How to grow your business - lessons from a serious entrepreneur.

1. Network and be curious
2. Cover off the risk
3. Listen and change your business model

These are just three of the points that David Cleevely made in this masterclass of a presentation, delivered at Drive Cambridge.

David is an internationally recognised entrepreneur. His expertise has built and directed many companies, including creating over 30 himself.

In Cambridge he is best known for his work with Abcam, Cambridge Network, Cambridge Angels and Raspberry Pi.

Business Weekly described David as, "An intellectual heavyweight who has worked tirelessly to get government to understand what makes academia and business tick."

This presentation is an understated masterclass in how a truly successful entrepreneur thinks and acts, with lessons, insights and inspiration for everyone, from a new freelancer to an established business owner and everyone in between.

 

David Cleevely DRIVE Network lessons for small businesses

Just a handful of David's achievements...

1997 co-founded Cambridge Network with Hermann Hauser, Alec Broers, Nigel Brown, Fred Hallsworth and Anthony Ross.

1998 co-founded biotech company Abcam plc and was chairman until November 2009.

2001 co-founded and became chairman of Cambridge Wireless.

2001 co-founded Cambridge Angels, who have invested over £20m into 40 companies in the Cambridge area.

2004 co-founded the 3g pico base station company, 3WayNetworks, which was sold to Airvana in April 2007.

Between 2005 and 2008 he was Chairman of the Communications Research Network at University of Cambridge, part of the Cambridge–MIT Institute.

2007 co-founded and became the Chairman of the spectrum monitoring company CRFS, which has subsequently carried out the first ever UK-wide spectrum monitoring.

2008 became the Chairman of the scanning ion-conductance microscopy company ionscope.

2009 became the founding chairman for the new Centre for Science and Policy and in 2012 joined forces with Hermann Hauser and Jonathan Milner to launch a seed funding round to create a Science Centre in Cambridge.

2009 joined the board of Raspberry Pi (Trading) Ltd.

He funded and became chairman of the Bocca di Lupo restaurant in Soho, London in 2008, and of its subsidiary, Gelupo, in 2011. Bocca di Lupo came top in Time Out London's 50 best restaurants for 2009, was a runner-up in the Observer Food Monthly Awards 2010 and was named by Restaurant Magazine as the 23rd best restaurant in the UK at the National Restaurant Awards 2010.

2013 invested in Cambridge restaurant The Pint Shop (whom we have heard from previously at Drive).

2014 became Chairman of the Raspberry Pi Foundation and of Raspberry Pi Trading.

2015 saw him also join the Digital Economy Council.

 


Everything you need to know about business and personal finance ...

How do you know what you need to need to know about business and personal finance?

This is one of those topics that many business owners shy away from.

It's not exciting or cool.

It's not clamouring for your attention.

It's easy to ignore.

That is, until you can't ignore it any longer and then you wish you'd paid more attention sooner.

This is why we asked Andrew Hawkins to host an Ask the Expert session on "Everything you've ever wanted to know about business and personal finance but were afraid to ask" 

Following experience in banking and insurance in the City of London, Andrew has spent 25 years as a business consultant, offering practical solutions to business owners as MD of business strategy and funding specialists The Mercantile Group.

This is a compilation of a live Q&A and there is a quick check list of other questions you may need to ask at the end!

Basic requirements for every business 

Q. What are the basics that every business owner needs to consider Andrew?

Andrew Hawkins The minimum requirements for any business are: Insurance of people, things and liabilities; banking; cashflow projection; business plan; good advice and a tax plan which, in simple terms, is a good estimate of likely tax liability.

Insurance needs to cover your office equipment and anything you need to run your business, possibly Public Liability to protect the business from claims of injury, Employers Liability – if you employ anyone this is a legal requirement, and is usually included with a basic policy - and perhaps Professional Indemnity if you are giving advice. Also check your car insurance to make sure you’re covered for business journeys, especially if you’re claiming motor expenses through your business.

Ideally your business needs to be a separate legal entity - so that means either a Limited Liability Partnership or a Limited Company. If you’re a sole trader at the very least you should have a separate bank account for your business.

You should also consider protecting I.P., trademarks and other ways in which your business might be vulnerable.

Insurance

Q. I have professional indemnity, equipment etc. insurance for my business and as a family we have life insurance which covers critical illness and accident. I don't want to duplicate insure myself (especially when various places have loads of small print that means they often don't pay out).

Andrew Hawkins This can be an issue. A detailed review of a family’s insurance requirements in parallel with those of a business is complex - but essential. Probably needs a qualified Financial Planner.

You can get various sorts of Permanent Health and Personal Accident cover which will pay if one has a major accident - e.g. loss of a limb/eye - or suffer a long-term illness. “Normal” health cover provides for private treatment if the NHS cannot treat you quickly.

A lot of trade or membership organisations can provide this sort of cover, often at discounted rates.

Q. Are there financial planners that specialise in self-employment?

Andrew Hawkins  Some will be more au fait with business matters generally but finding a good Financial Planner is a challenge. Personal recommendation can be useful but the circumstances of the person doing the recommending needs to be similar to yours for that to have any value.  If you can’t get a personal recommendation try asking your accountant, bank manager (good luck with getting to speak to one), solicitor or another advisor. It’s important to have a really strong personal relationship with a financial advisor/planner and to ensure that s/he really understands your full personal and business circumstances. The regulations should ensure that a qualified planner will delve into everything but it’s important that s/he understands the relationship between your personal and business finances.

Q. This is a great reminder on the different insurances - thank you. I have PI as required for my Practising Licence, but should think about more (perhaps when I'm making a lot more :-D )

Don't mess up your taxes!

Q. What are the things you see that most business owners trip up on?

Andrew Hawkins The most common thing is not setting aside enough money to cover the tax bill and not being covered for illness or accidents that prevent them from working and therefore, earning.

The things people really need to avoid messing up are VAT and HMRC payments (these officials can close your business at a stroke!) so these should always be set aside every month so that those obligations are met without any problems.

It’s worth mentioning here that if something does go wrong and you can’t meet any obligation, payment or debt, the earlier you talk to the people involved the better. Usually it’s possible to negotiate a payment plan if you are honest with them and don’t try to ignore the problem! If you aren’t happy negotiating with HMRC – ask around to find someone with a good track record of doing so successfully.

Q. I wince when I hear freelance friends who haven't put enough aside for tax (and don't know about the payment on account thing!)

Q.  My accountant tells me how much I need to set aside each month for corporation tax but I always set aside more than this to my tax savings account. I consider this untouchable and it gives me a good buffer in case anything goes wrong.

Andrew Hawkins  The ‘buffer’ arrangement is a great habit to get into.

If you’re self-employed you’ll be asked to complete a tax Self Assessment form each year for the tax year, 6 April – 5 April.

If you file a paper return, it’s due by 31 October. If you make an on-line return, it's due on 31 January the following year. The tax due is also payable by 31 January. This is why it's not a good idea to leave it to the last minute! There are penalties for late returns and late payments starting at £100. Where necessary you’ll be asked to make an ‘on account’ payment in July and this can catch people out if you haven't been setting aside monthly installments in a tax or savings account.

Pension Provisions

Q. What about investing for the future? My company pension plan with Prudential has been dormant for 14 years, since going self-employed. I don't know whether to resurrect that, as it already has a bit of a (small) pot. Or continue to haphazardly put money in ISAs. Or both? What about new things like PensionBee where they'll merge your pensions (I also have a tiny amount in another one!) Investing in a pension is also deductible, isn't it?

