Your EnterQuest Bulletin - Issue 188
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| Thought for the week: "Nothing is more humiliating than to see idiots succeed in enterprises we have failed in." Flaubert |
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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. |
Thanks to everyone who completed our EnterQuest Subscriber Survey last week - the feedback will be extremely useful in helping us to make the bulletin even more practical and relevant for our readers.
One of the key issues highlighted in the survey was the need for more information about managing cash in your business. And it's true that one of the biggest challenges when running a new business is doing all the things you really want to do but without running out of cash in the process.
As a result we're revisiting an article we published in 2004 to help you save cash while your enterprise is still in its early stages.
Eight ideas to save cash while building your business
Here are eight very quick but proven tips that any new business owner can easily try out to save cash while building their business:
1) Get new sales by asking for referrals
Have you ever thought about this? Every time you sell something to a customer, ask them for the name of a person they think would also be interested in your product or service. Or ask them to make a personal recommendation on your behalf. It's free and it works better than you might imagine if you try it often enough.
2) Do piggy-back marketing deals
Do you know anyone in a related but non-competing business to yours who has customers you'd like to sell to? Why not ask them to share the costs in a joint marketing campaign or sell each other's products for a share of the spoils?
3) Buy recycled and second-hand stuff
Save on your spending when buying things like printer cartridges, paper or office equipment that is used but still usable or recycled. You'll save money and also help save the environment, so try visiting places like Preloved to have a look at the possibilities.
4) Use free software
You won't believe how much free stuff is available out there. Before you commit to spending on mainstream business software, check out the variety of full-blown, freely available and more limited freeware that's on offer. Try visiting Download.com, Freeware-Guide.com and Shareware.com for more details.
5) Employ students
Every year there are thousands of students seeking anything from a few months to a whole year out on work experience as part of their degree or business diploma course, and many of them struggle to find a suitable placement. Contact your local university's business studies course leader or student placement officer for details of students looking for work in your area. They are a cost-effective short-term staffing option, and will be keen to impress, but make sure you pay them a fair wage or allowance, and don't flout minimum wage regulations.
6) Build your own mailing lists
You can buy lists off the shelf. But legitimate and high-quality, fully opt-in only lists ain't cheap, especially if you want to use them more than once. What we're saying is that if you come across very cheap lists, they could be dodgy and lead to you spamming, with you ending up breaking the law. So build your own lists over time with names and addresses you've personally collected from people who already buy your stuff or who have said they are interested in receiving your promotions. It'll take longer, but will be cheaper and infinitely more productive.
7) Try barter or contra-trading
The way this works is that you trade services with other businesses. In other words, you can swap goods or services of an agreed similar value with another business. There are barter clubs you can join to do this, for example at The Business Exchange and LETS Link UK. Or you can simply try this with other businesses trading near you where you're happy to provide your service for something of value in return, saving cash in the process. This won't work for everything but is definitely worth a try.
8) Shop around when buying
OK, this sounds obvious, but many people just fail to do it. As a simple rule, whenever you're sourcing new stock or services for your business consider at least two, and ideally three, sources of supply. This will help you find the best prices for the quality level you're seeking, and will also make your suppliers more competitive in the process.
These are just a few practical suggestions that you can think about applying in your business. Give one or two of them a try and see if you can not only make some savings but also become a better wheeler and dealer in the process.
You can check out our practical tips for buying second-hand equipment for more cash-saving ideas.
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And for hundreds of practical tips and techniques about marketing your business on a shoestring budget, as well as finding new customers, increasing sales and growing your business, check out the UK Small Business Marketing Bible. |
Compliance tips for age discrimination law
Following the introduction of the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 nearly two months ago, people both young and old are now protected against discrimination in the workplace on the grounds of age.
So what are some of the main dos and don'ts to be aware of if you're recruiting staff for the first time?
- Do consider where you place job ads - if they're only placed in magazines targeted at young people, this could be construed as discriminatory because older people are less likely to see them.
- Don't use language that implies you would prefer someone of a certain age, such as 'mature', 'young' or 'energetic'.
- Do make sure that any qualifications you specify don't disadvantage people of different ages by stating that equivalents are acceptable. For example, requiring candidates to have GCSE English would exclude people who left school before GCSEs were introduced.
- Do be very careful when advertising for graduates. Many people take this term to mean people in their early 20s and it could also rule out people who didn't go to university but have the necessary skills or experience for the job.
- Don't include a box for age/date of birth on application forms. This could be included on an equal opportunities monitoring form instead, along with information about ethnicity.
