entrepreneurship

When Is It Time to Start Outsourcing for My Business?

Angela Manning Business , ,
When Is It Time to Start Outsourcing for My Business?

When your business is in its early stages, you may be able to manage all of its internal processes yourself. However, as your company grows, this approach will become unrealistic.

In order to better serve an expanding group of clients, many companies outsource some of their workloads. What and how much work you outsource will vary depending on several factors, such as your company’s size and industry.

With that being said, there are some surefire indicators that it is time for you to start outsourcing specific business processes.

There Are Not Enough Hours in the Day

As a business owner, occasionally feeling overwhelmed with the sheer size of your to-do list is perfectly normal. However, if you rarely (or never) get through all of your essential tasks in a given day, then it is likely time to outsource.

Even the most motivated entrepreneurs will experience a decline in productivity when they are overworked. Therefore, you must know your limits.

Contrary to popular belief, outsourcing does not necessarily mean that you will delegate a large percentage of your daily workload to third-party entities. You can start with small, affordable changes that free you to start focusing on tasks you are most skilled at. For example, a small doctor’s office may hire a medical scribe so that their physicians can spend more time interacting directly with patients.

You Are Ready to Expand But Don’t Want to Hire More Staff

Hiring new team members is a tricky business. If you bring in too many new hires too soon, these individuals will put a strain on your financial resources. On the other hand, if you wait too long to begin hiring, then demand for services may rapidly outgrow the capabilities of existing staff.

Outsourcing provides you with a great third option. Most third-party providers have scalable service packages. This gives you the ability to access much-needed resources without committing to additional full-time staff. If your needs grow behind the provider’s service, simply upgrade to the next available package they offer or seek out a new outsourcing partner.

Adding New Services Would Require Discontinuing Old Ones

As a business owner, there will come a time when you will need to discontinue old products or services to make room for new offerings. However, it is generally not a good idea to stop popular services or products during an expansion, as this may negatively affect your revenue stream. If your decision to expand forces you to shrink your service or product lineup, it is probably a great time to begin outsourcing.

Take a closer look at auxiliary business operations, such as customer service, account management, and other processes that are not directly related to the services you provide. Identify which tasks can be managed by a third-party provider to avoid dropping clients or reducing the lineup of services you offer.

When done right, outsourcing can reduce the stress that you feel on a daily basis. Outsourcing can also fuel continued growth for your organization. That’s what we call a win-win.

Journey to Financial Freedom

Angela Manning Finance , , ,
Journey to Financial Freedom

Source: Unsplash | Bram Naus

Have you been working for a while to reduce your debt? Many people around the world continuously have debt stare them in the face day after day. While this is a common problem for most people, maybe you are one of the relatively few people that are working on getting your debt under control.

Keeping on Track Despite Obstacles

Even the best-laid plans have obstacles from time to time. For example, one family was just about out of the hole of debt. They had been working at their goal for several years.

Once they got the initial shock from the amount of self-discipline that it takes to get out of debt out of their system, the family slowly but surely climbed their way out of the hole.

They were at the surface of the black hole and almost free. The dad was driving on I-80 coming home from work and was involved in a car accident. He was injured and hospitalized for a little while. All their years of hard work of getting out of debt made the situation a bit easier, but with him not bringing home a paycheck, the debt was starting to mount up quickly.

While it was a huge disappointment for the family, they did look for personal injury lawyers Utah drivers trust and chose a good one. This lawyer helped them recover some of their losses. It took some time, but they did get back on their feet again and finished their climb out of debt.

As you can see from the experience of this family, unexpected things happen in life. It is important not to let the unexpected take control of your financial situation. Seek out whatever legal remedy you can and keep the goal of being debt-free in focus.

As with any project in life, the project of reducing your debt takes a lot of self-discipline. You need to continually analyze what is essential to buy or not. Let us consider a few tips that may help to lessen your debt even faster.

  • Put away the credit cards.Carrying around credit cards can encourage debt because you do not see the cash leaving your wallet.
  • Stop going through the drive-thru.The drive-thru at a fast food restaurant is very convenient. The convenience makes us not realize how much money we are spending. Take a drink and snack with you from home to save money.
  • When you are eating out, order water to drink.It is not really possible for most people to banish all eating out, so on those special occasions where you choose to eat out save a few bucks and drink water.
  • Know where your money is going.It is essential to keep your receipts and add the expenses to a spreadsheet. In this way, you will know exactly where your money is going and can make adjustments to your spending habits.