Andrew Hawkins Pension management requires specialist advice and yes - contributions can be tax deductible. The regulations change quite often so check that whoever you consult is up to date with the right information.

This is something a lot of people put off but with life expectancy increasing all the time, its a really good idea to get this sorted as soon as possible.  

Mortgage requirements

Q. Something else that worries a lot of self-employed people is that it may be harder to get a mortgage than if you're employed. Any advice?

Andrew Hawkins As an employee of your own limited company it’s fairly simple to prove your income but if self-employed the mortgage providers know it’s a more complicated calculation and often require independent proof over a number of years from an accountant for example.

Q. Personally, I haven't had a problem but I've been self-employed for a while! You generally need to prove your income over 3 years. With one re-mortgage, I did need to get my accounts certified by an accountant who was ACA qualified. It wasn't my accountant I just used them for that purpose. My accounts had been set up by a bookkeeper using QuickBooks, so it was fairly easy for the independent accountant to verify everything.

Q. So someone who wants a re-mortgage but hasn't had an accountant up until now shouldn't be put off?

Andrew Hawkins Each case is different and depends on the mortgage provider, the type of business, length of trading etc. Again if you’re using a qualified financial planner they should help with the documentation.

Bookkeeping and Accountancy

Andrew Hawkins People often confuse bookkeeping and accountancy. Good bookkeeping - whether by the business owner or a contractor - is an essential day-to-day business activity and can help with cash flow, profitability, decision making and many other things, whereas if you just get your accounts made up once a year, this means that your accountant is mainly dealing with history.

Accounting (for Limited Companies) is not rocket science but it is extremely complicated.... It's concerned with Legislation for Companies, Tax Legislation, relevant Accounting Standards, case law, and often "de-coding" the bookkeeping.

Both S(&)ME, accounts *should* be straight forward. However, that needs adequate bookkeeping, and if people favour doing it themselves, rather than paying for the expertise of a qualified bookkeeper then the risk is that the accountant gets unsuitable records, and... well... "crap in = crap out"... A qualified accountant needs to highlight Directors' responsibilities in this respect and the fact that not fulfilling them is technically a criminal offence!

 In the event of illness or death …

Q. What about in the event of my death? (Cheery, I know). But I'm concerned if I go under a bus my poor husband will need to untangle all my business financial affairs. Is there such a thing as a separate will for the business? And what kind of professional should be the one dealing with my business in the event of my death (speaking as just an owner-manager at the moment!)

Andrew Hawkins We should all give thought to this. If clients have paid a deposit and for any reason you can’t complete the work, do they get a refund from your business? Do they own any work / collateral you’ve already completed for them? Issues like this should be covered by your Ts & Cs and any contracts you enter into.

Your will(s) should include any shares and how they will be dealt with - obviously another good reason for NOT being self-employed. The company shareholders agreement should cover what happens and whether the inheritor of the shares will have any executive/management input in the business.

Similarly, if you have a shareholder or investor and they die, leaving their shares or investment to a family member, you may not want that person involved in your business. Similarly, if their role is to contribute to or work in the business and they fall ill so can't fulfill their obligations, this should all be considered and agreed before issuing shares. We always recommend spending some time working on a Partnership Charter and/or a Shareholders Agreement if you are going into business with another person.

Q. What if I don't have a person in mind to be the executive/manager? I can (at the moment) quite easily give the shares to my husband, but he won't want to run the business. How does one go about finding someone who would either sell, run or dissolve the company if I die?

Andrew Hawkins Either you need someone in the business who can take over – usually set out in a continuity plan that some clients require - or you need appropriate legal and accountancy advice to set up how you wish things to work in those circumstances and you may need to consider a number of different scenarios.

Q. For our Practising Licence we have to have a "back-up" Accountant if we have more than 7 clients. It's a pain, and hard to find someone one trusts, but good when it's done.

Ann Hawkins Having seen the chaos caused by an accountant who just went off the radar due to illness, leaving his clients with fines from HMRC (and is now back in practice!) so I strongly recommend that anyone who engages someone in a position of trust like this investigates their continuity plans!

Rainy Day Funds

Q. How many months income do you think people should set aside as a buffer / rainy day fund, both personally and for their business? I realise that there are lots of variables, but is there a general minimum that you suggest to people? For example, I'm a bit concerned about the best way to use resources as I don’t want to stop the business from growing (and me from doing things I want to do personally), but also want to reduce the risk of getting into financial difficulties.

Andrew Hawkins Two different things here Emma. A buffer or ‘rainy day fund’ is always worthwhile to protect against illness, bad debts etc. The amount you need will depend on what insurances you have in place and how quickly you can replace your income. If you have employees and payroll obligations, ideally you’d want to be secure for 6 months, but for a sole trader 2-3 months cushion should give enough room to avoid a disaster.

This also depends on how quickly you could re-establish a business if you had to close down. There are lots of cases of businesses closing one day and re-opening the next with a different name.

Q. I definitely over estimate tax, and I'm always saving for it out of the year it's incurred rather than the year it's due. 6 months buffer isn't a massive stretch from where I am at the minute, but I think I need to strike the right balance between putting the buffer in place and not holding back the business in order to do so.

Q. Definitely strike the balance. 6 months buffer and I'm relaxed but if not spending money is holding back the business I'll happily skim 2 months off.

The questions you may not know to ask

We're aware that some people just don't know what to ask on this topic so here's a quick checklist of things that every business needs to consider:

  1. Basic Business Plan
  2. Business name registered and protected / trademarked
  3. Business bank account
  4. Accounting system
  5. Payments app/card machine
  6. Insurances
  7. Pension
  8. Enough money or support until profits become regular
  9. A rainy day fund or buffer of between 2 - 6 months
  10. Incorporate limited company/Limited Liability Partnership at Companies House
  11. Register domain name(s)
  12. Bookkeeper, accountant, lawyer, other advisors
  13. Website, email, internet security, and data protection support.
  14. Communications, phone systems, admin support.
  15. If employing people (or yourself) apply for an Employer Identification Number/register with PAYE.
  16. Register for VAT with HMRC if turnover will exceed £85,000 (currently) in first 12 months – or if you or your advisors feel registration will be advantageous. Investigate ‘cash’, ‘annual’ and ‘flat rate’ payment schemes.
  17. Working space
  18. Suppliers
  19. Networking / support group
  20. A mentor/advisor to help you work on your business not just in it.

If you have any specific questions or would like to discuss a growth strategy for you business, you can contact Andrew by email or through the Drive website.  


How to set up your business to be saleable

Could your business be attractive to a potential buyer?

Whether or not you're thinking of selling your business, these tips are worth following as they'll make your life and your business much easier to run!

How to set up your business to run without you  includes five free templates.

In this session, Ann Hawkins, MD of Drive the Network and Inspiring Entrepreneurs and Andrew Hawkins of The Mercantile Group, share their experience of how to make a business attractive to potential buyers.

This is a transcript of a live Q&A

What puts potential buyers off?

Q. What are the key things people get wrong in terms of not setting up their business to be saleable?

Ann Hawkins I'd say that main thing is in making themselves indispensable. That's why we started with Louise Lee last week with strategies to overcome that problem right from the start.

The other is in taking all the revenue out of the business, not showing a profit or paying tax. A buyer wants to see profit potential and some good accounts that show the business is being run properly and responsibly.

Q. Should we be thinking about this from day 1 (or if we've already started, ASAP)?

Andrew Hawkins 2-5 years before you want to sell is the minimum. It can take a lot longet than most people think!

