IdeasForCash.co.uk - Tips and ideas for entrepreneurs, self employed and small biz

The Dreaded Business Plan: Do You REALLY Need One?

2013-05-18T19:04:00.001+01:00

Writing a business plan is an activity some of us absolutely swear by while others detest it. A bank manager, crowd funding collective or group of investors will want to see evidence of careful thought and consideration before investing hard cash in a business.

On the other hand, a keen first time entrepreneur with nothing holding him or her back will prefer action over analysis.

Whichever camp you fall into, it is prudent to dedicate some time to seriously deciding what you want to achieve and how you’re going to do it.

What exactly IS a business plan anyway?

Think of the planning of your business operations as plotting a route on a road map. You need to understand how to drive your vehicle, be able to read signs and be willing to take detours when there are obstacles in your path. There is no easy way to reach your destination and having no map is no better than closing your eyes and flooring the throttle.

Can you outsource the writing of your business plan?

Having someone else write your plan is possible but ill-advised. In this fangled age of technology it is very easy to go online and find a stranger, who for a price, will tell you how to run your life for the next few years in a couple of thousand words. You cannot be serious about business if a person you don’t even know has to do all the legwork for you.

Allowing someone else to plan your work is like pressing a button on a GPS guiding system and letting it take over. We can punch in our co-ordinates and have the friendly computer voice tell us what to do and how to reach the destination, but if that system fails and you end up stranded, you will be lost.

Neglected important duties which should remain your sole responsibility is bad business. If you are unable to plan your own future decisions ahead of time it will be no easier if you let someone do it for you. When you don’t know where you’re going, any road will do, and is why so many businesses fail.

Must you be good at mathematics?

At school, maths was my most hated subject and you may understand the anxiety it causes to many children and adults. When we are faced with hard, rigid rules, many of us find it difficult to remember and process information because the method of learning is not enjoyable.

In my business, I get to be creative with how I generate an income which for all intents and purposes is applied maths right. By taking this view it is possible to transform intimidating multiplication or division into something warm and fuzzy because there is a reason for it – making money!

Once you have the calculator to hand those facts and figures so vital for understanding costs, turnover and profit become an enjoyable game, almost like a sport. The strategy becomes more important and the maths itself is a means to an end.

Does the business plan have to be very long?

A concise and focussed plan is best. The document is an outline of your current position, future strategy and call to action. It is not a pretentious pile of paperwork written once, looked at twice and then hidden in a drawer forever.

Some of the best businesses start on the back of a beer mat or the corner of a napkin. Some entrepreneurs prefer to carry a tape recorder and dictate their agenda into a microphone. The point is to get your ideas out of your head and into some form of media so your thoughts are organised. Those who say, “I don’t need a business plan, I have a good memory” are fooling themselves. We all perform better with some kind of structure.

Change is a good thing

Use a highlighter pen to make annotations on your business document or doodle on the back and jot important points in whatever space you have. A business plan is an organic, ever changing, ever evolving work designed to keep your eyes on the prize.

Do not fall into the trap of believing what you learned in business studies at school. That sort of curriculum demands compliance, not initiative. A good business plan is to help you be creative and entrepreneurial, not hold you back.

Keep moving forward

If what you have now is the same now as it was five years ago, your five year business plan has become snagged somewhere in the process. Change is inevitable because economies fluctuate, laws are passed, markets shift, suppliers disappear and other businesses fail. If you are standing still in the midst of all this, relatively speaking, you are going backwards. A tree log floats downstream unless it is caught on something and stops as a result. Always keep moving.

Tips

Market research forms the backbone of any planning or decisions you will make
A three page document is long enough for a first time entrepreneur looking to establish a baseline for their ideas.
Keep a word processed document handy for physically scribbling on or making notes.
Keep the computer document backed up at all times and allow yourself to edit, shorten or lengthen it as you see fit.
Constantly review your beliefs and decisions. Some people find “analysis” like this

Useful links

My illustration business plan – I started a small venture in 2007 to test the local art market. Although the objectives have not changed all that much I sometimes still tweak and change certain sections of the document. You can see the business plan and the financial overview to give you an idea of what you can come up with yourself.

Is Business Reality TV Responsible for Business Failure?

2013-05-06T16:10:00.001+01:00

Last week I saw a trailer for the 2013 series of The Apprentice on the BBC. The contrived comedy and pretentious style caused me to briefly resemble Lord Sugar shown here on the left looking characteristically sour. I knew I was witnessing what heralds another 12 episodes of car crash television.

We all know The Apprentice stopped being about business and enterprise when it moved from BBC2 to BBC1 in 2007. It became a vehicle and means to get ratings from a carefully chosen bunch of narcissists, braggers and bullies generally representing the worst society has to offer. It hasn't always been this way though.

When it was originally broadcast I was studying at university and saw a parallel between the group projects me and my fellow students were expected to complete and the televised tasks the candidates were competing in. I genuinely looked forward to watching each week and the BBCs decision to broadcast it on BBC2 seemed the right one.

Skip to 2013 and it is obvious the format has been tweaked and adulterated to its own demise. Lord Sugar continues to defend this badly behaved abomination like a father defending a child who has been caught on CCTV vandalising the neighbourhood. Most agree The Apprentice has morphed into a weekly one hour slideshow of hated cartoon characters clambering over one another with the occasional decent person included as a novelty representation of integrity. "Yawn! We don't want intergrity, we want backstabbers! Backstabbers are cool and funny!" Yes, we are now being subjected to the cast of Big Brother wearing ties.

Without watching a single episode I know the following statements are true:

The opening theme will be more ominous then before and resemble a breaking news broadcast interruption. There will be shaky, unfocussed cutaway camera shots of Alan Sugar boiling with digust.
The candidates will all have their turn as talking heads doing their most embarrassing David Brent impressions.
Alan Sugar will verbally rip up the candidate's CV's and personal statements, attacking their occupation and demanding to know why they are in his boardroom.
The candidates will titter with relief when Alan Sugar tells bad jokes.
"I'll give you your money back" will crop up from at least one candidate attempting to reassure Sugar the "punt" he takes will be worthwhile.
During the beginning of each episode, a montage will feature Alan Sugar boasting about "this process" and angrily spewing, "this time, it's different".
There will be a boardroom confrontation over a business deal in which a hundred trays of pasties were spoilt, spelling the end of the world.

What irritates me about The Apprentice is that it uses a linear assault course format resembling an unfriendly edition of It's a Knock Out where the candidates are instead encouraged to eventually betray one another while living together. There's another thing that bothers me; negotiating, selling and networking are all part of running a business, but those things are taken care of by the BBC who set up EVERYTHING including sales leads and distributors - they even line up treats awarded to the contestants on the winning team. The format wants compliance and not initiative.

I would much rather watch a business television show in which actual reality takes precedence over pantomime. Admittedly a real televised business would be pretty boring to most but would at least demonstrate the work and occasional drudgery involved. Those who fancy themselves as entrepreneurs might think twice before getting involved in something that may add up to no more than delusional roleplaying.

In September 2012 BBC3 broadcast "Be Your Own Boss" fronted by Innocent Smothies co-founder Richard Reed. While frothy in places and with one or two unnatural additives it was more palatable than The Apprentice or Dragon's Den, the latter having now suffered at the hands of its own ego investors.

I understand the population at large do not want to tune in to watch struggling businesspeople in offices make phone calls and write emails. It is not sexy enough to warrant a chunk of prime airtime. Because of this producers chasing ratings are throwing in elements of the Victorian freakshow knowing it is the equivalent of waving bright objects at a cat.

Too many armchair entrepreneurs have watched TV, secured a loan, latched onto a high risk idea and jumped in the deep end of the recession only to come unstuck. Often, desperate people in desperate circumstances are not serious about what were only ever half-baked desires. Persuading customers to buy from you is never as easy as you think and watching Alan Sugar's gameshow presents the notion that running a business is a sprint for the uninitiated when it is in fact a marathon for the committed.

"Richard Branson started an airline, and people think business is easy," said Alan Sugar himself in an interview a few years ago. "But they never consider all the legwork he put in."

What has happened to Lord Sugar since? Has he allowed the BBC to meddle too much or was The Apprentice never his to claim ownership over? Was it always doomed to turn into a shallow rat-race aimed at those looking for entertainment? For the record, I have read his first book "What You See is What You Get" and found it interesting. In the later chapters he writes at length about the frustration he felt dealing with BBC television executives and I wonder if the phrase "a horse is a camel designed by committee" holds true.

Reality business TV concerns itself more with wacky characters, ego, ratings and entertainment. But is there anything useful to be learned from business on television or does it just encourage have-a-go businesspeople to naively trifle with matters they don't understand?

I'd love to hear your views in the comment section below.

How Should Your Brick and Mortar Business Process Payments?

2013-05-04T15:52:00.000+01:00

When running a brick and mortar business that is selling products, every manager and owner is looking for the cheapest ways to process payments. Percentages are high and as a business owner, every tenth of a percent is vital.

Business owners are constantly looking to cut corners when it comes to their business budget and expenses, even if it means introducing a new method of work.

Credit card processing fees are some of the highest fees and can be a headache. No business owner wants to have to hesitate when swiping a customer’s card due to the thought of their high processing fees.

Mobile Apps

Many mobile and tablet apps that are capable of processing your customers payments have bounced up and gained popularity on the market. There has been a boom in sales for these app creators.

One of the most famous of them all has been the Square app, allowing business operators to insert a little device called the Square Reader to swipe credit cards and begin accepting payments.

Having a Terminal

This is one of the most common and traditional ways that brick and mortar businesses use to process transactions. Opt in for a merchant services account, you get your terminal, and begin swiping away!

However, some of the processing fees are high so make sure you shop around, and most importantly don’t be shy to negotiate. Some companies will match the fee of their competitors just to get you as their customers.

Online Business

Many small business owners have moved their companies online. Some people may have thought that processing fees would be very low, or not even exist.

However, if your online store isn't set up properly, fees can total up to 7%!

Things to Be Aware Of

Extras

Processing percentage fees aren't the only thing you should be aware of. Many companies, such as Paypal, sometimes charge a dollar amount for each transaction along with a percentage fee!

Multiple fees

Beware of multiple fees adding up. Depending on how you set up your online store, certain companies and apps can charge a fee to process the transaction and then another service such as Paypal who will paste on more fees. To be aware of this, make sure you calculate all fees together prior to accepting real transactions from your customers.

Robert is a consultant for internet security companies. His knowledge in the software business developed at a young age while watching his father, who was a point of sale software engineer. When not consulting, Robert enjoys golfing, reading, and relaxing.

How to Survive as An Online Freelancer

2013-05-01T23:23:00.001+01:00

You can’t turn on the news without hearing about the unemployment rate, economic downturn, or the instability of the global stock markets.

It’s no wonder so many people are trying to enter the world of online freelancing to sever their reliance on a traditional employment system they no longer have faith in.

Succeeding in the freelance market isn’t as easy as owning a laptop and declaring yourself a freelancer - there are a multitude of problems and hurdles you’ll face along the way. With a few conscious decisions you can survive as an online freelancer and enjoy a comfortable life while working from your couch.

Invest In Yourself

You are your business as a freelancer. Making sure you invest in promotion and equipment that will allow you to do the best job possible will be one of the best professional decisions you can make in the long-run. Most freelancers get stuck in “bootstrap” mentality before and after they find some success and don’t want to do what’s necessary to advance their services. For example, if you do freelance video work and upgrade to a better computer it will allow you to deliver your work faster and take on more clients. The investment can pay off rapidly if it saves wasted time.

If you deal with hundreds of clients, investing in customer relationship management software may be the quickest way to avoid the headaches associated with following these up. A classic example that comes to mind is the resources the small development team behind the now giant company Wonga.com invested in early on to streamline as much of their application and feedback process as they possibly could. By pumping the money and effort in at the beginning they've ended up with seriously reduced operation costs as their business has expanded. Adopt a similar approach to your own business operations on a smaller scale.

Focus on Recurring Payments

Once you start entering the world of passive income, you’re going to realize your life becomes a whole lot easier in the long run. Let’s say you’re a freelance website creator, for example. Instead of just charging a one-time fee to design and develop their website, offer to host their website and maintain it for a monthly fee of £20.

A small payment of £20 might not seem like a lot, but if you have 100 clients in a year that sign on with your hosting and maintenance program, you’re talking about £2,000 per month in revenue for doing little (to no) additional work.

Convert Small Jobs to Large Paydays

Always look to have an additional service you can provide for small jobs. If you are a freelance writer and someone has you write their press release, offer to provide them with press release distribution as well. This can take small one-time payments into large orders just with a single service addition.

Wasted Opportunities #5: Cold Calls, Hot Prospects & No Sales

2013-04-28T19:37:00.000+01:00

This one of many retrospective accounts of a money making idea not followed up or blundered because of procrastination.

It serves as my own reminder and as a lesson for future reference.

Dear Diary…

Since starting my Ilkeston Web Design business I have made part of my daily agenda to prospect new leads and make sales phone calls. It’s something that we should all do but which many of us tend to ignore. Nobody likes rejection afterall, but I prefer it to no sales and no cash!

What Happened

Since last year I’ve been fairly disciplined with my marketing and sales calls. I set up my customer management databases and began making unsolicited enquiries to local businesses who might have been interested in a low cost website. Things have gone well but I made the mistake of focusing too much on prospects who had shown a vague interest or half baked desire in my services.

Too often I allowed myself to stop being systematic in my daily sales activities because I thought I’d found a good lead. I think this is normal for sales people wanting to take a break from hearing “No” 30 times a day and instead they become precious over someone they thought might be saying “Yes.”

When the potential client inevitably backed out after exchanging emails, ideas, and the usual “I’ll get back to you tomorrow” pleasantries, I found myself in the position of having given much valuable time to someone who was never going to buy anything.

It gets worse: When I got back into cold calling my other prospects, I had to suffer the dismay that all salespeople have felt throughout their career.

It’s the reply to your pitch from an otherwise interested client that goes like this:

“I wish you had called yesterday. We’ve literally just created an account with another company. I’m so sorry, but thanks anyway.”

What Could Have Happened

In sales, one thing we must always do is keep moving. Regardless of success or failure we should keep making those calls, because people DO lose interest, people DO flake out, people DO say one thing but act inconsistently. People do what people do and that’s the way it will always be. If we can foresee such circumstances ten steps ahead of it happening it saves much disappointment.

If I had maintained a sense of focus and rhythm in the cold calling I might have reached those prequalified and interested customers before the competition did. I missed opportunities to make sales to people ready to make a commitment.

Why I Missed the Opportunity

Letting oneself become bogged down in a game of cat and mouse with a customer is probably the least productive thing anyone can do in day to day sales activities. It is damaging to one's self esteem so vital in sales.

It is better to quickly qualify the prospect, and if they are busy at that moment, get permission to follow up on an arranged day at a particular time. I have often agreed to let someone vaguely tell me they would “ring back on such-and-such day” or "During the week, but I'm not sure when." These phone calls usually never materialise and I occasionally still anticipate the odd inbound phone call half knowing it will not happen.

Another point worth mentioning is that me working on websites during the day was not always the best use of my time. The actual design operations were taking place during time that should have been reserved for prospecting and making sales calls.

What I Learned

Sales often occur in 12 week cycles, meaning it takes this amount of time for my proposal, ideas, trust-worthiness, information gathering and working methods to filter through to and be reciprocated by the other person, who until very recently did not know me. I need to systematically chaperone clients regularly and often because inevitably a few of them will have a change of heart.

My agenda:

Establish basic familiarity with as many people as possible daily with the intention of following up and leading them through the sales process over the approaching 2 – 3 months.
Actual web design must mainly happen in “unsociable” hours.
Web designing (and even writing this blog) only occurs during business hours and weekdays if it is urgent, pressing or for a client who has made a commitment.
Being busy is not the same as being productive or profitable so make sure time is invested wisely in a written daily agenda and in a logical order of priority.

Part Time Business Ideas

2013-04-27T22:19:00.002+01:00

In a previous article I talked about where to start with a business idea and how you can work it into your existing timetable of responsibilities.

Apart from the organisation of time and resources, you may actually still be scratching your head over what kind of business idea to go for!

I have put together a shortlist of cash generators I am actively involved in or have knowledge of.

What you pursue is obviously up to you but remember to do lots and lots of research before parting with any seed capital.

eBay selling

If you find a good niche and really work it, you could find yourself on to a winner. Shipping hard, bulky goods with postage and packing is going to take a chunk of cash from each sale so think carefully. Going for high value goods means you’re going to pay a high listing fee if said item doesn’t sell as a Fixed Price or Buy it Now listing.

Original eBooks written by yourself can fetch a good price if you do it right and plug in to the ready-to-buy market presented by eBay. Whatever you sell, always work on your seller reputation first by selling low value items like eBook recipes (not original eBooks). These low sales count as legit transactions, getting the much needed feedback which will propel your real sales further down the road.

Domain Squatting

This is something you must approach with caution because the rules on intellectual property - particularly online - are changing. My suggestion is to become an armchair talent scout and buy up any URLs you predict could make money in the future.

I have contacts who have supplied hot tips on youth football (soccer) players who have lots of potential to break into the big leagues one day. Based on this information I have paid for and own a couple of URLs associated with the name of what could be the next David Beckham. It is a long term punt but a market worth investing in; it's very cheap to do so.

Blogging/content writing for cash

If there is an activity, hobby, past-time, personal interest – whatever – that you can write about on a regular basis, you might eventually make cash by monetising a site or blog focussed on your chosen topic. Pick a niche that isn’t saturated and preferably takes a problem solving angle. Do not pick a topic you know nothing about just for the purposes of trying to make money. You will likely get bored if your heart is not in it. Blogging for cash requires a long term view and commitment. The most financially successful sites or blogs tend to be a labour of love turned lucrative.

Local collection & delivery service

People will always want someone else to fetch and deliver essential items and groceries. This is potentially very lucrative and there is room for a small competitor to the supermarket delivery services because supermarkets are limited to their booking slot system. A single person has the flexibility a corporate hierarchy lacks.

Could you operate from 6pm onwards each evening in your local area, driving to and from shops with customer’s goods, charging a nominal fee? I know somebody who does this in my town and has built a pool of loyal customers. All you need is a vehicle, a plan and the time to begin building a part time business. I created the website and designed the logo for his business, leading me to the next idea.

Small biz web designer

There is no shortage of people wanting to set up an online presence; passion is usually high but technical knowledge low. Many of these potential customers are not looking to spend a lot and just want a simple website for a low cost.

Think about targeting electricians, plumbers, plasterers and other manual labour trades. Established businesses of this kind command high rates and are unlikely to go out of business any time soon so you can charge them a suitable yearly fee for design, domain, email and hosting.

Maintenance on these types of sites tends to be low because the content mostly remains static. An annual recurring income like this forms a robust business model because you retain customers year after year, have an opportunity to cross sell other products and end up leveraging your time. You also benefit from something even more useful - referrals. Give excellent service, go the extra mile and you can count on long term patronage.

Mobile salesperson

If you have goods to be sold on the move, make sure a proper licence is obtained. In the UK the local police station can supply a Peddlar's Certificate for around £12 a year. This gives you legal permission to solicit business with the sale of goods as a mobile seller. You're allowed to knock on doors, but certain areas/streets will be out of bounds though so look into that.

Artist/illustrator

Around Christmas time I paint and illustrate. Margins are pretty low on this kind of work so target your audience and subject matter. If possible, get some kind of art production system so you do not have to spend lots of time creating art from scratch. My canvas paintings have an element of reproduction derived from templates I have created. Think how you can work a system to make great looking art – customers will love it if it relates to them directly and will wonder how long it took you to make. This is where the opportunity to put the price up comes in.

I know a local businessman who runs a coffee shop/art gallery which is useful as he has ready and willing to buy customers. Consider how you can network in the local community. To command high prices, eBay might be your best bet for selling specialist pieces of art, but be warned – you must work on raising your seller reputation first otherwise you’ll incur high fees on unsold items.

Sell ad space to local businesses

Here’s another one of my part time businesses. Create a niche online directory website for businesses in your local town – fast food delivery for example – then design and print several thousand fliers with shared advertising space sold to businesses. Include links to each business web page on the site you created.

If you go for a run of 5, 000 printed leaflets you could charge £80 per ad per business to easily cover printing costs and give a profit. You could pay someone else to deliver the leaflets and still make some money. The online business directory will become popular amongst customers, receive lots of direct traffic and enable you to charge a fee to each business to have a premium online listing.

Twitter voucher codes are a brilliant way for the business owners to measure the return on investment.

Mystery Shopper

This is something I’m interested in and have joined a company called GapBuster which pays me to evaluate fast food. I have not worked it much due to time constraints but is something I can weave into my schedule if I know I’m going to be near one of the affiliated food outlets. Pay starts pretty meagre but increases as you successfully complete more jobs. There’s a lot of paperwork and revision initially but is something you get used to. There’s nothing stopping you from signing up with other similar companies to leverage your knowledge. Think of it as the odd free meal - a small business bootstrapper will understand!

Pet Sitter

This is a very lucrative business opportunity for animal lovers. Pet owners who are unable to look after their pet need someone to step in to take on their responsibilities. It involves building trust and rapport (and obviously being able to handle pets) so consider this as viable way to make a good income.

Creating Business Partnerships Through Social Media (Infographic)

2013-04-22T21:24:00.000+01:00

When most of us think of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, we generally think of personal use where we post happenings in our lives and rants about our day’s experiences. While this use of social media might be therapeutic for many, it is certainly not the only way to use these sites. If you are a business owner, you have a fantastic opportunity to create strong, long-lasting partnerships with other businesses, and business professionals, that can lead to greater success for your company. In fact, 56 percent of business owners who use social media sites claim to create and strengthen relationships with other companies.

So what are some of the social media sites you can use to create these business relationships? A popular site for this is Facebook, where you can create a page for your business. You can easily search for other businesses that have your same interests and products, or any other business you might be interested in connecting with. You can send them messages and other updates, and they can do the same with you.

Twitter is also an effective resource for building business relationships, and many companies use it for this purpose. Twitter allows for the same type of communication as Facebook and allows companies to consistently update others on their businesses’ “happenings.”
LinkedIn is also a great tool, as it was set up for the purpose of building these types of business relationships. Because it was intended for business professionals, it is a great place to build contacts and exchange professional ideas and advice.