These are just a few suggestions to help you climb out of debt. As you are taking the momentous climb up the mountain, set little goals for yourself. Once you attain your goal, have a small, inexpensive reward system in place. This reward system will give you the encouragement you need to keep going.

Financial Freedom and You

The burden of being in debt can be very overwhelming and depressing. Going through the process of climbing out of the hole of debt is very educational and worth the climb. The slope of your climb may be steep and very uncomfortable, which may leave you feeling distressed at times. However, you do well to keep the hope of being debt-free alive. Remember, the feeling of being debt-free is uplifting, builds confidence and it is financial freedom from the enslavement of debt.

No matter where you are in the process of climbing out of your mountain of debt, keep going. If you are just starting your journey to financial freedom, lace up your bootstraps and get ready, it is a long walk. Whenever you are tiring out, remind yourself of the goal, and you are closer now than when you started. Keep going! You are going to make it to the top and have financial freedom.

Choosing a Way Forward for Your Business

Angela Manning Business , ,
Choosing a Way Forward for Your Business

Source: Unsplash

As a business owner, it’s all too easy to get mired down in micromanagement. People found their own businesses because they value independence and control and giving that up can be difficult. It’s vital though, because the most valuable role of a business owner, founder or CEO is not taking personal control of every process, it’s looking to the future and steering the business forward towards success.

This is not an easy task. For one thing, the weight of responsibility for the business’ entire workforce rests on your shoulders: if your choices don’t generate the revenue or finance to pay everyone’s wages, there’s no one else to blame.

Today we’re looking at the ways you can make decisions about the future of your business that you can feel confident in, and lower some of the stress that comes with the rewards of running a business.

Objective Decisions

Truly objective decisions are a myth: as a person, with your unique experience and insights you will always bring a degree of bias to the process, and that’s no bad thing. It’s their particular set of experiences that makes someone a good decision maker! The best decisions, though, are based on reality, rather than simply your gut instincts, and you can use data sources to get closer to the reality you’re trying to make a decision about.

You can get some of the best data by working with a market research firm. They can provide you with market intelligence, so you can pick the options that work best for your consumers, and future proof your business against the trends that are coming, and competitor intelligence, to help you avoid the pitfalls your competitors fall into, and avoid forcing your competitors to choose between your brand and another – unless you’re very confident you will win!

Accepting Feedback

As well as knowing about the market you’re relying on, you also need to know about the business you’re running. It’s a sad truth that as you focus more on the bigger picture, as you need to, you can lose some perspective on the ground-level running of your business.

The answer isn’t to plunge into direct management: you need to listen to the people who work for you. Building in feedback processes is best done at the founding of a business. If you try to impose this culture afterwards, you may find it difficult to get an honest answer – it can be hard to tell the boss they’re wrong! If you can demonstrate that you don’t take feedback personally, whether it’s negative or positive, and that you’ll act on the expert input of your team, you’ll soon build a proper understanding of the business you’re leading, and be able to make the right decisions for its future.

How to Achieve Your Business Dreams of Starting a Privacy Protection Company

Angela Manning Business , , , ,
How to Achieve Your Business Dreams of Starting a Privacy Protection Company

Do you have dreams of starting your own business to ensure the privacy of others? Click here for a handy guide on how to make your business dreams a reality.

Thousands of entrepreneurs start their companies with big business dreams. They dream that they’ll have the freedom to do the work they love and make a lot of money to do it.

Unfortunately, about 20% of those dreams come crashing down in the first year. The reasons usually come down to lack of cash flow and business owner burnout.

You can avoid that as long as you start your business off right. You need to plan ahead and lay the foundation so your privacy protection business will grow.

Would you like to know what it takes to start a privacy protection business built to last?

Keep reading to learn the how you can live your dream as a successful business owner.

Brainstorm, Visualize, and Plan

When you get that spark of inspiration and decide to run with it, you need to make sure that your idea is profitable.