Ann Hawkins As you all know, my favourite saying is "Start with the end in mind". If you set your business up with an exit plan in mind it can influence the decisions you make about the business is structured and it gives a clear focus right from the start. Even if you decide not to sell, setting your business up to run without you is the best way to grow it and stop you from burning yourself out!

Q. Is there a 'business eBay' where we can see what's selling and how much for?

Andrew Hawkins There are various agencies - but beware they all want to take your money! Hilton Smythe and Knightsbridge are examples - not recommendations.

Ann Hawkins This has always been a good "business marketplace" DALTONSBUSINESS.COM

Q. Are some types of business generally more valuable or easier to sell than others? E.g. products, services, websites, bricks and mortar

Andrew Hawkins Each business will be valued - although the methods of calculation vary - and compared to similar businesses. Generally ‘small businesses’ will be valued between 2 and 10 times annual profit.

Ann Hawkins If its a product, you'd need to show you own the intellectual property, trademarks etc.

Q. If you were starting a business today with the intention of selling it in 5 years time, what type of business would it be (asking for a friend 🤣)?

Andrew Hawkins Little effort, highly profitable, mostly automated. Recent trends suggest tech businesses are the easiest to sell.

Ann Hawkins Just think about some of the buy outs with big $$$$ in recent years. They're nearly all software businesses - and a lot are B2C consumer / services. Some haven't even made a profit but have huge subscriber lists and that's what they've been bought for. The buyer wants to sell more or advertise to those subscribers.

Q. Other than high profitability and low effort, what can help make a business attractive to potential buyers? I assume a coherent set of accounts is a good start?

Andrew Hawkins Coherent accounts - and credible. No surprises or hidden loans to directors etc. The other issue is a good team with complementary skills. The purchaser may not want the founder/MD for very long but a strong team is always attractive.

Ann Hawkins It can be something that's a match with what the buyer is already doing or they see you as a competitor and want your customers. Another reason could be that your business adds something to their current offering - think AirBnB who bought Martyn Sibley's Accommable (accessible accommodation portfolio)

Q. Let's assume it's easy to demonstrate coherent and credible accounts and the buyer sees me as either a competitor or a good fit. How do I demonstrate I have a strong team?

Andrew Hawkins You should be able to show that your team has the skills to cover all the basics: Product/service knowledge, marketing/sales, finance, operations.

A ten point checklist

Ann Hawkins Selling to an outsider is only one option. You might want to allow an employee to "buy in" with a view to taking over when you're ready to retire. If you've got a succession plan in place, that can be attractive to a potential buyer too as it means they've got someone ready in place to run the business if they don't want to do it themselves.

Andrew Hawkins  Often a great way to plan succession. A management buyout. You have some control over who is involved and negotiations should be more amenable. Other options include a management buy-in where a new external team is put together to buy; a straight ‘trade’ sale; a merger with a mother company - or even an arranged takeover by another business. Here’s a check list of things to think about, but most importantly plan early (2-5 years ahead) and consult an independent specialist (not a sales agent) at the earliest opportunity.

  1. Plan ahead 2-5 years
  2. Minimum 2-3 years profitable accounts
  3. Ensure accounts are ‘clean’
  4. Don’t try to avoid paying corporation tax
  5. Need good level of profit over a number of years to attract buyers
  6. Calculation of price is often dependent on level of profit
  7. Make business less dependent on founders/MD
  8. Most non-retail businesses require preparation of a credible proposal
  9. Non-retail agencies can help attract potential buyers
  10. A simple up to date business plan

Q. Individually I understand the words in point 8. Collectively I don't. Would you explain please? :-)  Oh and how does one manage to avoid paying Corp Tax? I'm asking for a friend 🤣

Andrew Hawkins A credible proposal is a sales document demonstrating the history, current position and future prospects. Plus a credible reason for the sale.  As for avoiding tax ... well.... that would be ..... Anyway - don’t do it - if you want too sell - pay the tax on your lovely profits. 😁

Q. What would a simple business plan contain?

Andrew Hawkins Very briefly - as each plan is different - a simple business plan needs to be completely up to date and easily understandable by an outsider who may have no knowledge of your trade or sector. It should include all the necessary financials - P&L, Balance sheet and cashflow projections. It needs to tell the reader what the business does, how it started, what exciting prospects it has for expansion and greater profit, the founder and the team together with CVs, description of product/service, competitors, SWOT analysis, marketing/sales plan, risk and reward.

Want to keep your intentions to yourself?

Ann Hawkins We're aware that not everyone wants to broadcast their intentions of thinking about selling their business so if anyone wants a private chat just send us a message!

You can find us on Twitter @AnnHawkins @Andrew_Hawkins  or contact us through the Drive website!

 


Email marketing for micro businesses workshop

Is email marketing dead? Absolutely not!

In fact according to the Direct Selling Association, email marketing’s return on investment (ROI) in 2018 was 'up' to £32.28 for every £1 spent, from £30.03 the previous year, despite all the fears about GDPR.

Unfortunately many micro businesses struggle to email their audience consistently, for a variety of reasons:

  • They aren't sure which email marketing service is the best
  • They aren't sure which content to send and how often
  • They don't want to bug people
  • They don't have the time OR don't see enough value in it to do it consistently
  • They don't want to invest money in it
  • They don't want to get into trouble (e.g. GDPR)

Helen Lindop addressed all these worries in her workshop, and gives simple, practical tips to get past them. Here's the replay:

You can download the PowerPoint presentation here.

Helen has a number of useful posts about email marketing, how to choose the right CRM for your business, the difference between CRMs and email lists, and much more at  www.helenlindop.com/blog

You'll also find her on Twitter @HelenLindop


Martyn Sibley

How to grow an audience for your service or product

How to find your tribe

You’ve got a great service or product. You know it’s going to help people. But how do you start getting the word out? How do you create an audience who want to hear from you?

Martyn SibleyMartyn Sibley has grown two successful businesses, selling one of them to AirBnB. He was recently voted the third most influential disabled person in Britain, has a blue tick on his Twitter account, and is now focused on helping world-changers to run social enterprises.

He started out by growing an audience online. We asked him to take questions from our members about how to go about it.

This is a transcript of a live conversation. 

Can you grow an audience organically on social media?

Q. Did you use any paid advertising or was it all organic, networking, building relationships etc?

Martyn Sibley Only now am I really considering paid for media. Mainly as I've learned how to package up information products and sell at scale.

Therefore it was all free and organic. Therefore the risk/cost was only my time.

Q. Great, I'd like to know what methods work best, then!

Martyn Sibley You'll be unsurprised to hear me say it depends on the situation.

Partly I think creating content in a way you prefer is good. Because you'll be more comfortable and passionate. That said it's healthy to push your comfort zone sometimes. Overall create in a way you like to.

The next part is about your business plan and marketing plan. Who are your audience? What are their likes and interests? Where do they hang out? What do they believe?

When you know their relevant aspirations and why they're stuck (which is why your working all these hours to provide a solution), you can attract them with suitable content on suitable media.

So think demographics and personality traits. Then the tools will become more obvious.

One other point to make is there's always trial and error. Plus new tools come along and evolve. So updating social media plans are important.

How much time does it take to develop relationships through social media?

Q. Social media is often reported as the game changer in developing these connections - the time this takes is much longer than people envisage. How much time did you allocate to developing your social media relationships? Did you do this activity yourself or outsource to others?

Martyn Sibley When I started I was working full time for a large national charity. My strategy was to tell my story, build my community, with Calls To Action (CTA).

