Small Business Matters

New businesses and 'silver startups' on the rise

Startup businesses enjoyed a resurgence in 2011, according to the annual Simply Business Start-up Index, which shows the first rise in annual growth since the start of the recession in 2008. 

The research finds:

• A 3% increase in UK startups in 2011
• A 19% increase in businesses started by retirement-age entrepreneurs
• Entrepreneurship no longer confined to London with strong regional growth reported

Jason Stockwood, CEO of Simply Business, commented: “Our results suggest that Government initiatives such as Start-up Britain have inspired would-be entrepreneurs to make their business dreams a reality. It’s now crucial that this support and encouragement continues into 2012 so these fledgling businesses can fulfil their potential.”

Here are the findings as an infographic:

Jason Stockwood added: “With ever increasing life expectancy and more flexibility around retirement, it’s interesting that those in the 60 plus age bracket are considering a second career as an entrepreneur. Starting a business can be hugely rewarding at any age and those with so much experience behind them are in a fantastic position to make it a success.

“It is also encouraging to see London is no longer monopolising entrepreneurism and other regions are giving the capital a run for its money. This trend will hopefully continue as aspiring business owners see success stories springing up around them.”

What do you think? Do you find the results encouraging? Are you surprised by any of the findings?

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?

Small business news round-up (20/1/12)

We search out key small business news stories and articles each week so you don’t have to, leaving you more time to spend on running your business.

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UK may have slipped back into recession

An economic forecast from The Item Club has suggested that the UK has slipped back into recession. The think tank said GDP shrank in the final quarter of last year and would contract again in the current three-month period.It said that even if the eurozone problems are resolved, the UK economy would grow by just 0.2% in 2012.

The Item Club's chief economic adviser, Peter Spencer, told the BBC: "We are probably in technical recession.” However, the economic forecasting group said it did not envisage a full double dip recession.

Small business formations on the rise

The number of small business formations in the UK is increasing, new figures have shown.

According to Companies House data, 435,856 new businesses were registered in 2011, compared to 384,981 in 2010. In addition, registration volumes in the first two weeks of January 2012 are up by 12% compared to the same two weeks last year. 

The majority of these startups are tech firms taking advantage of growing demand for software, apps and online tools.

Find out why self-employment is booming, even in uncertain times.

2012: A small business wishlist

By Anthony Teasdale

It's not often the self-employed ask for help – after all, by our very nature we’re extremely self-reliant. But with an economic downturn that shows little sign pointing in the opposite direction, there's a few things that could benefit a significant number of us in the year ahead.

As someone who runs a small business myself, here's what I'd like to see take hold in the coming months…

Small businesses working together 

Five years ago, banks were queuing up to give small business loans or extend their overdrafts, confident that they’d get their money back – and more – soon enough. Today the situation is very different, with loans increasingly difficult to obtain. In Coventry, a group of business meet once a month to talk with local banks about how they can get finance – and it’s the numbers of people joining forces that gets the banks to listen. Ask around your area and see if anyone else wants to do the same. 

New year, new start – tips for a successful 2012

Firstly we’d like to take this opportunity to wish all our readers a very happy new year from the SmallBizMatters team. Here’s to a great 2012.

Today’s post is by Clive Birnie, managing director of Severn Delta, the company behind the Sarah Smith cleaning products.

So here we go, heading into 2012.  This time of year seems to lead inevitably to a mental audit.  I can’t do much about your willpower for your New Year’s diet but here are my suggestions for good New Year’s resolutions and ways to improve your business this year.

Business trend predictions for 2012

2011 has been quite a year, both in business and beyond – from the summer riots, to banking fraud, and companies and countries alike going to the wall.

In cheery news, it has been mooted that ‘2012 will be the end of the world’. However, David Bowler and Julia Payne,  co-founders of business consultancy Incisive Edge,  believe it will only be the end of the world for those entrenched businesses which choose to hide.

They comment: “Those businesses which simply work to protect the balance sheet, and fail to invest in growth in a brave new world, will not succeed.”

Here, Payne and Bowler offer their predictions for business trends in 2012:

Top tech tactics for productivity

This post is written by Francesca Geens. Francesca runs Digital Dragonfly a technology consultancy that specialises in one-person businesses. Francesca is especially interested in productivity and the use of technology to improve people’s day-to-day business lives. 

Technology is supposed to make our lives easier but from experience with my clients I think most people will agree that it doesn’t always feel this way! So what are the three easy steps you can take to increase your productivity - or better put, your tech sanity?

Instead of the usual long list of favourite productivity apps, I thought I would add some best practice into the mix as I find that this can often make the biggest difference.

Finding the business idea that’s right for you

This guest post is by ReeRee Rockette, who owns Rockalily Lipstick as well as a creative business group called Wonderful Women: Minding Our Own Business.

I meet many people who dream of being self-employed but just aren't sure where to start. They don't feel they have a stand-out talent or skill, and just don't know what they could become. I definitely know the feeling - I had no clue what I would be if I wasn't a teacher and when I quit, I still wasn't exactly sure!

What follows are some of the strategies I used to discover my new career:

Three key reasons that start-up businesses fail – and how to avoid them

Starting a businesses is a brave thing to do but you have to be realistic. Entrepreneurs are often full of ideas but if you don’t pay attention to the nuts and bolts of being in business your company could fail before your product or service has had chance to reach its full potential

Figures from the Office of National Statistics show that one in three businesses fail in their first three years of business. Here are some of the issues to avoid to try and make sure you don’t become one of them.

Don't forget to check out the end of this post for the opportunity to get some face-to-face help too.

Are you ready to go global with your small business?

Over 65% of businesses are going global within their first year of trading, according to a survey carried out by small business support company Enterprise Nation and international trading platform Alibaba.com. 

 Below Emma Jones, Enterprise Nation founder, reveals a few headlines from the survey and presents a call to action for start ups and small business owners to attend the upcoming series of Go Global events during Global Entrepreneurship Week.

Headline results

In October we carried out a survey to find out how fast and well companies were going global. Here are the key findings: