September 26, 2010
Filed under: Small business — Alan @ 4:46 am
The FSB (Federation of Small Business) welcomed new plans for a Green Deal as outlined by Chris Huhne the Energy Secretary this week but warned that the new scheme should be carefully designed so that small businesses do not suffer.
Huhne stated that the Green Deal will go in front of the Parliament before the year closes and will helps SMEs and homeowners reduce the amount of money they spend monthly on their energy bills. He added that it will also create thousands of new job opportunities in the green sector.
The UK has about 4.8 million SMEs and the new initiative that is geared at a ‘pay as you save’ goal will help firms to get the loans they need so that they can invest in more energy efficient equipment and slowly pay back the loans as they start to save on their monthly energy bills. All of the upfront costs will be part of the energy meter attached to the building so that businesses are no longer responsible for any loan payments when they sell or leave a building.
Environment Committee chairman for the FSB David Caro stated that the news that the Government is looking at ways for SMEs to make their premises more green friendly is great news because it not only creates new jobs but also recognizes the fact that one reason small firms have not taken similar steps on their own is because they do not have enough working capital to do so.
September 23, 2010
Filed under: Business Advice,Business Tools — admin @ 9:04 am
Have you thought up a new business idea that you want to bring to life? Seeking some business advice as to how to put these plans into action? Well, read on to receive a breakdown of how to check if your ideas can be successful, and further, how you can go about becoming a modern day entrepreneur.
Everyday is an opportunity to come up with new business ideas and now more than ever, individuals are taking the initiative and putting their professional ambitions forward by investing their time and money into establishing a new company.
The Internet has changed the way we think of business, allowing individuals to create new companies that can operate from just about anywhere. This can save a number of costs such as renting office space, and allows employees to work from any location with a connection to the Web. This appears to be a trend that’s catching on as, according to research, one in every five businesses in the UK now exists without an office.
Once you have managed to come up with an idea you believe in, you can take to the Web and think of the ways in which you can establish your business from home. Of course, before you take any action, you’ll need to ask yourself if your particular idea can become a success. You’ll find that this requires considering a sense of realism while looking over the practical side of constructing and developing a company.
For starters, you’ll want to make sure there is a potential market for your new business or service. This means you will have to employ some serious market research techniques to see if your desired consumer base will actually respond to your company. Start by discussing your plans with your trusted peers and see what feedback they have for you. Once you’re ready to engage with the consuming public, you could try conducting focus groups and surveys to get valuable information to help you properly market your product.
Some great ways to consider the market is to consider the current and possibly future demands of consumers. Take advantage of new and growing technologies, and while it is recommended to observe market trends, it is also important to find ways to improve upon them. When creating your own business, you have to be able to prove that you are offering something that is far more useful than what your competitors may be providing.
On top of considering market and consumer goals, another key step to creating your own business is considering the practicalities behind it. For instance, this can include how you plan to staff your business, the pay rates you can offer your employees and the time commitment you feel they will need to invest in your company.
Staffing concerns are just one of the many initial considerations when it comes to mapping out your business. For instance, if you are shipping goods you will want to find appropriate courier options to connect your customers with their physical purchases. Other avenues to consider include how you will both develop and maintain your company’s website over time.
Now that you have considered the market and practical concerns of running a business, you must be sure to be honest with yourself and ask if the business you are hoping to put in action is actually viable. Consider the resources and time you have available to invest in this business; if you do not feel as though you will be able to put in 110 per cent effort towards your company, chances are it will not be able to take off.
Lastly, you must also consider whether or not your business has the potential to grow and develop over time. Of course, we all know that today’s market is deeply competitive. For this reason, it is important to show that you represent a company that is able to adhere to current demands of the market as well as sail through some adverse economical times. This means maintaining a creative and innovative edge will be crucial toward the continued success of your company.
The next bit of business advice to administer is show how you can begin to form your company.
All businesses in the UK are required to register with Companies House. You can do this in person or online through an agent. Additionally, there is the option of having an accountant fill out the required paperwork to start your business, but this service can become rather expensive.
Once you have managed to register your company, you will find that you will also need to have employers’ liability insurance if you plan to hire any staff to work on your operation. This guarantees your employees protection if they happen to fall ill or become injured while on the job, and is required by UK law. If your business offers advice services such as various forms of consulting, you may also want to consider adopting a professional indemnity policy, as well as public liability protection.
Let it be said that coming up with successful business plans can be serious work, and it may become exhausting at times. Yet if you have enough passion and you are able to bring forward an idea that is both new and exciting, you may find that all of this hard work can pay off in a great number of ways.
