Your EnterQuest Bulletin - Issue 186
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| Thought for the week: "Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." Albert Einstein |
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In this week's issue:
If
you have any questions about your business idea or target market, or need help tracking down a grant, subsidy or business support
in your local area, then send an e-mail with your query and location to the EnterQuest
information team and we'll do our best to help.
Send
your question to enterquest@cobwebinfo.com.
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To
access over 800 factsheets, guides and small business reports, go
to www.scavenger.net. |
Why you need to write a business plan
The majority of new and currently trading small businesses don't have a formal, written business plan at all, other than the one that's in their heads or scattered around various scribbles on scraps of paper. However, writing a business plan is usually the number one thing a business adviser will tell budding small business start ups to do before they begin trading.
Perhaps this explains why the single most downloaded and read factsheet by subscribers to all of our various information services is A Guide to Writing a Business Plan.
But having a business plan is not the be-all and end-all for someone setting up, running or aspiring to grow a small enterprise. Or at least, it's not about having a single written document that tells the complete story about how you will plant your little business acorn and grow it into a profit-generating forest of money trees.
The point is that in the real world of start ups and small businesses, it's not actually having 'a plan' that's important, but having 'plans', and lots of them.
You may need a plan for just about every critical part of your business - a marketing plan, a financial forecast plan, a sales plan, a purchasing plan, a recruitment plan, an Internet plan, a legal compliance plan, a direct mail plan, a succession plan, a continuity plan, an exit plan, and so on.
You should certainly have these written down, no matter how short and sweet they are. And they should be read and understood by everyone involved with each relevant area of your business.
But in the wider scheme of things, the most crucial thing to remember is that your plan should clearly describe exactly what business you are going into, and exactly who it is aimed at. Without this careful definition and focus, you will launch your venture with little or no obvious direction, which can be misunderstood by a number of key stakeholders in your business, such as:
- You - to keep everything in focus and pointing in the right direction.
- Your employees - to understand where the business is heading and to deal with customers effectively.
- Your potential investors - to help them decide whether to back your venture.
- Your prospective customers - most important of all, so it is clear what your business can offer them.
If you can't describe your business in specific terms, you may need to rethink your idea, and refocus on your core purpose, mission and target customer groups.
You can write your various plans easily according to the stage you're at with your new venture, focusing on the particular priorities that relate to your unique situation. Make a list of the most important aspects that you want to address, and for each one start off by jotting down, on a single side of paper, a summary of what you want to achieve and how you propose to do it.
If you need to write more or do more research, you can do this for each aspect of your business as you find the time. Then, and if you really have the need, such as in the case of requiring a prospectus to present to a bank or other funder to raise finance, you will be much better placed to quickly pull together a single master business plan for exactly that purpose.
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For hundreds more practical tips and techniques about writing your marketing plan, finding new customers, increasing sales and growing your business, check out the UK Small Business Marketing Bible. |
Understanding tips and service charges
If you run a catering or hospitality businesses such as a pub, restaurant, hotel or café, where employees retain cash tips handed to them or left by customers, there are several income tax and National Insurance (NI) implications that you need to understand.
The tax situation varies depending on whether your employees are allowed to keep tips handed to them, or whether you share out pooled tips or service charges among everyone. It's essential that tips paid to your staff are properly treated for income tax and NI purposes, as this can affect your employees' future entitlement to contributory benefits.
There are various types of tips and ways of managing the process:
- A tronc is a special arrangement used to pool and distribute tips. They're usually run independently from your business, often by one of your employees, who is known as a 'troncmaster'.
- A tip is an unrequested spontaneous payment made by a customer either in cash, or added to a credit/debit card payment or a cheque.
- A service charge is an amount added to a customer's bill before it is given to them. These can be voluntary or mandatory.
For more details about how the whole system works, have a look at this HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) guide.
You can also check out our practical guide to customer tips, service charges and troncs for more information.
Business exhibitions
Ranked by total attendance, the following list shows the top ten most popular trade fairs and business exhibitions in 2005, according to the Association of Event Organisers. You can view the top 50 list at the TSNN exhibition directory website.