Networking is a powerful way to increase your sales and productivity. You can learn many things through the experience of others, and with the Internet and social media sites, it has never been easier to succeed in business through strong relationships with other companies.

This infographic is brought to you by VistaPrint. VistaPrint can help provide you with all of your office needs including business Christmas cards.

Save Money By Declaring Your Business Premises Does Not Need a TV Licence

2013-04-15T15:45:00.002+01:00

Those of you in the UK running a small business either from home or an office can save money by not purchasing a BBC licence fee. You'll be saving a paltry sum of £145.50 but if your business is not yet profitable this money can instead be used for something more useful.

I last wrote about saving cash on the BBC licence fee in 2010. I was visted by an agent and I explained my circumstances and the fact that I receive my BBC programming via the iPlayer and not the live television broadcasts. He made a note of my address and explanation and I was never bothered again.

Today I received a letter asking if my circumstances have changed, which they have not and was invited to confirm my non TV-watching status at through their website where a few boxes can be ticked and fields filled in. Of course, I watch the other commercial channels but the BBC is something I watch through catch up.

So head on over to the TV Licensing website and state your circumstances to save money you can use for your business endeavours. Besides, the less TV you watch, the more time you can give to productive pursuits so nothing has been lost and much can be gained.

Useful links

www.tvlicensing.co.uk/NoTV - It takes less than 5 minutes to declare no BBC TV is watched as it is broadcast in your home, allowing you specify your preferred catch up device.

A DIY Database for Small Business Customer Management

2013-04-10T22:42:00.000+01:00

Any small business owner who hasn’t already made friends with Microsoft Excel (or a free alternative) is losing sales. It really pays to get organised when it comes to managing your prospect and/or customer database.

Every phone call you make, every conversation you have, each person you serve needs to be logged and recorded for the sake of smooth business operations.

It may be tempting to think you can remember who you spoke to by scribbling vague details or names on a scrap of paper. That's fine if you're away from your computer, but that is not a system. Getting to grips with the dreaded spreadsheet is an investment because you will become so much more efficient and economical.

A stitch in time...

Being someone who likes to “get on with it” rather than feeling bogged down in finite, I left it relatively late to seriously organise my working habits in a spreadsheet system. Once I had done so my mind was much clearer and allowed me play to those strengths. It's easier to start as you mean to go on rather than backtrack much later on.

Compiling data

The first thing you need is a spreadsheet template. You can get these from various websites free, but I've included mine minus the data. Compile your prospect's data into each row systematically. Include details of their business type and market, as well as any distinguishing or notable features of their business. This is the hardest part but it is worth doing well.

Record the response to your solicitations

I have a basic colour coded system denoting the categorical response to my cold calls. Red means they are not interested, Amber means they might be, and green means they definitely want to use my services. I also jot down brief details of the telephone conversation under "Call notes" for my own reference.

Sometimes I call people 6 or even 12 months down the road and need to know where the conversation left off. Armed with this knowledge you can serve your potential customer from a position of preparation, rather than lose a lead due to head scratching.

It's a simple way of approaching things and tells me at a glance who I need to be focussing on.

Integrating Skype

As a small business, I am using Skype together with a "Skype-In" number I purchased. This is basically an I.P. address disquised as a phone number. Using a headset and mic I place outgoing calls to landlines because it is so cheap. Mobile numbers cost a fortune through Skype, so be warned.

To make a phone call, it is a simple case of highlighting a phone number within the spreadsheet and copying it to to the clipboard.

Then I go into Skype and paste it into the phone number field, deleting any spaces. If phone call ends positively, I create a new contact from the phone number.

Tips

As well as keeping conversation notes, keep a date reference so you know when you entered the prospect data and/or last spoke to them.
If you make any discount proposals or freebie offers, include those details in a dedicated cell of the spreadsheet.
Always try and get the first name of your prospect.
Always get permission to give them a call back at some later date if it is not an ideal time for them to talk. This is better than having them say they will call back as most people forget. You will not however because of your record system.
Use the search feature bundled with most spreadsheets if you need to quickly locate a name or phone number. CTRL & F is standard for Excel but it might vary with others.
CTRL & F is useful if you are compiling new prospect data only to discover you have already got the same person in your records under a different business name. This has happened to me so be careful. You can seriously annoy people and lose a great potential customer!

Where to Start with Your Small Business Idea

2013-04-06T16:22:00.000+01:00

It’s not unusual for employees to take up a second job or extra earner to spread risk and diversify their income. Getting a side gig is becoming increasingly common as more and more of us have decided to build our own business from scratch.

A spare time business is a great way to go about starting and testing money making projects. You should not suddenly quit your job and attempt to replace your income on a whim. Rather, create something manageable in your evenings and on weekends to grow it to profitability.

If you end up facing the unfortunate reality of redundancy (as I did) you will at least have an established foundation to which you can dedicate time.

What can you do?

Ask yourself what your current strengths are. Do you have any specific skills, knowledge or experience from your current job? Do you have access to staff or resources? Are there any networking opportunities right now, and if so how can they work to your advantage?

There are lots of off-the-shelf business opportunities available nowadays with no shortage of eager beavers. Multi Level Marketing looks attractive on the surface but there is much froth and foam. Franchising might work but often requires a cash investment. I’m a fan of building and bootstrapping something unique and useful.

Whatever you do is going to take time, training and commitment. There is no shortcut to any kind of success and anyone who tells you different is likely deluding themselves and trying to take you with them! Never mislead yourself with the notion that throwing lots of money at a business idea will make it go faster. At first you will be keen but green. Instead, learn to be lean and mean with the business for a few hours every day. Meanwhile, dutifully work your job for the instant cash and level of security it provides.

Do you need good luck to succeed?

Good luck is nothing more than good work that has paid off. The law of attraction states that whatever we spend most of our time thinking about is what we will have in life. If we spend all our time thinking about working for someone else, that is what we will have. If we spend all our time thinking about building our own business and then acting upon those thoughts consistently, that is what we will have.

At a business seminar I attended years ago, one of the speakers made a good point. He said, “Luck is an acronym for Labouring Under Correct Knowledge.”

If you win the lottery, it will because you bought a ticket. Similarly, when it comes to what you want out of life, you are either in or you are out. Work on your business every day and eventually the law of attraction will dictate that you must (will) become competent and knowledgeable enough to reach the goals you have set for yourself.

Jack of all trades, master of none

Do not become one of those people who try absolutely everything but ultimately fail because they commit to nothing. You will discover that proficiency in one particular area is a catalyst and springboard to other business ventures that compliment what you’re already doing.

There is nothing wrong with knowing a little about a lot, but keep things simple as you begin testing your ideas. Some first time businesspeople seem to be trapped playing a proverbial game of pinball. They bounce off of anything and everything, make a lot of noise and score a few points to try and impress others. Ultimately it is meaningless because such pursuits simply swallow time and money.

If you’re serious about self employment and business, do lots of research, learn all you can from others, listen, read and do not waste ANYTHING.

Tips

Working “5 – 9” is merely a euphemism for spare time. You may find you spend much longer working on your ideas, especially at weekends.
Spend work lunch breaks reading material that is motivational, inspirational but most importantly – practical
Beware of sharing your ambitions with work colleagues. Some people love to pour cold water on your ideas because they have none of their own.
Does spending time watching TV give a return on investment?
Audio books are one of the most powerful learning methods ever devised. Without giving the material your full concentration, the subconscious mind can profoundly absorb what it is repeatedly exposed to.
Find audio cassettes/mp3s of business books as well as podcasts directly related to your area of interest.

Useful links

Useful books – Some of the books I’ve enjoyed over the years and recommend for small business operators.
Business and marketing – A list of handy blog posts from this site

Are You a Busy Fool?

2013-04-01T08:20:00.000+01:00

The next time you tell someone you're "busy", ask yourself if you're simply disorganised, bored, or looking for a feeling of importance.

It's a harsh blanket thesis and one that will not go down well with the jugglers and plate spinners of the world.

But I still wonder if the said supposedly-busy-person is creating unnecessary feelings of stress otherwise avoided if they would only operate at max efficiency.

When I prospect new clients for my web design business I am sometimes told that they would not benefit from internet marketing and that they are "already too busy".

If a busy person spends two hours a day on the phone with potential customers when this could be cut to 20 minutes because of an online vetting system and/or pre-qualifying questionnaire, that 140 minutes is wasted time.

Stop

The person who is "busy" needs to be mindful as to whether they're creating and selling value or just firefighting. Is cleaning the house every day a good use of your time? Are those painting and decorating chores giving a return on investment? Can you pay someone to do these tasks, freeing you up to concentrate on what you do best? Do you major in minor things? Somebody performing small tasks outside their main skill set is losing both time and money.

Learning to let go

As a small business owner, I recognise there are certain things I MUST do myself so that when I outsource, I already have knowledge of what I need my experts to provide. At this stage in my life, letting an accountant take care of my business finances would be costly but in the future it could be a saver.

The leader of a large organisation does not lord over the daily operations of individual departments. Though they stay in touch with all aspects of their business, they delegate responsibility through a chain of command. There comes a time when we must relinquish control so we can allow others to do a better job than we can; and to our advantage, not detriment.

Priorities

What can you - and only you - do? What are you best at, and what is the most valuable use of your time. Your job is to ask yourself, "What is the most valuable use of my time right now?"

The things that matter most must never be at the mercy of the things that matter least.

Being busy works to your advantage when you are actively investing present time for valuable future returns. Even so, do the maths first and ensure you are not fooling yourself.

Tips

When you hit a rough patch or face particularly testing challenges, your ways of working might be revealed as inefficient.
Be prepared to outsource menial tasks to others - if not now, in the future.
Keep lists of daily tasks and an active calandar.
Invest time wisely and learn to delegate.

Do You Know Your Own Business?

2013-03-20T18:49:00.002Z

Something that has irritated me lately is business owners (and sometimes employees) being unable to provide the simplest details about their products or services when I've requested them over the phone.

First off, I should say the information I asked for was arguably in my own interests because I was prospecting potential new clients for my web design services. Needless to say, the conversation I have just had left me amazed.

I just got off the phone with a guy who was clearly an employee - a badly trained employee too. I rang his company to find out if they had a website.

This is a simple enough question for which he had no response, even making light of the fact that he is not a "technical" person. Okay...

I asked what size business he was working for and he went on to mention, in an offhand manner, they turn over £4 million!

And he couldn't tell me if they had a website!

Amused, I quipped that a business like that must have a website. The guy then gave me the MD's email address which was a professional inbox with a top level domain suffix. Aha!

I informed my friendly albeit ignorant company employee that they do indeed have a website. I typed in the address, loaded up the site and commented on how professional it looked. After minor chit chat and pleasantries I informed him his company probably does not require my services.

"Ah... OK." he said.

Blind spot

The point of all this is that a small business doing massive turnover should be picky about the people they employee and ensure they are properly trained. I have nothing against this chap on the phone but what he failed to realise is that I could have been a valuable client looking to establish a long term relationship.

Granted, this person might not usually answer the phone and could have been filling in during another person's absence. But c'mon... if someone is answering the phone and talking to clients, having some basic knowledge is non-negotiable.

