Month: December 2013

Categories
Starting Up

Preparing to Launch: Tips for Establishing your Business Start-up

Tips for Establishing your Business Start-up

As part of a wider coalition drive, Chancellor George Osborne’s Autumn Statement delivered several breaks and benefits for small business owners. Led by the decision to cap business rates at 2% for the forthcoming financial year, there were a number of initiatives designed to empower small business owners and reduce operational costs. While this may well tip the balance for aspiring entrepreneurs and encourage them to establish a business, however, there are numerous legal and compliancy issues that they must first address.

Launching your Start-up Venture Responsibly and Efficiently

While the exact nature of these issues will depend on your business, there are a particularly high number that revolve around employment law, health and safety and tax compliance. With these in mind, consider the following steps for launching your business responsibly and effectively: –

Ensure that your Business is classed in the Correct Tax Bracket

Not all businesses are created equal, either in terms of their resources or company structure. Initially, you will need to decide on a legal framework that suits your business model, and specifically one that ensures compliance with tax regulations and government laws. To begin with, determine you projected turn-over for your first year, as this will inform you whether or not you are eligible to pay VAT (the current threshold is a turnover of £65,000 a year or more). This will also help you to settle on a legal framework, whether you establish a limited company or set-up as a sole trader.

Respect Construction and Health and Safety Laws

If the construction of a site or workplace is part of your start-up plan, you will be required to comply with national health and safety laws as a matter of course. Without this, you may fall foul of a compensation claim or compliancy issue that could cost your business thousands of pounds before it has properly launched. To negate this, ensure that your construction site is equipped with easily identifiable warning signs, which distinguishes hard-hat areas, chemical hazards and potential electrical wiring risks. Suppliers such as Signarama Signs     produce an array of similar notices, enabling your business to remain compliant and safe at all times.

Avoid Employing Staff until you have a Suitable Infrastructure

One of the big mistakes that UK start-ups make is attempting to run before they can walk, especially when it comes to implementing growth plans and employing staff. Taking on a team of employees requires significant financial resources and a suitable infrastructure, as you must provide a complaint and safe workplace and a host of benefits aside from their bottom line remuneration. Failure to appreciate this could cause numerous issues and even law-suits in some instances, so think carefully and commit to developing your venture in a considered and organic manner.

Categories
Operations

The Importance of Tracking your Businesses Assets

The Importance of Tracking your Businesses Assets

While technological advancement may mean that it is now easier than ever to establish a business as an entrepreneur, this has created an extremely competitive commercial market. This means that creating a profitable and visible business is a far more difficult business, especially if you intend to sell products through an e-commerce model. In the wake of one of the busiest online shopping days in recent history, it is clear that the market is saturated with independent retailers who compete for a vast and well informed audience.

How Asset Management Software can help you to achieve a Critical Edge in the Market

With this in mind, the proactive entrepreneurs among you may wish to consider investing in asset management software. This delivers considerable advantages to product orientated ventures, primarily because it enables you comply with national legislation and also track every single physical asset that is owned by your firm. In particular, it will allow you to create a real-time graphic that lists each asset, its precise location and its exact cost. There are even advanced packages of software, such as those that have been innovated by Assetware Technology, which help you to create planned maintenance schedules while also calculating the cost of depreciation for each individual product.

With this in mind asset management software can be even more invaluable for companies with a warehouse location and an in-house distribution model. In this instance, advanced software solutions can also be deployed to track assets after they have being shipped, making it far easier to follow their progress and share this information with customers. If managed correctly, it also offer you an opportunity to be proactive and pre-empt any delivery issues or delays, meaning that you can significantly improve your businesses customer service output.

The Last Word

As these examples show, the implementation of advanced asset management software can help to manage production costs, maximise manufacturing output and improve the delivery of customer service. These all translate into higher profit margins for your business, while they also enable you to gain a competitive edge on similar retailers in your particular market niche.

In an age where millions of small and independent online retailers compete for their fair share of a chosen market, even the smallest potential advantage can make a significant difference. This is why any investment in asset management software represents a sound decision, as it is likely to more than repay its value over the course of several years.