So I started with getting martynsibley.com live, planning appropriate content, and actually writing/recording the content.

Once I had live content, I spent an hour or two per night and over the weekend just joining relevant conversations. Back then in 2009 I found Twitter better for keywords and influencers. Nowadays I use Facebook groups like this more, because I have my own tribe.

As things evolved, we launched www.disabilityhorizons.com, volunteers joined our mission, and I have support from others with things like researching other content to share, scheduling daily posts in advance on Hootsuite, and engaging with the tribe.

Overall I agree, it takes more time than people would like. But when you're in something with passion and the long run, it's a case of knowing you have time and to create lasting relationships.

Relationships lead to collaboration, customers and friendships.

Q. Advocates/case studies - can be great, they can be hard work to onboard and sometimes fail to deliver any real added value. Did you use advocates/case studies and how did you decide where the best 'fit' applied?

Martyn Sibley We haven't really pushed for and used official testimonials. Our social media following and engagement does that for us.

Really we're talking about social proof. Rather than think too specific about testimonials, like people get stressed about which social media channel to use, it's better to be clear on business plan and marketing plan, and find tactics that are effective without needing to take ages to do.

Our community are the business. We exist to serve them. As long we remember this, the word of mouth happens because we're delivering value each and every day.

[pullquote]Relationships lead to collaboration, customers and friendships.[/pullquote]

Q. How early in the process of developing the service/product should you start building an audience?

Martyn Sibley This depends. I started with a mission; to make the world inclusive and empower disabled people. So I started with the audience. I broadcasted my message and created a tribe of like-minded people. We learned from our community what they needed, and gave them solutions.

Conversely, if you know your product/service, then the other way round is fine too.

The main advice I can give is to use social media as a dialogue. Not a monologue. This way people can be part of the process. Feeling more engaged. And ultimately they become happy and loyal customers

Top tips for growing your audience

Martyn Sibley Some other thoughts:

  • Having a content calendar helps to plot out the needs/interests your audience have, and what you're going to publish when.
  • If you're comfortable, be open. People don't just buy from businesses, they buy through trust from people they like.
  • Try to use images and videos where possible.
  • Promote your mission/vision way more than your product or service. Particularly support others in your tribe. Nobody likes to hear about features and discounts all the time.
  • Find your tribe on social media and also at networking events (like Drive!). I spoke loads for free, which always lead to something else.
  • CTAs (Call To Actions) can be anything from; subscribe to email newsletter, follow on social media, share your opinion on this, answering a poll, signing up for an event and then sometimes 'buy now'.
  • Think in funnels. Where are people on their customer journey? How do you convert prospects into customers? How are you managing customer communications (see last week's ATE)?
  • Do fun things like giveaways and competitions. Generally be joyful and playful. Business doesn't have to be serious.
  • Finally, always seek feedback and listen to your tribe. They are your most important asset.

Would you like to know more? Get in touch with Martyn Sibley or follow him on Twitter.


Streamline your sales and marketing

How to sell without being spammy

Experts estimate that it costs seven times more to sell to a new contact than an existing customer, so it makes sense to make the most of existing contacts and encourage them to buy more than once.

Helen Lindop
Helen Lindop

Helen Lindop is a consultant who helps small businesses do more with tech, to find and use the best CRM* or ESP**, and capture leads from marketing so that they become part of a sales pipeline.

*CRM = Contact or Customer Relationship Management system
**ESP = Email Service Provider, e.g., Mailchimp or similar newsletter / email service. 

This is a transcript of a live conversation.

People want to hear from you. Yes, really.

Q. My issue is feeling like I'm bugging people... Tips for having a stern word with myself?!

Helen Lindop OK, practical tips that don't involve stern words.
1) They want to hear from you. These days nobody hands over their email address lightly, so if you have it then they want to hear from you.
2) It may feel like a one-way communication but it doesn't have to be. You can check your stats to see how many people open and click on which email to judge what's popular and what isn't. You can ask your subscribers to hit reply and give you their opinion. You can do surveys to ask what they'd like to know. It's not all that different to social media.
3) Most of the 'I hate email' comments come from receiving bad, boring, pushy emails that they didn't subscribe to.  It's completely different if you send emails people want to receive.
4) You already have a relationship with your subscribers when they opt in - they've said they weant to hear from you. Work on growing that in a positive way rather than trying not to annoy them. (Apologies for giving a coach the mindset talk!)

Get your CRM set-up to delight rather than deluge

Q. Most of the CRM / ESP platforms offer automated services that can bombard contacts with content, over reaching and generally annoying folks in lots of circumstances. Which system is good at managing this output without emails spewing out all over the place?

Ann Hawkins The opposite side of that is that a few years a go I bought a necklace from someone I'd met networking. It arrived beautifully packaged and I loved it but there were no contact details in the packaging and I never heard a peep from them ever again.

Helen Lindop Larger businesses have very sophisticated CRMs that risk over-doing it, but very small businesses often have none or a very basic one, as illustrated by Andy and Ann's examples. This is one of the areas where I think small businesses could really get ahead, because many aren't using this tech, which is now much cheaper and more accessible than it used to be, and if we did use CRMs we could use them in a way that improves our sales and customer service but without losing that personal touch.

To answer your question - which system is best for avoiding the spewing of emails - I think it's more about how you use it than the tool itself. So it's a case of working out your goals, then breaking that down into your business processes or pipeline, then picking a tool or set of tools to fit.

How does your email list fit in with your customer relationship management?

Q. I'm becoming aware that e-mailing subscribers is different from a full on CRM system. Plus we're starting to offer education products to customers. So my questions are:

1) Where does emailing subscribers fit into a bigger CRM strategy?

2) What software do you recommend?

3) Do you have to be techy to understand them?

Helen Lindop For 1) it's hard to explain here because it's complicated but this blog post should cover most of it https://helenlindop.com/2018/11/16/whats-the-difference-between-a-crm-and-an-esp-email-service-provider/

2) An alternative to a CRM is a membership platform on your website.  It can be hard to get people off Facebook and into your membership site, so you may find a Facebook group is enough to begin with. But if you do stick with Facebook make sure you have everyone on a mailing list so that you can contact them if something goes wrong on Facebook. Software that leans more towards marketing automation is available (see the blog post) but it also depends how you intend to deliver and take payment for the information products.

3) Although you don't need to be techy to use these, being a bit techy helps when setting them up, which is the service I offer. Having a well-defined strategy at the beginning, before you start to look at tools, will make everything much easier.

Q. I used to use Capsule as my CRM. Is there’s anything better or would a spreadsheet do just as well.

Helen Lindop OK, without knowing exactly what you need, but by guessing you tend to work one-to-one with clients, I would say Capsule is likely to be much better than an Excel spreadsheet because it:
a) Will allow you to save email conversations so you don't need to dig through your inbox
b) Will allow you to set reminders to follow up with prospective clients
c) You'll need a client database of some kind anyway, and Capsule is better for storing names, addresses etc than Excel
d) You can integrate it with your mailing list if you need to
e) You can set up your 'sales process' (not a very friendly term, but you know what I mean) e.g. if your process is client emails you > you book a discovery call > if you haven't heard from them in a week you follow up > they either sign up as a client or go back on the list to be called in 6 months , then you can put that all in Capsule so you can plot each person's progress against it.
f) If you share your client data with your business partner you won't get the errors you would get from passing an Excel spreadsheet between you.

