When you first started your small business, it’s likely that one piece of advice you were given time and time again was to keep a record of everything, particularly if it related to your finances. Although you will no doubt record everything that comes in and out of your business account – as well as keeping any relevant receipts and invoices – in some way, if you’re not recording and [...]

Whatever type of business it is that you operate, it’s extremely likely that at some point, you’re going to need to raise an invoice. If you’re part of a large organization, chances are you’ll have your own finance department to deal with the actual creation of the invoice and all you’ll have to do is pass over the details. And if you’ve been running your small business [...]

When small businesses, particularly those without a great deal of internet knowledge, hear the phrase Search Engine Optimization (or SEO), their natural reaction is more often than not to tense up, become clammy and start to panic at even the thought of learning about SEO – never mind implementing it. However, whilst SEO is without doubt something that requires for a lot of in-depth knowledge [...]

When working in a traditional 9 to 5 role, separating your business and personal lives isn’t a particularly difficult task. You get up, commute to work, spend 8 hours working, commute home and then you’re free to enjoy your own time as you wish, until you repeat the same work process the following day. When you work for yourself, however (whether that’s in a freelance role or you [...]

No matter what industry you operate in, there’s always the possibility of you coming into contact with an angry customer. Whether it’s because you’ve done something wrong, the customer has got the wrong end of the stick on a matter or they’re simply having a bad day, dealing with angry customers is something that is never welcomed (as proof of this, take a look at telephone [...]

One of the hardest problems for anyone to deal with throughout life is being told you’re not good at what you’re doing.  Right from when you were in school and received your first sub-par grade along with a list of what needs improving, no matter how accepting you are of change, it’s difficult to take criticism on board in a positive manner. If you’re struggling to deal with some criticism [...]

If you’re reading this, chances are you’re in the position where you’re in a full time job that you don’t particularly like, have been offering a service outside of this employment on a self-employed basis for a while now and are contemplating making the move to being full time self-employed. If this is you, then you’ve also probably thought about ditching your employment [...]

For any successful business, there will come a time when you think that you could do with an extra pair of hands.  It may be simply to help you keep the administration side of things in order or it could be to work directly alongside you, allowing you to effectively take on twice as many customers as before. If you’re currently in this position and are considering taking on a member or staff, [...]

The 2009-10 tax year finished on 5 April 2010 and if you’re particularly organized, you might have not only received your self assessment tax return in the post, but you could have completed the online variation and received the figure of the amount of tax due for the last financial year. Now, if you’ve kept an eye on your earnings throughout the past 12 months, chances are the figure shown [...]

With the 2009/2010 tax year coming to an end on April 5, if you own a small business in the UK it is likely that you’ll already have had on your doormat a letter from HMRC asking you to complete a self-assessment tax return. If not, don’t worry, it will (unfortunately) be on its way. Whether this is your first or fifteenth year of completing a self-assessment tax return, unless you are extremely [...]