Small Business Matters | A Blog for UK Small Businesses

Would you like to work for a small business?

If not, you should! But don’t just take our word for it. According to the Federation of Small Businesses’ (FSB) recent report ‘Small Businesses, Big Employers’, SMEs offer high-quality jobs. They are more flexible than larger companies, and can respond to the individual needs of employees. We found a similar result through our Intuit UK customer research, where one in five of our respondents had offered flexible working and of those 82% said it had been successful.

The FSB also strongly echo our belief that small firms make a very important contribution to the economy. In fact, they employ 59% of the private sector workforce, and 84% of all new jobs created between 2002 and 2007 across the EU were created by SMEs. And despite the difficulties posed by the current recession, small businesses still want to take on more staff.

In its report, the FSB suggests proposals to make it easier for small businesses to recruit, retain and train their staff and play their part in stimulating economic recovery. One of their interesting suggestions is that the Government should halt all new business regulation for the period of the economic downturn and recovery to let business owners concentrate on survival.

Guest blog: Emma Jones, Enterprise Nation

In the first of our new series of guest blogs, Emma Jones, founder of Enterprise Nation shares some of the findings from her recent UK home business roadtrip. The great news is that the overall feedback from home based businesses was positive. Take a look at the post below to find out more about what Emma learned on her travels!

 

1,233 miles, 18 home businesses and 5 clear trends 

Last week Enterprise Nation, the home business website, went on a roadtrip. Starting in Scotland, the touring team traveled south to meet and film home based businesses in what will become a mini documentary charting the rise in this modern way of working. Whilst out and about, the crew picked up on a few clear trends.

From Scotland to Shropshire

Packing everything in to a single week meant we were able to get a very quick overview of what’s happening in the home business sector across the UK. This is what we found:

Now is a great time to start – the mood throughout the week was incredibly upbeat. One moment that will stick in the mind is when Patrick Elliott (CEO of Business Link in London) opened an event with a question to the audience of ‘Do you think this is a good time to start a business?’ – a ripple of 200 voices came from behind and it was a resounding ‘yes’ – throughout the week we met people who are starting up whilst holding down the day job and others who have come out of redundancy to realise their business ambitions. We met a wide cross-section of businesses and there was nothing but positive chat from them all.

Cyber sisters

A recent Sunday Times Style magazine highlighted the success of female entrepreneurs who are flexing their business skills online. Currently there are an estimated one million female entrepreneurs in the UK, creating an impressive turnover of about £4.4billion combined. From shoes to ethnic greeting cards these ladies are making their mark in the cyberspace.

More and more business women are deciding to leave the bricks and mortar of the traditionally glass ceilinged corporate world, to run their home grown businesses online. Aside from the cheaper start up costs and opportunity to finally turn their creative ideas into reality, these ladies are enjoying the freedom of online business as well as the luxury and independence of being their own boss.

Small Business Advice Week: Intuit talks tips!

As part of Intuit’s sponsorship of Small Business Advice Week, our managing director Pernille Bruun-Jensen, took to the airwaves to discuss the current environment for UK small business owners and offers some top tips on how to succeed.

She chatted with more than fifteen stations around the UK, sharing insights that every small business can use to be more successful.

Couldn’t get to the radio in time? Click on the podcast below to hear Pernille’s interview with London’s Colourful Radio (DAB Digital Radio).

In the segment, Pernille offers these tips:

1. Know where your money is going: Small business owners need to be aware of how much they are spending and for what, along with tracking VAT and making accurate returns. It is important to keep on top of bookkeeping right from the start otherwise there is a risk of forgetting crucial costs or, even worse, failing to invoice a customer.

2. Build and manage relationships to get the best terms: Relationships with banks, suppliers and customers should be checked regularly to be fully aware of all payment dates and their terms. Investigate if there is anything that could be modified to help maintain a healthy cash flow, such as moving key dates and adjusting payment terms.

3. Be sure to get paid: Ensuring customers pay on time or asking them to do it sooner, can improve everyday cash flow as can asking for extended credit terms with suppliers.

4. Forecast cash flow: Cash flow forecasting also helps to plan borrowing, with many banks requiring forecasts before considering a loan.

To see more tips on Cash Flow, Credit Management, Business Strategy, Human Resources and case studies for helping your business succeed, please have a look at our guide.

Tune in for small business top tips and to win QuickBooks SimpleStart!

As we mentioned last week, tomorrow morning Pernille Bruun-Jensen, Managing Director Global Small Business at Intuit UK, will be featured on local radio stations across the UK providing top tips to small business owners on how they can succeed in the current climate.

For more information on when and where you can tune in, please see below:

• Dream 100 FM, Essex (at 09:35am)
• Radio Verulam, St Albans (at 09:45am)
• 91.8 Hayes FM, Ealing, Hounslow (at 09:55am)
• Sunrise Radio National, UK (at 10:15am)
• Sunrise Radio, Greater London (at 10:15am)
• Kismat Radio 1035, Greater London (at 10:15am)
• Easy Radio, London (at 10:15am)
• Phoenix Radio Leeds, West Yorkshire (at 10:25am)
• Durham FM, Durham (at 10:35am)
• Alpha 103.2, Darlington (at 10:35am)
• Minster Northallerton FM, Northallerton (at 10:35am)
• 107 The Bee, Blackburn, Hyndburn & The Ribble Valley (at 10:45am)
• Q102.9FM/Q97.2FM/Q101.2FM, Londonderry (at 11:05am)
• Six FM, Ulster (at 11:05am)
• Seven 107 FM, Ulster (at 11:05am)
• Five FM, Northern Ireland (at 11:05am)
• Westside 89.6 FM, London (at 11:15am)
• Play Radio, Southampton and Winchester (at 11:25am)
• Colourful Radio, UK (at 11:25am)

There will also be competitions to win free copies of QuickBooks SimpleStart (RRP £89.95) on the following stations, so listen out for your chance to win.

• Heart 96.3, Bristol Bristol & Bath
• 96.4 The Eagle, Guildford, Surrey
• 96.4 FM The Wave, Swansea
• Premier Christian Radio, Greater London
• Swansea Sound, Swansea
• KCFM 99.8, Hull and East Yorkshire
• Waves Radio, Peterhead
• Midwest Radio (Ivel and Vale) Somerset, Wltshire and Dorset
• Radio Maldwyn Magic 756, Mid-Wales

Small Business Advice Week 2009

Next week (7-13th September) is Small Business Advice Week 2009, which aims to provide vital information to businesses at a time when they need it most. As companies look to ride out the recession and move forward, business help, advice and support will be a crucial instrument necessary to enable companies to grow.

Throughout the week, a panel of experts will be covering a broad range of issues relevant to UK businesses in the current climate. Some of these include: business banking, IT infrastructure and software, recruitment and training.

We know that in the current downturn, many small business owners are calling out for access to better advice and resources to help them survive and grow. In fact, in our recent customer survey only 23% of respondents felt it had been easy to access external help and advice.

Pernille Bruun-Jensen, Managing Director Global Small Business at Intuit UK (and Small Business Matters blogger) will be featured on several regional radio stations providing top tips to small business owners on how they can succeed in the current climate. There will also be competitions to win free copies of QuickBooks SimpleStart (RRP £89.95).

For more information, take a look at the Small Business Advice Week website or check back here for more updates on when to listen out for Pernille!