Q. Thanks Helen you’re right it does all of that. It has vast capabilities but I feel more than I need?

Helen Lindop If your needs are fairly basic for now you could look at Hubspot CRM? This gives you a lot of features for free, but beware it gets expensive fast if you need to go beyond the free plan. But if you feel Capsule does a lot more than you need then I expect you could comfortably fit in the Hubspot free plan.

Micro-businesses have nothing to fear from GDPR

Q. For the absolute beginner who has no idea where to start and is scared by GDPR, what are the basics you need your CRM to do?

Ann Hawkins Can we please lay the ghost of GDPR? It was never intended to apply to small businesses in the way that most of the unscrupulous advisors implied, purely to make money by scaremongering. Who do you think might lodge a complaint against you, and for what? If you accidentally send someone an email that they didn't sign up for, the most they'll do is send you a snotty note. They're not going to go to the authorities and lodge a complaint, and even if they do, the compliance bods are not interested in this scale of things. They're after the big players who willfully misuse information for profit. Stop even thinking about GDPR if you're a micro business. Just think good practice, keeping your clients data safe, and you'll be fine!

Helen Lindop A key part of GDPR is not keeping data unless you have a good reason to do so, which is good practice anyway. Every reputable CRM and ESP now has GDPR compliance features that are easy to check.

Can you transfer contacts from one system to another?

Q. If you have contacts on a mailing list in say, Mailchimp, can you port them across to a CRM?

Helen Lindop It's very easy to import contact details into a CRM. You just upload a CSV ( ie a list in Excel will be fine).

Something else to consider is that you might not want your entire mailing list in your CRM anyway. Perhaps you just want them to go in your CRM when they are customers so you can follow up? Maybe you just want those leads in your CRM who are quite likely to buy, rather than anyone who has ever downloaded your freebie?

Strategy first, then choose your CRM

Q. Once you've started putting people in your CRM, then what?

Helen Lindop You need to work this out before you get a CRM, really. But for anyone who isn't sure why you might need one, here's a blog post with an example https://helenlindop.com/2018/10/22/crm-for-your-micro-business

Q. Aha! So you need a strategy first.

Helen Lindop Absolutely! There are so many tools out there that there's bound to be one that does what you need, so it's a question of being very sure what you need before you begin.

And if there isn't one that does what you want, you can hook existing tools together using Zapier or similar.

Q. I feel like there are probably specific CRM tools for Accountants, such that they cater for the management of all the deadlines, on-boarding (which is painful because of all the regulations for our Practising Licence), and case history.
Any tips on options for this, Helen. (FYI - I don't expect you'll know Accounting specific tools, but still interested to read your input).

Helen Lindop For an industry that's as highly regulated as accountancy I would definitely look for an industry-specific tool first as this is likely to save a lot of customisation. I'd be surprised if there wasn't one, actually.

Q. Just to jump in here. I’ve recently been trialling GoProposal, which I really like so will probably keep, for proposals, LoEs and part of the onboarding. On the CRM/practice management/deadline tracking side, I used to use Senta and hated it and aim to start trialling Accountancy Manager in the new year. Onkho and Karbon might also be worth a look, but most people I know are moving from those to Accountancy Manager.

Would you like to know more? Get in touch with Helen Lindop or follow her on Twitter


Berenice Smith - Hello Lovely cover design

How to use fonts to create the right reaction

Fonts have feelings: how to find the ones that create the emotions you want

How do you decide what font to use on your website, in a publication or on social media? Fonts form families which complement each other.

A photo of Berenice Smith
Berenice Smith

They create a visual impression before anyone has read what you have to say. And they have stories to tell. We asked Berenice Smith, of Hello Lovely Graphic Design to answer questions on which fonts create the right message in designs.

This is a transcript of a live conversation.

Choosing readable fonts

The choice of fonts has a HUGE impact on the way messages are received and interpreted. There are many things to consider when selecting a font and I'm sure Berenice will go through that later. One of my (and many others) pet hates has to be 'comic sans' and recently I discovered a client using it, when I asked why, they explained that a large part of their audience is dyslexic and this font is actually very readable for those people. I didn't realise that there are specific fonts, designed and evolved around reading disorders.

We have since moved them on to 'lexi' a free font, supported by many dyslexia charities that has been specially designed for those with dyslexia. We have also added a foot note on all material to explain this font choice. It just shows that this operates on many levels, and I figured it was worth adding into today's chat.

Comic Sans (along with Papyrus) has a huge image problem thanks to inappropriate use. Unfortunately, the British Dyslexia Association list it as a recommended font and I know of several typographers who have been trying to get a conversation going there. The other font is Read Regular designed by Natascha Frensch.

I am not dyslexic but I do have mild dyspraxia (very on trend thanks to Doctor Who so I'm told by my godson!) so hidden disabilities and working with charities on design solutions featured heavily in my graphic design and typography masters. It's such an important area that has lots of opportunities for collaboration.

How to create a friendly, approachable image with fonts

Q. Are there any particular fonts you'd recommend if you wanted to be perceived as knowledgeable but not bossy and also friendly and approachable? I'm thinking mainly in the context of website and social media stuff.

Berenice Smith Think about pairing fonts and legibility too as the easier an image is to read, the more friendly it is. The easiest way to find perfect font pairings is by using different fonts within the same overarching typeface family so you'll have a ready-made range of weights, styles and classifications that are specifically designed to work together. For example:

 

 

I also suggest that you think about the values and phrases that describe the outcome of what you want to do. Is the aim to be friendly, intelligent or confident? You might want to put together a mood board to get start to get a sense of the direction your font needs to go in. A friendly font might be one that’s rounded and really legible. A confident one might be angular.

Q.Should one font be sufficient for a business? I sometimes see businesses using two and I like the contrast. How easy is it for a non-designer to know what fonts pair well?

Berenice Smith The advice for Heather might be useful up there. It does help to have two fonts, so that you can vary the reading experience but it's not essential. Without getting geeky, contrast fonts, as the name suggests, is about finding totally different – but still complementary – typefaces that are each fit for their intended application. This mostly means pairing a serif with a sans serif. Fonts will generally conflict if they are too similar: two ever-so-slightly different serifs or sans serifs rarely create nice font pairings, like Arial with Helvetica.

Q. I understand. I think. Complementary might be fonts with the same height and contrast, as you said, might be pairing a serif with a sans serif?

Berenice Smith Yes, play around with the combinations, often typographer will create a family so search by creator. I'll pop some free font resources below in a moment.

Which fonts do you suggest for a non-designer?

Q. Can you give us some fairly safe fonts that non-designers in a rush could use on (say) social media images? Like the Helvetica in your image above but better? Just to help us avoid Comic Sans-style embarrassment.

Helvetica is absolutely fine btw, but using different weights (by that I mean light, regular, bold) helps. Other fonts that are great are Source Sans, PT Sans, Poly, Raleway (all sans serif) and serifs Playfair, Lora, Butler.

All the above should be found on 101 fonts or any free font resources I've listed (I've avoided mentioning Typekit which is paid for).

For serifs, for social media keep them large and a heavier weight. Avoid in large paragraphs as it can be hard to view except on a plain background but test it out and always feel free to ask my advice.

An intro to fonts and type

Berenice Smith What’s a font and what’s a typeface (since you may hear designers refer to both). A typeface is the design of the symbols - known as glyphs - which includes everything from a full stop, trade mark symbol etc to numbers and letters. So when you refer to Arial or indeed Comic Sans, you’re referencing a set of glyphs in a specific typeface.

A font is, in our modern era, a digital file that contains the unicode required to tell the software what to do. A typographer will create unicode for each glyph.

