November 3, 2011
Filed under: Small business — Alan @ 2:26 am
With so many people currently facing the hardships of unemployment and the outlook staying consistently dreary many are attempting to find alternative ways to earn an income. At the same time, there are plenty of people attempting to make a profit out of those who are desperate enough to try anything. These two facts combined can make working at home look desirable and undesirable as it is hard to sort out what is really a viable venture online. Despite this fact, there are some careers online that are quite real and will allow you to make a successful living from home.
For instance, if you have secretarial skills you may want to think about becoming a virtual assistant allowing you to work for a fellow innovative individual. Skills required for this type of task are varied allowing for a large range of opportunities. For instance, data entry, word processing, accounting, bookkeeping, computer assistance, and more are all skills that you could use within this type of job.
Another career for those who want to work mainly on their own is network marketing because as an affiliate for another organization most of the work you do is based on your own determination and drive. In this type of job, the amount of money that you earn depends on the amount of time and effort you are willing to put into marketing a product online for a company that will pay you for each referral that you send them. While this may sound complicated, if you are familiar with social networks, blogging, and forums than you can see how it can be an efficient way to start to make some money. By choosing to work with MLM for several different products you will increase your earning potential.
Those with programming skills will also find it easy t find work online as there are plenty of independent and small companies that need programmers to help them with website set-up and maintenance. By signing up for freelance websites you can contact with thousands of clients at once and then selectively choose a workload based on the time commitment that you have to offer. Web design and web layout are also two very in demand jobs online for those with the proper background.
Finally, along the same veins small businesses and independent people with websites also often need writers to supply content and SEO related content to their websites. Therefore, if you have a strong command of the English language and the ability to write about a diverse array of topics you may find that writing alone is enough to supply a steady income while working from home. In order to find these types of jobs freelancing websites are usually the best choice.
September 1, 2011
Filed under: Business Tools,Small business — admin @ 9:06 pm
An Advertising Feature
With business travel being such a luxury in the current climate, SME’s really do have to compare flights when overseas trips become inevitable.
Most small businesses can no longer afford business class travel and the benefits associated with the business cabin, such as the space and extra baggage allowance are not available to the average businessman particularly when travelling to short haul destinations.
Another saving inevitably is to lose the smartphones when renewing business contracts. The 3G roaming costs abroad can be prohibitive and for pure calls and texts there are some great deals to be had with simpler phones.
In order though to keep your workforce truly mobile and keep the all important morale buoyant in these tough times, a one-off investment in wifi tablets can solve some of those all important business tasks.
Lighter than a laptop and easier for typing and web surfing than a smartphone a tablet such as an iPad is easy to slip into hand luggage (and remove quickly for strict Border Agencies). If work en-route is required, whether on the plane or onward journeys by train or cab, a tablet is the ideal size for economy tables or just for holding like an inflight magazine.
The lightweight feel of the tablet does away with baggage weight restrictions and with the ability to download books, travel guides, magazines and papers, more room can be found for other important items.
Without the 3G connection, the tablet computers are safe to use during the flight and are easy to slip into seat back pockets during take-off and landing, without giving the passenger in front an uncomfortable few jabs in the back!
With free wifi a feature of many European airport hubs and business hotels, working online is smooth and easy and with the advent of ePrint services, from the likes of Google and HP printing can be emailed straight to any internet ready printer, including those back at the office.
Even with the iPad, which is not easily equipped with Microsoft Office there are a number of excellent apps, which allow docs to be shared easily. Added to this is the plethora of apps for travel tips, weather information, flight timetables, online check-in, translation and currency converters. The lack of ability with Flash products does worry some buyers but the app developers are on top of this and constantly building apps to bypass the problem.
Travelling on the roads, whether on the UK or on the continent, there are a number of sat-nav applications that make locating out of the way customers simple.
Tablets can be charged via a mains outlet with the right travel adaptor but battery life is impressive for all day conferences.
Prices of tablets are beginning to come down with rumours of £99 deals for a number of the newer entrants to the market and using cutting edge technology will also impress customers and colleagues and create a great first impression. So by all means save on those phone contracts and seek out those bargain flights, but invest in your workforce to give them the best opportunity for mobile flexibility with a tablet computer.
BIO
Linda Endersby spent 19 years in the airline industry enabling her to visit many beautiful places across the world. As well as writing about the places she loves, weekends as a bookseller offer her fabulous opportunities to research future destinations.
