Many business owners use a spreadsheet or desktop package to do their bookkeeping but we think they should stop and switch to an online bookkeeping package such as www.Xero.com and here are ten reasons why. Get to know your financialsA set of management accounts is possible with a spreadsheet but it’s not easy. Xero gives [...]
The cloud is another way of saying the internet but in this context it usually goes hand in hand with delivering a service over the internet. The cloud is where you can store all your data, all your files, music pictures and even your software so you can access it all from any computer or [...]
If only there was a Sat Nav for your business, a tool to help you find the best route to success. In my opinion, the secret of making any business successful is finding the best way i.e. the continual improvement of activities undertaken by you and your staff. Only by continual analysis of the way [...]
T.S. Elliot once wrote “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” You can’t run your own business without taking risks and if you get too hung up on them you won’t do anything but it’s important to minimise the chance of the biggest risks putting [...]
A few years ago, information for people starting a business was pretty thin on the ground. People used to talk to the bank manager, their mates down the pub and maybe their families to get information. Now it seems we are at the other extreme, we almost have information over load. I just Googled “starting [...]
Whenever I sign up a new client, I make a point of always asking the question; How do you price your services? The answers I get are often surprising and not what you might expect. The reason I ask this is because, in my opinion, pricing is the number one reason why businesses fail. Lack [...]
When I read the E-myth by Michael Gerber and later when I discovered Work the System by Sam Carpenter, I understood exactly what they meant. I had seen the result of a non systemised and un-organised business and how it negatively affected the lives of the people running it. Only I didn’t realise what the [...]
Getting Banks to say yes to finance is getting harder and harder, but they are still the major source of finance for small businesses in the UK. When applying for finance from your bank it helps if you follow these procedures. Always produce a business plan. The main areas that need to be covered in [...]
To know how profitable your marketing is, you need to know the lifetime value of your customers. This is the average profit you earn from a customer over their lifetime. Take a mechanics garage as an example. If the average new customer brings their car in three times a year and spends £200 each time [...]
I believe that I am fairly open-minded when it comes to Technology. I do my shopping and banking on line. I own an iPhone and love a good app but there was one area that I just couldn’t bring myself to adopt and that was online bookkeeping. I'm not even sure why, now, looking back [...]