Categories
How-To Guides

Selling your Business: How to Achieve a Profit

How to Achieve a Profit

Whenever people refer to the Great Recession, the topic of accidental entrepreneurship is almost always brought up. This is because the worst financial crisis in years had a huge impact on the job market, and forced thousands of unemployed individuals to go it alone in the quest for security and independence.

Now that the economy is improving, however, those without the drive or instinct to remain as entrepreneurs are looking to sell their ventures for a healthy profit. This is far easier said than done, however, as anyone with first-hand experience will testify that selling a commercial business is a process fraught with hidden dangers and potential pitfalls.

Top Tips for Effectively Selling your Business

With this in mind, what practical steps can you take to effectively market and sell your independent business? Consider the following: –

Set a Fair and Reasonable Valuation

Whether you are looking to sell your entire business or simply a predetermined equity share, it is crucial that you apply a reasonable valuation which offers some incentive to potential buyers. While there are multiple ways that you can appraise your commercial assets and arrive at a valuation, this means little unless you are able to apply common sense and establish a price that has merit in the existing market. So be considered in your approach, and remember that compromise may be necessary if you are to achieve your long-term financial goals.

Target the Right Market for your Business

While there are a number of potential deal-makers who may offer to help sell your business, not all of these are as reputable as they seem. With this in mind, it is imperative that you are patient in your approach and strive to identify the right market for your business. In effect, this will put you in touch with reliable individuals who have the willingness and capacity to buy, which in turn will optimise your chances of executing a quick and efficient sale. This may prove crucial, especially if your business belongs a niche market that is prone to instability.

Seek Out Professional Assistance

Regardless of the price that you set for your business, you will need to work extremely hard to maximise the value within the firm. This may require professional assistance, as market leading firms such as the Axis Partnership bring a wealth of experience and professional negotiation skills to the table. This is key, as potential buyers will always strive to lower the cost and achieve a bargain regardless of the nature of your business and its overall appeal. By partnering with an experienced firm, you can achieve the best possible financial results for your business.

Categories
Human Resource

Three Simple Ways to Boost Staff Morale

Three Simple Ways to Boost Staff Morale

With Christmas rapidly approaching, staff morale tends to decrease as the workload gets harder and staff start to dream of that Christmas break. The build up to Christmas is a time that will really trust your managerial credentials as keeping staff morale high in such a key trading period is essential. Here are three simple ways that you can do just that and ensure that all of your staff are happy right up until their well earned break:

Make Sure they’re Properly Trained

Staff members are much happier when they know what they’re doing. If you’ve worked your way up from the bottom of a business, you’ll know how frustrating it is when a customer asks you a question that you don’t know the answer to and, from a managerial perspective; you’ll know how annoying it is to lose business because of it.

Christmas is all about the rush for businesses and time means money. For this reason, you should invest time into making sure that all of your staff members from the bottom to the top of the business are properly trained.

From quick refresher training for sales assistants to advanced training for selected management, training can be the key. Media training courses like the ones provided by Media Mentor can be pivotal if a problem arises and can save you thousands of pounds in lost custom, so remember that staff training should include everyone and not just those at the bottom.

Offer a Christmas Freebie

Sometimes, staff lose their focus in the approach to Christmas because they feel that they do not get the recognition that they deserve. In truth, some staff members will feel like this no matter what you do, but buying each staff member a small gift should bridge the gap significantly and show them that they are all valued.

The employee Christmas gift idea that you buy is dependent on how many staff you employ. A personal gift will always go down well if you know enough about the staff member but, if you employ too many, an individual generic gift such as a bottle of wine each or a chocolate selection will suffice. If in doubt, simply buy a tab behind the local bar one night after work.

Make Team Bonding a Priority

Sometimes when you’re feeling down, the workplace can feel like a lonely world. For this reason, you should encourage team bonding as much as possible. Whatever form you choose for this is will work, and it entirely depends on the scale. A weekend retreat will always bring staff closer but, if you don’t have the budget, a nice meal out together should be just as good.

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Recommendations

Business Magazines Giveaway in Partnership with GetEntrepreneurial.com

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