The first thing you’ll need to do is map out your privacy protection business. Mind mapping is a great way to do that. Mind mapping is a way to organize your thoughts and get all of the ideas in your head on paper.

Write down the different services you want to provide, and how your business will be better than the competition.

When you think you’ve gotten all of your ideas down on paper, take a few moments to visualize your business 3-5 years down the road.

What are the core services that you’re providing? How is your day being spent? How many employees do you have? What kind of clients do you work with?

These questions tap into your business dreams and help you plan out where you want to take your business.

Write a Business Plan

In order to make sure that your business is profitable, you need to take your mind map and create a business plan out of it.

Your business plan is a formal mind map that fills in the gap between where your business is now and where you want it to be. These are the most important parts of the business plan are as follows.

Target Market

You’ll need to get clear as to who you want to target. The reason why this part is so critical is that this is the basis of all of your marketing efforts.

The marketing for your privacy protection business should speak directly to that audience. Take a look at Spy Catchers, which outlines what they do and who they help right away on their website. The content is relatable to that audience.

Do you want to work with celebrities? Government agencies? Homeowners?

You’ll also want to research what the market size is. If you start a business and the target market you chose doesn’t buy your service, you don’t have much of a business.

SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis is a risk assessment tool that helps you analyze your business strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Strengths: An internal view of what your business does well. For example, you might have years of experience in the privacy industry.

Weaknesses: These are things that you need to improve. Poor customer service or a lack of systems and processes are two good examples.

Opportunities: This examines the external opportunities for your business, such as an increased need for your services or a booming economy.

Threats: Just like a booming economy is an opportunity, a bad economy is a threat. A threat is anything external that can have a negative impact on your business. An increase in competition and a change in government regulations regarding privacy companies could be potential threats, too.

With a detailed SWOT analysis, you’re aware of the situations that your business faces, and you’ll be able to plan for the challenges ahead.

Financial Projections

Creating financial projections is a tedious job, but necessary if you want to start a business the right way.

The first thing you’ll want to create is a spreadsheet with all of your projected start-up expenses.

That includes equipment, office space, and marketing costs.

Other financial projections that you’ll need are sales projections for the first five years of your business, and profit and loss statements.

Put Your Team Together

If you think that you have a winning business after writing your business plan, you’ll need to put your team together. You need people with levels of expertise in certain areas to handle some of the workload.

Delegating these tasks are very important because they can have serious consequences for your business if not handled properly. Plus, you’re lessening the chance for burnout by outsourcing tasks to someone else.

The first person you want to work with is a business lawyer. A good attorney will help you set up the right business structure, and help you create contracts for your clients.

Unless you want to do your own taxes, you’ll want to talk to an accountant. An accountant will help you set up your books, tell you how much you need to set aside or pay in estimated taxes.

They’ll also advise you on what you can write off on your taxes and what you can’t.

You’ll also need a good marketing team. You may opt to do this yourself in the beginning to save money. The challenge is that you’re not a marketing expert.

You’re a privacy expert. You’ll have to learn the latest marketing trends and take the time to do all of the marketing yourself.

It’s worth it to bring in a marketing expert, even hire an intern if funds are very tight.

When you have the right team of people around to you provide guidance, you’re able to make clear and calculated decisions.

Make Your Business Dreams Come True

The decision to start a business can come from a moment of inspiration or from an idea that you had a long time ago.

You might have business dreams and visions of success and freedom in your head. The reality is that the decision to start a company kicks off months and years of hard, rewarding work.

It’s a true labor of love for business owners. In the privacy protection business, you can help people and make a great living doing it.

A successful business starts with a solid foundation. Once you lay the groundwork, you can scale your business up.

For more great tips about starting and running a business, check out our blog.

The Benefits of Being in a Collaborative Workspace

Angela Manning Business , , , ,
The Benefits of Being in a Collaborative Workspace

A collaborative workspace can offer a handful of different benefits to those working within it. Click here to read more about what they have to offer!

It’s as true in business as it is in life – real estate is one of the largest (if not the largest) costs you’ll have.

For a small business, high overhead can mean the difference between success and bankruptcy, so it’s vital to explore all your options. Have you thought about a collaborative workspace?

A collaborative workspace (also called a coworking space) is a facility where professionals or businesses can rent individual desks and offices. Think of a large, open room where each desk, cubicle, or office is a separate company.

They aren’t new, but these environments have been surging in popularity in recent years. In fact, it’s expected that 1.7 million people will be in coworking spaces by the end of 2018.

Why are they so popular? Here’s why.

Benefits of a Collaborative Workspace

To see if a coworking space is right for your business, here are the advantages you need to know about:

Constant Networking Opportunities

One of the largest factors in a business’ or individual’s success is their professional network. In a collaborative workspace, you’re sharing a room with dozens of potential connections. Imagine walking one desk over to hire your new contractor or to build a partnership with another company.

Focused Place of Work

Most people think working from home is a dream job. But when it actually happens, they struggle to focus on work while seeing laundry that needs to be done, that cabinet that needs organizing, that new gaming console, etc.

A coworking space lets you keep the flexibility of working whenever you want from wherever you want, but it’s also a dedicated workspace where you can go when you need to buckle down.

Many people also find themselves motivated by the energy of a collaborative workspace. Seeing others working toward their dreams can immediately energize you to do the same.

Client-Worthy Atmosphere

When you’re meeting with a new client, bringing him/her to your living room doesn’t always give a professional, put-together vibe.

Having an actual workspace for your meeting will show that you’re serious about building your business and that you have your ducks in a row. Many clients enjoy visiting the high-energy, modern atmosphere of a coworking space, too.

Fewer Growing Pains

Small businesses can add or subtract employees very quickly. Understandably, you don’t want to sign a three-year lease on an office that you might grow out of in six months. You also don’t want to pay for a large, expensive office when you only need a fraction of the space.

Coworking spaces are all unique, but many rent space by the desk, by the office, by the conference room, etc. This makes it extremely simple (and cost-effective) to add or reduce your business’ space at short notice.

Fixed Utility Costs

While each collaborative workspace is different, many build the cost of utilities into your rent costs. This means you’ll know exactly what you’re paying every month, and for a small business with an unpredictable cash flow, that’s a huge advantage.

This also means you won’t turn into one of those companies taking crazy measures to cut the energy bill. Your employees will thank you.

Save on Furnishing Costs

The cost of your office isn’t just rent and utilities – the equipment you’ll need is pricey, too. In fact, a furnished cubicle can cost $3500-$6000 per person.

Many coworking facilities are fully furnished with desks, chairs, shelves, and other helpful equipment. This gives you huge savings, especially as you grow your business.

High-End Amenities

Some collaborative workspaces include a variety of amenities, like break rooms, coffee bars, even gyms and ping-pong tables. In most cases, these are amenities you wouldn’t be able to afford on your own. Whether you use them yourself or you want to keep your employees’ morale high, the added amenities are no small factor.

Keep in mind that every coworking space is different. Click here to find out what amenities one popular, multi-city collaborative workspace provides.

Low Rent in a High-Rent Location

Many coworking spaces are located right in the heart of their respective cities, in popular areas for professionals and residents alike. For most small businesses, these areas would be out of their price range.

The low cost of a collaborative workspace, on the other hand, can make these great locations accessible to freelancers and small businesses alike.

Flexible Leasing

New business owners often don’t realize that multi-year leases are standard for office spaces. In fact, a five-year or ten-year lease isn’t unusual. That’s a lot of time for your business to change and outgrow or stop being able to afford a particular space.

A collaborative workspace, on the other hand, is typically much more flexible. Some even have month-to-month or week-to-week options, with lower pricing for longer commitments.

Better Internet Speeds

Coworking spaces often provide the fastest internet speeds available in their areas, usually at prices a small business couldn’t afford. It might sound like a small factor, but the time you spend waiting for downloads, uploads, emails, and more can make a huge dent in your productivity.

Quicker Availability

Looking for an office space can be a daunting task, especially if you want to be in a high-demand area. It can take months to find an open space, and months longer if a build-out is necessary.

Most collaborative workspaces, on the other hand, have at least some immediate availability.

Even if there isn’t as much space open as you ideally want, it’ll be easy to use a smaller space and then move to a larger area in the same building when it becomes available.

