In the detail of the emergency budget documents the 8 regional development agencies that employ 3,400 would be closed and the budget of a whopping £270 million would be cut as part of the overall government savings plan. The RDAs would be replaced by local enterprise partnerships, details of which have not been announced. Now Mark Brisk the business and enterprise minister has told the online small business magazine “Real Business” that Business Link would also be shut down.

Business Link to go as well – but the website continues

He said that as part of the winding down process of the RDAs that they would also be winding down the regional Business Link contracts.

It is thought that the online web service would be continued to be state funded and wanted a privately funded partnership for the face to face advice as a “21st century approach to business support” and recent research showed just how much government websites cost. The total cost of developing the Business Link website is a mind blowing £35 million which attracts around 1.6 million visitors a month equating to £2.15 per visitor.

During the budget the coalition government spelled out clearly that they wanted a private business economic recovery with the rates of both corporation tax and small business tax falling over the coming years. New businesses of course need real support and although the web can provide a lot of that many new business people do need some form of networking presence with like minded individuals to take them to the next level and may not have the funds to invest into expensive consultants who may not be able to help them in any case.

Most people don’t actually turn to the government for advice when starting or running their businesses in any case and the vast majority don’t actually know that perhaps Business Link advisers exist or where to contact them. We hear all the time of good reports as well as bad reports of trying to get appointments and about the quality of the advice provided.

So if you have used Business Link in the past what do you think of its passing ? Will the private sector be able to provide a better response to people that need help not only starting their business but helping it perform especially in these current tough economic conditions ? Over to you.. is this a good idea for Business Link to be scrapped together with the regional development agencies or not ?

One tactic many of the energy companies use is to put businesses on so called “roll over contracts” for their electric and gas. This means that any contract you sign will have a clause when you can terminate or even renegotiate the contract each year and if you don’t exercise that right then the energy provider will put you on another contract for another year and can increase your prices without informing you.

A recent ruling by ofgem, the industry regulator, said that for micro business users the energy companies had to inform customers when their contracts run out so for the smallest of users taking out new contract this is less of a burden but for everyone else it’s something to take account of when thinking of trying to reduce your costs.

Electricity and gas – lowering your rates

Just like you would do with your own household bills you should shop around when your contract comes to an end. We have a page about electricity and gas supplies for business hereand this provides a little more detail but in summary, you should shop around with the big 6 suppliers in the market (British Gas, Southern Electric, Npower, EDF, EON energy and Scottish Power) who can all (apart from one) provide you with a quote online from their website. Just enter your postcode, meter number and estimated consumption and you’ll get your proposed rates.

This is however just the starting point as although rates online are normally the lowest prices you can get for energy tariffs it’s always best to telephone the supplier to see if you can negotiated them downwards even further. Alternatively you could use the professional services of an energy broker who has better relationships with the energy suppliers than you’ll ever had. If you want more information on electric and gas supplies including dual fuel contracts there is a wealth of information on this website that takes you through all the different types of contracts and providers that supply business users.

It will probably only take you an hour to get quotes from all the suppliers and put in a telephone call but at the end of the day you could save your business literally thousands of pounds each year by switching to someone cheaper and your supply will virtually be the same. Switching suppliers is also hassle free as your new provider will prepare and process all the paperwork on your behalf.

Telecoms and broadband

The same goes for business telecommunications services. If you have had the same supplier for years the chances are that you are on a bad deal. The cost of broadband has plummeted in recent years for both domestic and business users and there are many special deals on the market place. We have a page here about broadband which can certainly lower your costs. There are also specialist price comparison sites out there that can show you all of the deals available.

In summary

As you would do at home why not go through all your utility providers and get online quotes to see how much you could save. Even if you just put aside half a day to look at energy, telecommunications and even office supplies you’ll make savings which will go directly to your bottom line and improve your profits this year.

