Full article with thanks to: freeagent.com/blog/small-business-work-life-balance When you run a small business, work-life balance can be hard to achieve. You might start out expecting to work fewer hours and set your own schedule. In reality, however, the entrepreneurial lifestyle often leads to longer hours and it can be harder to switch off. So if you love what you do but you’re worried about burnout, here are a few tips to help you rediscover that all-important work-life balance. Set boundaries and stick to them Being a business owner doesn’t have to mean being on call 24/7. Setting and maintaining professional boundaries can be one way to improve your work-life balance. If you’re guilty of answering work calls after you’ve just sat down for dinner or working at the weekend to satisfy a last-minute client demand, it could be a sign that you need to set better boundaries. Try to define a …
Boost Your Working From Home Productivity
Full article with thanks to: mbopartners.com/blog/how-market-small-business/five-tips-to-elevate-your-productivity-working-from-home As we discovered in our 2021 State of Independence Report, within the past year, 68% of newcomers to the independent workforce were Gen Z or Millennials. Various benefits, such as improved health and happiness, continue to make working as an independent increasingly appealing to young professionals. If you are a college student wanting to join the community of 51 million individuals working as their own boss, below are five tips to help structure your undergraduate career towards working as an independent professional. 1. Ten Minutes of Morning Movement Whether you are the person that religiously attends the 6:00 am spin class or the individual that will take every second of sleep they can get, you should always aim for least ten minutes of morning movement before logging on for the day. Even if it is just a quick walk around the neighbourhood or some dynamic stretching, morning movement improves …
How Do I Register as a Sole Trader?
Full article with thanks to: mettle.co.uk/blog/how-to-register-as-a-sole-trader Ready to start a new venture? Setting yourself up as a sole trader is fairly simple in the UK. There are about 4 steps you need to cover before you’re fully registered. To be classed as a sole trader, you need to run your own business as an individual and be classed as self-employed. As a sole trader, you can keep all the profits your business makes, once you’ve paid tax on them, but you’re also legally liable for any losses your business makes. To set yourself up as a sole trader you must: Have earned more than £1,000 from self-employment in the last tax year Be able to prove you’re self-employed Want to make voluntary Class 2 National Insurance payments to help you qualify for benefits Being self-employed Not sure if you’re self-employed? Ask yourself these questions and if you answer yes to …
How Do I Build A Website For My Business?
Full article with thanks to: simplybusiness.co.uk/knowledge/articles/2017/01/how-to-build-a-business-website-a-step-by-step-guide According to a recent survey, 81 per cent of consumers now look online before making a purchase. It’s a simple equation: if you don’t have a business website, you’re losing custom. But building a business website can be a daunting prospect – and a potentially expensive one. If you want to get a professional to build your business website for you, the costs can quickly spiral. How I can help you build a business website However, thanks to new innovations over the last few years, it’s now perfectly possible to take a DIY approach to build a business website, and end up with professional-quality results. Read more in our step-by-step guide. 1. Choose your domain Your domain is the address at which internet users will be able to find your site – for example, www.yourbusiness.com. Your first step is to choose your domain. In most cases, …
Where Do I Start Growing My Small Business?
