never-ending projects, though we may not always see it that way. Everything from running a successful marketing campaign, to taking over a rival company, is essentially a project that requires the same rules to be followed. So here are 10 steps that will help you to […]
If you are considering setting up your own limited company, the prospect of ‘dealing with the authorities’ may seem daunting. In reality, the company formation process is very simple – whether you apply yourself, or use a registration agent to set up the company on your behalf.
A form of finance which is rapidly gaining popularity in the UK business market is bridging finance. Around £750 million was borrowed through the means of bridging in the year 2011, since then it has only gone up where in 2016, this number went up by £4 billion.
Stricter lending criteria and the boost of digital technology has led to a huge demand in the loans industry in the UK. With more and more applications being taken out online and by mobile and the ability to make faster payments, consumers are ditching their traditional bank managers to apply for finance online.
This guide looks at the types of Stamp Duty your business may be liable for; Stamp Duty Land Tax on property transactions, Stamp Duty Reserve Tax and Stamp Duty on share transactions.
There are a million things to think about when you start a small business. Your website alone is a field of rabbit holes – content, structure, design, SEO, social media integration – down any one of which you might lose yourself for days if you don’t know what you’re doing. One area that small business […]
Running your own business sometimes seems to be a series of successes followed by setbacks. You win a big client, then lose an existing client. You hire the perfect employee and their current employer offers them more money to stay. You make a nice profit, and the taxman comes along and takes almost 20 per […]
Copyright infringement can be defined in numerous ways, some of which include piracy, theft and freebooting. Legally, the term is used when an individual uses any works protected by copyright law, without permission, which then leads to the infringement of any exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder.
For any small business, the decision to switch to a cloud-based system where all pieces of data can be stored online is one that’s worth deliberating. Platforms such as Microsoft Office 365 have many benefits, but they might not always be suitable for every business. To help you decide whether or not it’s a system […]
To some starting a business with their partner is a great idea. A chance to spend more time together and to share the experiences of running a business. To others it’s a nightmare. The thought of spending virtually every waking hour in each other’s pocket is simply too over bearing.
The only thing you can be certain of in business is that things will change. This might be a slow change or a sudden sharp one, but either way, it’s important to prepare for the future. These changes are a lot easier to predict if you are the instigator of the change. You may decide […]