A business owner answering the phone would have likely answered all my questions right off the bat. They would instinctively KNOW their own business. However, employing staff forms a part of your business, and if they are not properly trained or are failing to serve customers adequately, your business has a blind spot.

You cannot know what is going on all the time but you should at least provide proper training for the basic stuff. In a corporation, staff at the bottom of the totem pole are not always motivated to give their best. Like a teacher with only a few students, a small business has no excuse to neglect the essential subjects.

Tips

You get one chance to make a first impression.
You must answer basic questions without rustling through papers while the client waits on the phone.
Memorise your website, email address, phone numbers, prices and other important facts/figures.
Commit to time management and organisation methods such as making lists.
You cannot be perfect but you can be excellent. When/if you employ staff, you want this example to rub off and form their working habits too.

My Loss Leader Passive Income Strategy

2013-03-15T22:59:00.000Z

The early days of running your business will likely involve long hours, high costs, low sales and no profits. It’s usually a given that this initial period involves giving more than you get back.

When we talk about losses, most of us assume poor judgement or error have resulted in a bad business.

This is not always the case and in fact many very good businesses deliberately factor in early losses (or costs) as a tactic.

Special offers, discounts, free trials and other “leader” tactics are designed to raise brand awareness, generate interest and grow the business to a critical mass. Real monetisation can occur when enough potential customers use, like or become aware of the product.

If you want something, give it away

The act of giving is a major building block in any successful business.

My Ilkeston business website service uses a yearly subscription model and the recurring income depends on long term customer loyalty. I must first demonstrate loyalty for it to be reciprocated and because the onus is on me to impress each client right off the bat this is exactly what I do.

Inevitably, some clients will go out of business or decide to cancel their website. This can be chalked up to a loss, and that’s fine. Those that stay with me make it worth taking the time to genuinely address their needs and put in the time required. This act of giving is the leader which accounts for the repeat sales I want.

Besides, doing unpaid favours works out cheaper than print advertising and is an investment in word of mouth marketing. It may seem like madness to give away something that you could have charged for, but believe me when I tell you this will reward you long term.

Initiative & risk

If I were paid an hourly rate, for the work I do, I would have more cash right now. But having less cash right now forms my long term strategy. Think of the following truths:

Traditional employment pays you for the work you do now and no more - you trade your time for money as a 1 to 1 ratio.

A residual business model pays you over and over for the time you invest in advance – you trade other people’s time and money on a ratio of your choosing.

The second truth is what most of us would like to experience but do not because of the time, money and commitment required up front. It takes more than to just put in £1 and get £2 back. It takes more to fully realise a strategy and see the dividends. To the population at large, jam today is more important than jam tomorrow.

Let your customers be the sales force

I recently created a website for a lady who is ecstatically pleased with the final result and increased sales. I was on the phone to her today and she thanked me repeatedly for all that I’ve done. Whenever we talk I get the sense that she feels she owes me because of the low yearly price and great service.

On several occasions she said, “If you do any extra work, you MUST charge me! I can’t keep letting you do it free!” She went on to remark that she is referring her friend who needs a business website and that I should expect a phone call.

This is exactly the result I am looking for.

It’s far more valuable to waive a small fee and have a client endlessly tell others about it then to charge the same fee and not receive those referrals. With the right business model and correct customer serving principles you can leverage those losses to your advantage.

Don’t be naive

Having a reputation as someone who is willing to go above and beyond the call of duty is one thing but being regarded as a fool is damaging. Of course, you will know your decisions are part of a strategy but beware of those who only keep taking. Other people don’t always reciprocate your good will even if you continuously add value to their affairs.

Knowing that some people are selfish means you can effectively judge if your losses are leaders or just losses. Factor this in as risk. You really have to search for that sweet spot where it’s win-win.

Tips

Most businesses think about how they can get money from a customer with minimum effort. They have got this the wrong way round. You should be adding value from the outset.
The world is full of grabbers and getters, so the rare business seeking to genuinely help others has a great advantage. They have little competition and will find it easier to dominate in a niche market.
Take a lateral approach to everything you do and commit to being organised.
A tight ship, good finance and low costs means you can turn out three times as much work for the price of one lot of work. if you can do this you can afford to make the concessions a loss leader demands.

Invoice Finance: How to Borrow Against Customer Bills

2013-03-09T20:36:00.000Z

Invoice Finance is a service offered by a range of financial organisations to help businesses plan and manage their cash flow more effectively.

The service allows the business to gain access to their funds due from their invoices, prior to the customer having even paid it. To do that, the business borrows a portion of the value from its sales ledger via a finance company. Effectively, all the unpaid sales debts act as collateral for that borrowing.

The service helps a number of businesses across a range of sectors and industries. Forth Wines is one of those businesses who have found benefits from the service.

Forth Wines

Back in 2010, Forth Wines was bought over by a group of Scottish investors/ businessmen. George Thomson, Ewen Cameron and Ian Cumming joined together with Alan Cramond to acquire the Milnathort based business in a transaction which was also backed by the Royal Bank of Scotland and some private investors. Thomson, Cameron and Cumming all have experience in the drinks industry at Diageo, First Drinks, Tennent’s and Wallaces Express.

Forth Wines supplies drinks to Scottish restaurants, bars and pubs as well as distribution rights to some wines. They also offer staff training, an online wine listing system and an image library service.

The business is constantly developing and regularly hold portfolio testing and expanding their collection. However they needed some additional support when they were looking to make the acquisition of the brand.

How Invoice Finance can help

When RBS helped with the acquisition of Forth Wines back in 2010, the invoice finance service was brought on to help smooth the monthly cash flow of the company which means they have more steady business accounts rather than the typical peaks and troughs experienced in a normal business year. And we all know that cash is king so a strong, dependable cash flow is essential.

It also protects the business against any bad debtors which may harm the business. This is done through a strong credit control service. It allows the business to confidently take on new customers in the knowledge that the bank will take on the risk a new customer entails, ensuring the business is protected against potential bad debtors.

"I regard invoice finance very positively as a means of smoothing our cash flow,” says Alan Cramond, Finance director for Forth Wines. “It also helps protect us against bad debts with the bad debt protection."

This is of course vital for any business, but especially in these economic times, and also shows how invoice finance has never been more useful.

The invoice finance service

The group looking to acquire the business originally only needed invoice finance to support a short term need of acquiring the Forth Wines, however after a few months understanding the use and benefits of the service, decided that it would be even more beneficial if used longer term and this has evolved into a longer partnership term as a banking partner.

The initial set up of the service is designed to be as straight forward as possible and the bank will support the business through this process. Some banks provide a Relationship Manager whose job it is to smooth the whole process, to understand the businesses needs.

Alan’s experience has been a positive one. "We found that the system works very effectively, money is transferred at very short notice and that really helps provide comfort to the business. I would be happy to recommend RBS Invoice Finance, they have been very helpful through ease of set up, their commitment and through the operation of the facility."

Invoice Finance is not for every business and comes in a variety of forms from a number of banks but it can be very useful to help a business expand, manage their monthly cash flow or provide debt protection for taking on new businesses.

Joanne Reader writes posts on a variety of topics including creating your own business, managing your business finances including business invoice finance options and how to maintain a successful business.

How to Make Money with Easy eBay eBooks

2013-03-09T17:21:00.002Z

I’d like to share my eBay eBook selling methods and show you how to create a modest income from relatively little work.

How much you make depends on you working the system set out below and how many products you sell.

The eBay selling limits are something to contend with but can be overcome with a certain finesse. Let's talk about that first.

Get a good seller rep!

If you’re interested in becoming an eBay seller, become a buyer.

eBay’s algorithm is based on positive feedback between users and affects how you rank as a seller when someone searches for a product. Consider buying small inexpensive items so you can give and receive good feedback. This helps break in your account and establish a purchase history so that when you start selling higher priced eBooks, you’ll make sales faster.

New eBay sellers are restricted to how many items they can list although this can be lifted over a period of time. You can call eBay directly to request a lifting of limits (explained later).

Getting started

To get started, all you need to do is list simple eBooks you have created using MS Word or Open Office. Simply write up a bunch of 1 page recipes (with a decent stock photo) and save them as PDF documents.

Most people buy “recipes” purely in the interest of feedback laundering. This is something you need to be careful of. The idea behind feedback laundering is that a seller lists an item in a “penny auction” without the intention of receiving payment or shipping the product. If you list a 2p coin with a reserve auction price of 2p, and you successfully sell the item, it is win-win. No cash or product is exchanged but positive feedback is.

A word on PayPal fees

Those of you already experienced with eBay and PayPal are probably going to raise the issue of the fees incurred. It is true that standard PayPal accounts charge a 20p flat rate + 3.4% on sales. That means you will not make any money on PayPal transactions less than this total sum. If you sell an item for a penny, you end up with 0 pence. Similarly, if you sell an item for 10p, you again end up with nothing.

You never have to owe money to PayPal. You just make nothing on these low value transactions. I suggest looking into the PayPal MicroPayments system.

PayPal Labs & MicroPayments

This is designed for low value sales. If you intend to sell items under £9.38, apply for MicroPayments, free. There is info here about regular Vs Micro PayPal.

The fees are charged at a 5p flat rate + 5% on every sale.

You need to apply for MicroPayments and the good news is you can operate the account unverified (no bank account attached).

How much can you make?

Although the low value eBooks are sold to boost your rep, some people really are there to buy recipes and they pay MUCH more than the reserve price!

I have been surprised by how much some of the genuine buyers spend on recipe PDFs.

The eBook recipes I have written can probably be found free online with little effort yet I am making cash fairly quickly and easily. In the space of a month I have made about £20 by selling individual recipes between 1 and 99 pence

This does not sound like much but if you were to open more eBay accounts and repeat this process you would be doubling and trebling those amounts.

The system becomes profitable when you go on to write the original full length eBooks and sell them at higher prices off the back of the seller reputation you have cultivated.

But to just rewind - why are some people spending so much on a crappy PDF recipe eBook?

eBay surfers are already in a buying mode

Someone surfing eBay is usually already logged into PayPal, turning the purchase process into a few easy clicks.

And as for why people buy recipes – well some people just enjoy bidding on auction items! The bids can sometimes get out of hand for the recipe they’re getting and I have noticed it tends to be women who buy them. This is good news because a recipe auction can be relisted over and over and there are always plenty of interested buyers.

How to list, sell and send the product

As stated, recipes are listed for feedback reasons without carrying the burden of wrongdoing. It allows newer sellers to perform the mutual backslapping of the feedback system without making high value transactions and incurring fees for unsold items.

Here’s what to do: List each book with a reserve auction price between 1p and 99p. I recommend starting at 1 penny (it attracts quick sales and gets you your feedback) but if you have a strategy go ahead with your own pricing.

It is free to list items up to 99p and you’ll save the 8p eBay listing fee normally incurred for Buy It Now listings. Make sure there is NO FIXED PRICE otherwise you'll incur fees.

