It’s been a busy 7 days on the blog as I have started to take part in the my 2nd Ultimate Blog Challenge. Below are the top posts over the last week (by viewer count):

Image: Just2shutter / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

1. 5 Social Media Pet Peeves – The ugly side of social media
2. How Much Money Do I Need To Start My Own Business? – Since I made this post it has regularly topped the most viewed list, find out why..
3. When Does the UK Tax Year End – It came and went last week, but read here so you know for next year

Over to you

If you’ve read or commented on my blogs this week, which one have you thought was the best? By letting me know I can tailor the content to make it more relevant to you

After a lot of hard work you have finally won a big contract and are looking forward to reaping the rewards and receiving payment. Most companies will make a payment run once a week or once a month, if your invoice is missed off you will receive payment late. Cash is king and keeping cash flowing into your business is key to staying in business.

The majority of companies now pay via electronic transfer and will only realise that they do not have your bank details when the time comes to produce their payment run. They will probably give you one call that week for your details, if you miss the call then you’re going to be paid late.

How can you avoid this situation? Simple, make sure your bank details are included on all of your invoices. Your customer then has no excuse not to pay on time, assuming that your invoice is valid and no disputes have arisen. It will take you a few minutes to add the bank details to your invoice template but could save you lots of time chasing payments.

Back in September 2011 I wrote about post titled ‘How Much Money Do I Need to Start My Own Business?’ and at the time it didn’t get many clicks. I was a little surprised at that as so many people are thinking about turning their hobby into a business to help them earn a 2nd income. Over the last week the hits on this blog posting have been double the next most viewed post, and that includes everything I have written this week. Maybe people have decided to start 2012 as they mean to go on and are going to take the big step into self-employment.

The article is more geared towards people wanting to start self-employment as a sole-trader, but if you are looking at starting a limited company some of the points in the posting are still valid.

photo credit: LulaTaHula

We all say ‘If I won the lottery I’d….’ which we all know is just hypothetical and unrealistic. What would I do if I won the lottery? In no particular order:

• Buy a new house and rent out my current one
• Buy a really nice new car (The wife said I’m going to be limited to how many I can have!)
• Learn how to fly – In a plane of course – with a view to having an air-taxi business.

Now all those things are just dreams, the chances are it will never ever happen.

But what about something a bit more realistic? How about if you had £25,000 to spend on anything you wanted, what would you spend it on? There’s no reason for me picking that figure, but it will be interesting to see what people would spend it on. EDIT: this post was scheduled prior to me seeing that the price on Young Apprentice was £25,000.

I look forward to reading your replies….

A simple question, but one which can often put people off starting their own business.

What do you need to start as a sole trader?

• A product/service/skill that people will need and/or want
• Pens, pencils, paper etc… to write out invoices and receipts
• A diary to keep yourself organised
• A computer/laptop to connect with people via email, social media etc…
• A phone
• Determination to succeed
• Support of your friends and family

Apart from the first bullet point I’d bet good money that you already have all of those in your house already. Meaning that the answer to ‘How Much Money Do I Need to Start My Own Business?’ is none.

As your business grows you will need money to pay your suppliers, but by this stage money will be flowing into the business to fund these purchases.

Small businesses are thriving at the moment, if you have a skill that other people will need why not take the plunge and see if you can make money for yourself? You don’t need to quit your day job – most small businesses will start out life in a spare bedroom on an evening after work.

If you do decide to take the plunge, do not forget to inform HMRC that you are trading.

If you need any help/guidnace setting up as a sole trader please contact with me as I am only too happy to help.

Part 2

I hope you read yesterdays post (part 1) and got something out of it. Today I’ll list a few more tips and ideas about how you can make yourself more organised for your small business. Staying organised might seem like a pain and a chore but it is key to your business being successful. If you don’t know exactly what is happening with your business and can’t find something when you need it, it could mean the loss of an important contract or worse.

It needn't be a headache

Major companies employ hundreds of office workers to keep things organised so that the person at the top of the chain knows what is happening and what state the business is in. Sometimes it even goes wrong for them. They spend thousands upon thousands of pounds implementing new systems, how can you expect to compete with them? A few simple tips could help massively.

1. Keep a diary of all your appointments and add them to your phone as well. This way you can easily plan out your week ahead to make the best use of your time. It is fantastic attracting a lot of new business, but not if you cannot find the time to do what you said you’d do. Try to arrange appointments for the morning and to work in an afternoon. If you work in the morning you may become bogged down with something and turn up for your appointment/meeting under prepared.
2. Set up a simple spreadsheet with a list of your invoices raised, who to and when payment is due. Cash flow is vital for keeping a business running. If you have a new client contact them a couple of days before payment is due just to make sure that everything is OK. If you need any helping setting up a spreadsheet to do this please contact me and I can send you a spreadsheet (for free) that will help you.
3. Keep a clean desk. It seems simple enough, but at the end of each day make sure that your workspace is tidy. If you leave it looking like a bomb-site there is a very high probability that you might mis-place something and then have to waste valuable time looking for it. Even if you’ve not finished the work and need to carry it on tomorrow, put it away in a draw and leave yourself a note to remind you to do it the next day. At first it may take a while to get into the routine, but try building it into your schedule to finish 15 minutes early each day and use those 15 minutes to tidy up

Simple but Effective

Hopefully these will help you become more organised in whatever line of business you are in – you can even try them if you don’t work for yourself.

If you want to re-cap yesterday’s post please visit it here: Tips for Keeping Organised – Part 1 and remember to sign up to the RSS Feed or bookmark this Feeburner page to keep totally up to date.

Tips For Keeping Organised – Part 3

Day 13 of the blog challenge is to pick a song title and write a blog about it. I thought that Money’s Too Tight to Mention by Simply Red was rather apt considering the current financial climate.

People are finding that their disposable income has dropped considerably over the last few years, despite what the government tell us. There are all kinds of ways people can save money: changing supermarkets , walking instead of driving where-ever possible, don’t ‘eat out’ as much, cut down your mobile phone contract to a sim-only deal. The list goes on…

But how about ways to make more money? I’m not talking about over-time at work but setting up your own back room business. You may have skills to do something yet have never taken the plunge into going it alone. Working for youself alongside your main job is time consuming and your leisure time will decrease, but if you are working at something you enjoy then surely it’s worth it? And the extra money will always be helpful.

A few businesses that you could start up and run from your back room are:

• Artist – Caricatures, sketches, watercolours etc…
• Graphic Design
• Web Designer
• Greeting card design
• Author
• eBay Trader
• Mobile phone applications developer

I’m sure that there are others that you can think of that I’ve not mentioned – if so add them to the blog via a comment.

All of these home businesses could be set up for little or no cost at all. If you’re reading thing blog then I assume that you already have a computer, so you’re halfway there to trading on the internet. If you enjoy drawing or painting, why not try and turn some of your works of art into extra cash for yourself? The extra income may take the place of the bonus or pay rise that you didn’t get from your employer because they are having to save money too.

Don’t forget that you will need to register with HMRC if you do decide to trade self-employed. If you need any help with setting up and your financial affairs RS Book-Keeping can help you every step of the way.

I hope that this post has given you something to think about, there has rarely been a better time that now for small businesses to start up. So if you have the idea and the skills, what are you waiting for?