Here are the main tax rates and allowances for 2017/18, that are most relevant to small businesses.
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In the past five years, crowdfunding has skyrocketed in popularity as a way to bring innovations to life and has become a great contender to more traditional methods of funding. It has given entrepreneurs access to capital through the people who are most excited about their idea, and want to help it become a reality. This real-time interaction with ‘the crowd’ provides invaluable insights into the market for a given product, and allows entrepreneurs to tweak their products to better fit their customers’ needs. There’s no denying that there are are some major crowdfunding mistakes which can be made, however they can be easily avoided.
It’s no secret that the survival of small business can be challenging for entrepreneurs in the UK — only four in ten businesses survive past the five year mark of running the business. Businesses fail from making continuous mistakes which lead to the collapse of their business, so knowing the causes of business failure is key to eluding those factors and focusing on success. A plan to survive should therefore be accompanied by short and long term goals and objectives to keep you on track.
In the latest report by the FSB (Federation of Small Business) it was found that a large number of small businesses are still unprepared for GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). Over half of the respondents either had not yet started preparing for the legislation to go into effect or were only at the early stages of compliance. To combat the lack of compliance, the FSB has launched a campaign to get small businesses compliant before the deadline. The countdown has begun, and the GDPR deadline is well under a 100 days away.
When it comes to running a business, you should always be striving to grow and improve, and there will normally come a point when your business is ready to expand. This will usually occur when your business has been up and running for some time and you are making a steady increase in the business profits. At this point in your business venture you will need to look ahead and shift your focus on expanding your business. A profitable business should not remain stagnant as this can cause problems and can even lead to failure, therefore always strive to do more and expand your horizons.
Paper is costing businesses thousands per employee from its day-to-day use in the workplace. From a study conducted by WorkMobile of 1,000 workers, it was found that 67% of UK businesses are spending over £2,000 on paper annually per employee. This just goes to show the significant role that paper still plays in the daily activities of more than half of the businesses that took part in the study.
In a study conducted by the FSB (Federation of Small Business), it was found that businesses spend £5,000 annually on tax compliance. As well as money, small businesses also lost out on three working weeks in making sure that they had their tax affairs in order. Small businesses are consistently losing time and money over tax payments which is why they are urging the government for a tax reform. The money being drained by tax compliance can be better spent on growing businesses.
It may seem a bit obvious, but targeted marketing is vital to ensuring that every pound you reserve for marketing is well-spent. Being able to identify exactly who is likely to buy your product, will help you to attract them. But it can be difficult for small businesses to effectively determine their target market.
We are bombarded every day by the lives successful people lead through the media – where do they live, what car do they drive, when do they wake up, what do they eat, etc. But what do we know about the habits that have made them into successful financially successful entrepreneurs? If you’re trying to develop your business into a successful one you know that it’s a tough road to take. It requires a lot of knowledge, drive, and dedication in order to manage your money right and achieve financial security and independence. Of course, it is possible, but it would be much easier with some insight from the people who already achieved that. That’s why Dean Willcocks Advisory have put together a list of financial habits that have taken them to success.
Most people can only dream of working from home, but if you have managed it then you will need to set up an office at home. Having a work space in your home will allow you to switch off when you leave your designated work area, because it is essential to switch off after a long day of working. Here are four things you need to do before setting up a home office.
GDPR is approaching, prowling behind us, waiting. On May 25, 2018, it’ll pounce. Despite this looming deadline, 52% of companies still don’t feel ready, expecting to be fined for non-compliance.
BURNOUT. It’s the seven letter word that every employer dreads encountering. As businesses push to meet productivity needs and illicit the best results, employees can become overwhelmed, overtasked and burned out, sometimes without even realising it. Employers then become unwitting participants in the detection of subtle cues that suggest a need for change. Often burnout presents in seemingly disconnected ways. Small gestures that may, on the surface, look like behavioural or emotional anomalies, are sometimes indicators of a burnout silently brewing into an all-out raging inferno.
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Being in control of your finances is key to keeping your earning model afloat. That’s why it’s so important to stay on top of your books as a contractor or a small business owner as you have multiple income streams to deal with. Effectively managing your finances can do wonders for the process of bookkeeping for your small business.
When you’re caught up in the day-to-day pressure of running a business it can be hard to focus on your longer-term retirement planning. By investing a little time to review the fees being charged on retirement and investment plans many business owners could retire earlier. Hannah Goldsmith from Goldsmith Financial Solutions explains how this is possible.
In the second Hiscox Cyber Readiness Report, conducted by Forrester Consulting, it was found that nearly three quarters of the 4,103 organisations surveyed, lack strategy when it comes to cyber security. 73% of organisations are deemed cyber novices, with the three categories being ‘cyber novice’, ‘cyber intermediate’ and ‘cyber expert’, and only 11% of organisations that participated in the study were deemed cyber experts.
A massive 50% of small businesses say hiring new employees is their top challenge. According to Wasp Barcode’s annual State of Small Business Report it is the number one challenge for businesses with fewer than 499 employees, even more challenging than the traditionally-mentioned issues, such as increasing profits and cash flow. So, Yuliana Topazly from BuddyWith explains how flexible working can help.
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The number of people deploying professional apps to help run their business has exploded in recent years. With the rise of iPad POS systems, mobile accounting applications, and integrated ecommerce platforms, SMEs have capitalised and prospered, even despite the fact that not too long ago the only reason one would use an app would be to send angry birds flying into buildings.
Small business owners struggle with insurance policies that are in place, claiming that they use too much jargon and can be difficult to understand. With the rising threats of cyber-attacks, terrorism and severe weather conditions, small businesses need to have a good insurance policy in place more than ever.
Essentially equity crowdfunding is the process through which a large number of people provide money to a business in return for shares in the company. It might not be the easiest way to raise funds, but if done right, it can bring you a lot more than just cash.
The vast majority of employees in a business will have different aspects of introversion and extroversion, which is often to the benefit of the company. But every organisation will also have individuals who are highly extroverted – the life and soul of every party and the loudest person in the room at any given time. But extroverts are more than just loud people who like to engage with others, they also work very differently to other members of the team.