Listing your eBook recipe

Create your eBook. Choose a decent gourmet dish photo and write up a recipe. It doesn’t need to be fancy. Some people will not even pay as they’ll assume it’s just for feedback laundering.
List your eBook with the title of the recipe. Add “1p start” to the end of the listing title.
Pick Auction and set a reserve of 1 penny. Leave Buy it Now empty. eBay favours auctions plus you save 8p in B.I.N. listing fees.
Under the “Item Specifics” options you can add or remove labels. Ensure “CD-Rom” is chosen (do not worry about this, I’ll explain later). Make sure there are no references to paperback books.
In the eBay html area put something like “Easy to follow guide” You can go one farther and write a blog style article (as I did) citing the merits of home cooking.
List the auction for at least 3 days. To keep your account in good standing, be patient.

If you sell your eBook recipe AND receive payment

Once you get bids and the auction ends, you will receive a PayPal payment notification to your registered eBay email account. Reply to this message but change the email address to the user’s eBay email, found within eBay, and attach the PDF. In the message body paste the following:

Thanks for your purchase. Our automated system will leave positive feedback after you leave a rating. Thanks again!

Thanks for your purchase! I just sent you an e-mail to your registered eBay email address. Please check it for instant delivery of the item you ordered from me.
If you don't see an e-mail from me, be sure to check your spam/junk folder, in case it ended up there.

Only leave positive feedback if you have already received it. If you never receive it, do not give it first.
You might receive payment as wells positive feedback even if you have not sent the product. If this is the case, reciprocate the feedback and do not bother sending messages or eBooks.

If you sell your eBook recipe AND DO NOT receive payment

If you never receive payment, do not bother sending any messages or any eBooks.
You might receive positive feedback even if no product has been sent. If so, reciprocate the feedback and accept this was just someone looking to swap feedback. In all likelihood those people probably only paid the minimum anyway.

Building a bigger business - Original feature length eBooks

If you want to lift your selling restrictions and sell real full length original eBooks, the process is the similar to selling the recipes. Only this time you will be making the PDF you sell more visually appealing. The price can be raised significantly though I do recommended keeping below 99p to start out with. This stops you incurring the Buy it Now fees.

Create your eBook but this time, create a 3D eBook cover. I used MyECoverMaker to generate a free book cover. You can use Photoshop, Gimp (free)or Paint.net (free) to generate additional graphics.
List a few eBooks under the Auction format. This means a max limit of 99p. You can raise the value and specify Buy It Now later on. For now, sell 10 or 20 books this way.
Create some custom HTML for your eBay listing. You can use some basic tables created in a free online editor with images hosted on free blogspot or wordpress blogs. Copy and paste the code into eBay's HTML area of your listing.
Look at eBook sales copy on sites like Clickbank and eJunkie for inspiration. You can even copy their HTML layouts and change the content.
Offer money back guarantees. Never argue with a customer. You can still get good feeback from them.
When you make a sale and receive payment, paste the following script into the PayPal email reply and attact the PDF:

Hello,
Thanks for puchasing ["Your eBook title"] Please read this entire message.

There's good news - Your purchase is an eBook and means you can receive on it right now!
There is no need to wait for a CD-Rom to arrive via postal mail!

Nevertheless, if you would prefer the same eBook in the post, this can be sent to you.

["Your eBook title"] is attached to this e-mail for easy download.

Your book is a PDF file format and can be opened in Adobe Reader.
Most computers have Adobe Reader (if you're unable to read the
book, it means you do not have it). If you don't have it, can get it
free at: http://get.adobe.com/reader/

Thanks again. If you have questions I'm available via this e-mail if you
have any issues accessing your book.

Thanks
[Your name]
PS: Let me know if you have any issues downloading/opening your book,
I'm always here to help!
After you have done this send another message to the buyer through eBay. As mentioned earlier, do this by clicking “Contact buyer” within eBay. Paste the following:

Thanks for your purchase! I just sent you an e-mail to your registered eBay email address. Please check it for instant delivery of the item you ordered from me.
If you don't see an e-mail from me, be sure to check your spam/junk folder, in case it ended up there.

Higher selling limit

As a new seller you're restricted to 100 items per month. This will lift over time. Unfortunately, items marked as unpaid still contribute to the monthly limit. You can call eBay and actually request a higher selling limit. they will ask questions such as what your strategy is, where you source your inventory and what your goals are in terms of the eBay income. If asked say you are an author selling books, and that you ship the content on CD and DVD.

Additional eBay accounts

Though I do not recommend this, you could set up more eBay accounts and flog the same eBooks. The only thing is that you will need to associate new PayPal accounts with these new eBay accounts. Unless PayPal accounts are verfied and linked to a bank account, they are subject to certain restrictions.

Useful links

eBook Maniacs - Free eBay eBooks with resell rights. Be warned some of these free books contain Resell rights disclaimers which cannot be modified. It doesn’t look good to buyers who may resent your recycling old material at their expense. Some of the eBooks on this site have been removed.
Set up a PayPal Buy Now button on your own website - This article was useful in setting up a payment gateway via PayPal on my own site.
PayPal MicroPayments - Upgrade your standard account and pay lower fees for cheaply sold products.
Ebay Listing Analytics - A useful free app to give insight into your selling (sign in to view link)
MyECoverMaker - Free eBook cover maker.
Gimp - Free graphics software.
GetPaint - Free graphics software.
OpenOffice - Free word processing software.

Recipe eBook Tips

If listing a recipe, start the auction at 1p. I have tested by starting some at higher prices but they hardly get a look in. A bidding war sometimes breaks out over a recipe (seriously!) beginning at 1p and ends up around 40p
Some recipes never go further then the 1p you set in the auction. Some of these people have no intention of paying and that’s fine – they just want to trade feedback.
The popular recipes tend to be gourmet deserts and luxurious main courses. Stay away from anything weird or unheard of.
Insertion fees sometimes show up as estimates. Earlier today I listed 49 recipes and I was told I would pay £4.90 (10 pence insertion fee). When I clicked submit and confirm this fee was waived.
Set up the PayPal MicroPayments system has mentioned at the beginning of this post.

Original eBook Tips

Use Photoshop, Gimp (free) or Paint.net (free) to create decent graphics. This goes a long way towards giving a more professional appearance.
You only need to create a good eBook once. You can sell it thousands of times.
Use the PDF export security settings within MS Word to protect the content of your eBook being copied or scraped. This stops people copy and pasting your text. Open Office (free) has similar settings.
Images for the eBay HTML description can be hosted on free blogs like Blogger/Blogspot and Wordpress.com
Use a HTML editor like Dreamweaver or a free online editor to create the additional info in your listing.
You should list your eBook as CD-Rom format to suggest a physical postal item will be mailed. This places more perceived value on the item. When somebody receives an eBook vie email instead of a CD-Rom by post the chances are they will not care enough to pursue a refund by filing a mitigation case through eBay. Always offer refunds just in case. Your eBay rep is more important.
Continue using PayPal MicroPayments for these eBooks. If you intend to sell products over £10 it works out that you pay less fees if you switch back to a normal PayPal account.
Use eBay Listing Analytics

Create and Sell a Voucher Code Service to Local Businesses

2013-03-01T23:23:00.000Z

I am selling a voucher code service powered by Twitter and auto scheduling apps to businesses in my town.

Using the Twitter widget you can display a single Tweet on a business website in the form of a custom discount code. It is powerful, free and flexible.

As a web designer, you could market this service to other businesses, or if you are a business, you could implement it yourself.

This is handy if you take a lot of product/service orders over the phone and ensures that customers are viewing the Twitter feed or website however often your Tweets update themselves. Many businesses using discount coupons never republish codes regularly and have no idea where or when people are obtaining the codes.

In this example I'll show you screenshots from a local business web directory I run for fast food outlets. Scanned menus are uploaded to the website each time they are reprinted and has proven invaluable for many customers. The discount voucher codes are exclusive to the website and encourage repeated visits and orders. I charge a monthly flat fee.

Every Friday the codes change and have been programmed to do so at a specific time. Future Tweets allows this and can be programmed for up to several years in advance. Each code must be totally unique so as not to violate the Twitter guidelines (No recurring Tweets are allowed).

Not all the businesses on my site utilise the codes, but those who do are sharing the same ones. There is no point creating seperate Twitter accounts and individual voucher codes for each business.

As you can see, the codes are displayed in a Twitter feed widget and customised somewhat to match the site colour scheme. The widget is configured to show one Tweet only.

Why would businesses want to use Twitter voucher codes?

Businesses wanting to promote themselves online and have people want to share the URL or engage through social media should consider discount codes via Twitter. Businesses who take orders over the phone regularly can direct customers to their site to grab codes.

With the system I am showing you here, the offer displayed on the website can remain or change while the codes are continuously published. It is a flexible way to market special offers without having to commit to thousands of printed leaflets.You can test and refine at will.

What specific examples of businesses using codes are there?

Businesses receiving orders or appointments by phone are the best suited:

Pizza shop
Hairdressers, stylist, beauty parlours
Domestic cleaners
Coffee shop, snack bar

Step 1: Create a list of unique codes

Create a Word doc table list of all the voucher codes, including the date and time and which they are updated.

Each code on my site is valid for 7 days from 6am each Friday. Do as you like for yours, but make sure each participating business has a copy of this list.

You'll also need this list to program your Future Tweets which will publish to your Twitter feed.

You will be printing and handing this list to participating business owners so make it easy to understand. See an example PDF here.

Step 2: Create a dedicated Twitter account

Create a Twitter account for the voucher codes. Nothing else can ever be Tweeted through this account except the codes. You do want to accidentally have a random profile update appear instead of the voucher code.

A tip: if you have a gmail account you can have two Twitter accounts. Twitter sees a difference between "@gmail.com" and "@googlemail.com"

This simple variation of the same email address allows you to register two Twitters under one Google email account.

Step 3: Set up Future Tweets

Go to Future Tweets and log in/authorise the app. You must first be signed into your chosen Twitter account. Make sure it's the correct account!

Click the "Schedule" tab and paste in your first voucher or discount code. Ensure the time and date matches exactly that from your prewritten list. Every code must be unique. You must not reuse the same codes or they will not publish.

Step 4: Set up Twitter widget

The new widgets provided by Twitter are crap. Don't bother with them. There is no way to configure it to display just the one Tweet.

Instead, go for the old widget code which allows you to customise it to varying degrees. I'm including my own actual code from my website as is.

All you need do is add your Twitter username (minus the @ ) in the .setUser attribute between the quotation marks. Change the size and colour scheme as you please.

<style>
.twtr-widget {
text-align: center;
}
.twtr-doc {
text-align: left;
margin: auto;
}</style>
  
<script charset="utf-8" src="https://widgets.twimg.com/j/2/widget.js"></script>    <script>     new TWTR.Widget({       version: 2,       type: 'profile',       rpp: 1,       interval: 40000,       width: 260,       height: 25,       theme: {             shell: {       background: '#020167',       color: '#ffffff'     },     tweets: {       background: '#ffffff',       color: '#a51dcc',       links: '#cccccc'          }       },       features: {         scrollbar: false,         loop: false,         live: true,         behavior: 'all'       }     }).render().setUser('yourtwitterusername').start();   </script>

Step 5: Test and monitor your Future Tweets discount codes

If you see the exclamation icon next to a Future Tweet, investigate and find out what is causing it. The most common problem is that a duplicate has been published already. You can edit Tweets any time. If you make changes, ensure sure you update the list of codes in the offline Word document you created earlier.

Succesfully published Tweets have a green tick bext to them.

