Small Business Matters

What pop music can teach small businesses

By Anthony Teasdale

The music industry isn’t something you’d immediately think of when it comes to inspiration for running your own business but pop groups have been dealing with the taxman on a personal basis since the days of rock ’n’ roll. And, in a world with competition at its heart, the likes of Radiohead, The Beatles and – yikes! – The Spice Girls can teach us all a few lessons about staying ahead, as well as how to gloriously mess everything up.

Remember the value of good marketing – The Spice Girls

Take five vaguely talented young women, throw in some catchy tunes and add in an instantly memorable catchphrase (“Girl power!”) and suddenly you have a pop phenomenon. When Smash Hits gave them all nicknames (“Posh”, “Ginger”, “Sporty”,  "Baby" and "Scary", of course) and Geri wore that union jack dress, the project was complete. Cue two years of global success and careers that are still going today.

The lesson: No matter how good your product is, if you’re not marketing yourself and telling people exactly what you’re about there’s a good chance you’ll fail.

Treat your fans well – Radiohead

Free downloads, secret gigs, social media interaction, a band that plays at the biggest festivals – being a Radiohead fan means you feel truly valued by the band you love. The band even gave their fans the chance to download an album for free, though many people paid for it anyway. Why? Because they felt real loyalty to the Radiohead brand. And that’s a legacy that will last decades.

Q&As with the Prime Minister - Part three: Finance for startups, health and safety and more

As you may know, Prime Minister David Cameron recently visited the Intuit UK offices for a PM Direct event.  It was a great day and very informative.

For those of you that couldn’t attend, we’re publishing all the Q&As in a short video series.  Here’s the third and final part. 

Advice for entrepreneurs

Health and safety

Finance for tech startups

Local Government confidence in new ideas

National Insurance holiday for small businesses

A questions from our very own Diana Flier, compliance analyst for Intuit UK

What do you think of David Cameron's comments? Is there anything you would have liked to ask him?

Go Global in 2012

Research in the first month of the New Year points to record levels of new businesses being created and high optimism amongst small business owners. Will this confidence convert into international trade and expansion? Enterprise Nation founder, Emma Jones, hopes so! 

Here, she offers four steps to going global in 2012 and announces a series of events with DHL and Regus that will help you along the way. 

This will be a good year to grow sales and Go Global. A sizeable opportunity is opening up with growth in markets beyond the Eurozone where more people are going online and wanting to buy British-made products and services.

Here’s how to make the most of it: 

1. Know your product/service – this sounds like a basic starting point but what I mean by this is focus on your niche. Clearly define the look/feel and cost of your product so you know exactly how to position it in new markets and where to promote it. 

2. Look beyond the Eurozone – in late 2011, the HSBC Trade Forecast predicted that world trade will grow by 73% in the next 15 years, with forecasts showing Egypt, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, China and Brazil to be the international powerhouses that will drive growth.

Could an apprenticeship work for your business? Your questions answered

Today kicks off National Apprenticeship Week and the Government is encouraging more businesses, including small firms, to consider taking on an apprentice.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has published a useful new guide – Apprenticeships That Work: A guide for employers - covering everything that employers will need to know.

The guide includes guidance on workforce planning, choosing a training provider, recruiting and getting buy-in from all staff, as well as lots of other information – it’s well worth downloading.

We’ve pulled out some FAQs to answer some of employers’ most common questions. The following questions have been answered by the CIPD.

Q&As with the Prime Minister - Part two: Tips for businesses, trademarks and more

As you may know, Prime Minister David Cameron recently visited the Intuit UK offices for a PM Direct event.  It was a great day and very informative.

For those of you that couldn’t attend, we’re publishing all the Q&As in a short video series.  Here’s the second part. 

Uncertainty in the solar panel industry

Coaching for small businesses

A great question from Intuit’s very own Alison Ball, our UK head of accountant programmes.

Don’t forget: VAT is moving online from April 2012 – register now

Did you know that VAT is moving online for all VAT-registered businesses from April 2012? Time to get registered as paper VAT returns will soon be a thing of the past.

What’s changing?

Currently, only newly registered businesses and those with turnovers of more than £100,000 have to submit their VAT online, as well as pay electronically. Anyone else can send HMRC a paper VAT return, if they wish.

That is changing from April, when all 1.9 million VAT-registered businesses in the UK will have to submit their VAT returns online, and pay electronically, for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2012.

You may be charged a penalty if you submit your VAT Return on paper instead of online once the new rules kick in.

Why?

