At this time of year, you may well be planning parties, awards and gifts for staff and customers. As you do this are you checking that you are making the most of the available Christmas tax reliefs or ways to leverage your money this Christmas?
Updates
The aim of every business is to grow and expand, and naturally when businesses grow they secure a bigger number of clients. A happy problem with this is that more customers to your business would mean the need to hire more employees; especially those in the sales and support departments. Bringing on board a handful of new employees in a short time span could be challenging because of the time it takes to train them while still making sure that your long-time clients are happy with the services they are provided with.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond stayed away from big bold giveaways in his Autumn statement, but the Budget contained plenty for businesses to digest.
Potential customers don’t change that much. It’s common for businesses to overestimate the attraction of novelty and underestimate the power of traditional consumer behaviour. Marketing is not new, but digital marketing has changed the way that we do things.
[continue reading…]
A recent Government report shows that £44.6 billion is owed to small-to-medium sized businesses in late invoice payments. While it’s hard to fathom how much impact this amount of money will have on the economy in general, it’s important to understand the impact it can cause business owners.
Good invoicing is vital for freelancers and anyone running a micro/small business. Sending out well-designed, concise invoices is important to get you paid. It will make it easy for your clients to pay you, that way you’re much more likely to get paid on time. The last thing you want to do is spend all of your time chasing unpaid invoices.
You have successfully set up your dream restaurant or café and now you want to enjoy the freedom of running your own business while enjoying your passion for food and people. For your business to be a success, it is vital that customers have a great experience and want to return to your venue. Keeping the customers you already have happy is important, as they are the backbone of your business and provide a regular stream of revenue. But you should also consider that the customers you retain will actually help spread the word and attract new customers to your business. According to Harvard Business School: “increasing customer retention rates by 5% increases profits by 25% to 95%.”
Cat in a Flat founders Kathrin Burckhardt and Julie Barnes feature in our latest success stories, looking at entrepreneurs making a success out of a niche business idea. They discuss having complementary skills, marketing your business effectively, and attracting customers. Cat in a Flat has become an international business allowing customers to find cat sitters for their pets.
If you love food, and you are a people person, starting up a catering business may be a good idea. You can do what you love and make a living from it. It’s true that the catering market is a crowded one, but you can make a business work if you are prepared to do the hard work that is required.
Creativity can be a mysterious process. We all want to achieve originality in our designs yet no idea is truly original. Ideas are always inspired by a combination of things. It’s the novel combination of ideas, concepts, trends, aesthetics, materials and approaches that, in a practical sense, make a design.
[continue reading…]
When opting for the self-employment route and starting up your own business, the chances are that the tax aspect won’t come naturally. You may be asking yourself some questions: how do I pay my tax without an employer taking it from my wage? Or is there any way I am able to make savings on my tax return?
Cycling to work is on the rise, but many office workers still feel discouraged from the active commute by poor office facilities. A survey by the British Council for Offices found that 40% of office workers would commute by bike if their workspace offered better facilities. Here are a few ways to kick start active commuting.
For small business owners wanting to raise funds, one of the biggest barriers is having the right tools to support their pitch. There are lots of different opinions on what makes a good deck, much of it misguided and rooted in opinion rather than data.
[continue reading…]
Dealing with bereavement in the workplace can be difficult; when you’re experiencing such high emotions, the office can be the last place you want to be. At any time, one in 10 people in the UK is likely to be affected by a bereavement. It’s important that employees receive the help and support they need to get through this challenging time.
[continue reading…]
Generally, after Christmas, consumers cut back on spending meaning businesses do too. With little business activity, the economy becomes sluggish and businesses find it difficult to get things going again.
Running and maintaining a successful business is incredibly hard work. It doesn’t matter how big or successful you are, a start-up, a big hitter or even if you are dominating the marketplace, things can go wrong at any time. The business plan just might not be right for the market or an unexpected cost could set back your cash flow.
[continue reading…]
The holiday season brings out a celebratory feeling in all of us–even the neighbourhood Scrooge has that twinkle of glee in his eyes. This jovial time permeates everything around us, including the workplace. So, why not take advantage of the goodwill and throw an amazing company holiday party?
For those who don’t know, mobile optimisation is the process of designing and adapting any website online to ensure that it works well on the mobile platform. There are a lot of different things that you can do to ensure that your website is fully mobile optimised, enabling the user to have the same experience as your online shop as the desktop user.
As an entrepreneur, you shouldn’t start your business without considering the prime location options. Some destinations may be more beneficial for businesses than others, and you should take this into account before settling on any place. The UK is widely known to be a business hub, in particular, London – a city that’s regarded as a world leader in business and finance.
Millennial employees in your workforce are individuals who were born between 1980 and 2000. Unlike the Baby Boomers and the Gen-Xers, this youthful generation has developed unique work characteristics such as adoring parents, contact with diverse people, and structured lives. They work well with diverse co-workers, are used to working in teams, want to make friends with people at work, and have a can-do attitude. They seek leadership from their managerial staff but expect their ideas to be valued and used.