To be honest both phrases are swapped around as we’ve evolved a lot since type trays and metal type in foundries..which I won’t bore you with here!

There are several categories... and these are listed below but there are sub-categories too but these are the ones that non-designers will find useful.

Q. If we're not designers does all this really matter?
What's the worst that can happen if we get it wrong?
I know a few designers might snigger at our efforts but would anybody else notice?

Berenice Smith Hehe! Yes I do think most folk don't worry that much and a little common sense is all that's needed. If anyone needs a free font then check the trends on a free site like Font Squirrel and avoid unpopular ones and go for classic and clean fonts. Anything script or novelty, avoid!

And blow the designers who snigger! A great designer will be constructive and understand that we all have strengths and weaknesses. I'm more than happy to provide feedback and always give free and paid font suggestions in branding packs.

Web safe fonts

Berenice Smith Some useful tips for developers. Web safe fonts - this matters because devices have pre-installed font selection. The selection is based largely on its operating system. This causes an issue when designers look to Typekit or a premium resource and don’t add in a web safe option in case someone’s phone doesn’t have their lovely font and it defaults to something that doesn't work, usually Times.

Web safe fonts includes Arial, Helvetica, Times, Courier, Verdana, Georgia, Palatino, Garamond, Bookman, Comic Sans, Trebuchet, Impact, Lucida Sans Unicode. Not all of these are pretty but if I had to choose, then I’d suggest Helvetica. Look at https://www.w3schools.com/cssref/css_websafe_fonts.asp for more details on web safe fonts and CSS.

Copyright and fonts

Berenice Smith Always remember that fonts have owners. So just like music they have a licence so unless they are free, it’s illegal to share them or ask a designer to include them in the packaging of a design job.

Free font resources

  • Google
  • Font Squirrel
  • Font 101
  • http://www.typedepot.com/fonts/
  • http://www.jeffreyschreiber.nl
  • https://www.1001freefonts.com (but really do pick carefully, lots of people think they can design a font!)
  • Oh and the lovely https://www.theleagueofmoveabletype.com

And inspiration for how to use fonts
https://fontsinuse.com
http://friendsoftype.com
http://incredibletypes.com
St Brides Foundation https://www.sbf.org.uk
and the Cambridge University Press have a small museum (drop me a line to arrange visit!)

How fonts create feelings

Q. Can you please give some examples of where fonts create emotions?

Berenice Smith  In terms of marketing and branding, serifs are considerably better for large bodies of text as they tie words and sentences together for a smoother, more legible reading experience. More in print.

How a font or family was created is important too. Serifs came from carved inscriptions when it was expensive to have the extra flourishes giving them a gravitas, class and cultural weight.

Sans serifs are more recent only really becoming popular in the 19th century for commercial use in advertisements, and latterly on screens (which struggled to render the detail of serifs until relatively recently).

So whether a serif or a sans serif depends on whether you’re looking for cool, clean modernity, or timeless, classical authority.

Tips to avoid disappointment

Other tips: avoid mixing larger capital letters with lowercase, supposedly for emphasis, which results in mismatched weights.

If you're printing something commercially, print it out before it goes to print to avoid being disappointed. Design often looks good on the screen, because of the light and the way we are constantly adjusting the scale of the image to suit ourselves. The same layout could flop on the printed page.

Finally beware of this. I see this so much, people spending hours on social media training and then not thinking about the visual. Be different!
One of my most popular blog entries is this one https://www.hellolovely.org.uk/blog/2018/4/30/top-tips-for-consistent-branding-on-social-media-and-a-free-workshop-with-drive-the-network

Pick a bad photo, apply a vintage effect and write something in Helvetica

Ann Hawkins I really like this post. I think a lot of people think it’s easy to slap something together in Canva!

Berenice Smith Yes. I can't work out if I should embrace Canva and deal with it or continue to hide under the metaphorical pillow. I'm increasingly being asked to fix Canva design issues or consult. I wonder if our other designers are too and their thoughts on this.

AKA Canva or any software does not make a designer no more than Grammarly makes editors

Berenice Smith Geek fact (if you see this pop up as fun Friday fact on my social media, don't tell anyone..) Fonts are measured in points. So if you want to impress a designer when the text needs to be bigger, the phrase is ‘increase the point size’. There are approximately 72 (72.272) points in one inch or 2.54 cm!

Another tip with social media. Your font choice can be part of your narrative. My choice for my logo is by a foundry called P22 and I met the owner Richard Kegler, and we talked typography whilst mucking about with wooden type in the print room at The Ruskin in Cambridge. There's a bigger story here (!) but it's a short example of how I use it in story telling. When I create branding or books, I look to the history of the fonts or their typographer too.

Which fonts do you suggest for a non-designer?

Q. Can you give us some fairly safe fonts that non-designers in a rush could use on (say) social media images? Like the Helvetica in you image above but better? Just to help us avoid comic sans-style embarrassment.

Helvetica is absolutely fine btw, but using different weights (by that I mean light, regular, bold) helps. Other fonts that are great are Source Sans, PT Sans, Poly, Raleway (all sans serif) and serifs Playfair, Lora, Butler.

All the above should be found on 101 fonts or any free font resources I've listed (I've avoided mentioning Typekit which is paid for).

Berenice Smith For serifs, for social media keep them large and a heavier weight. Avoid in large paragraphs as it can be hard to view except on a plain background but test it out and always feel free to ask my advice.

Would you like to know more? Get in touch with Berenice Smith at Hello Lovely or follow her on Twitter @hihellolovely


Emma James The Number Ninja

Tax doesn't have to be scary!

Do thoughts of your tax return keep you up at night?

We've all worried about our tax return. Whether you have an accountant or are completing self-assessment on your own, you will have wondered about how best to handle your business finances.

We asked Emma James, aka The Number Ninja to answer questions from Drive members.

Emma JamesEmma provides remote bookkeeping and accountancy services to micro businesses and much, much more. She is also an app ninja and streamlines processes to make businesses run smoothly.

This is a transcript of a live discussion.

Q. Is there an easy way to know in advance what your tax bill is likely to be so you can keep that money to one side?

Emma James Keep on top of your bookkeeping throughout the year. That way you can get a good sense of what your profit is at any point and then work out your tax liability based on that. Alternatively, HMRC have a simple ready reckoner where you can enter your estimated weekly or monthly profit and it will estimate your tax - https://www.gov.uk/self-assessment-ready-reckoner

Ideally you’d be saving towards your tax bill throughout the year, as you really want to be paying for this year’s tax out of this year’s cash-flow. As a *really* rough idea, putting aside 30% of your earnings is a good place to start. It very much depends on whether you’re also employed, what your income level is, and what level of expenses you have, but it’s a good starting point.

When should you get an accountant?

Q. At what point does having an accountant make sense? My income and expenses are relatively easy to keep track of, but I feel I'm leaving money on the (taxman's) table and wonder if I should be claim for more expenses.

Emma James If your affairs are simple, then you’re probably okay on your own, but once you start adding complexity then it pays to work with an accountant. Knowing what you can and can’t claim for is hugely important. HMRC have lots of advice on this, though it is written in a rather dry way and can be a bit hard to understand at times.

What is making tax digital?

Q. I keep reading that tax returns will be changing in that we'll need to keep our records electronically and submit tax returns 4 times a year, BUT there's a threshold so it may not apply to many small businesses. I can't for the life of me find any official info on it at the moment so could you help please? I wonder how much of what I've read so far has been GDPR-style doom mongering.