According to HMRC, online filing has a number of benefits, compared to paper filing. These include:

February tip: Get professional advice

As part of our monthly calendar tips, our tip for February is:

If you don’t already have one, get an accountant and talk to them about financial management.

To find a QuickBooks ProAdvisor in your area, visit quickbooks.co.uk/february

Here’s why:

You’ll save time and stress

Successful business owners know it's best to focus on what they’re good at, rather than struggling on with something they could pay an expert to do better in half the time. Time spent tearing your hair out over tax forms is time away from doing what you do best – running your business and generating income.

Even if you’re comfortable filling in all the relevant paperwork yourself, with an accountant you’ll have the peace of mind that you’ve filled in everything you need to and that you’ve filled it in right. If you make a mistake you’ll certainly be asked by HMRC to correct it, taking more of your time. However, in the worst case scenario, a tax inspector may want to look over all your financial records

HMRC gives two-day leeway on Self Assessment tax deadline

HMRC has agreed to effectively push the 31 January Self Assessment tax return deadline back to 2 February this year.

The reason is that HMRC strike action is planned for 31 January, meaning that there may not be enough staff on hand to deal with last-minute queries.

HMRC has confirmed: “To make sure our customers are not disadvantaged if they cannot get through to HMRC's call centres on 31 January, we will not impose any late filing penalties for people who file their Self Assessment returns on 1 and 2 February.”

HMRC says that the SA deadline remains midnight on 31 January but that it will treat all returns that come in by midnight on 2 February as though they were submitted by 31 January. No one will have to pay interest on payments due on 31 January that are paid on 1 or 2 February.

HMRC Acting Director of General Personal Tax, Stephen Banyard, said: "We've always been very clear that we want the returns - not the penalties. For that reason, we don't want anyone who can't get through for help and advice on 31 January to be disadvantaged in any way."

Will you have to prove it?                    

Some tax experts have questioned whether HMRC might make people prove that they could not file on time because they were awaiting a response to a legitimate last-minute query.

StartUp Britain Enterprise Calendar launch

A few key members of the Intuit team had a great day yesterday, attending the StartUp Britain Enterprise Calendar launch.

The StartUp Britain Enterprise Calendar is a new, interactive calendar of enterprise events, showcasing Britain’s vibrant and dynamic enterprise community. The calendar should be a great tool for entrepreneurs, signposting them to key events and growth opportunities. You can also submit your own events to the enterprise calendar.

Following the launch of the new calendar, Mark Prisk, minister for business and enterprise, said: “We want 2012 to be the year of enterprise, where entrepreneurs can unlock their business potential. Enterprise events don’t just take place on one day, or during one week, but they appear throughout the year and across the country. We need to make sure people know that there is support and advice available, that it is easy to get, and it is often on their doorstep.”

He added: “The Enterprise Calendar is a great addition to our support for business in 2012 and beyond.”

(pssstt…don’t forget you can download our calendar too, which will also help you keep up to date with events as well as key financial dates.)

Expert advice

“I shifted to QuickBooks and I understood how the business ran. In some ways that was one of the most delightful periods of my life with King of Shaves because I understood everything financially.” Will King, founder of King of Shaves

There was also a panel discussion on the day, with some expert advice from Intuit UK's very own managing director, Pernille Bruun-Jensen, as well as Will King, founder of King of Shaves, Doug Richards, original Dragon, investor and serial entrepreneur and Bob Forsyth, head of UK SMEs at Ernst & Young.

Watch a snippet here:

You can see more short interviews with Pernille over at Business Zone.

Pernille discusses shows how the Enterprise Calendar can help kickstart your business 

Is there a business in you? Intuit’s Pernille explains how everyone can be involved in startups 

New small business resources

StartUp Britain, which Intuit is a sponsor of, has also launched a range of new resources for small businesses. These were highlighted at the event and include:

Download your free month-by-month guide to financial fitness

At Intuit, we know that when you’re running your own business there are lots of things to keep up with, and when they’re all scattered in various places it can be tricky. That’s why we have produced a calendar to pull everything together – you can see all the important information you need at a glance.

Download our calendar month by month as we publish a new tip each time or download it all at once so you can plan everything out right now.

Our calendar includes:

Key financial compliance dates

Self Assessment, payroll, Companies House requirements - every month there are compliance deadlines to keep on top of. We’ve picked out the key dates so you don’t have any unforeseen disasters, or fines! Put them in your computer calendar, set reminders on your phone, stick post-it notes on the fridge – whatever you need to do to make sure you meet those deadlines.

The most useful small business events

Industry events are a great way to compare notes with other small businesses and to meet new suppliers and even prospective customers. However, if you don’t keep your ear to the ground they can pass you by.