Ways to benchmark your business

For many business owners, determining the success of a business comes down to how much profit the company makes. Of course, finances are an important measure of a company’s overall success. If you don’t bring in more than you spend you won’t be in business for long. Profit, however, isn’t the only important benchmark by which to measure your business. There are other important factors business owners can and should…  Read more

COVID-19 Business Update – 9 July 2020

Welcome back to our Weekly Update. We hope you and your family are safe and doing well. Read on for this week’s update. UK to Map Out Next Steps in COVID-19 Recovery Plan UK’s finance minister Rishi Sunak will soon announce the next steps in preventing a wave of job cuts from snowballing into an unemployment crisis. The announcement will include a 2 billion-pound fund to create six-month work placement…  Read more

How your business can thrive even in a recession

The pains caused by a recession can be excruciating, which is why most of us dread the thought of it. A recession can mean massive layoffs, jobs becoming harder to find, and wages frozen, which means consumers hunker down and spend less– often worsening the economic slowdown unknowingly. For most businesses, especially small businesses, recessions can be brutal. Just take for example, the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) that struck the…  Read more

COVID-19 Business Update – 2 July 2020

Welcome back to our Weekly Update. We hope you and your family are safe and doing well. Read on for this week’s update. Leicester on Lockdown to Curb COVID-19 Outbreak UK’s COVID-19 Alert Level moved to Level 3 last week, which means the virus is now “in general circulation” and there could be a “gradual relaxation of restrictions,” according to the Department of Health. However, the government has imposed a…  Read more

Protect Yourself and Your Data – Proactive Steps for Living Safely in the Digital Age

These days your personal data is everywhere, and that information is valuable to marketers, hackers and everyone in between. If you want to prevent the unauthorized use of your personal information, you need to take a proactive approach to protecting yourself and your identity. You can no longer afford to be blasé about your data security – if you are not taking proactive measures to prevent the use of your…  Read more

COVID-19 Business Update – 24 June 2020

Welcome back to our Weekly Digest. We hope you and your family are safe and doing well. Read on for this week’s update. UK moves to COVID-19 Alert Level 3 UK’s COVID-19 Alert Level has been reduced from Level 4 to Level 3, which means the virus is now “in general circulation” and there could be a “gradual relaxation of restrictions,” according to the Department of Health. However, this pandemic…  Read more

Questions to ask as your small business recovers from COVID-19

As small business owners look to operations after COVID-19, there are some important business questions to ask. These questions will help you determine what adaptations you want to keep, whether your business model is working, and if there are additional changes you want to make to keep your company operational through future economic downturns. It’s not always fun to do this sort of examination, but the answers to these questions…  Read more

COVID-19 Business Update – 17 June 2020

Welcome back to our Weekly Update. We hope you and your family are safe and doing well. Read on for this week’s update. Non-essential Shops in England Reopen Business secretary Alok Sharma has confirmed that non-essential shops in England are permitted to operate from Monday 15 June, provided they comply with government safety guidelines and carry out a risk assessment. While the government is due to publish guidelines for other…  Read more

Battling Through COVID-19: Finance Tips for Business Survival

We’ve heard this before: the COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented global health and financial crisis that has caught many off guard. While the threats to human life are very real, the damage to the health of businesses is really just starting to show. The seriousness of the disease and the lack of a vaccine (at the time of writing this) have prompted governments around the world to impose strict measures…  Read more

Business lessons learned during COVID-19

If you’re like many small business owners you’re probably astounded by how the world has changed in a very short time. While we can all hope that the pandemic is a once-in-a-lifetime scenario, the truth is there is a lot in life and in business that is uncertain, and there is a great deal we can learn from the response to COVID-19 to help plan for the future. Yes, your…  Read more

Beyond COVID-19 – How to build value in your business

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again – this has been an extremely difficult few months for all of us, but there is no better time to think seriously about your business. In this article, we have compiled a few tips to create value in your business. The key to building value in your business is to plan the process in a systematic way, whether you’re aiming to…  Read more

How cash flow forecasts can help you

Managing cash flow is a vital part of running a successful business. Some business owners think managing cash flow simply means keeping track of how much money enters and leaves their business, but there’s actually more that goes into it. Cash flow forecasting, for example, is an incredibly valuable tool that helps you anticipate cash flow issues, plan for days when your cash flow is limited, and show the bank…  Read more

What to do when reopening your business

As many business owners look to life after COVID-19, an important question comes up: how do we plan to reopen our business? For most businesses, the easing of restrictions doesn’t mean a return to business as usual. There are rules and regulations in place about how companies can operate, including how many people can be on their premises at one time and how employees must be protected. Customers may not…  Read more

COVID-19 Business Update – 27 May 2020

Welcome back to our Weekly Digest. We hope you and your family are doing well. Read on for this week’s update. Cashflow If you’re not having cashflow problems right now, that’s great, you’re one of the lucky ones. Plenty of businesses across the country are struggling with cashflow right now. There are a few ways to relieve the cashflow pressure from finance through to restructuring options. Don’t stick your head…  Read more

Ways to run your business if you can’t open your premises

The COVID-19 pandemic has proven challenging for many small business owners. It’s difficult to run your business remotely, especially if you’re not set up to do so. If you run a business that requires customers or clients to come to you, you might be very concerned about how you can continue to operate without opening your premises. If you have access to technology, are adaptable, and are willing to look…  Read more

COVID-19 Business Update – 20 May 2020

Welcome back to our weekly update. We hope you and your family are doing well. Read on for this week’s news. Self Employed Income Support Scheme The Self-Employed Income Support Scheme is now open for claims, with more than 110,000 people applying on the first day. For those who have checked their eligibility, you will have been notified when to apply. The claim money should start to flow from 25…  Read more

Tips to continue marketing on a shoestring budget

As many business owners are experiencing, the COVID-19 pandemic has created serious financial difficulties for entrepreneurs. Small businesses especially are faced with cutting their budgets so they can continue to operate—even at a smaller scale—and not have to close for good. They also have to figure out how they can market themselves so once the pandemic is over, their customers and clients come back to them. During a financial crisis,…  Read more

How to build a cash war chest when money is tight

Your “war chest” is the financial reserve your business has built up so you can take advantage of an opportunity or cover unexpected costs or emergencies. Building a cash reserve when finances are tight, however, can be difficult. You need money to continue running your business but, if at all possible, you want to keep your reserve account healthy. Here are some ways to build—or preserve—a cash war chest during…  Read more

Communicating during a pandemic

Most small business owners face a time in their career when they have to communicate in ways or about topics they aren’t comfortable with. COVID-19 has put small business owners in the position of having many conversations that are uncomfortable and stressful. Whether you’re communicating with employees about business issues during the pandemic, hoping to negotiate a rent reduction or changes to credit terms, or asking customers for help in…  Read more

COVID-19 Business Update – 13 May 2020

Hello again for another week. We hope you are healthy and well. This week you probably heard news of the government’s plan to implement a 5 Step COVID-19 Alert System. Government plan for the coming months Step 1 encourages those who CAN work from home to do so. Only those who CANNOT work from home should return to their workplace. Step 2 will not start until at least early June,…  Read more

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