It is time for the Government to address the destructive impact of late payments on the UK’s small businesses says Inna Kaushan the co-founder of Solna.
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Migrating to a new eCommerce platform is widely considered to be a costly and time-consuming practice that carries a significant level of risk when not carefully managed. It’s that fear of what could potentially go wrong—like lost sales or taking a hit to organic search rank—that hold merchants back from switching eCommerce platforms.
Many business owners still feel that investing in workplace safety will have a negative impact on productivity and finances. But the truth is, a safe workplace is often a more productive and profitable one! The work environment can have either a negative or positive effect on the quality and quantity of work that employees produce. It can either promote a place that invites employees to want to be there, or it can be a place that they cannot wait to leave at the end of the day.
Readers Question: I have a trading company with a high level of retained earnings. Rather than liquidate, I am thinking of taking £500k in dividends (grossed up to £555k) and then making a donation to the charity of say £500k (adjustable for tax efficiency), which would extend my basic rate band by £625k. Am I correct in thinking that this combination of dividend and charitable donation is a tax efficient way of charitable giving, in the sense that I would avoid the higher rate dividend taxes?
Often when you read advice online about the best ways to undertake consumer research and where to look for insights, suggestions hinge heavily on paid tools. But if you’re working with a small budget from the get-go, being advised to add several monthly subscriptions to your overheads probably isn’t feasible.
Look, we’ve been there. You’re focused on delivering a project. Then another. Then something enormous comes along and takes up your time. Before you know it, the year’s up. And then it suddenly hits you that you’ve got a self-assessment return to file, and you’ve got absolutely no idea where to start.
Giving back to the community and giving to charities has become a core part of most small business culture. From the Federation of Small Business (FSB), a ‘Small Business, Big Heart’ was published highlighting the ‘giving back’ attitude of small businesses in the UK. It is, therefore, the time for the Government to deliver on the National Insurance Contributions manifesto promise (NIC’s), which consisted of a year holiday from the NIC’s for small businesses.
The reason why you started your business is because you want it to be an empire. Simply put, you want it to become one of the most successful enterprises around. Your dream is to dine with renowned entrepreneurs in the globe or appear in the next issue of Forbes Magazine as one of the wealthiest people in your country or the world. However, to earn all this, you need first to encourage your employees to be the best version of themselves. You need to enhance their productivity so that you cannot only make them happy but also more efficient in their jobs. But how do you do this?
It is not about how much money you have, but how you spend your money. Funnelling vast amounts of money into failing marketing strategies won’t improve your company’s revenue streams. Sometimes the most effective marketing solutions aren’t the most expensive ones, but the most creative ones. Managing the costs of each and every activity during a marketing campaign can be quite difficult, especially if you don’t have a detailed plan on how your marketing budget should be spent.
When running a business there is a lot of office equipment that will be necessary for running your business effectively. To be able to run your business startup you will need to prioritise which office equipment you will need when you first set up your business office. You need to ensure that you start off with only the necessities as the initial start-up of the business can be very costly.
Nowadays, pretty much everything has become digitalised. Businesses are operating in the online world and their business operations rely heavily on modern technology. The fact of the matter is that digital transformation is slowly but surely disrupting almost every business factor today.
Whatever your size or sector, standing out online is harder than it’s ever been before. With so much competition, you need to make sure your branding is perfect. It needs to completely reflect who you are as a business and attract the attention of your target audience.
Good leadership is vital regardless of the size of the business, but a medium or large business will at least have enough managerial support to mitigate the damage caused by leadership problems. A small business doesn’t have that kind of buffer. With such a small team, a lack of stable direction can have disastrous consequences.
In today’s modern world, the humble business card is an oft-forgotten marketing tool. With almost two-thirds of the world now connected by smartphones, it seems sensible to consider the days of business cards numbered, but is this really the case?
Entrepreneurs tend to be wearing many different hats and your attention is likely to be on making more money, managing your team etc. Sometimes seeing your accountants can feel like a trip to the dentist. However, if you’re not talking to them, then given the complexity of UK tax rules, you might find yourself making these tax mistakes.
The world is slowly changing and 2019 will bring us many new things. All industries have to adapt to the new economic demands and so do franchises. Strategies will have to change to stay on top of trends – both for doing business and finding employment.
It has undoubtedly been a difficult few years for the UK high street with many shops closing and the loss of big-name brands. And with major retailers reporting disappointing sales figures over Christmas 2018 there may be more to come.
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has found that the small business confidence has hit the biggest low since the financial crash in 2011. The small business confidence was measured at -9.9, in their Small Business Index (SBI). The uncertainty that comes from Brexit is taking a toll on small businesses in the UK resulting in them being very unsure of what’s to come.
Sharing your IT expertise could pave the way to a profitable IT consultancy. However, to compete with larger companies, you will have to progress past the constraints of a start-up in its first year. There are a few methods of doing this that will help you to build up your IT company and attract more potential clients.
It’s 2019 and businesses are starting to see the importance of artificial intelligence (AI). Even though the number of businesses that use AI still sits at a disappointing 16%, it is expected to triple by the end of 2019.