Emma James It's part of something called Making Tax Digital. It's being phased in and the first phase starts in April 2019 and is for businesses that are both VAT-registered AND over the VAT threshold, so not those who voluntarily registered. All returns will have to be made electronically.

It's due to include other businesses from 2020, but it's already been watered down a lot so I wouldn't worry too much about it at the minute. I would, however, consider making the move to keeping your records electronically and up to date, if you don't already.

How do you keep your financial records?

Q. Any tips for best ways to keep your records safe etc Emma? I believe it's still 6 years afterwards that you need to have them readily accessible - which if you're fully digital is more easily managed. Any tips on both?

Emma James I'd always recommend storing things electronically, partly because it's easier than finding space for 6 years worth of lever arch files, but also because it's easier to find what you need it if you're ever investigated by HMRC.

If you REALLY want to store paper, invest in storage that protects the paper. It's not much use keeping that fuel receipt from 5 years ago if the ink has disappeared by the time you need it.

Emma James Also, depending on the accounts software you're using, you can normally store documents in the software against the actual item, which makes it really easy to find things. And also makes your bookkeeper very happy if they have a query and don't have to rifle through 67589 receipts to find it.

Q. Can I safely shred receipts etc if I have an electronic copy? Or is it best to hang on to them just in case?

Emma James Up to you. HMRC say that you just need to keep a copy, and electronic is fine. I have mine in both Xero and stored in Tresorit, I shred all of the paper copies.

Cash basis or accruals?

Q. What's the difference between cash and accruals?

Emma James They're two different accounting methods. The cash basis looks at when the money physically enters or leaves the business. The accruals basis means that you account for something in the period it is incurred or when you get the benefit, regardless of when the actual money comes in.

So say you send a sales invoice for £100 to a client dated 1st March 2018 and they pay 20th April 2018. If you're using the cash basis then the £100 is included in your tax return for 2018-19, as that's when you received the money. But if you're using accruals (also known as traditional accounting) then you'd include it in the 2017-18 return as that's when you did the work.

In theory the cash basis makes it easier for record keeping.

What happens to unpaid invoices?

Q. What if an invoice has been issued and the client never pays it?

Emma James You can write it off in a future return. But you can only write it off if you're as sure as you can be that you won't be paid.

Q. So that would apply if you did accruals basis? If you are doing cash presumably you don't have to declare it until the money comes in.

Emma James That's correct, yes.

Q. Is that an argument for working on a cash basis rather than accruals so you don't end up paying tax on money you haven't seen yet? Is there a point at which you have to do accruals?

Emma James If you're a sole trader and your turnover (sales) is under £150,000 then you can use cash. If you're using the cash basis and you buy a computer, you'd have to claim the full amount of this in the year you bought it, rather than spreading it across the life of the computer as you would if you used the accruals basis. There are pros and cons to both. I prefer the accruals basis as it's how accounts need to be prepared for banks and potential investors, but cash is better for some businesses, particularly if they're not paid particularly quickly by customers.

What are common mistakes people make on self-assessment?

Q. What are the things people often trip up on?

Emma James Not tracking gift aid payments is very common. Not a lot of people realise that they can claim for working from home. Quite a few people don't realise that if you're a sole trader you're taxed on your profit, not just what you take out of the business, that catches a few people out. Food is another huge one, just because you're working when you buy that sandwich at Costa it doesn't mean it's tax deductible.

Payments on account really trips people up in the first year it applies to them. It's a little complicated to explain, so I'll link to a blog I wrote a while ago https://thenumberninja.co.uk/blog/payments-on-account/

Savings interest is another one that people often leave off. For the majority of people it's not going to make any difference to the amount of tax you pay, but it still needs to go on the form (unless it's an ISA, in which case it doesn't).

Q. Can you explain a bit more about this one: "Quite a few people don't realise that if you're a sole trader you're taxed on your profit, not just what you take out of the business." Thanks.

Emma James Okay. Fred is a sole trader (rather than a limited company) and has sales of £40,000. His expenses throughout the year, such as rent, software, etc. come to £10,000. This gives him a profit of £30,000. Fred has taken out £1,000 a month for his personal use, so £12,000 across the year (lots of people consider this to be their salary, but as a sole trader they're known as drawings).

As he's only taken £12,000 from the business, Fred might think that's what he's taxed on, as that's his income from the business. But as a sole trader there's no legal distinction between you and the business, they're one and the same. As a result the £30,000 profit is considered to be Fred's total income.

So Fred's personal tax would be calculated on the £30,000 profit, rather than the £12,000 drawings.

Q. Do you put on the form what you have drawn down from the business as a sole trader?

Emma James No, HMRC don't care. They're only interested in the profit you've made. All of the money is yours, you've just chosen to leave some of it in a separate pot.

Keep a regular check on your accounts

Emma James Completing your tax return is a damn sight easier if you’re regularly keeping on top of your bookkeeping throughout the year. I’m a huge fan of using accounts software, but a spreadsheet is also fine. Keep that up to date each month and then you’ll have all of the information you need for the return itself.

The rules do change from time to time as well, so even if you've been completing a self assessment return for years, read the notes before you dive in. For example the rules of claiming mortgage interest if you let out property have changed in the last few years, and something called the trading allowance was introduced for the 2017-18 tax year that has slightly confusing rules that could catch some people out.

Q. What do we need to put on our spreadsheet? Is there a list of must-have headings? (I presume something more than money in, money out)

Emma James It depends what you want to be able to get out of the spreadsheet. If you're only using it to help you prepare your tax return then I'd include the expense categories that HMRC use (so 'Cost of goods bought for resale or goods user', 'Phone, fax, stationery and other office costs', etc.). That way you can then write formulae to total those costs together and then just pop the total in the form. Date is a good one to have, as is a column for the next tax year if you're using the accruals basis, so if you've got an invoice for your business insurance for £100 that covers Oct18-Sep19 you can make a note that £50 needs to go in your 18-19 return and £50 in your 19-20 return (if you're using the cash basis then the full £100 would go in 18-19).

I love a chart, so my spreadsheets are a bit ridiculous and show me what my sales and expenses look like throughout the year, so I can use it to predict any trends for next year. I also have an estimate of my likely tax liability throughout the year so that I can make sure I'm saving enough.

Q. What's the trading allowance?

Emma James The allowance is £1,000 and in part is designed to remove the need for hobbyists to declare their income. So if you do car boot sales once a month and you're total income from that is less than £1,000 then you no longer need to complete a self assessment.

Anyone who's self employed can use it if their income is more than £1,000. You then just deduct the £1,000 allowance from your turnover, but if you use it you can't then claim for any of your expenses. It's not likely to be of any use to anyone in Drive.

HMRC want you to get it right

Emma James I hope it's been useful. The UK tax system is one of the most complicated in the world, but good planning and preparation can make a huge difference. Get all of your information together, read the notes, and take it slowly. Although it might not feel like it at times, HMRC want you to get it right, so if you're not sure about something, check their website for help https://www.gov.uk/topic/personal-tax/self-assessment.

Would you like to know more? Contact Emma James at The Number Ninja or follow her on Twitter @emmatnn


12 rules for business and life

How to live with integrity and be the best in your field

Tim Pain is a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and in 1999 he formed Verve Group Ltd as a regeneration specialist company. Tim is a director and shareholder of Verve Group Ltd, whose subsidiary Verve Developments Ltd purchased Bedford Heights in 2014.

Bedford Heights is now the home of many growing businesses.

Tim shared the story of his career with Drive members, illustrating his 12 rules of business with inspirational stories from the people he has met!