Full article with thanks to: smallbizpod.co.uk/blog/2014/01/07/growing-your-business-where-should-you-start When you are starting to think about growing your business and hiring staff to help you manage your daily tasks as you take on more clients, which department should you focus on growing first? When you are starting to think about growing your business and hiring staff to help you manage your daily tasks as you take on more clients, which department should you focus on growing first? There is no one answer to this. Every business is different and will grow into its individual departments naturally throughout its development. But what are the factors you need to consider when growing your business into a larger, more professional company? Which departments should be on your list and why should you consider one before another? Digital Marketing Everyone’s favourite topic at the moment, it seems that the start-up world is intrinsically linked with marketing. Traditional …
5 Reasons Why Branding is Essential for Small Businesses
Full article with thanks to: talk-business.co.uk/2022/01/24/seeking-investment-5-reasons-to-get-your-brand-right-first Investing in your brand is the single most important thing you can do for the success of your scale-up. It’s incredibly common for start-ups and scale-ups to undervalue their brand, focusing instead solely on the product they’re selling. This is all well and good, but it will only get you so far. Every business reaches a point where the strategies and activities they deployed to build traction and drive repeatable business stop working as effectively. This is where the brand really comes into play and if you don’t address this before going out for investment, you’re missing a serious trick. Investors are looking for strong brands that will yield strong returns. And a strong brand is about a lot more than just your logo and name. It’s about defining a clear, distinctive and confident positioning and having a plan for what’s needed to take that to market in …
Benefits of Blogging on Your Business Website
Full article with thanks to: blog.hubspot.com/marketing/the-benefits-of-business-blogging-ht The Benefits of Blogging for Business One question many people ask after starting a business is whether blogging is worth it in 2021. Short answer: Yes! And here the reasons why we say so. 1. It helps drive traffic to your website. Raise your hand if you want more website visitors. Yeah, me too. Now think about the ways people find your website: They could type your name right into their browser, but that’s for an audience you already have. They know who you are, you’re on their radar, and that doesn’t help you get more traffic on top of what you’re already getting. You could pay for traffic by buying an email list (don’t you dare!), blasting them, and hoping some people open and click through on the emails. But that’s expensive and, you know, illegal. You could pay for traffic by placing tons of paid ads, …
Questions to Ask Yourself Before Starting Your Business
Full article with thanks to: bytestart.co.uk/start-own-business-questions-before The inspiration to start a business can come at any time: in the pub, in the shower, in the supermarket, walking the dog. How many times has someone you know announced they’ve had a great business idea? And how many of those eureka moments ended up as no more than a few notes on a napkin? Why was this? Too much hard work involved? Concerns over starting a business being too risky? Worries about it needing too much commitment? But those aren’t barriers to every business idea taking off; some ideas do make it from conceptualisation to conclusion. The difference? Dedication and passion. And perhaps necessity. In the current economic climate it’s evident the lack of employment opportunities is making working for yourself a way of staying in work, or even getting into work. The rules are no different – the world does not make …
A Quick Guide to Bookkeeping
Learning how to manage your books can be daunting when you’re just starting a new business and navigating the world of self-employment. In time you might choose to hire an accountant, but here’s an overview of what bookkeeping is, and our tips for getting it right. Full article with thanks to: simplybusiness.co.uk/knowledge/articles/2021/09/guide-to-bookkeeping-small-businesses What is bookkeeping? Bookkeeping is an important part of business finance but is often one of the most challenging parts of running your own business. You probably didn’t choose to go self-employed because you enjoy looking at spreadsheets and recording your expenses. You’re happiest when you’re out there doing what you do best, whether that’s running your craft business, selling clothes online, or providing a first-rate service to your customers. What is a bookkeeper – and what do they do? Bookkeepers are required to keep an accurate record of business costs and expenses. Not only does this help with understanding the profitability of …
5 Tips to Get Started on Social Media
Full article with thanks to: marketingsociety.com/the-library/five-tips-increase-your-influence-social-media Social media began almost a decade ago but it’s become a far more prominent and important part of most people’s lives than we could have predicted. It has become a more advanced version of the classic word-of-mouth – and companies try to use it as such. Here are five tips to help your influence through social media platforms. 1. Know your online presence Nowadays, almost all groups, charities, companies, individuals are running a social platform (or they should be). However, to make the most of your online presence, you need to be able to answer three fundamental questions: What is my online presence? For instance, we’ve had clients not knowing about multiple twitter, linkedin and facebook feeds, working inconsistently with different messages Which social platforms best fit my supporter /audience base? For instance, Vine the six-second video sharing site lends sit self very well …