Morale-Building Atmosphere

Part of the challenge for a small business owner is keeping employees happy and motivated. A collaborative workspace takes care of this for you.

On top of those morale-boosting amenities, we mentioned above, being surrounded by other passionate and talented professionals can do wonders for motivation and productive energy.

Finding a Coworking Space

If the advantages above sound like they fit your business’ goals, finding a coworking space is an easy next step. Most major cities and many smaller towns have several available, so fire up a map online and get searching!

Make sure you investigate each option and visit the facilities in person before making your choice.

Finding a workspace is just one step, though. Check out our other tips for businesses and professionals.

3 Lessons Your Business can Learn from the Medical Industry

Angela Manning Business , , ,
3 Lessons Your Business can Learn from the Medical Industry

Inspiration often arrives from strange places. Indeed, progressive entrepreneurs constantly have their eyes peeled looking for new, innovative ways to conduct business and improve their company. And the medical industry is one area where businesses in other fields can seek to learn a few lessons. Because while your business may not have much in common with pharmacies or hospitals on the surface, some basic tenets of good work always remain the same. With that in mind here are three things your company can learn from studying those in medical professions:

Put Your Customers at Ease

Hospitals and dental offices can prove to be locations patients dread to visit –– even if nothing’s wrong with them. However, the best medical waiting rooms go the extra mile to create a comforting and welcoming atmosphere for their visitors. Accoutrements such as vending machines, televisions, and relaxing furniture serves to take some of the nerves out of a trip to the doctor’s. Similarly for companies that deal with face-to-face client/customer interaction often, creating an office where your visitors feel at home is vital to establishing a solid rapport with the people who matter most –– your customers!

Use Top-of-the-Line Tech

No, it’s probably not feasible for your business to spend as much as hospitals or pharmacies spend on medical testing supplies or lab equipment. However, the lesson to be learned here is that in the medical field, nothing goes to waste. Every tech upgrade they purchase goes to good use –– and that precept is essential if you’re going to streamline your business. In addition, pharmacies use premium POS systems to log all of their data correctly –– something to remember if you too run credit-card transactions through a POS. (And for more information on said POS systems, you can check out companies like Retail Management Solutions.)

Employ a Stellar Work Ethic

Ask any medical professional about the hours they have to put forth to do their job, and you’ll likely find that they consider an eight-hour shift to be laughably short. Indeed, the work ethic of those in the medical field is nothing short of admirable. And even though lives aren’t likely to be on the line in your given profession, understanding how to dig deep and work long hours is crucial to success in any situation. That’s why it’s important to spend some time helping your team members stay happy and productive at work. Developing mental fortitude to power through difficult periods isn’t easy –– however, it’s incredibly valuable for ambitious professionals.

Social Media Marketing: A Beginner’s Walkthrough

Angela Manning Business , , ,
Social Media Marketing: A Beginner’s Walkthrough

As a society, we’re on a social media platform of some kind, all the time. It’s become second-nature to most people, and it’s not surprising then that businesses of all types have taken the plunge into social media marketing. No matter what you do, there’s an obvious benefit to getting your product exposure from the huge numbers of people using social media platforms. But if you haven’t got into social media marketing yet, it can seem like an uphill battle at this point. Where should you start? The good news is, because the way we interact with content is changing, it’s a great time to get into the game. And these simple steps can help you get started today!

Strategize First

Before you can delve into social media marketing, you need to first understand where your target audience will most likely see your posts –– and when they’ll see them, too. Creating a great social media campaign will go to waste if you don’t identify what platform your audience views most.

Play it Niche

It can be tempting to want to try and share your business with all seven billion people on the planet. However, the best way to advertise yourself on social media is to find your niche supporters, and cater to them. Whether your company sells inoculation loops or barbecue-flavored chips, there’s a market waiting for your posts. You just need to find them.

Write Good Content –– Consistently

One good Facebook post or tweet isn’t likely to transform your company’s social media image overnight. Instead, it takes many cogent and timely pieces to create an effective brand on social media. This is where the hard work comes in, but stay diligent; it’s worth the effort. And remember, creativity is always welcome. 