We did initially have a factual write up of recent marketing activities by the Chris Cardell group of companies which is further explained in the ASA ruling which was offering 6 free CDs on various marketing tactics for the price of postage. You also got 2 free months in his VIP club and if you did not cancel then would be charged £39.95 per month until you did cancel.

The original post about the mailing undertaken by Cardell contained various items including a post it note sign by “J” together with a newspaper cutting from the Times and a link to a website where you could sign up.

However writers of blogs in the UK have received what are known as “cease and desist” letters from lawyers in the US saying that they should take down their postings and many have complied and taken down their blog posts. We have also received the letter entitled “notice of unlawful conduct demand to cease and desist immediately” from Preovolos and associates based in California who are retained by Mr. Chris Cardell, Cardell Media Limited, a UK company, Cardell Media Limited an Isle of Man company and Cardell Media LLC a US company (collectively the Cardell Media Family) over various matters of the post and some of the many comments left by people who also received the same “J” letter.

We thank the many hundreds of people who have come to this post and posted about their experiences and thoughts about the “letter from a friend” . We have saved the original article which may appear back here in the future and if you have received letters from the Cardell Media Family lawyers then please feel free to get in touch.

For those that are needing to cancel their membership then please try emailing accounts@cardellmedia.co.uk

The register is also reporting about various websites receiving legal letters http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/07/09/junk_mail_returns/

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For many people starting a business is the one thing they dream of in life but unfortunately of the many hundreds of thousands of new startups each year and high percentage don’t make it past year 1. Here are our tips starting with those that you will having probably already heard about but worth remembering.

1: Research your market – and that means customers. It’s those people who are going to buy your products or services. Just imagine your typical customer, their age, where they are based and their income. Just why on earth will they buy from you and not one of your competitors ?

2: Location, location, location – it’s all too easy to see an empty shop in your high street and think that you can open a business there and make your fortune but many a time a business is not there for good reasons. So think real hard on your location because in reality you only get one shot at getting premises and once you have signed that 10 year contract it’s going to be hard (and expensive) to get out of it.

3: Start up costs – sometimes these can be almost zero (for example if you are going to offer consulting services and you already have some clients) but for most these are huge (if you are going to open a restaurant there are so many initial costs such as shop fitting and equipment) so make sure you account for them all so you don’t get too many nasty surprises.

4: Get a business plan sorted – many believe these are a waste of time but even if you have run successful businesses before even having a simple spreadsheet showing how the business will grow in terms of sales and all your costs coming in will show the cold light of reality and just how much money you may need to fund the initial start up phase.

5: Only trust those you trust – many a good idea has been stolen so be careful who you discuss your plans with especially if you are developing something online.

6: Discuss your ideas – but of course with only those you trust. When you are deep within your own project it can be hard to think outside of what you know and getting a friend or family member who you really can trust and who will provide honest feedback is essential. If you know someone who already has a successful business then get them to go through your ideas as there maybe something you are missing or could do better with.

7: Temper your ambitions – almost no new business becomes a big success overnight although we all think that our ideas are the best so when it comes to planning be realistic and not believe your business will keep doubling in turnover in the first 3 years. It’s unlikely and can cost your business, so:

8: Start small and grow big – some of the most profitable businesses are in small niches and are the biggest player in the niche. It’s OK to be small and earning loads of money because once you have found success you can duplicate your formula.

9: Start whilst being employed – if you can. Try not to quit your job and then work on your business. If you want to start ensure you have all your plans ready and a place in mind. Many people quit there jobs and then start to develop their plans. This can cost you about six months with no revenue because there is always something to slow you down whether it be the bank not lending to you or government red tape. If you can start earning whilst you already have a steady job then you can test your idea before losing that (almost) guaranteed income.

10: Read up on what the government and tax office need – there are so many hoops to jump through from letting the tax office know that you are now self employed and registering for VAT to setting up a limited company if you are going down that route to any health and safety certificates if you need them. So make sure you know what’s required otherwise you may find yourself with a big fine.

11: Get professional accounting advice – although you may read on some of the forums which legal company set up is right for someone else it may not be right for you because of your personal circumstances so it’s always wise to seek the advice of a qualified account as you are setting up your business. An initial 30 minute consultation can be free or certainly low cost and it can help you in the longer term.

12: Do get an accounting package – and keep all receipts as you are setting your business up because all of this can be claimed against tax at the end of your first financial year and expenses that have VAT attached to them can be reclaimed if you register for VAT.

13: Separate your personal and business bank accounts – because a) your personal bank account will not accept cheques and payments made out to your company and b) it really is a lot easier to account for everything. You can get free business banking in any case from 3 banks in the UK so it won’t cost you anything.

14: Prepare for hard work – because starting a business requires a lot of your time and if you are opening a restaurant or high street shop it’s going to be hard work so prepare for this.

15: Do outsource administration tasks – if you are going it alone running the business and carrying out all tasks such as accounting, answering the telephone and emails, marketing your business etc takes time and really you should be concentrating on what’s going to bring in the cash. So if you can outsource these to others who can take this time burden away from you.

16: Be careful with franchises – there are some really great franchise operations but there are some really bad ones around who will take your money and offer limited support. You’ll still need to promote and run the business and often this is not an instant money machine so talk with existing franchise owners if you are thinking of going down this route.

17: Set it up and they will not come – many people believe just because they develop a business then customers will be falling over themselves to buy their products but if know one knows about you then you’ll have none. If you are good at marketing then you’ll have no problems but most people don’t have these skills so get professional advice if you can or ask others how to get customers to your business.

18: How many customers do you need ? to meet your profit projections ? Once you have your business plan ready break it down so you know just how many sales you need per day to meeting your weekly, monthly or even yearly profit projections. You’ll then know instantly if you are ahead. You can easily put a spreadsheet together to add up sales and costs on a weekly basis then you can make adjustments if things are not quite going to plan.

19: Don’t bury your head – if you have started and things are slow and not up to your expectations then seek help as soon as possible. It might just be you need to make a few tweaks to your business model to get things moving again.

20: How about just do it ? Some people have an idea for a business all of their lives but don’t act upon it. Preparing a plan can be done in a weekend so if you are putting things off why not just put your plan together and see what it looks like ?

21: Spend time on your pricing- a lot of people believe that the lowest price always wins, and sometimes it can when you are selling a commodity product but with services it can be tricky. You can learn a lot from your competitors and what type of customers you are targeting. It can be difficult to increase prices once you have had low pricing for a while but easy to have sales and special offers. Higher pricing also suggests increased perceived quality so it’s not just about the actual figure but how your business is perceived in the market place that also matters. There is always room for the cheapest contender (eg: poundland) and the most expensive (eg: John Lewis) but they are targeting different products to different types of people.

22: Have an end goal in mind – whatever that may be. Is it simply to succeed with your dream so your business is in effect a hobby or will it provide for you and your family? Whatever it is keep that goal in mind and strive towards it.

23: Do something you know – if you want to start a business but have no experience in the field you are entering then you have a steep learning curve to climb. Although this can be done people with the knowledge will likely succeed more than you. If you need the knowledge then acquire it via training or get someone how has the experience to help you.

24: Do something you enjoy – as it’s no use running a business you hate.

25: The detail matters or does it ? - It can be easy to get bogged down with minute details when starting off but looking after your finances is key, however, you need to keep the bigger picture in mind and not lose sight of how and why your business will succeed.

Our additional thoughts – Many people do start successful businesses each year with careful planning and you could to. You can start at any time even in a recession as people are still eating out and still spending millions of pounds each week but not every business is a success. Just enjoy the process and let us know of your success.

Last Thursday I believe it was on a sunny September day I thought I would head over to the Federation of Small Businesses website and join up. I remember when I have been to their website before that they have a ton of benefits to offer and many people on forums highly recommended them.

So onto their website where I found how much it costs I was searching for the online registration page where I would simply pay my fees and hey-presto I thought I would be a fully fledged member within a couple of minutes.

