The road to success for any start-up is undoubtedly tough. Couple this with the fact that around 50% of all small businesses fail in the first five years, with the figure rising to an astronomical 90% for tech start-ups, and the picture starts to look somewhat bleak. However this shouldn’t be a discouragement, instead, it should be a call to organise your business operations well from the beginning so that it’s addressing issues before they can cause real problems.
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small business
A company succeeds or fails on its reputation; a good reputation will bring you more customers, more sales, and ultimately more profits. You will be able to grow and thrive exactly as you want to. A bad reputation will result in fewer sales because fewer people will want to be associated with your company name, brand, products, or services. Although this sounds fairly frightening, it’s not something that you should lose sleep over – as long as you commit to doing the right thing at all times and admit your mistakes (because every business makes them, no matter how established they are, and it’s how you deal with them that counts).
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There are almost a million drivers on the UK’s roads who are behind the wheel of a company vehicle. A company car is a privilege and a great perk of employment. It is also an essential tool for those who need to spend time at the remote work site or meeting with customers, suppliers and business partners.
President Donald Trump’s nuclear sanctions on Tehran are having significant implications for a major European business, creating a climate in which other companies looking to expand business globally are growing concerned. In particular, many are worried about how they may be impacted by international relations issues, including sanctions and embargos.
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Decorating your office can be as challenging as it is rewarding. And being limited to a budget does not make the job easier! It is much more challenging to decorate an office than it is to decorate your bedroom or living room because the office is a much more sober place. Even if you run a small business, you probably get a lot of people coming over to your office, and you need to make sure that they get a good first impression of the place. After all, they will use that impression to make their initial judgement of you
Investing in one’s own business comes with a high risk of not achieving the expected results. The level of competition in the UK’s market is high: since 2015, more than 500,000 start-ups have been launched every year. In the first six months of 2018, more than 300,000 new companies have been registered.
Diversity in the workplace can be really beneficial for both the people who work for the business and the business itself. Every major city is multi-cultural, there are people from all over the world that live and work there. For example, London is one of the best cities in the world and it’s full of people from many different backgrounds, cultures, races, genders and sexual orientations. The diversity in the city should, therefore, be reflected in the city’s workplace too. Small businesses, in particular, need to encourage more diversity when it comes to the recruitment process.
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This advice is based very much on experience. Only two years ago, I was about to close my digital agency. I had been forced to let six staff go and it was down to just me and one other.
It’s undeniable that there are multiple benefits to training the workforce and upskilling your employees. From retaining good employees to having highly skilled individuals work for you, the benefits are vast. Whether your business has a big budget or a small budget to work with, there are methods of helping your employees add to their skill set. There are certain types of training that will be essential for your employees depending on your business and the role they will have.
The work-life balance is something that has become more important in recent years, even though it has also become more difficult to obtain in many cases. There was a time when working long hours (and at weekends), losing sleep and sacrificing family time, was seen as something admirable, but thankfully the pendulum is beginning to swing the other way, and now most people understand how important it is to have some downtime.
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The time of completing and filing a self-assessment tax return is a dreaded time for the self-employed. However, being prepared and having a good working knowledge of taxes and allowable expenses will surely make the task a little easier. Figuring out which expenses you can claim can be quite difficult when it comes completing the self-assessment tax return.
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Properly implemented workplace safety is something that both the employer and the employees benefit from. In practice, it is quite hard to motivate the workforce to follow the intricate safety procedures. They are usually fully aware of their importance, but they lack the motivation to follow through.
Everyone has a unique personality. That’s part of the reason why people are so interesting. But sometimes, personalities clash. When it comes to working in a team, knowing how to manage different personality types is a vital skill. While we are all unique, it is generally accepted that we all sit on a spectrum of introversion and extroversion. It’s common in the workplace for personalities from different areas of the spectrum to collide and it can be a challenge to work with or manage introverts and extroverts.
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In the most recent Small Business Index carried out for the third quarter (Q3) of 2018, it was found that small businesses are lacking confidence. The research carried out by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) on a quarterly basis has seen the confidence of small business plummet for the third time since the Brexit vote. The confidence of the self-employed has also taken a big hit due to the government unfulfilling its promises.
A franking machine is one of the most interesting postage devices we have out there. What makes a franking machine unique is the way it simplifies the mailing process in your business. Furthermore, a franking machine has the option of customising the company logo and business brand on letters. The one thing that makes this machine admirable is the way it reduces the high costs of posting letters.
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A business needs to increase its customers in order to grow. One of the most obvious ways to do this is through advertising. But advertising comes at a cost and doesn’t always guarantee results. With that risk in mind, is there such a thing as free advertising and can you use it to grow your business?
Growth is one of the key watchwords for any SME. While a state of stasis is preferable to decline and loss, it’s growth that provides the reassurance that you’re making the right decisions. But what do you do if part of your growth strategy includes moving into the markets overseas? How can you give yourself the best possible chance of success?
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Training is part of growth, so offering your staff training is essential to growing your business. There are a number of benefits that can come from training the workforce. But it can be challenging for small businesses to train their staff. This is mainly because small businesses will have a smaller budget compared to bigger businesses that might have a dedicated budget for staff training. However, it’s a matter of good research and using all available resources to offer training to employees. It is always possible for you to train employees, even on a small budget.
When small businesses become stable they should consider looking beyond their border to grow their business. Business growth is incredibly important and the lack of it can leave small businesses stagnant leading to failure. One way to grow a business is by taking it international and catering to customers across the world. It may seem daunting leaving the security of what you know, however, it can be a worthwhile challenge. There are multiple ways in which you can appeal to customers all over the world.
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Small businesses are worryingly unprepared for the possibility of a no deal Brexit, research has found. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) looked into how small businesses were preparing for the possibility, and the findings show a chaotic picture of the post-Brexit UK. Over 1,200 businesses were part of this research that was carried out this month. The whole country is unsure of what is to come with a no deal Brexit, but small businesses need to have a contingency plan in place to avoid chaos.
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