Never Stop Learning

Track the metrics on your social media campaigns. Which ones are working and which ones aren’t? Don’t be satisfied with having only reached a portion of your target audience. The brilliant aspect of social media is the potential to connect us with people anywhere at anytime. That’s why a good social media marketing strategy is always introspective, and constantly looking to improve. If your content stagnates, you’re headed in the wrong direction.

Reap the Benefits

The last, and best part of any good social media marketing campaign is converting the leads you generated on social media into clients and customers. A good social media marketing strategy can drive solid leads to your website in droves. From there, it’s just a matter of closing the deal!

4 Highly-Effective Tips to Promote Your Business

Angela Manning Business , , ,
4 Highly-Effective Tips to Promote Your Business

Promoting your business is not a simple task for many entrepreneurs. A lot of things should be taken into consideration prior to advertising your business to the public. Nevertheless, there are still tons of ways to showcase your business successfully to people.

It does not really matter if you own a big enterprise or a small business. You still have to create brand awareness to guarantee that you spread the word about your existing or new business. Various types of marketing techniques and tools can help your business grow as well as reach a larger audience. You can even use a domain name checker if you are to check the availability of the name you want to use for your own website or a domain lookup tool to find out some information about a certain website.

Listed below are some proven marketing tips to make your venture known to the world:

Represent your industry

Actively participate in any forums or online groups and share your expertise further. You can also contact a local or national media and tell them that you can offer stories about your business. Be proactive in taking a stand on trending industry topics or make some smart comments on news articles. By simply being a vocal spokesperson, you can potentially become a speaker at a seminar and that is such a great opportunity for your business.

Concentrate on email marketing

If there is one marketing campaign you need to use, that would be email marketing. It is one of the most common ones and is easy to measure, cost-effective, and flexible. All you need to do is to create an interesting, appropriate, and profitable message for people to subscribe on your newsletters. With this, you can promote your services or products, reach a wider audience, get in touch with your potential customers, and drive more traffic to your website.

Talk to your clients

Another approach to boost revenue is to converse with your existing clients. You can just pick a couple of clients and inquire whether they have time and are interested in a phone interview with you. Actually, this can be initiated by somebody outside your business, in order for your clients to answer sincerely and honestly. You don’t need new clients as long as you have existing ones with tons of opportunities and information.

Take advantage of your current network

Make it a priority to develop relationships with the people in your network, such as clients, family, friends, and colleagues. It will be easier to market your business with these people for you already know them. They can also be your bridge who will refer something to you, someone whom you can seek help regarding business matters, or advocates.

Through these compelling marketing tips, your business has now a bigger chance of being known to a lot of people from across the globe. Just put all your effort into it and be patient all the time. It won’t be easy at first, but everything will flow smoothly eventually. It is all about hard work and discipline, so practice these values and you will go a long way.

Simple Things Every Company Needs To Succeed

Angela Manning Business , , , ,
Simple Things Every Company Needs To Succeed

Managing a business is difficult, but it doesn’t need to be complicated. You have to have the right attitude and mindset to make it seem easier than it is in reality. Avoid over thinking it and making you sick trying to decide what to do next.

Analyze where you’re at and where you’d like to be. Step back and give your company room to breathe while you sort it all out. Prepare yourself to make changes that are going to affect your business, but not put any extra stress in on you in the process. See simple things every company needs to succeed.

Goals

It’s quite simple; you need goals and objectives to keep you moving forward. You don’t want to stay where you are forever. Your goals will keep you and your team on track for advancing and improving your business. Work won’t get done without goals and objectives in place. Have a vision and share it with everyone. Map it all out and communicate to your team what they’re working towards each day. This will motivate them to do their job better because they’ll have a purpose.

Hardworking Employees

You have to have hardworking employees in your corner if you’re going to succeed. You can’t do it all alone. Be strategic in your hiring decisions and only bring on board those who you know are fit for the role and company. Take your time and do it right the first time. Ask multiple people in your company to interview the candidate and make sure they match your list of desired qualities. You want everyone on the same page and working together toward a common goal. Lousy employees will bring you down and make more work for everyone.