June 3, 2011
Filed under: Small business — Alan @ 4:25 am
A new report says that a new business landscape will be shaped in Britain by small entrepreneurs and firms including a manufacturing resurgence. HSBC Commercial Banking did the study and say that good with the Made in Britain brand will be enjoying a comeback and will benefit the super cities for new business Bristol and Glasgow.
Boosting the fortunes for a number of regions Hi-tech manufacturing will revive itself. The renewable energy sector will help with growth in north Wales, Cornwall, Glasgow, the Humber and Orkney and creative industries will do well in Manchester, east London, Dundee and Cardiff.
Space industries in Oxfordshire will prosper and in Norfolk and the northeast low carbon transport will be beneficial. HSBC Commercial Banking head, Jacques Emmanuel Blanchet said new trends come out of recessions and the report crystallizes how the small businesses and entrepreneurs are adaptable and shape the new business landscape that will be followed in British business.
With the industries identified that will act as the driving force of the new landscape for British business enables us to better understand not only what may be down the road in the future, but will is happening now that will help shape that future. Without a doubt each new business will be dependent upon the services and products of other businesses. Over the last decade, the fear of giant B2B hubs monopolising the retail sector and pushing small businesses to their financial limits is an ongoing issue in the UK. Supplying other businesses should be an open market to both small and big businesses, for example, whether selling ring back tones to a company or providing the catering for events, there are many parts of a large business that can spill over and benefit other businesses.
Vince Cable, Business Secretary says the report shows that the future is bright for the British Economy and especially so for British manufacturing. The hope is that the advances in technology will help generate growth and give us new jobs throughout the country. Enterprise, innovation and manufacturing are key to our future success.
May 25, 2011
Filed under: Small business — Alan @ 6:11 am
A husband and wife team on North Tyneside have recognised the need for ad hoc workspace for budding entrepreneurs. Helen and Mark Reed, who founded the Newcastle Business Village in Benton, Newcastle in 2009 have just opened the latest development on the village. The Newcastle Business Hub offers flexible office and meeting space for those who don’t have premises of their own.
Helen Reed spoke about the hub, saying that it offered invaluable assistance to those looking to start up a business or run a home based business. They had discovered just how many professionals in North Tyneside were trying to go it alone, and tailored the new business hub to make life easier for them. The hub was officially opened by the mayor of North Tyneside Linda Arkley, who said this kind of centre was vital for fledgling businesses.
She said that there would be times that those who operated from home full-time would benefit from the chance to socialise and meet fellow professional. It also offers the use of traditional office space should they need it. Mayor Arkley went on to at that there was an increasing number of small businesses across Tyneside who were at the stage where they didn’t need permanent office space but would benefit from access to it should they need it.
A former director of the Mills Group, John Porret, is running his ‘Unique Magazines’ subscriptions business from the village and has nothing but praise for it. He started with 4 people in one office 18 months ago, now to the growth in his business, the village has supported the expansion and he has doubled his staff, workshop, office and warehousing space.
April 25, 2011
Filed under: Small business — Alan @ 10:55 pm
HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs) has come under fire from some tax advisors as it starts the trials planned in a new clamp down on the bad records which are being kept by some SME’s, (small and medium sized enterprises).
The HMRC is of the opinion that some small enterprises vastly need to improve on their record keeping and approximately 1200 SME’s are the initial targets in the programme. The aim of this programme is to check the records of 200,000 SME’s over a four-year period, and hopefully raising £600m for the Exchequer at the same time.
The visits had always been scheduled to start in July but HMRC then decided last month to begin what it described as a ‘test and learn’ trial. This was to determine that the criteria tax inspectors are fully versed in what they are looking for in the records to identify errors and spot where tax has been underpaid.
CIOT (Chartered Institute of Taxation) has protested strongly about their lack of consultation over these trials. The protest has been so strong that HMRC has been forced to amend a letter it sent to the targeted enterprises clarifying the basis of the trials.
The Deputy President of CIOT, Anthony Thomas, has publicly accused HMRC of purposefully starting the programme early and of tackling the problem of inaccurate record keeping in completely the wrong way. He is of the opinion that HMRC should have involved tax advisors in the education of SME’s regarding record keeping.
April 16, 2011
Filed under: Business equipment,Small business — admin @ 4:10 pm
If you’re starting up in business or already own a growing venture then office space is always an area where it’s possible to get a better deal, just as long as you know where to look. Thanks to the internet, it’s now quick and easy to use a comparison website in much the same way as you’d go hunting for broadband or mobile phone deals.
