For a lot of people, starting their own business requires a huge leap of faith. The reason behind this is simple – it is most often a step into an unfamiliar world, where you cannot be sure whether any of it is going to work out, even if you have a brilliant business idea. However, the very fact that you are seriously thinking about it is already enough for a good start. You are aware of the risks, and you have already heard all the intimidating statistics on startup failure.
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Two brothers, Timothy McElroy and James McElroy founded their business as they struggled to find a dog sitter for their dog. They took inspiration from the likes of Uber and Airbnb to set up their business. Now, HouseMyDog is Europe’s largest online community that enables dog owners to find and book local, trusted dog sitters and walkers. It operates in more than 70 cities across the UK, Ireland, Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Belgium.
Have you ever dreamed of putting your toe in the water and working abroad in a sunny, relaxed place for a few weeks a year, or even working away on a permanent basis? If you’re hearing the call from your dream beach location, then you could work from there.
Getting tax right requires careful planning. Whether you are a sole trader, a business owner with staff, or a higher rate taxpayer, you need to be talking to your advisors and keeping your eye on the ball.
The digital marketing world can no longer afford to ignore podcasts as a platform since the rest of the world definitely isn’t. If the world’s podcast episodes were the citizens of a nation, it would sit somewhere between Malaysia and Mozambique, with over 28 million people and rising. A country of podcast listeners though would number somewhere between Indonesia and the United States. Nearly two-thirds of South Koreans, half of Americans, a third of Australians, and a fifth of Germans, and many other portions of other countries all reporting having listened to a podcast in the last month.
Technology has broken any barriers of distance and culture. Thanks to this, virtual teams are the ideal solution for small businesses or for tasks which don’t require too much human interaction. Truth be told, there are even solutions that allow people who require high degrees of interaction to work remotely with great success as well.
Readers Questions: Does limited liability still apply with just one director?
Every manager needs to be well acquainted with the performance of their employees. It’s an essential part of the job. You can’t make any effective changes if you don’t know who is lacking and why they aren’t reaching their full potential. A lot of managers, including us from MAUS Business Systems, use staff performance software to help them keep track of many employees and their progress over time. These programs come with their own pros and cons.
So, you’ve done it. You’ve had an idea, you’ve launched a business, it’s even started to grow. Congratulations; you’ve cleared your first set of hurdles. But what do you do next? You have information coming at you from every angle. Demands on your time are growing and your available time is dwindling. How do you know which information matters? And how do you keep the momentum going, or even build to the next level? Every business is different, but some requirements are universal, and some data should never be overlooked.
If you’re a business owner attempting to expand your brand and client base, millennials can be an attractive choice. It can be difficult to figure out how to start appealing to this new base. Even precise timelines for millennials are hard to pin down, but the general understanding is that the youngest of them are finishing college and the oldest are approaching 40 years of age. Thankfully, pinning down their tastes have been a bit easier than pinning down their age demographic.
Every time you create content for an email campaign, a landing page or an advertisement, you want the copy to be powerful enough to convert visitors to sales. Our detailed guide for small business owners covers seven ways to create content that has a bottom-line impact and generates more leads.
As only 57% of businesses have recently reported that they are ready for the Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT deadline, we want to ensure that small business owners are prepared for the future of accountancy. Essentially, the industry is in a period of transition where businesses with an annual turnover over the current VAT threshold of £85,000 (as of 2019/20) are required to digitalise their VAT accounts.
Reviews can be an important part of attracting new customers for small businesses, and most consumers now utilise reviews and ratings to give them guidance on whether or not to use the services or products on offer.
Businesses often think of training as a benefit for the employee – a way to build skills and level up in their career. Sometimes this kind of thinking hinders companies, especially small ones, from offering comprehensive training and implementing training programmes. However, this narrow view only harms businesses, big and small, in the long run.
Readers question: I have set up my own catering company at the moment and I am doing the food in a large Irish bar in Edinburgh. I will be paying my employee and buying all the food stock etc. My query is, would I be better off being an employee of my company and paying tax NI as normal with the addition of employer NI, or would I be better to take dividends monthly as my salary, my salary will be £40,000 per annum.
January 31st has now passed. Most people spent the arrival of February with their tax return submitted well in advance, while others were exhausted after rushing to file it. And a few will have missed the deadline altogether.
Digital Marketing: simple or complex? Broken down, the principals, the channels and the objectives are pretty straightforward. Designing the right strategy, however, is where things become a little obtuse. All channels need to work in conjunction, and require constant attention, while your tactics need to evolve as your data does. On all channels, knowing and understanding your audience is essential.
We are still not sure what kind of Brexit we will get. Even assuming a ‘good’ Brexit, will we be thrown into another recession? Will history repeat itself and, if so, what will this mean for start-ups, SMEs, and investors?
Readers Question: I was wondering how do I record refunds that I give to clients for services not received in my accounts. Should I amend the invoice or does it go on my expenses side?
For any business to prosper, whether it be a small start-up or a global conglomerate, instigating a good ethic of teamwork is absolutely essential. Having good teamwork in a company can improve morale, build productivity and ultimately result in a happier, more effective and ultimately, more successful workforce and business.