The system has so much potential and is very powerful. Offering or using a system such as this can really drive sales for a small business, with the added advantage of the Twitter subscribe options.

Tips

Check and double check the Twitter codes being published are the same as the ones in your schedule document. The person taking orders over the phone needs to be able to refer to this document and confirm the customer has provided the correct code.
Make sure every code to be published by Future Tweets is unique. If there are two identical codes, it will cause a hold up.
If you're offering this service to local businesses, charge a reasonable flat fee every week or month.

Useful links

Improve Your Sales Pitch #10: Never Stop Learning

2013-02-26T15:40:00.000Z

Schools teach us to read, write and add numbers. In my experience it is a stepping stone to the quest for real knowledge.

The process of truly thinking for yourself begins when you have left formal education and are actively practicing your vocation.

The great thing about learning is that it really is free. After I left university I began studying and actively engaging in business by devouring books and audio on the subject. I got a loan and grant free and attended mentor workshops to get things moving.

10 Ideas for a Better Sales Pitch

#1: Be in the Business of Selling Ideas
#2: It’s Not What You Say, It’s How You Act
#3: Use Mirroring
#4: Make Each Word Count
#5: Ask Questions
#6: Use Imagery
#7: Understand Cultural Differences
#8: Create a Personal Brand
#9: Realise Salespeople are Made and Not Born
#10: Never Stop Learning

The art of persuasion and dealing with people can be learned the same as any other skill.

There are many books on the subject – perhaps too many – so I will suggest a few titles I own or have enjoyed reading. Podcasts or audiobooks are more suitable for those who do not have time to read an entire book.

Use your time wisely by loading audiobooks onto your mp3 player and listening regularly while walking, shopping, performing mundane tasks or in the workplace.

Good reads

How To Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie

First published in 1936, “How To Win Friends And Influence People” by Dale Carnegie has sold 15 million copies worldwide and remains one of the most popular how-to manuals in handling people. It was updated in 1981 with newer, more relevant anecdotes. Years of study and research were devoted to the book which draws on marketing, advertising, psychology, business, relationships and more.

Hundreds of biographies of political and business leaders were painstakingly analysed in an attempt to find the essential qualities of successful human interaction and influence.

I like the book because there is a particular emphasis on decency, understanding and humility, and points out early on that as human beings, we are all creatures of emotion, not logic. If you’re interested in becoming a successful persuader and influencer consider this book, which is also available in audio.

How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling by Frank Bettger

Somebody passed this to me because they thought I’d find it interesting. They were right. The title suggests only people who consider themselves “failures” should be reading such material. That isn’t the case at all. It’s just the tendency of American authors have to write a bestselling title. That’s copywriting 101right there.

Anyway – the premise is of a guy who wanted to play baseball as a full time professional but due to an injury was forced to do something else. Because he was unable to pursue the game he loved – baseball – he was obligated to become proficient in the game he initially hated – sales. This book documents how he improved his prospects by becoming a willing student of self initiated course of self improvement.

It’s similar to Carnegie’s “How To Win Friends…” and a recommended read. One more thing: sometimes these American authors become a little over excited and zealous. I’m sure they mean well so give them the benefit of the doubt and only glean the advice that speaks directly to you.

The Art Of Dealing With People by Les Giblin

This is a pamphlet rather than a book. It’s a quick read so handy if you need to brush up on a few points before a meeting or interview. Body language and communication techniques are the main focus. There are small points about bad habits in communication, such as playing with your ear lobe, covering your mouth when talking, leaning back when another person is talking etc.

I remember lending it to my friend who had an interview and was feeling slightly nervous, but don’t think I ever got it back! That’s okay though since it was inexpensive and he might find it useful again one day!

The Brand Called You: Make Your Business Stand Out in a Crowded Marketplace by Peter Montoya & Tim Vandehey

My local library stocks this book and came as a pleasant discovery. It is about self-branding and effective communication between you, the person, and your client, also a person. A totally faceless organisation may be too aloof or unreachable to many people. Always think about aligning yourself with your target market. Speak to them, not at them, and when you do so, say, “You and I, we’re the same.”

I liked the book and it made me think about the implicit customer dialogue evidenced in the age of web 2.0 and social media. It isn’t uncommon for CEOs to have their own blog, Twitter or Facebook feed to directly to their followers. Innocent Smoothies is one example that springs to mind although conglomerates such as Tesco are having a go too.

Eat That Frog!: Get More of the Important Things Done, Today! by Brian Tracey

Avoiding procrastination is the theme in this easy read and is amongst the first few books I read on the subject of getting things done. Although I read it over five years ago I still remember the principles well. At the time I had graduated from university and was job hunting with a passion so the tips presented were very useful. The title comes from the idea that if you ate a raw frog for breakfast everyday, all the other tasks you must face from then on would appear easy. Tackle the harder jobs first, argues the author, and everything else is less intimidating.

I lent this to a few friends (I do that a lot with books!) who understood the book’s message and acted upon it with success. Do you have kids studying for exams, preparing for college/university or undertaking a personal endeavour? This would make an ideal gift so don’t be put off by the cartoon frog on the front cover! It’s valuable information.

A Broker Checklist for any Forex Trader

2013-02-20T15:25:00.001Z

If you ask any experienced Forex trader about the one thing that is most important in the Forex trading process, you will be told that it is the choice of the Forex broker.

This is because there are a large number of services that a Forex broker provides that you will need in order to be profitable in the long run.

While this is a one-time task, the process of evaluating a Forex broker should not be taken lightly.

Needless to say, the authorized Forex brokers like markets.com needs to be registered with a trading institution and regulated in some manner or another. There is no global regulatory body for Forex trading and therefore association with the Forex trading institutions in the country is important.
Among the various features that you need to check while choosing a Forex broker, the top two remain the Forex trading account and the Forex trading platform. Here is what you need to check about them.

Forex Trading Account

The Forex trading account is an account that you open with the Forex broker in order to trade. This is the account that you credit or debit to buy or sell currencies. Here is what you need to know about a Forex trading account in order to evaluate them properly.

Does the Forex broker charge a flat fee or a commission? On what basis is the commission decided?
What is the policy on slippage?
What are the options that you have to withdraw and deposit funds into the trading account?
What is the leverage offered? Is it the same for all currencies? Is the leverage the same for mini and standard accounts?
Is the spread offered comparable to that offered in the market? Is it fixed or variable?
What is the minimum balance that you need to maintain in the Forex trading account?
What is the minimum lot size that you can trade in? Does it vary across types of accounts? What is the lot size for each kind of account?

Forex Trading Platform

The Forex trading platform is a software offered by the Forex broker that can be used to do all transactions pertaining to Forex trading. It is the application that you will be using most of the time while trading in currencies. Check these via a demo account that is offered by most Forex brokers before you choose a Forex broker.

What is the speed of the platform? Does it execute orders fast enough?
How reliable is the Forex trading platform?
Is it easy to comprehend and use?
Does it provide easy options for technical analysis? What are the pre-prepared charts that you can see?
Is there a separate section for Forex news? How reliable is the news?
Does the Forex trading platform have options for checking the trading account? What are the various tasks that you can perform here?
Is the platform available to download and have an online format? Do they have an option for mobile or tablet trading too?

British Arts Council Funding: Cash for Creatives

2013-02-20T00:12:00.002Z

Do you run a small business in the creative industries? If yes, you might be eligible for a chunk of cash provided by a lottery funding pool.

Arts Council England, the non-profit entity that provide information, support and money on UK arts grants, can help you find out if you qualify for a slice of the £2b public money available to grow or support your business or organisation.

They support many activities in the arts and humanities such as design, reading, dance, literature, music and more.

The mission blurb on the website reads:

Our mission is 'great art for everyone' and we work to achieve this by championing, developing and investing in arts and cultural experiences that enrich people's lives.

An individual may directly qualify for funding, but even if you do not, maybe you work for or alongside an organisation that will qualify for a cash injection. This could benefit the ongoing practice or sales of your art. For example, I display and sell my work at local museums, galleries and libraries. Any one of these public places might be eligible to receive funding to improve their services for both artist and customer. My local library needs to find money to buy more exhibition display cases and the like, so I will be recommending they apply.

Other types of funding are reserved for research and development projects, conservations, collections, restorations, touring, accessibility and more. Although some of this funding is aimed at organisations rather than small businesses, it may still prove indirectly valuable to you as an individual if there is some vested interest in the outcome.

What counts as “art” when applying for Arts Council funding

Combined arts

Festivals, carnivals, art centres, presenting venues, touring circuits and agencies can all benefit from funding if they meet the criteria. High quality work and organisations connecting with and engaging audiences can include artists, producers and companies. Multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary works are considered combined arts.

Dance

Dance includes a vast array of aesthetics and styles. Funding is available to touring companies, development agencies and festivals in addition to individual artists and producers. Audience development and participation is supported and there is much focus on supporting talent, production and distribution.

Literature

Also supported is creative writing, poetry, fiction, life writing, storytelling, spoken word, children’s literature and literary translation. Many different media formats are deemed acceptable and may include publishing, online platforms, live performance and broadcast.

Commercial publishers, broadcasters, libraries and education in England all play a major role in creating one of the most dynamic contexts for literature in the world. The Arts Council focuses support where it may make the most difference.

Music

A wide range of musical genres, artists and organisations are supported too. The aim is to bring the most inspiring experiences from many different contexts to audiences and participants all over the country.

Theatre

Amateur drama groups and local theatre is supported. Work for specific audiences (children or rural communities for example), theatres serving a local audience or companies focussed on writing may all receive funding. In particular, they will champion artistic collaborations and ideas that increase opportunities for a wide range of artists and participants to experience the transformative powers of theatre.

Visual arts

A broad range of media, including painting and moving image is supported in this dynamic artform. The blurring of boundaries and collaboration is notable. Contemporary visual art adds value to public places and spaces throughout England. New galleries such as The Hepworth Wakefield, Turner Contemporary in Margate and firstsite in Colchester have drawn enthusiastic audiences.

A large proportion of funding goes to venues to support the production, display and interpretation of contemporary art. They also fund organisations that commission art, such as Artangel and the Liverpool Biennial, along with a range of other agencies that support artists and help to ensure that visual art of the highest quality can be experienced by people wherever they live.

Grants for the Arts

Grants for the arts are for activities carried out over a set period and which engage people in England in arts activities, and help artists and arts organisations in England carry out their work. Your activity must take place mainly in England although exceptions may be made. Grants for the arts is funded by the National Lottery.

For each different type of funding you apply for, read the PDF documentation (links are included in each section) as well as reading the PDF documentation for Grants for the Arts. Much of the information and criteria set out below is relevant to the other funding applications.

When applying take note of the following:

Submit a signed and dated application form with all the relevant questions filled in.

Submit a filled-in budget in section D of the application form (you may also include a more detailed budget on a separate sheet if necessary).

You must show a balanced budget (that is, your income and spending, including how much you are asking for).

Show a filled-in tour schedule (if you are applying for touring activity).

Write a five heading proposal (explained on their website).

The proposal word count limit is 2,000 words for applications for £10,000 or less, and 8,000 words for applications for over £10,000.

Send a CV if you are applying as an individual.

If you receive regular funding, include written confirmation that your lead officer agrees with you making the application.