What’s on offer?
If you use the services of an online comparison website to look for desk or office space you’ll immediately find that the best thing about it is convenience. Since the recession has been rolling on many existing businesses are looking for ways to maximise the spare space they have available, so it’s very likely that you’ll be able to get something at a great price.
When it comes to the options on offer then there is a wealth of locations and office types to choose from. What’s more, you’ll find that it’s possible to rent everything from a single desk in a shared office right up to renting whole offices. The desk option is a great idea for any one-man band operations or for people who don’t want to work from home.
In addition, by renting a desk in an existing office block you’ll probably get an instantly credible postal address and a possible location in the centre of a town or city. Business parks also have these options available too and generally speaking even the most rudimentary desk space rental will come with the likes of broadband and utilities included. These deals can be cheap and flexible, so if
you’re working to a tight budget then they’re worth investigating.
Bigger and better
If your business is on the up and you need to expand more than that then think about searching deals on shared offices or serviced offices. The serviced route means that you’ll get a lot more included.
This could add on things like receptionists, post and IT services. Again, the benefit of going down this route is that the deals will invariably be highly flexible. You’ll probably be able to move in almost instantly and costs are generally included in one simple bill.
Leased space is another option to look at if your business requires offices that can be tailored to suit your branding and the lease will probably allow you to make amendments to thing’s like the décor and furniture. Costs might be higher and you’ll probably have to sign up for a longer contract while you’ll also have to return the office to its original décor when you move out.
Nevertheless, this is a good concept if you have a venture that needs to expand beyond the confines of your current office setup.
About the author: Rob Clymo writes on behalf of Office Genie, the UK’s first proper online marketplace for desk space and shared office space.
April 7, 2011
Filed under: Business Finance,Business Tools,Small business — admin @ 4:03 pm
March has been a volatile month and not just for the financial markets. The continuing unrest in the Middle East, including the UN led intervention in Libya, has had a marked effect on oil prices and many publicly-listed enterprises, which saw their share prices rise or fall considerably during this period. The Japanese earthquake and tsunami also created huge fluctuations in the market, especially due to the rapid appreciation of the Yen against the Dollar and Pound as a result of investor speculation surrounding the carnage wrought by the disaster. As an investor, keeping track of your portfolio during such times can be problematic, but fortunately, reconciliation software is available to ensure that your company is fully aware of the latest trends in the global markets.
Reconciliation software enables bankers, hedge fund managers or any individual with shareholdings of any size to be kept fully aware of the state of the markets and of their investments. A software platform such as UnaVista, which is fully online and automated, allows an investor not only to track how their investments are performing against a pre-defined set of criteria, but it will also highlight any investments that are indicating risk and flag them up in your data.
This allows a manager or business to quickly and easily identify any potential risk and take appropriate action. Global incidents that have occurred in March this year have highlighted the need for such powerful, intuitive and real-time software to enable businesses to understand the impact of such worldwide events on their investments and to respond accordingly. The fully automated system allows the buying and selling of shares quickly and easily, even from home. Once you have received a trade confirmation, post-trade data can be shared near instantaneously via a confirmations portal, allowing businesses to pass on information quickly and easily.
Furthermore, an online service such as UnaVista also has an inbuilt transaction reporting feature that meets all current regulations regarding reporting the information from any given transaction, ensuring that the data is validated, up to date and accurate. This not only complies with the minimum standards enforced by the Financial Services Authority, but also helps your client evaluate performance which serves as an invaluable business tool.
Through the use of UnaVista, it is now much easier to identify areas of risk in your portfolio and take the relevant action and decide whether now is the time to sell, or the time to invest and taking a look at the events of the month of March, it now looks like there could be a silver lining to the tumult.
With key sectors reeling from the fallout of recent world events, this has had a knock on affect in other sectors. As the Yen continues to surge after the events in Japan, this has led to an unstable market where shares that once performed well are now at rock bottom prices. In addition, other shares are now performing very well; especially those linked to any future rebuilding effort and the combination of these factors means that March looks like a wise month to carefully invest by identifying those key markets and by using reconciliation software, doing this successfully becomes much easier.
