Many small businesses are being to plan for their reopening, or if they have been maintaining their businesses during Covid-19 perhaps they are preparing for staff to return to their workplace.
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Small business owners will be relieved that lockdown looks set to be easing. However, this isn’t a return to normal. Business needs to think of the changing situation as moving forward into a new normal and continue to deal with the reality of the coronavirus. Handling this period will take resilience and adaptability from business owners.
[continue reading…]Starting a part-time small business is ideal if you want the security of employment whilst investing in a side business. Starting a business can come with great risks, and one of the main reasons that potential entrepreneurs are held back is for fear of their business failing. However with a combination of business skills and the right product, you can make your business a success. When running a part-time small business you also don’t have the life changing risk of failing hanging over your head, as you still have a steady income through your day job.
Many of us have been compelled to change the way we work and move our meetings, presentations, sales pitches etc. to an online setting. This takes some getting used to as I have found. In the process of moving online, I have learned some valuable lessons as I have conducted meetings and coaching online. Here, Simon Day from Toastmaster International will share how small businesses can communicate with impact online.
[continue reading…]To succeed in today’s market, a business needs a strong online presence in order to develop and grow. Gone are the days where yellow pages were everything and paying to get yourself listed on the front page meant you’re already ahead of your competition. Nowadays, you can get overtaken by a business that invested half of what you did in marketing, simply because they’ve got better SEO practices.
[continue reading…]Anyone in a secure and longstanding career might feel that the prospect of volunteering is one that will have no benefits to their professional life, and they will quickly dismiss the idea. This is far from an accurate view on the matter, however. In addition to being a rewarding way of ‘giving back’ to the world around us, volunteering brings with it many other advantages that prove useful in a person’s professional and personal life. From a business perspective, volunteering schemes also have numerous benefits, from improving company image to enhancing employees’ workplace experience.
[continue reading…]Inefficiencies can creep into any business. If they are allowed to continue they can seriously impact profits and growth potential. Customers don’t feel they are getting good value, the company struggles to make a profit, and frustrated employees jump ship.
[continue reading…]If you are thinking of starting a business and don’t have huge investment funds then there are still plenty of startup business ideas for you to consider. There are certain elements that come into play when starting a small business that could reduce the costs of starting up significantly. From working at home to needing minimal equipment, it doesn’t have to cost large sums of money to get started.
If you love baking and are good at it then you really could turn your hobby into a profitable small business. The key ingredients for a successful baking business, aside from the essential baking skills, are passion and love for what you do. Throw in some business skills too and you have an entrepreneur baker and business owner in the making. Are people asking you about recipes or requesting for you to make cakes for their special occasions? If the answer is yes, then you are already well on your way to making a business out of your hobby.
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For your business to do well you need motivated, engaged employees. Research by Gallup shows that businesses with engaged employees outperform others by 202%. In addition, the study showed that businesses in the highest quartile of employee engagement ratings outperform those in the bottom quartile in customer ratings, productivity, and profitability.
[continue reading…]You’ll be aware that HMRC is bringing in new, stricter rules around using contractors and consultants, known as IR35 effective April 2020. These new rules are intended to stop contractors, freelancers and consultants being used as “disguised employees” to avoid paying tax and benefits.
[continue reading…]Flowers are timeless and have been used for centuries to express emotions. They play a role in all occasions, from expressing sympathy, to celebrating the birth of a new baby or showing love on Valentine’s Day. Flowers being closely related to emotions and occasions is perhaps the reason why the florist industry has been thriving for decades and why the need remains strong. The fresh cut flowers and plant industry is currently worth £2.2 billion in the UK, and to give some perspective that is £0.2 billion more than the music industry in the UK. The florist business industry is huge and comes with the vast opportunity to start a successful company.
If your company is ready to grow, or you just want to improve your marketing strategy, there are several innovative ways to utilise advertising that you probably already have in place, as well as additional options you might also want to consider.
[continue reading…]When the economy is doing well, it’s easy to become too relaxed and spend too much money. Overhead costs like rent, salaries, and travel costs can become bloated as managers ride the wave of prosperity.
[continue reading…]Wired Magazine predicts that coding could become the next main blue-collar job which, if true, means that many small business owners will need increasing number of employees with programming skills in the near future. The problem affecting all businesses is that, without action, the UK could fall well behind other parts of the world in training for the future. This will affect our economy overall as well as our individual businesses.
Starting a company is a risky business. In the early stages, there is a significant chance of failure. One in five small businesses do not last beyond their first year. Thirty per cent of small business fail in their second year, 50% fail after five years, and 70% fail in their tenth year in operation.
There are many reasons why people want to get into the street food industry. For most people, it’s the fact that they can cook their own delicious food, be their own boss, change location whenever they want, and it’s not too expensive to start up. You can work cooking your own food, watch peoples’ faces when they take a bite out of your culinary speciality and make a living from your own talent.
Yes, you own a small-sized business. That doesn’t mean you want to hire people with small-sized talent. How do you draw the right candidates into your small business? How do you compete with Fortune 100 or even Fortune 500 companies that have staff entirely devoted to recruiting and hiring?
In the business world today, the competition is becoming more serious. This is why it is crucial for business owners to pay attention to the latest trends to get ahead, especially for small businesses. Getting ahead means accessing new knowledge, skills, resources, and tools. And you can only learn these things when you break away from your comfort zone.
Sophie Hainsworth, Co-founder of LoyalFree, features in our latest success story to discuss everything from the inspiration for their app business to the process of developing it.