Policies & Procedures

Write policies and procedures that staff is to follow to keep order in your office. You never know when an incident will arise and you’ll need to refer to your documents for guidance. Protect yourself and your business by having guidelines in place for sticky situations. For instance, employees may act out, or you could be faced with a hard drive failure. In this case, you would know who to call for an HDD repair when at your office because you were prepared. Not knowing what to do in an emergency wastes time and puts you at risk for worse consequences.

Happy Customers

Always remember to focus on your customers. Keep your clients happy, and everyone will be satisfied. Tell them how much you appreciate their business and be there to help them out when they run into issues. Work as a team to ensure clients are being heard and feel valued. Put a customer service department in place that goes above and beyond to please the customer. Losing clients is never a good feeling. Avoid this circumstance by putting in the hard work upfront to put smiles on their faces.

Conclusion

Every business needs a boost once in a while. There are ways to improve the current environment without breaking your back. These are simple things every company needs to succeed.

Business Rates Issues Continue to Cause Financial Problems for Start-ups

Angela Manning Business, Finance , , , , ,
Business Rates Issues Continue to Cause Financial Problems for Start-ups

More than 500,000 businesses in Britain have are still experiencing problems following the latest business rates regulation changes. Start-ups in the UK were forced to pay more in business rates without knowing whether they will benefit from the announced £300 million relief package. Following the announcement, which can into fruition in March, news have surfaced that the ‘relief fund’ has still yet to be paid out and it is causing major problems for UK businesses.

Restaurants, shops and businesses in southern England have been hit the most following the first revaluation in over 7 years. Recent news articles broadcasted that certain start-ups have been faced with massive 50% rise in business tax, and with the new support fund announced by the Chancellor still not functioning, these business are still unsure of whether they will be able to benefit or lose out. Worry remains that businesses will be left in the dark for more months to come and with no announcements on the horizons, will people get their money back? Experts fear that the longer this is drawn out, businesses could be forced to relocate or go under.

Following the flood of news, Government sources leap to the defence of the fund by stating that it will be ready by the end of summer. Jerry Schurder, head of business rates at Gerald Eve, said: “Whilst the package of measures announced in the Budget will eventually bring benefit to some businesses, the current uncertainty as to who will qualify and to what extent, is of huge concern… Rates bills landing on doormats now do not include any of the new reliefs and demand payment of the first monthly instalment within the next few days.

“In the meantime, Government is still consulting as to how the £300m discretionary relief fund will be divvied up amongst councils. Only once it has made decisions and advised local authorities as to the categories of business Government believes should be considered for relief will the process begin… Councils will have to devise their own guidance as to which of their local businesses might qualify, programme their billing systems, create application procedures and put in place resources to manage what could well be a torrent of applications for these discretionary reliefs. We could be well into the summer before businesses learn what share of the pie, if any, they will be granted.”

As stated, over half a million UK businesses have seen a spike in their business rates. The Government have however, disputed this change by releasing figures that show that 420,000 will play the same amount as previous, with 920,000 companies set to see a decrease following estimates after the first quarter.

The magnifying glass was firmly shone on ministers before the Budget as support was being called upon for those affected by doublings in rates after sharp housing price increases. Following this, the Chancellor announced 3 different measures in July that meant that start-ups facing those larger rates would get more help, that 90% of pubs would be given a thousand pounds off of their bills and finally, that the third measure was the article based topic surrounding the £300 million fund for firms raising council given tax rates rises – the same fund that businesses are waiting to claim a business rates appeal.

Despite this, owners as well as critics are still skeptical about this as they are still being forced to pay increased bills today without knowing whether they will be able to get the money back or the financial help that they have been promised. Each local council can also choose its own rules for who gets the funds, leaving business facing more uncertainty according to experts.

The Government this week have responded by outlining the £6.7 billion package that is set to commerce to aid businesses with the revaluation, stating that the fund would be functioning “as soon as possible… We’ve listened to the concerns of businesses and are giving an extra £435 million to help those facing the steepest increases in their bills. Working with local authorities, we’re making sure this extra support gets to businesses as soon as possible.”

That however, is still no help for businesses financial concerns today and as it has now been many months since this business rates relief was set to take place, they are still no closer to an answer. Continued stalling on this policy could massively hit the UK economy with start-up going out of business. That mixed with uncertainty regarding Brexit changes and free movement regulations could produce mass problems for the business climate within the country.