But wait – where is their online payment form to be found ?

Well I though I had found it on the “join now” page where it asks you for some basic details… and your telephone number (I thought that was a little odd at first – I mean, why would they need that?)

Anyhow, I completed my details on their form thinking that this was like step 1 of 2 when the next page would be asking for my credit card information. But no all I got was another pages saying “thank you for your request for information to join”

That’s odd – *the* place that supports and guides the majority of small businesses in the UK can’t (or won’t) take online payments to subscribe to their service? What could be more easy – a front end payment form that integrates with their back-end subscription database and automatically sends out new joiners packs? Well, it wasn’t there.

Never mind I thought I would wait for the call that afternoon.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Well it was onto Monday when the call finally arrived to make an appointment for their local rep to come and visit me and take me through all the benefits that the FSB can provide to me. I suggested to the guy on the telephone that their website had indeed done a wonderful job of selling me on their service and all I wanted to do was to sign up. “oh, but your local FSB rep must visit you first”

Well, I didn’t want a visit (and as an aside here, my old boss used to tell me “don’t sell past closing” – a great phrase saying “once you have the sale simply close it – don’t carry on trying to sell in benefits or whatever…)

So onwards. The telephone guy then said he would speak to the rep himself and see what could be done. A few moments later he called back and said that the local rep *must* come to visit me because he had to *witness* my signature on the application form ????? Well, I though I must be back in the 1960’s at that point because I had never heard this before. I gave up at this point and said I would instigate the process at a future point in time and thanked him for his efforts.

But 30 minutes later my local rep then called me and again attempted to sell in the benefits of the FSB (which I said the website had done, yadda yadda) and I asked if the application form could simply be posted to me – well that’s not possible because this chap didn’t trust the postal service in the UK and he would have to personally deliver the app. forms to me.

OK, so be it. So the forms have now duly arrived (the next day – a bit like the postal service really…) and what do I find ? An application form in triplicate that has a direct debit mandate attached to it.

Sigh

I can only deduce that the wheels are turning slowly and life is at the same speed. Perhaps the FSB don’t want to use new fangled gadgets such as online credit card processing but I would have thought that would have made the entire process much, much easier and cost effective. But may be I am just an old Victor Meldrew in disguise?

There are so many people who want to quit their day jobs or are now unemployed and want to earn more cash or get another job. I see it all the time when people are “umm-ing and ahh-ing” over a project or idea and are lookingfor 100% perfection before they launch it on the world and of course many of those people never actually achieve anything.

There are two phrases that should be kept in the back of one’s mind or pasted on the wall of your office:

• Nike’s “just do it” phrase
• 80% is good enough

You see once you have 80% or even 60% of your project completed it may be enough to launch it. The effort / reward curve once you have got to this stage tails off dramatically so the work you put in to complete the final 20% is so great that the rewards can appear to be almost lost.

In fact peratos 80/20 rule suggests 20% effort provides 80% of the rules with the reverse being true. Here’s a great cartoon from Dilbert about procrastination in the work place where no one really wants to make a decision anyway

(Click on the image for the full picture)

But joking aside you really don’t need to be a perfectionist and here are some of the things to think about….

• Your idea of perfection may not be the same as your target audience – ie: you could get real close to 100% of where *you* believe your product should be adding all the little extras you *think* are required and yet when you launch it your customers didn’t want the items you spent the past 3 months doing and want some other features instead.
• Research is your enemy (but your best friend) – of course you need to be developing something that people really, really want and that is the core of your product offering. But don’t keep thinking “is this all of the product they want” and continue researching. Large companies are adding extra features to their *core* offerings all of the time and if they waited nothing would be there. Eg: Google launched their search engine and have been honing it ever since. Even niche products like the Kashflow accounting system are evolving – if Kashflow wasn’t launched as it was back in 2005 do you think it would be where it is today if they had waited to add in *all* the features their customers told them they wanted ?
• You can start small and build it bigger – many people may be put off because they want a business *today* that earns them the salary they think they want and are not prepared to start off small but in most cases being a large niche player is a real strategy for long term success. Once you have dominated a niche you can expand into other related verticals with related products and services you already have.
• Business success is always a long term goal – expanding on the above observation many people still believe that they will make it big in a short time but history tells us that even very successful companies sometimes take decades to be great. That goes with the new entrepreneur as well. Perhaps you want to start a restaurant but don’t have the capital or knowledge to do that now so why not start a small coffee shop or sandwich bar first? By starting small you can hone your skills and lower the risk if, for example, you don’t actually cut it as a business owner.  