If you are applying for a building project, submit a copy of written confirmation from the Arts Council that they agree with you making an application.

If you are an organisation applying for a grant over £100,000 or if you are applying for over £200,000 for a national activity, submit a copy of written confirmation from the Arts Council that they agree with you making an application.

More information and how to apply

Grants for the Arts Libraries Fund

This fund will invest £6 million of the Art Council’s Grants for the arts National Lottery money in projects delivered by public libraries or library authorities working alongside cultural organisations, businesses and artists across all art disciplines.

Public libraries can apply and the aim is to inspire, encourage and develop innovative partnerships. Library users and those living locally will be able to take part in artistic and cultural activities.
Public libraries can apply for grants of between £1,000 and £100,000 covering activities lasting up to three years. The fund opened to applications on 27 September 2012 and will run until March 2015.

The activities supported (selling local art or self published books for example) must be additional to the libraries’ core work. Funding is not available for work in circumstances where a library already receives money from the local authority to deliver its objectives.

More information and how to apply

Artists' International Development Fund

The Artists' international development programme is a £750,000 fund, jointly funded by the British Council and Arts Council England.

The programme offers early stage development opportunities for individual freelance and self employed artists based in England to spend time building links with artists, organisations and/or creative producers in another country.

The British Council and the Arts Council want the programme to produce:

A group of artists and creative practitioners in the UK (and also globally) who have experienced the benefits of working internationally between the UK and other countries and are advocates for it among their peers
Increased international collaboration among artists between the UK and other countries across the arts and creative industries
Development for artists

Artists are able to apply for small grants (minimum of £1,000 up to £5,000). You can only apply to the Artists' international development programme once in any financial year.
If you are interested in applying for the fund, visit the link at the bottom of this section.
There are limited funds available due to significant demand for investment. It is likely that there will be good applications the Arts Council will not unable to fund. You should also think about other sources of investment if this is the case following the outcome of your application.

Funding for film makers
In parallel with the Artists' international development fund, the British Council are administering a separate fund for film makers designed to help emerging UK film talent travel with their work and reach new international audiences. The Travel Grant Fund will support makers of short films in the UK in showing their work at international film festivals.

Visit the British Council's website for further information.

More information and how to apply

Creative Industry Finance

Creative Industry Finance is an Arts Council England initiative offering business development support and access to finance for creative industry enterprises. The initial one-year pilot of the scheme is taking place in London and the Yorkshire and Humber regions, with a total investment of £300,000 across the two regions.

The programme provides practical advice and support for creative entrepreneurs wishing to develop and grow their business as a viable commercial enterprise.

In addition to the business support package, a limited number of business development loans of £5,000-25,000 are available for successful applicants, repayable over a maximum of three years.

Whether you are an artist, writer, performer, designer, producer, promoter, publisher or innovator, if creative content is at the heart of your business this programme may be able to help.

More information and how to apply

Your circumstances

I will be talking to my local library about the Grants for Arts Library fund, because I sell my work there at Christmas.

All year round artists can book a large glass display case to showcase their ways. During a conversation with library staff I discovered they were short of funds for this type of activity.

There is a high demand for arts council funding and their application guidelines suggests you should think carefully about what you would do if you do not receive funding. Of all eligible applications received, about 45% are successful.

Phone: 0845 300 6200
Email: enquiries@artscouncil.org.uk
www.artscouncil.org.uk

Useful links

Grants for the Arts: How to Apply Guidance (PDF) - It is recommended to read this guide together with the specific guide for whatever fund you apply for.

Grants for the Arts: Other Funding Guidance (PDF) - Other sources of funding and useful organisations

Arts Council England Grant Conditions - Information and terms important to your application

Creative Industry Finance - For further information about the creative finance programme and how to apply, visit the dedicated website

Lottery Funding - Information about other organisations that distribute Lottery grants

Improve Your Sales Pitch #9: Realise Salespeople are Made and Not Born

2013-02-16T23:06:00.000Z

“He’s just a natural born salesman.”

I'll bet you've heard this cliche many times.

Has it occurred to you whoever “he” is may well have started out as a bloody awful salesman? For that matter what IS a salesperson? Do you not sell ideas every day of your life? When you want the kids to pick up their toys, when you want your spouse to agree with you, when you want a pay rise, a cheaper deal, and more meat on your plate, you are selling yourself.

The difference between an amateur and a professional is that someone who makes a living from the practice is doing so consciously.

10 Ideas for a Better Sales Pitch

My first ever sales job was one I gave to myself when I was 10 or 11 years old. I saw a kid on my street selling toys outside, so when I moved to a new street I did the same and guess what? The following week ALL the kids on the street were doing it and after that a small group of us became friends and started a weekend car washing business. Sure we got rejected and often spent a whole day walking around town trying to find customers but eventually it made us better car washers.

If an 11 year old child is able to make money knocking on doors and offering a service, think what you can achieve as an adult with unique ideas if you put your heart into it.

Tips

Do not pay too much attention to reality TV business programmes like The Apprentice. It is edited for drama and entertainment. The best sales people are not necessarily television material.
Dedicate yourself to learning from books and podcasts.
Do not be afraid of failure and rejection. It's a natural part of sales and teaches us much.

Working Tax Credits Entitlement for the Self Employed

2013-02-08T14:49:00.000Z

If you live in the UK, are aged 25 or over, work at least 30 hours a week and are on a low income you qualify for government benefit payments known as Tax Credits. You may also qualify if you have a child.

The higher your income, the less Working Tax Credits you are eligible for. This is something you definitely want to look into if you’re starting a business because it gives you some money even if your business isn’t yet turning a profit.

Why Job Seeker's Allowance is not fit for purpose

A person over the age of 25 claiming Job Seeker’s Allowance (JSA) is paid £71 a week, and can work up to 16 hours a week while claiming. However, what you earn is deducted from your JSA, although the first £5 is disregarded.

If you work 16 hours or over, all your welfare payments are stopped regardless of whether you earn ANYTHING. So if you are doing unpaid work to build your business with a view to transitioning into regular paying work, it cannot technically exceed 15 hours, 15 minutes and 59 seconds. This is possibly the most ridiculous policy I’ve ever heard and is something I have experienced first hand.

Be careful of the Job Centre because it is simply NOT compatible with anyone who shows business initiative or self employment ambition. If you are made redundant and end up signing on, you have my sympathy. Bureaucracy – and government policy in general – is surely the enemy of any small business.

If you are running a small business you must fill in something known as a B7 declaration form before every visit to your Job Centre. You will declare how many hours worked and your profit. Do not declare turnover, as this confuses certain members of staff. I’m sorry to say it but they are poorly trained and in some cases downright stupid. Although it was a long time ago, one staff member remarked that my business was “pointless”.

Why you are better off claiming tax credits

If you lose your job but have a business idea in mind, try to avoid the Job Centre altogether. I would highly recommend applying for tax credits immediately because they can take several weeks to process. Simultaneously registering as self employed through the government gateway is recommended.

Assuming you are on a low income, and working the required 30 hours each week (it will probably be double this if you are starting a business) you will receive about £52 a week in tax credits. It may be less than the standard income based JSA at £71 a week but at least you are free to do what you like without worrying about silly rules and mild threats from the Job Centre.

April 2013

Universal tax credits will come into force in April 2013. An income will be assumed from hours worked against the national minimum wage. Clearly, this is ridiculous as many self employed people do A LOT of unpaid work. Be aware of how many hours you declare otherwise you may end up with no support. Apparently, those under the present tax credit system (Feb 2013) will see their claim protected. If you're going to put in a claim, do it as soon as possible.

Tax credit criteria

Have a look to see if you can claim weekly tax credits. The good news is, you can backdate the claim to whenever you started trading as self-employed or as a business.

Let’s face it; being a start-up, your income is likely to go and up and down so the tax credits could be a real lifeline.

If you don’t have children, you need to meet the following criteria to get Working Tax Credit:

If you're aged 25 or over, you need to do paid work of at least 30 hours a week

If you have a disability and are aged 16 or over, you need to do paid work of at least 16 hours a week

If you're aged 60 or over, you need to do paid work of at least 16 hours a week

If you're responsible for children you need to be aged at least 16, and work the following hours to get Working Tax Credit:

If you're single, you need to do paid work of at least 16 hours a week

If you're a couple, your joint paid working hours need to be at least 24 a week, with one of you working at least 16 hours a week

There is a short tax credits questionnaire to complete. Make sure you enter “£0” for your income if you are not in profit due to business expenses. Before you take the questionnaire, set up an Excel spreadsheet to measure your profit (if any), loss and general turnover. Keep a record of all your receipts and marketing expenses, systematically entering the figures regularly. This is very important and will also be useful if you claim housing benefit from your local authority.

How to claim

Once I had all my info and figures to hand, I called the tax credits helpline (through 18185 this cost a mere 3 pence per minute) and spoke to someone almost immediately. A tax credits application form was posted to me and was fairly straightforward to fill out. I did phone at one point to clarify some of the questions the form was asking of me.

Postal address

Tax credits written enquiries

Tax Credit Office

Preston

PR1 4AT
If you write make sure to include a telephone number in your letter. If you're writing about a change of circumstance, mark the envelope “change of circumstances”.

Opening hours

8.00 am to 8.00 pm, Monday to Friday

8.00 am to 4.00 pm Saturday

Tel: 0345 300 3900

Tips

Register self employed at the same time. It’s fairly straightforward. You’ll be prompted to sign up for a Government Gateway account. Sign up as an “Organisation” as this covers business and self employment. Ignore “Individuals.”
Working Tax Credits will soon become known as Universal Tax Credits- evidence suggests this system will be less favourable and assume a certain level of income. Be aware of how many hours you declare.
Have some tip ex handy for filling out your Working Tax credit form. I made one mistake and luckily was able to correct it.
Read the “How to fill out this form” guide that arrives with the form
If you get stuck or become unsure, phone the helpline. It is a mere 3 pence per minute through VoiP
The best time to ring the helpline is early in the morning

Useful links

HMRC: Tax credits website – Guidelines for your application
HMRC: Tax credits calculator – A short series of questions
HMRC: Register as UK self employed – Register as self employed online
Sign up for a government gateway account – You will need a GG account for most services

Ways to Grow Your Business in the Current UK Economy

2013-02-01T07:55:00.000Z

News that Blockbuster has become the latest high-street retailer to fall into administration casts a dark cloud over the business world.

The UK shifted officially out of recession last year and many people thought that meant we’d see a steady rise in business growth again. But, despite this encouraging sign, the UK economy is still in considerable trouble.

Although the government has implemented a series of initiatives to help, small businesses are still struggling to get banks to start lending to them again. Well-managed businesses need loans to promote their growth and start creating more jobs for the economy. But, at the moment banks are failing to meet the needs of small businesses. Smaller financial lenders and quick cash providers are happy to help businesses in need of extra funds to keep up with payments. A small cash loan will relieve your immediate financial strains, but it may not be enough to cover the very large expenses associated with growing a business.

A new revolution in long-term business lending – the idea of peer-to-peer lending – has got small business owners excited as it could provide you with the extra credit you need to start growing your company. According to the Telegraph, this idea could transform the British economy.
Until peer-to-peer lending really takes off, you’re going to have to find alternative ways to keep your business developing and growing.