- Don't make references to age in the job description or person specification. And don't ask for x-many years' experience, as this could rule out younger people with the right skills.
- When sifting through applications, do focus only on skills, abilities and potential.
- During interviews, don't ask questions related to age - for example, how would you feel about managing older people?
- If possible, do use people of different ages to carry out the recruitment and interviewing process, as this can help to minimise the perception of any individual prejudices.
For more information, see our useful factsheet introducing the issues around recruiting staff. You can also get more detail about the general requirements of the regulations in our guide to the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006.
PC and Internet passwords
IT security is often in the news, with more viruses, spyware and other malicious programs crawling the web than ever before. Having a genuinely obscure password, and changing it regularly, is a big part of keeping your systems secure.
This article takes a sample of primarily UK passwords to identify the top ten most common ones. It startlingly reveals how many people use passwords such as football teams and simple number sequences, which should be avoided at all costs!
1) 123
2) Password
3) Liverpool
4) Letmein
5) 123456
6) Qwerty
7) Charlie
8) Monkey
9) Arsenal
10) Thomas
For more tips on keeping your IT and data secure, check out our practical guide to PC and Internet security.
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 'evince' means?
a) to deny or reject
b) to prove or support with facts
c) to assume or infer
d) to make obvious or show clearly
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 shown to have experienced a significant boost in sales during 2005, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS)?
a) Produce sourced from the local area
b) Low-fat and low-salt goods
c) Ethical products such as organic or Fairtrade food
d) Goods with a low glycaemic index (GI) rating
2) Which two business sectors were named by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) as the worst offenders when it comes to failing to pay employees the National Minimum Wage (NMW)?
a) Construction and gardening services
b) Hairdressing and hospitality
c) Cleaning services and removals
d) Retail and agriculture
3) In which city is the UK's top farmers' market located, according to a contest held by Country Life magazine?
a) Edinburgh
b) Cardiff
c) Belfast
d) Bristol
Answers at the end of the Bulletin.
Restaurants are auctioning their meals online
The eBay model of bidding for goods appears to be taking the business world by storm, with a restaurant website the latest to use the concept. Priceyourmeal.com started in Glasgow in the spring and is now moving to Edinburgh. The idea is simple - users bid for meals at posh restaurants or haggle with the owners to get the price down, with the aim of giving people a better choice and injecting a dose of fun into booking a meal.
Crackdown on computerised till tax fraud
HMRC has launched a crackdown on restaurants and other retail outlets using certain types of computerised tills to evade tax. It is conducting a series of unannounced visits, where till entries will be checked to ensure that takings are not being suppressed to avoid VAT and income tax.
Social shopping wish list site
ThisNext.com is a social shopping site where people can create 'wish lists' of products they'd like to own, and share their recommendations for individual products that they use and love. Recommendations can be individual or for groups of must-have items, such as 'Italian cooking essentials'. Professionals in various fields - such as gardeners, interior designers and sportspeople - can also create recommendation lists which consumers can then use to find gift ideas. The website addresses of sites selling the products are then listed.
Toolkit to deal with absence
An online toolkit has been put together to help small and micro businesses manage absenteeism among their employees. It's been created by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), and the conciliation service Acas. The HSE reckons that sickness rates go down if business owners have been trained in how to manage absence, but it says few small business owners have this training. You can download the toolkit from the CIPD's website.
This is the first book by Internet billionaire Bo Peabody, who left college at 23 and set up his first business, Tripod, after attracting $3 million in investment, using his DIY business plan. He sold the company, which helped people create their own homepages, to Lycos for $58 million, getting his money just before the Internet bubble burst. Since his initial success, Peabody has started a number of other businesses. This book is a first-person account of his life as an entrepreneur, written in a fast-paced, spirited style. Peabody's philosophy is "I'm not going to get bogged down in the details". Check out:
Just one word answer
The answer is d).
Evince means to make obvious or show clearly.
Your business plan and funding proposals will be more favourably received when you evince your route to market in a clear and distinct way. |
How's your business radar answers
1) The answer is c) - the ONS figures showed at 11% increase in consumer spending on 'ethical' items such as organic food and green energy.
2) The answer is b) - figures released from the NMW helpline show that businesses in the hairdressing and hospitality sectors are most likely to shirk their NMW responsibilities.
3) The answer is a) - the weekly market held at Edinburgh's Castle Terrace was named the best in the UK by Country Life magazine. |
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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. |
