The coffee shop business industry in the UK is expanding, and it is expected to be worth around £15 billion by 2020. This will see the rise of about 10,000 outlets in the upcoming three years. With room for you to thrive, opening a coffee shop now could be ideal for you. Coffee shops are well in demand with sleep-deprived Brits inclined to purchase a cup of coffee or two throughout the day. There is, however, the stellar competition that coffee shops owners will face from large chains such as Costa and Starbucks as well as the many independent coffee shops who are offering a unique experience to stand out.
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As the festive season gets underway, many businesses will start to enter a few weeks of spending on items and events that were unplanned or not in their initial budgets. It can add a significant dent in your profitability if steps aren’t taken to ensure your company doesn’t let spending get out of control. Small business owners need to ensure that they keep Christmas costs in check.
As children, there was always time for naps, cloud-watching, or simply to lie around and just ‘be’. But as business owners it can feel as though there simply isn’t the time to kickback, explore, play, and dare we say, go on an adventure. There is always more work to do on the business!
Have you invested heavily in your website only to find that those leads you thought would be flowing in, are simply not coming? You are not alone. Tim Butler, the founder of Innovation Visual gives you 10 of the fastest ways to improve the performance of your website. Small business owners need to make sure that that their website is optimised so take note of these tips to make your website perform better.
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As a small business owner you will always be pitching. From pitching to investors to get funding to pitching at networking events to seek out potential partners, pitching will be an essential part of your role as a small business owner. Therefore, you need to take time to how to perfect your pitch. Not being able to communicate your ideas and plans because you haven’t learnt how to deliver a good pitch can be detrimental.
Once again, Contractors sat yesterday with baited breath to see how the secrets of Philip Hammond’s red box and the Autumn Budget 2017 would affect them. In his first Budget since the government lost their majority in the general election, it was good to hear the Chancellor affirm his commitment to small businesses, recognising them as the backbone of our economy and praising them for their “vibrancy and resilience”.
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The first ever Autumn Budget 2017 was revealed by the Chancellor Philip Hammond at the houses of Parliament yesterday. The Budget focused on the finances of the country, and how it will affect the citizens of the country, from small business owners to millennials. The budget has mostly had a positive response, especially from the small business community.
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Small business owners often don’t delegate when they can and when they should. Lack of delegation in a small business environment can lead to the business owner being overworked and over-stressed. Taking on everything may seem natural to you as a business owner and you may think it is productive, however doing so can really hinder your chances of growing and developing your business. Therefore, practice and take time to learn how to delegate in a small business environment . The art of delegation, as you will find, has many benefits.
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Getting less than 7 – 8 hours of sleep per night on a regular basis can have severe repercussions for your health. Your brain functions, your mood and the way you interact with people will be affected. Those are all vital aspects for small business owners, so the smart thing to do would be not to lose sleep.
Data breaches and the protection of data has never been more prominent in the business world. Data breaches can be in the form of data theft or the loss of data through other means, whatever form they take, they can be detrimental to businesses. With GDPR going into effect May 2018, businesses need to do all they can in order to comply with the regulation. One of the major parts of the regulation is to ensure the protection of data or facing dire consequences.
You must notice how our everyday lives are becoming more and more cashless every day. New technologies are inventing easy ways of making payments, from contactless pay to paying with your mobile phone, and as such the need for physical cash is quickly diminishing. In research conducted by Expert Market, it was found that Brits are becoming cash-phobic, and are much less prone to use it in today’s cashless society.
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It may seem extremely difficult and hard to run a seasonal business, however if managed carefully then it can be a success. Seasonal fluctuations can create a problem for all businesses, however seasonal businesses embrace these fluctuations and develop skills and strategies in order to thrive.
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With the lead up to Christmas and the New Year, business owners are likely to be busy dealing with getting the customers in and operating the business. However, small business owners need to ensure that they plan ahead when it comes to making payments and payment processing. Making payments on time is vital to ensure that everyone has a Merry Christmas and are able to enjoy the festive period.
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With a new Budget around the corner and just a few months since the last one, 2017 has been a bumper year for Budgets. Following on from the Spring Budget in March, Wednesday the 22nd of November will see the first ever Autumn Budget; but why has the date of the Budget changed and how will it impact your business?
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Working out the Value Added Tax (VAT) and making sure that your business is complying with the VAT laws is time consuming for small business owners. In research conducted by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) it was found that small business owners spend a whole working week every year trying to comply with the obligations that come with VAT.
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One of the most controversial topics regarding the success in the business world is the one of the so-called ‘gut feeling’. While it is true that a lot of people made a fortune following their intuition, there is a lot of debate on what this gut-feeling really is. The closest thing to an explanation would be to say that the gut-feeling is an ability to match a current situation with a similar successful or unsuccessful scenario from your past. In other words, instead of relying on luck or some mystical force, you are subconsciously analysing the current situation and making decisions based on it.
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You will need to raise finances to fund your franchise business. It might be possible that you have to deal with hefty start-up costs that will cover the initial franchise fee as well as buying and/or renting the premises. You will also have to deal with ongoing costs that you need to cover, especially at the beginning where you will not be making a great amount of money.
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Leadership skills are something that you need to acquire in order to run and lead a successful business. Everyone is not born a natural leader, and this is not necessary in order for you to be a good leader. You can develop leadership skills over time and through experience. It is important to invest time in developing good leadership skills, as this will help you be a successful entrepreneur and a good boss.
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Once you have successfully started up your business, you will need to focus on actually running it. Although getting started and setting up is the initial big challenge you have to face and overcome, after getting into a routine of running your business, you will need to make sure that you are progressing and moving forwards and upwards rather than being stuck in a stagnant state.
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The state of an office space can tell you a lot about the business. A clean, bright and well-maintained office makes for a fantastic working atmosphere and a good company image. But if you let your office become worn down and tired it can badly affect the mood of your staff and reflect badly on your organisation. Take a look at your working space, if it has seen better days now could be the perfect time to make changes.
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