So if you have a new website that’s “nearly ready” or are thinking of starting a blog why not launch it today and write your first blog post. If you have a bricks and mortar business in the offing could you service customers today if it were open? I’ve leave it up to you.

I thought I would surf around to see where we really are with the economy in the UK to see if I could draw on the research to see where we might be with perhaps ending the recession and perhaps draw some conclusions.

Some facts first.

• According to GDP figures and the traditional measure of a recession (2 months negative growth) – we are still in a recession
• However, Germany, France and Japan have seen positive GDP growth recently so they are officially out of a recession
• Unemployment continues to rise globally
• Special financial measures are to end shortly such as the VAT reduction and the car scrappage scheme
• The banks are still not lending freely and interest rates for loans are slowly starting to increase
• Interest rates are flat at an all time low and the LIBOR inter-bank lending rate is still reducing

Where does this leave us ?

The trouble with this recession unlike those in the 80s and 90s is that this time almost all countries without fail have borrowed heavily in an attempt to spend their way out of it.

So it seems like a bit of a false dawn because although GDP is starting to turn positive all that money has either come from a) government borrowing or b) the bank of England’s “quantitive easing” and that’s not real money.

The UK is now saddled with heavy debt and not much seems to have yet changed with the current government’s spending and although some behind the scenes reductions are occurring without being reported (such as laying off consultants, not recruiting leavers or retirees and projects being delayed) that’s small fry to perhaps what needs to occur.

And with the heavy debt mountain also comes a massive reduction in government receipts:

• Lower VAT due to the rate reducing to 15% from 17.5% and lower sales from businesses
• Lower corporation taxes due to lower business sales
• Lower income tax and national insurance due to less people being employed

And higher government spending on social factors such as unemployment benefits and tax credits will be required and more people lose their jobs.

So in reality where are we?

It would seem that although GDP is improving the worst is still yet to come. Unemployment always lags behind any positive economic data and trends upwards months (and sometimes years) after a recession has officially come to an end so that is yet to come.

So we will probably have the following scenario in the coming years:

• Much higher taxes in an attempt to service the increasing debt because of unemployment and the general debt burden in any case
• Deep cuts in public spending because it simply can’t continue as it is and all political parties have agreed on this
• Perhaps stagnant growth

I was watching a program on the BBC last week about the recession/ depression of the 1930s and the scenario was almost the same as now. The banks had lent cheap money to those who could never pay it back and strict banking guidelines were put in place which unfortunately were quietly softened over the past 10 years.

The 1930s depression took many, many years to work its way through with high unemployment and although I don’t think that’s going to happen this time I do believe we have false hope at the present time and although the worst is not yet to come we are certainly not through this year and have a bumping ride over the coming years.

Is the recession over? Technically yes – but with the threat of a “double dip” recession looming I would not celebrate yet.

Each private limited company owner in the UK should have received a fold out guide issued by companies house that provides detail of the changes that have already been made and those effective from 1st October 2009. Here are those changes.

