So here we are again at the start of the new financial year. Happy New Year! You've probably noticed stuff about changes to tax and national insurance thresholds. Apart from sounding very dull, most of this involves tweaks to a creaking system which makes little sense to right minded people. Mr Osborne says he's going
READ MORE >Posted on 06 April 2011
Happy new year! The start of another tax year is customarily greeted by a) daffs, and b) groans from the vast majority of self-employed people. Where are those train receipts? Who was the person I took out to lunch 8 months ago…and why? What is that PC World receipt for? Why can I only find
READ MORE >Posted on 06 April 2010
There's an elephant in the room during my business skills workshops these days. Countries around the world are starting to fall into recession, but the people I meet don't seem to be thinking very hard about how this might affect them. The media have been focusing almost exclusively on the big picture (central banks bailing
READ MORE >Posted on 27 September 2008
The thing that gets me hotter under the collar than anything else is people not being paid for work they’ve already done. It’s a common problem, especially for freelancers and consultants. That’s why there’s legislation designed to protect small businesses. Read all about it on the Pay On Time legislation website. You’ll see that the
READ MORE >Posted on 14 July 2008
I’m always on the look out for places that support one-person businesses and freelances. Working for yourself is hard enough so all tips and tricks are very welcome. I was asked to supply some blurb for The Stage the other day, and their Dear John section is a wonderful font of wisdom. Check it out.
READ MORE >Posted on 08 December 2007
There are any number of software providers who will sell you some clever widget that will alert you to outstanding payments. Personally, I prefer something simpler and much more low tech – a whiteboard. I’m not talking about anything huge – just a small version. Mine leans up against the wall just to the right
READ MORE >Posted on 16 September 2007
One of the reason people hate filing so much is that they’d rather be doing something more exciting. Unfortunately if you run your own business and have an office at home you can’t avoid it. The trick is to make the filing so easy that you can’t put it off. Don’t use filing cabinets for
READ MORE >Posted on 26 June 2007
One of the thing I love about the small business training is meeting so many people with great stories to tell. I’ll be repeating many of them here, and passing on some great tips for smoothing out the bumps of self-employment. Here’s one which was passed on by someone who’d started her new business at
READ MORE >Posted on 29 April 2007
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