  1. However powerful you become, don't humiliate people.
  2. Integrity is vitally important.
  3. Treat people as you'd like to treated.
  4. Always prepare and research - don't wing it.
  5. Believe in what you're selling.
  6. If you don't understand, ask.
  7. Subtlety will win over flashiness
  8. It's not what you know, but who that is important.
  9. If you believe you're good enough - take a chance. Don't look back with regret.
  10. Have a big game plan.
  11. Recognise a good thing. It's better to have something than nothing.
  12. Prove you can be trusted.

 


David Brown

What exactly is life coaching?

Is life coaching the same as therapy?

This is one of the questions I asked David Brown in one of those conversations that could have gone on for hours if we'd been in a pub with a bottle of wine!

Instead of that, I interviewed David for 20 minutes and we kept it (mostly) on track!

Some of the other questions we covered are:

  • Why do people decide they need the help of a life coach?
  • Do you dig into the reasons why people feel the way they do?
  • What advice do you give people to deal with some of the emotions that come up?
  • Do you work with people for a fixed term or is it open ended?
  • Do people become dependent on you?
  • Can they bail out if things get too tough to handle?
  • Is there anyone you can't help?
  • How do your mindful movement classes fit in with life coaching?
  • Will life coaches ever be replaced by AI?

OK that last one happened after we'd stopped recording but it's a fascinating theory! It's definitely a bottle of wine discussion :)

For all the other answers, listen to David's interview here and if you'd like to get in touch for a chat, email him on david@potentialitycoaching.co.uk 

David's story, qualifications, blog posts, dates for Mindful Movement Workshops and much more are at www.potentialitycoaching.co.uk


David Brown

Can you take a compliment?

Are you more inclined to believe criticism than praise?

This is a guest post by David Brown of Potentiality Coaching.

Savouring positive experiences is a rare thing.  Many people find it almost impossible to accept praise.  They brush it off, deflect and move on without acknowledging the role they played in the success or kind deed.

What impact do you think this is having on your confidence?  How do you imagine this affects your business?

Savour the positive

What if we were to savour the compliments?  What if we took the time to let those kind comments sink in, feel it in our bodies, allow the praise to bolster our confidence, self- belief and sense of worth?

I think the world would be a very different place.  We would be more self- assured and our health would be better.

The act of thinking positively releases feel good serotonin and oxytocin around the body.

In workhops I notice people wriggle and squirm when they receive compliments and affirmations from other participants.  It seems to touch on feelings of unworthiness and imposter syndrome. These are deep- seated mindsets that prevent us from accepting praise and enjoying life more fully.  How can we experience fulfillment in our life and work if we do not savour the moments when life is great?

Focus on the positive

This topic came up in a recent Friday check- in on the Drive Facebook Group.  It reminded me of talking to my Father who was praising me for achieving my Black belt 4th dan in martial arts a couple of years ago.  Every word of encouragement he said was competing with my own words of “Well, it wasn’t that hard” and “anyone can do it if they put the work in”.  I feel very different now and can accept the compliment more easily. It is a work in progress.

What have you been praised for in your work life?  Are there testimonials you can read that show you that you can do excellent work?  Do you savour the spoken compliments that people make in passing, or the throw away social media positive sound bites that big you up?  We all have a stack of them.  Find them.  Recall them.

In the article quoted below, the author explains that there is scientific evidence that points to the fact that negative experiences stick in our minds like Velcro.  Positive experiences, by contrast, stick like Teflon (i.e. hardly at all).  He explains that this has an evolutionary advantage and that we are biologically predisposed towards negative bias.  I would argue that while this makes sense, the brain is in fact neutral- it will do what it is trained to do by experience and practice.  If you practice focusing on the negative and ignoring the positive, you will see more negativity.  It works the other way too- train yourself to see things in a positive light and you will see more positivity.  That includes positive things about yourself.

Take in the good

Try the process set out in this article (https://www.rickhanson.net/take-in-the-good/) by Dr. Rick Hanson that I paste directly below:

“Here’s how to take in the good – in three simple steps.

How? 

  1. Look for good facts, and turn them into good experiences. 

Good facts include positive events – like the taste of good coffee or getting an unexpected compliment – and positive aspects of the world and yourself. When you notice something good, let yourself feel good about it.

Try to do this at least a half dozen times a day. There are lots of opportunities to notice good events, and you can always recognize good things about the world and yourself. Each time takes just 30 seconds or so. It’s private; no one needs to know you are taking in the good. You can do it on the fly in daily life, or at special times of reflection, like just before falling asleep (when the brain is especially receptive to new learning).

Notice any reluctance to feeling good. Such as thinking that you don’t deserve to, or that it’s selfish, vain, or even shameful to feel pleasure. Or that if you feel good, you will lower your guard and let bad things happen.

Barriers to feeling good are common and understandable – but they get in the way of you taking in the resources you need to feel better, have more strength, and have more inside to give to others. So acknowledge them to yourself, and then turn your attention back to the good news. Keep opening up to it, breathing and relaxing, letting the good facts affect you.

It’s like sitting down to a meal: don’t just look at it—taste it!

  1. Really enjoy the experience. 

Most of the time, a good experience is pretty mild, and that’s fine. But try to stay with it for 20 or 30 seconds in a row – instead of getting distracted by something else.

As you can, sense that it is filling your body, becoming a rich experience. As Marc Lewis and other researchers have shown, the longer that something is held in awareness and the more emotionally stimulating it is, the more neurons that fire and thus wire together, and the stronger the trace in memory.

You are not craving or clinging to positive experiences, since that would ultimately lead to tension and disappointment. Actually, you are doing the opposite: by taking them in and filling yourself up with them, you will increasingly feel less fragile or needy inside, and less dependent on external supplies; your happiness and love will become more unconditional, based on an inner fullness rather than on whether the momentary facts in your life happen to be good ones.

  1. Intend and sense that the good experience is sinking into you.

People do this in different ways. Some feel it in their body like a warm glow spreading through their chest like the warmth of a cup of hot cocoa on a cold wintry day. Others visualize things like a golden syrup sinking down inside, bringing good feelings and soothing old places of hurt, filling in old holes of loss or yearning; a child might imagine a jewel going into a treasure chest in her heart. And some might simply know conceptually, that while this good experience is held in awareness, its neurons are firing busily away, and gradually wiring together”

Business Transformation

Then, don’t forget to continue doing this process.  The more you do it, the more your internal wiring will fire to let those compliments and other positive experiences really make a difference to your perception of yourself.  And when you have a great perception of yourself, when you feel that you really do a great job of the work that you do, the impact on your business is transformative:

  • You are more likely to charge the fees you are worth and do so unapologetically
  • Your confidence will shine through giving your clients greater trust in you
  • You will speak with more authority about your business and your field
  • That self assurance will come across more effectively to clients in business and to colleagues and other business owners in networking situations
  • You will enjoy your work and the journey more

Please do not underestimate the power of savouring the positive moments in your life.  Although this article was prompted by a discussion about running a business, think about the impact that this could have on your life at large- your relationships with friends, children, partners and family, how you feel about yourself, the degree to which you enjoy daily life, living with less guilt and sense of unworthiness.  How different would life look and feel from this more positive and empowering perspective?

Over to you

Does this article resonate with you?  Is this a pattern that repeats in your life? Does it feel like this negatively impacts on your business and/ or quality of life?

If you’d like to feel more confident and more free to openly accept praise for the great contribution you make, why not get in touch?

David Brown
Potentiality Coaching

 


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