Changes to companies act already in force

Some changes have already been made and these are:

• You must be aged 16 years or older to be appointed a director of a company
• Although you can still appoint a company secretary you do not need to any longer
• You do not need to hold an annual general meeting for a private limited company although you can if you wish
• You do not need a court order to make capital reductions as they can be supported by a solvency statement instead
• You do not need to have a unanimous vote for resolutions subject to articles as members may agree in writing to resolutions for private limited companies

Changes to companies act effectives 1st October 2009

The following changes come into force on 1st October 2009 so ensure you know what these mean for your ltd company (private limited companies in the UK)

• You have to file your accounts 1 month earlier than previously – this means filing your accounts 9 months after the date of your year end for accounting periods starting on or after 6th April 2008 – this should not cause any problems because corporation tax has always been taken 9 months after the year end date with the accounts being filed the month afterwards – but bare this in mind because if you are late you will be handed a whopping £1,500 penalty by HMRC
• Changes to articles – any changes to a company’s articles need to be notified to HMRC within 15 days or you’ll be handed a nice £200 fine as this is regarded as a criminal offence and the fine is charged as a civil penalty
• The articles for new companies will include the company’s objectives and liabilities which were previously found in the memorandum of association
• Directors will now have a “service” address as well as their real address. The service address will be a public record whereas the real/ residential address will only be made available to credit reference agencies and public bodies. From 1st October 2009 the current director’s residential address will automatically become the service address and if you want to change that you will be able to do so online
• The company’s registers can now be held at either the current registered office or at a single alternative inspection location which has the acronym SAIL – you may only have one SAIL address per company (as defined by the acronym…) and must notify companies house of any changes made. Forms are available on the companies house website.
• All companies house forms will also change from 1st October for company events that take place on or after this date and if you don’t and forget to include the appropriate fee your form will of course be rejected.
• The PROOF system comes into force (and that stands for the Registrars PROtected Online Filing Scheme which means that members who sign up for it can only files their documents online and any paper forms will be rejected.

Those are the main companies act 2006 changes that come into force so just be aware or contact your accountant if in any doubt.

There’s not much there at present but it stuck me that really, yes it was a good idea to have an account and to be using twitter for business purposes.

Since setting it up last week (albeit in the middle of the DOS attack they had so it took much longer to get my account) I have now got a whopping 18 followers from a few corners of the globe. The strange thing is I don’t know many of these people and they have found the account – somehow.

Anyhow I am thinking this should be good to get additional people over to the blog by announcing items on Twitter – is this what’s it’s really for?

I actually can’t think of anything else other than have a semi public face to a website because you get the magic 140 characters to post “what you are doing” which in a similar manner is what happens in Facebook although those posts are only open to your friends where (for most people) Twitter is open for all.

Having a look around at other people’s Twitter accounts where they have thousands of followers seem to back up this idea that it’s just for announcing stuff on your website or blog — and perhaps point out other stories that you are interested in to spread the word and get others to visit your friends’ blogs and websites – or is this being too cynical ?

Maybe I have missed the point but will continue to make updates and see what happens to traffic and my “online presence”. Personally I prefer to blog because I can get all my thoughts down into 500 words or so whereas of course Twitter is just 140 characters and doesn’t really say much about what’s happening (although if it were longer it would be difficult to follow anyone at all)

Anyone else got anythoughts or are we all just voyeurs ? But before we go here are some tips on using twitter for business purposes (and this can be use for blogging in a company as well):

• obviously create an account and ensure your name is your real name or company name for when people are searching for you (rather than have your name as your twitter id)
• be personal to show your company and/ or website has real people behind it
• ie: don’t be all corporate because that’s not what it’s about
• follow others in your field to build up your followers list
• don’t just be all self promotional although it helps
• post interesting tweets probably 2-3 times per day
• ask questions on your account to get responses
• have a few people on your twitter account to cover sickness and holidays and if your main twitter person leaves the company you’ll still need to get access

After all the goal is to build up loyal followers so you and your business gets talked about more online. If you have interesting things to say, get people “talking” on your twitter feed and point out interesting facts not only in your space but in the world generally people will value your account and publicise it for you.

Rather like building a blogger following Twitter takes time and effort to make it all worthwhile. I will report back on how we are getting along and the type of traffic it sends and any PR that we get out of it in due course.

Any more tips – please post below.