1) Spring Fair (79,939), Birmingham NEC
2) World Travel Market (43,763), London ExCel
3) Professional Beauty and Professional Spa (40,254), London ExCel
4) Furniture Show (39,327), Birmingham NEC
5) International Food and Drink Exhibition (34,331), London ExCel
6) Autumn Fair (32,518), Birmingham NEC
7) Offshore Europe (32,104), Aberdeen Exhibition Centre
8) Incorporating Security Solutions and Network Advantage (31,774), Birmingham NEC
9) 100% Design (29,494), London Earl's Court
10) BETT (27,015), Birmingham NEC
The EnterQuest team is taking a stand this week at the Business Start Up show at London's Olympia. The show takes place on Friday and Saturday, and we'll be on stand 244, so pop along for a chat if you're planning to attend.
You can get more useful tips on getting the most out of business exhibitions by reading our practical checklist.
Each
week we provide you with summaries of some popular or emerging business
ideas in the UK.
Here
is this week's idea:
Regularly improving your vocabulary is not just about learning a new word and its meaning. It will improve your general knowledge and make you feel and act smarter in all sorts of personal and business situations.
Do you know what the word 'segue' (pronounced 'seg-way') means?
a) to proceed smoothly or uninterrupted
b) to cover up or mask
c) to experience a period of rapid growth
d) to disclaim responsibility
Answer at the end of the Bulletin.
The following topical business issues have been reported in the media over the past seven days. Did your radar pick them up?
1) Which type of food was named by market research publisher Mintel as a fast-growing new trend for snacking on the go, with a 300% rise in sales since 2001?
a) Fairtrade chocolate and cakes
b) Indian-style vegetable snacks
c) Organic smoothies and juices
d) Nuts, seeds and dried fruit
2) Which celebrity, formerly associated with Tesco adverts, has announced a new campaign to save small, independent local shops?
a) Jane Horrocks
b) Prunella Scales
c) Terry Wogan
d) James Nesbitt
3) What device is behind the new repetitive-strain related affliction being treated by massage in a US hotel chain?
a) The laptop
b) The hands-free mobile phone
c) The iPod
d) The BlackBerry
Answer at the end of the Bulletin.
You could save money on your mobile bill
Here's a money-saving offer - if you agree to receive adverts to your mobile phone, you'll get a cheaper service. The idea comes from Vodafone, which has linked up with online giant Yahoo! to offer the deal to selected customers. The mobile phone giant is also planning to go into the broadband market, with a £25-a-month Vodafone at Home package.
Small businesses can get tailored Web 2.0 software
Intel is putting together software to help small businesses join the Web 2.0 revolution, with applications for blogs, RSS feeds, social networking tools and wikis. More and more businesses are using these tools for networking online, sharing expertise and finding information. The new software will be called SuiteTwo, and will soon be available to customers via resellers, Intel said.
Tips and tools for tackling late payment
A range of top tips and useful tools have been published by BACS Payment Schemes Ltd, which is responsible for administering direct debit payments in the UK, after its research found that there's been a big rise in the number of small businesses experiencing late payment problems. The tips cover areas such as pursuing debts early and charging interest on payments that are overdue, and the tools provide sample letters for chasing up a debt.
Free online networking service
Make Your Mark: Connect is a new, free and simple to use online service that lists networking events across the UK. The site also features a blog about starting up in business, and a free advertising service for business owners who want to form their own clubs or groups.
This book is the rags to riches story of 'Curry King' Charan Gill, who arrived in Glasgow from India when he was nine, unable to speak English. He's now a multi-millionaire after earning £8 million from the sale of his Harlequin Restaurant Group. The group sprang from just one restaurant, which was the foundation of the biggest chain of Indian restaurants in Europe. With his humorous touch, Charan explains how he rose from humble beginnings, why it's OK to leave school without qualifications, and what the future may hold. Check out:
Just one word answer
The answer is a).
To segue means to proceed smoothly or without interruption.
It may be possible that a hobby you enjoy could segue into a business opportunity. |
How's your business radar answers
1) The answer is d) - nuts, seeds and dried fruit were named by Mintel as a fast-growing new snack food.
2) The answer is b) - Prunella Scales, who starred as grandmother Dotty Turnbull in the long-running series of ads for the supermarket giant, is now pledging her support for shops near her Battersea home.
3) The answer is d) - US hotel chain Hyatts has introduced a hand massage to treat 'BlackBerry thumb'. |
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Good luck
The EnterQuest Team
This information is meant as a starting point only. Whilst all reasonable efforts have been made, the publisher makes no warranties that the information is accurate and up-to-date and will not be responsible for any errors or omissions in the information nor any consequences of any errors or omissions. Professional advice should be sought where appropriate. |