Find more funding

A key aspect of business growth is investment. As a small business, you need to find funding sources to allow your business to expand and fulfil its potential. While peer-to-peer lending builds momentum, there are other areas you can look to for funding. The main one, although this is not always possible (especially now), is to invest previous profits back into your business. You won’t make a profit while you do this, but in the long-run, when your business grows, it’ll well and truly pay off. Make sure you investigate the government-backed schemes on offer to see if your business qualifies for their assistance. You could also consider selling shares to outside investors as a way of drawing money into your business.

Increase sales

This is easier said than done, but if you can find ways to increase sales to your existing customers as well as bringing in new customers, you’ll be in a great position. There are three types of existing customers to focus on. One-off customers need to be persuaded to become repeat customers and regular customers need to be convinced to purchase more of your products. There are also always customers who have stopped buying from you for whatever reason. You need to find out why and try to bring them back to your business. Remember, it’s usually cheaper to target existing customer than new ones, so centre your efforts on this section of your consumer market.

Finding new customers can be difficult for any business. It’s always good to ask your existing customers to recommend you to family and friends. Another easy approach is to advertise in local media and invest in your online marketing to target specific audiences.

Improve your products and services

For any business, creating completely new products costs a lot of money. Instead of trying to come up with the latest advancement in your field, consider improving your existing products instead. This will strengthen your current range of products or services and keep your customers interested and loyal while you start to build your business. Find out from your customers and clients what it is they like about your products and consider this when making any changes. You’d be surprised how even a small alteration can completely transform a product or service – and demand a higher price.

Link Bait Specific CommentLuv Blog Posts to Market Your Content

2013-01-27T22:04:00.002Z

CommentLuv is an RSS enabled comment system designed to fetch the link of your latest blog post and add it below your text comment. This has potential for marketing a website or products available for purchase.

Assuming your comment is approved by the site owner, your link will be permanently displayed as a footnote of sorts.

The link does not change when you update your blog; that particular post title will forever be associated with the comment you entered even when your blog feed is updated with new content.

CommentLuv is popular because readers are incentivised to engage and leave comments.

I recently published a post on book keeping and expenses. I searched Google for other blog articles that were using CommentLuv focussed on the same topic. I knew by doing this I would have the opportunity to add my genuine views as well as leaving the automatic backlink to my own related article.

Spread the Luv... accurately

To see results with the CommentLuv method, it's a case of repeatedly commenting on high ranking relevant blog posts or sites using CommentLuv. You may see no immediate gain which is why it is best to target sites with whom you envisage long term benefits.

If you're commenting on blogs, but plan on publishing a different article the following day, you only have until then to comment topics relevant to whatever post is currently live on your blog. The existing post remains fresh in your RSS feed.

Remember, when you submit your blog comment, CommentLuv records your RSS feed link as a moment in time.

If you look back at a specific article on which you made a contribution 6 months down the line, you'll notice nothing has changed with your link. It will forever remain relevant to the subject of the discussion.

I often read popular articles and read hundreds of great contributions from other blog authors but their CommentLuv link is wildly off topic and is unlikely to solicit casual interest. If I just read a blog article about business invoicing, will someone's backlink about TV repair in Atlanta pique my interest? No.

Bonus features of CommentLuv

Once you have made a certain number of comments on a site, you will unlock the ability to display any of your last ten posts. Blog owners also have the right to choose whether CommentLuv displays Do-Follow or No-Follow links. It is usually the very generous blog owners who allow such luxuries and I'm usually right in assuming these enabled features are not the rule.

Think about getting CommentLuv on your own site or blog and the chances are the activity and reader interest will increase. Google likes genuine engagement and Matt Cutts has stated the algorithm updates are taking cues from "social signals". In other words, get real people saying real things on your site and Google will reward you in the search rankings.

Avoiding classic commenting mistakes

Hit and run tactics will not work and serve only to frustrate the blog/site owner. One liner comments are transparently obvious as a self serving, selfish and bare minimum effort to fulfill the basic criteria of the required fields and deploy backlinks. Often these comments are automatically generated by spam bots and show up as gibberish or broken English.

Adopting the correct attitude

Relevant and thoughtful remarks submitted through a website or blog's comment system are a thousand times more likely to be approved by the webmaster and viewed by readers – real people who might click through to your site. If you've written an authoritative article, think of your commenting activity as an extension of your perspective and writing ability.

The best blog commentators understand the importance of gaining the trust and respect of those who actively participate in blogging communities. Sometimes, it is better to make yourself noticed on the blog owner's radar first and without dropping links. To be endlessly self serving will only hurt your long term reputation among the already established influencers of a community. If you wish to promote your content in the long term, it will involve a little restraint while you build affinity.

Useful links

DropMyLink- a mini search engine for blogs. You can search CommentLuv blogs

Tips

When commenting on a blog post for the first time, think about leaving your links completely out of the equation.
Build up a rapport with the blog owner and engage with them by email or their forum if they have one.
Reply to other readers comments and try to help them resolve issues or questions.
Actually READ the blog post you're commenting on!
Before reading a blog post, check CommentLuv is enabled and accepting new contributions.
Use CommentLuv wisely. Your latest blog post will be displayed so choose what you comment on carefully.
Copy and paste long comments to the clip board. Having a timeout error or incorrect Captcha can wipe out your lovingly crafted contribution. CTRL & A followed by CTRL & C does it for me.
Some blog owners can choose to allow you to display any one of your last 10 posts. Assume this as the exception and not the rule.
Subscribe to comments updates and be prepared to engage in a lively conversation
Register your email with Gravatar. A small image appears next to each comment you make.

Finance Apps: Could They Benefit You?

2013-01-25T14:01:00.000Z

Are you looking to get your bank balance in order throughout 2013? If so, a finance app or two might be just what you need.

They’ll help you stay on top of your bills, including home insurance, utility charges and affordable boiler cover and give you the peace of mind you need. Here are a few you might want to check out.

UK Salary Counter – iPhone, iPod touch, iPad

If you’re about to change jobs or have always wondered how much you bring home after tax, student loan repayments, National Insurance, pension contributions and other factors, this app is the one for you! Simply enter your annual, hourly, daily, weekly or monthly wage and it will give you an idea how much you’ll have to spend after your hard graft. Payments can be adjusted at any time and you can save your settings for future reference.

Money Smart – iPhone

Money Smart is a clever little application which allows you to track and keep tabs of your expenses, incomes, budgets and bills. Thanks to its intuitive design you can manage reports, analyse multiple accounts and get daily, weekly, monthly or annual statistics at the drop of a hat. You can also email your expenses, track recurring and non-recurring bills and receive payment reminders when money is due. This app can be protected using a password and is available to use on the go making it highly convenient.

Account Tracker – iPhone, iPod touch, iPad

The great thing about this app is it allows you to track spending and monitor balances across multiple accounts. It’s efficient, easy to use and contains a wide range of features that will help you pay bills on time, set budgets, compile reports and enjoy multi-currency support. You can also import historical transactions or bank statements from a CSV file, keep an eye on your savings and separate accounts into groups making personal business funds easy to identify.

Savings Goals – iPhone, iPod touch, iPad

Whether you’re looking to save for a wedding, a new car or just want some money in a pot to pay for other household necessities, Saving Goals can help you out. All you need to do is enter a target amount and date and it will work out how much you have to put aside each week or month to achieve your goal. This app can also produce a savings schedule, so you know exactly when payments need to be made and features a graphical display which will let you see your progress visually.
There are a wide range of finance apps available these days, so it’s worth downloading some of the best.

Useful Links

UK Salary Counter
Money Smart
Account Tracker
Savings Goals

Improve Your Sales Pitch #8: Create a Personal Brand

2013-01-16T22:44:00.000Z

Each of us carries a personal brand – or to be more specific – a preconception held by others. You ARE your business whether you represent a company and answer to someone else or operate by yourself as both owner and sales department. Branding should not be confused with marketing and advertising. They are different though they do have a relationship.

Think about the message you project when meeting others. Talk is cheap and branding goes much deeper than words coming out of your mouth. A brand can be characterised as a subtle promise or relationship formed between two parties, systematically enhanced and buffed to communicate two important pieces of information:

Who you are personally.
What you do.

Establish this information clearly in the minds of your prospects to quickly develop a self perpetuating reputation. You want to get into a position where people will want to buy from you, rather than feel they are being sold all the time..

10 Ideas for a Better Sales Pitch

Madonna, Bentley, Armani, Simon Cowell, Margaret Thatcher, The Rolling Stones, Alan Sugar and Richard Branson are well known “names” and examples of people who have carved out a personal brand to create expectations amongst their followers. It is the reason you like or dislike their message. You either engage to varying degrees or remain indifferent.

A well known comedian can raise a titter with a mere raise of the eyebrow because of the relationship created between himself and the audience. What will your future customers think when you walk through their door? How will they respond?

Use every opportunity to deliver your look, tone, identity and the principles you stand for. Sometimes (instead of telephoning) I visit prospects at their premises just to chat. I dress casual, do not shave, carry a folder and make brief small talk that leads to bigger questions. I listen to people talk about, their lives, taxes, customers, debt and competitors. I listen to everything. That is my personal brand and it works for the clientele I target. If I was selling insurance I might wear a suit.

Having a brand or personal dialogue is beneficial for the following three reasons:

It builds credibility

Recently I visited an Indian restaurant to deliver QR code marketing sticker s and chat about internet promotion. Prior to turning up unannounced, I had several telephone conversations with the owner and his brother to establish an understanding of the marketing potential for their business.

I handed over a business card and also demonstrated how the QR barcode URLs convert hungry customers into instant sales. This impressed them, especially because I offer the service free as a loss leader. A genuine interest in them plus relevant branded materials showed I am to be taken seriously.

It builds relationships

Perhaps the most important stage of selling is the ability to get along with others. Building sales rapport is the process by which you subconsciously gain permission to ask for money in return for what you offer. Rapport goes hand in hand with pre-selling and happens quickly or gradually.

In the fast food QR code example, I am taking it slow. The reason – I eventually want to be working with long term clients who buy from me frequently and repeatedly. This is another part of my personal brand: I do not hold my hand out in expectation and am prepared to prove myself first. With so few clients in my small town I cannot afford to be pushy nor must I be complacent. This brings me to the next point.

It generates leads

A warm fuzzy referral is always preferable to a cold call. It’s even better when the referral is for the same business. I’ll explain.

At the restaurant I demonstrated my website in action, explained research, statistics, vision and reach. I showed the QR code stickers I had designed for all the other fast food restaurants in town, which surprised them. When I finished talking I was immediately asked to design their printed menus.
The same day, at another outlet, the owner brought up the idea of his business sponsoring local football teams and using both our logos and web URLs on the shirts. This was off the back of what I demonstrated as a free service and my commitment to helping them has led to paid work.

Tips

Remember people’s names. It is not often a stranger gets our name right having met once. Get a name right and you’re on your way to building good rapport.

Have a notebook handy and take notes of finite business details. Show you're paying attention.

As soon as you leave the premises or are out of sight, jot down names.

Branding works from bottom to top, not the other way round.It should represent you.

Your visual or printed literature should reflect your ethos and principles. Are you a local person serving the local population? Make it part of your brand.