March 12, 2011
Filed under: Small business — Alan @ 12:41 am
In September of last year, the FSB sent a letter to Eric Pickles, the Communities Secretary, urging the government to make sure local small businesses were properly represented in the eight new Local Enterprise Partnerships that took the place of nine Regional Development Agencies.
Policy Chairman for FSB, Mike Cherry, expressed concern that some of the proposals put forward did not reflect the interests of local businesses, which they called the “driving force” behind economic growth.
In a recent report called “Tourism – a Passport to Growth”, the Federation of Small Businesses has called on the government to re-think its tourism strategy, saying that currently proposed measures are just “tinkering” and not sufficient to “unlock the true economic potential” of the tourism industry in the U.K.
FSB said that proposals to move the Bank Holiday from May to autumn and instigate a “double summer” are woefully inadequate. They have called on the government to reinstate funding that went to the RDA’s and seems to have disappeared just when communities represented by LEP’s need it the most. They also requested that responsibility for the tourism sector be switched from the Department for Culture to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, giving it more “clout” where it counts.
Easing tax and regulations on the tourism sector and allowing local authorities to keep part of the revenue from business rates to reinvest in promoting their tourist economy could have a significant positive impact on overall economic growth, according to FSB. Such measures would help promote job creation and regeneration, especially in the more rural areas.
March 6, 2011
Filed under: Small business — Alan @ 6:35 am
UK mobile phone giant T-Mobile just announced that they are bringing out 4 four new monthly payment plans targeted at small businesses. They will also be the only UK network to offer six month business contracts with a free phone.
The other new plans are one which lasts for 18 months with the benefits of a 24 month contract, a flexible 24 month contract and a new month by month plan on SIM only.
Martin Lyne, the director of SME Marketing at T-Mobile tells us that their business customers were apprehensive about entering into long term contracts in the current economic climate, and these plans give them the flexibility they need when they need it.
Geraldine Brooks, a customer of T-Mobile and a small business owner welcomes the new plans. As she puts it- a small business these days can’t predict how well it will be performing in a years time.
There is also talk of a competition running alongside where a new small business customer can win £2000. Entries close on April 1st.
February 24, 2011
Filed under: Small business — Alan @ 3:14 am
The Time to Train program promoted by the government may not be beneficial for workers of the medium or small businesses (SME’s).
If a company has had more than 250 employees as of April 2010 those working for these companies have had the legal right to ask for training. Yet this has not be enacted for the private sector fully yet.
Ministers are dragging their heels even longer trying to predict the full implications of applying the same policies to SME workers. The minister of further education, skills, and lifelong learning, John Hayes, said “This is critical to people and our economy that each person have training available. However, there is a fine line between putting too many restrictions on SME’s and providing for training. We are hesitating only so we can more fully study the ramifications of these new regulations being expanded to SME’s.”
Not everyone is happy with the decision to wait. The Trades Union Congress has criticised the government for thinking twice about opening the door to SME’s for Time to Train. Brendan Barber, general-secretary said, “Our skills focused approach is being undermined with this hesitation.” He indicated that the program was needed because only a third of companies ask their employees to train for new skills and SME’s try not to think about it at all.
The Time to Train program promoted by the government may not be beneficial for workers of the medium or small businesses (SME’s).
If a company has had more than 250 employees as of April 2010 those working for these companies have had the legal right to ask for training. Yet this has not be enacted for the private sector fully yet.
Ministers are dragging their heels even longer trying to predict the full implications of applying the same policies to SME workers. The minister of further education, skills, and lifelong learning, John Hayes, said “This is critical to people and our economy that each person have training available. However, there is a fine line between putting too many restrictions on SME’s and providing for training. We are hesitating only so we can more fully study the ramifications of these new regulations being expanded to SME’s.”
Not everyone is happy with the decision to wait. The Trades Union Congress has criticised the government for thinking twice about opening the door to SME’s for Time to Train. Brendan Barber, general-secretary said, “Our skills focused approach is being undermined with this hesitation.” He indicated that the program was needed because only a third of companies ask their employees to train for new skills and SME’s try not to think about it at all.
Next Page »
With so many people currently facing the hardships of unemployment and the outlook staying consistently dreary many are attempting to find alternative ways to earn an income. At the same time, there are plenty of people attempting to make a profit out of those who are desperate enough to try anything. These two facts combined can make working at home look desirable and undesirable as it is hard to sort out what is really a viable venture online. Despite this fact, there are some careers online that are quite real and will allow you to make a successful living from home.