Small Business Matters

Take the Intuit financial fitness challenge

Intuit is searching for 300 small businesses in need of a fitness boost as it launches the latest in a series of government-supported training workshops.

The workshops will take place in Liverpool as part of Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC) – the largest gathering of start-up champions in the world. More than 400 businesses have already benefited from Intuit’s financial fitness workshops since they were launched in November 2011.

Intuit's financial fitness initiative was devised in response to figures from the Office for National Statistics which revealed that one in three businesses do not make it past their third birthday. 

Intuit’s own research into early-stage businesses, the Three-year Glitch report, highlighted that poor financial management is one of the key contributors to business failure and that getting to grips with their finances early is vital to the success of startups.

Get your business financially fit

Intuit is offering 300 places to small and early-stage businesses to take part in the next series of workshops, hosted in Liverpool on 12 March as part of GEC2012. 

Intuit, makers of QuickBooks desktop and online accounting software and one of the main sponsors of this year’s GEC, will host three workshop sessions throughout the first day of the GEC. The free-to-attend workshops offer unique opportunities for regional businesses in and around Liverpool to shape up, with practical advice and training on the key aspects of financial fitness, including:

• Invoicing and being paid
• Tracking income and expenses
• Managing cashflow
• Handling VAT and other taxes

Any advice for our small business lonely hearts?

By Anthony Teasdale

February 14th. An otherwise ordinary day at perhaps the least appealing time of the year is transformed into a festival of enormous pink balloons, teddy bear greetings cards and the sort of restaurant bills that would make Michael Winner think about doing a runner.  Such is Valentine’s Day. 

Despite the advent of online dating, lonely hearts ads still have a certain charm and online and in the press, the personal ads are full of people looking for love and romance. There are plenty of small business people desperately searching for something too. 

Here are some of the best… (OK, some we made up just for fun):

Looking for a LTR

Disorganised businessman, with my accounts in a mess WLTM accounting software that creates invoices, monitors cash flow, manages VAT and tracks sales and profit. I’m looking for a long-term commitment.

Best match? Naturally we recommend QuickBooks. You can even try it free, no strings attached!

Cashflow king

Lovely, trusting business with great product wants to prosper in a relationship with customers and suppliers but keeps getting stung by cashflow. So before I get intimate again I need to know that you’ll pay me when you say you will – I don’t want to do all that work and then have to extend my overdraft again. If you tell me the truth then we can form a flexible relationship but with businesses settling their debts an average of 26.1 days late, I have to be cautious.

Best match:  Someone signed up to the Prompt Payment Code should be interested in going steady.

Let's talk

New business-owner working from home seeks company from likeminded souls for friendship and possibly collaboration. Let’s swap advice and information and chat online.

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.

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:

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.

Going with the crowd: What is crowdfunding and how could it work for you?

This guest post is by Luke Lang of Crowdcube. He gives the lowdown on crowdfunding, which has been hailed as “the next big thing” by a number of business commentators.

The task of securing investment is notoriously difficult for any public, private or social enterprise.  Few people who submit business plans to angel investors, venture capitalists or similar sources of funding are successful in raising the money they seek.

For social enterprises, where profit maximisation is not the main objective, this is often a far greater challenge. Angel investors and venture capitalists remain elusive to all but a few. Banks tend to adopt a risk-averse approach to lending and the Government’s recent agreement will not necessarily make it any easier. Demand for finance continues to outstrip supply.

Making the most of craft events

At this time of year many businesses selling handmade goods or gift-related items are busy attending sales events. Emma Maudsley, the creative mind and hands behind SockMonkeyEmporium, gives her advice on preparing for and making the most of such events.

One of the most exciting parts of being a crafter is being able to get out and about at craft fairs. These could be as simple as a school fete or as complex as a major event at a historic house or football stadium. You can find information about events in your area through various internet sites - stick it in Google and see what comes up.
 
There is normally a fee involved in taking part; make sure you know what is being provided for you - the table is usually provided but not all events include chairs, especially if you need more than one. If you need access to electricity you should certainly ask the event organisers if you can be placed in a suitable space.

Also, be sure that the fee involved is a figure you feel you can afford. I have been offered tables at events ranging in price from £10 to £100 and I price it by monkeys - £10 is one monkey. If I don't feel I would sell more than 10 monkeys at an event then I certainly wouldn't be paying a £100 fee.

Preparation is everything

Prior to the event make sure you are organised. If you have Facebook and Twitter tell people where you are going to be.

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:

Social media mistakes to avoid

Getting the hang of social media can be a daunting task and some small businesses avoid using it because they don't want to become the next notorious catastrophe.

The key to mastering social media is researching the different channels and planning how to best utilise them. However, this process can take time, so we've outlined a few of the most common mistakes to help you make sure you avoid them.

Not tailoring your content for specific media