Once all is done and dusted, you’ll find yourself engaged in challenging and rewarding work and as your business continues to grow and develop, you will experience a sense of pride unlike anything else out there.
If you have a great idea, don’t be afraid to put it out in the open. If you are practical, wise and driven, you’ll find that you can be a successful entrepreneur.
The world is simply waiting to see what you have to deliver, so go on, put your whole heart in and create something worthwhile.
September 22, 2010
Filed under: Business Finance — Alan @ 10:30 pm
There is a financial debate ongoing about the country’s lending practices. The lending rate to businesses continues to fall, but by a smaller rate than before. This indicates that either British businesses do not want to borrow money or that banks are not willing or able to provide it.
The Bank of England would have us believe the latter, rather than the former is true. It reports that its agents say that a weak demand is part of the problem and that the demand for credit is subdued.
A spokesman for the Federation of Small Businesses, from Scotland, says that any lower demand is reflective of business owners using alternative sources of credit and not a lack of need for financing. He proposes that the credit crunch and recession placed many businesses in a position of utilising alternative credit sources and they continue this procedure because of a lack of ability to get funds from banks or a distrust of their banks.
The lending trend to larger businesses seems to be better and this concerns some because it seems proof of the banks unwillingness to lend to small business. This, of course, troubles policymakers who have been holding interest rates at a record low and pumping billions into the economy to help revive subdued lending.
While the banks talk about a weak demand, what we might be seeing instead is a weak response to small businesses that need cash flow.
Experts remain concerned that restrictive lending conditions are blocking possible economic increase.
September 19, 2010
Filed under: Uncategorized — Alan @ 8:26 am
The Office of Fair Trading has launched an investigation into hotel rooms that are sold online thought to be involved in price fixing.
The investigation is the result of a complaint from Skoosh.com, a discount website. The website reported that it was forced to offer certain rooms at a standard price. Skoosh stated that they opened wide discounts and as a result hotels would call them and threaten legal action against them if they did not charge more. An employee from the site stated that they were told to increase their prices or stop offering hotel rooms for each hotel that complained.
Internet sales of hotel rooms have blown up in the past few years dominated both by the websites that receive commissions when they sell rooms and by hotel businesses themselves. The result is customers can shop around and find the best price for certain hotel rooms.
September 17, 2010
Filed under: Small business — Alan @ 10:50 pm
Englishmen are beginning to go into business for themselves en masse. New business ventures have had a total increase above 115 per cent over the last five years. This reflects an increase of more than 40 per cent in the total of small to medium sized enterprises begun overall.
According to experts, this is a direct response to current economic conditions since many of these businesses were formed in response to a loss of jobs and/or inadequate income. The smallest of these endeavours, micro-businesses, have proven among the most hardy with an increase of an astounding 183 per cent. Moreover, the FSB promotes the importance of supporting micro-businesses and self-startups as a major part of the solution to bringing London out of the recession. The perception that these businesses are relatively recession proof may be a self-fulfilling prophecy, i.e. the more people start their own business, the more support they will receive and the more successful they become inspiring others to do likewise. In these times when it is possible to work at home and connect globally via internet teleconferencing and other tools, small business can wield greater and greater influence whilst keeping costs low and processes flexible and dynamic.
It seems that starting your own independent business venture is fast becoming this country’s response to the most recent economic downturn.
September 15, 2010
Filed under: IT — Alan @ 8:47 pm
A new report from CA Technologies discovered that UK organizations lose around £2b every year due to their failure to effectively manage business systems. The detailed report showed that IT downtime causes organizations to lose about 300,000 hours per year.
On average, the report showed that it the time it takes to fix an IT system when it goes down costs most organizations around £208,000 per year in lost revenues.
The report also showed that when the IT systems are down organizations lose their about 22% of their average revenues.
However, the associated costs and downtime itself could be avoided in most cases if organizations took a better look at developing their disaster recovery strategies. CA Technologies recommends that businesses focus their efforts on speed of data recovery in an effort to form better data protection plans.
200 UK organizations were included in the survey report with each reporting to suffer from about 27 hours of downtime of their IT systems every year.
Also included in the survey were almost 2,000 organizations from across 11 European countries with France found to experience the largest amount of downtime and thus the largest subsequent revenue loss. France organizations are estimated to lose about £424,000 in revenues every year as a result of downtime.
On the other hand, Italy was found to have the best IT system protections in place only losing about an average of £29,000 in revenues every year.
September 11, 2010
Filed under: Business equipment — Alan @ 3:08 am
While sometimes you really can find a free lunch, it is a little harder to believe that open source software can be utilized to run a business completely for free via cloud hosting.
However, those who have used free or open source software can attest to the fact that it is quite possible to open and run a small business by making full use of cloud computing technology. The hardest part of doing so is actually not the maintenance, but the transfer of that concept into business terminology because the fact that free is not always good has been drilled into most business minds for years.
While it can be hard to fathom that a free product really will work as well as a paid counterpart, the truth is that as the cloud computing technology and research continues to progress free can be a very viable option. This is particularly true in the case of a small business where a budget may be limited.
With this thought in mind, it may be time to toss out the ‘you get what you pay for’ mindset and replace it with a mindset that is focused on what future technology has to offer. After all, Google has created a cloud that is practically free and maintenance free, and Google is not a company known for being unreliable or shady. Therefore, maybe the possibility of free is something that all business owners should take the time to reconsider.
September 10, 2010
Filed under: Small business — Alan @ 9:26 am
Over 66% of SMEs have been the victim of crime during the past year costing them around £3,000 on average according to a report from the FSB (Federation of Small Businesses).
Research reports that 64% of all small firms suffered from crime with each paying out £2,900 because of the crime. Despite this fact, 39% of the firms did not report the crimes officially with almost half reporting that they would not gain anything by doing so. Another 24% of the firms felt that police would not be able to prosecute anyone for the crimes and another 25% felt police would not care.
Chairman for the FSB, Mike Cherry, stated that it is vital that the Government creates a forward thinking agenda so that small businesses will be protected from the losses associated with crime. Cherry added that the Government cannot continue to watch SMEs be the victims of crime that forces them to close because they cannot swallow the expenses.
The FSB is also asking that better action be taken so that businesses will benefit from a better response to crime including placing crimes that occur against businesses in an annual community safety newsletter.
Rob Garnham, the Association of Police Authorities’ chair, stated that they encourage small businesses to work alongside police if they think that they are not receiving the proper security and protection that they need because police authorities will help to ensure that all small business firms are protected from crime.
September 5, 2010
Filed under: Uncategorized — Alan @ 3:51 am
When someone starts to talk about a business plan most people start to think about sitting down to right out an official business plan. A quick glance for reference material will reveal plenty of software, articles, books, and consultants that are prepared to aid you create your own business plan, but ironically there are little resources that will actually help you build a planning system that is continuous and able to evolve to meet today’s changing business environment.
Most business theory suggests that in order for a business to prosper and survive in the competitive environment it must be flexible and able to switch directions as conditions change. Therefore, a five year written plan of how things should progress hardly seems helpful in the long term. In actuality, trying to stick to a five year plan long term may actually hurt a business in the long run because it is a bit like trying to be flexible and follow a schedule- it’s impossible.
Ironically, even though it is almost universally accepted that a formal written business plan is the key to a successful business there are not any surveys or studies that actually show whether this is the truth.
After all, if business plans were truly a necessity there should be a clear discrepancy between businesses that have a plan and those that never bothered to craft a business plan. With this thought in mind, perhaps more focus should be shifted on how a business processes instead of how planners think it should before it actually is launched and tested in the business world.
September 3, 2010
Filed under: Business Finance — Alan @ 2:56 am
When Britain’s economy recovers, it will likely be thanks to the capability of company boards. These boards will need to offer strong direction within the commercial sector for those with enterprising talent. This is according to Dr Neville Bain, the Chairman of the Institute of Directors.
This statement comes after recent comments made by the Bank of England which warned that the economy’s recovery will likely be slowing down. Bain, and many other experts, have suggested that strong leadership from businesses in the U.K. will be the key to a speedy and sustainable recovery.
The IoD has released new guidelines in The Effective Board which take into account some of the things that have been learned throughout the recession. Rather than focusing on legislation and regulation, the guidance focuses on how successful boards can help with the economic recovery. Bain has stated that a board must “do better” no matter how well it is currently doing. He has also stated that smart risk-taking is extremely important, with the best boards neither “risk-averse” nor “reckless” when making decisions.
The Effective Board details some of the characteristics of the best and most successful boards. Having good people, a good strategy, and the right skills is essential when forming a good board. Both values and leadership are also important, with “good governance” being one of the biggest ways to have a successful board.
Bain has also said that “balance”, “annual meetings”, and an efficient system that takes into account “risk management” are three things that will help build boards that can help the economy.
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