Blog
Top Rated Articles
My Bookkeeping Online Blog
By Tim Haggard 
The My Bookkeeping Online blog is written by founder, Tim Haggard. Topics range from VAT, working from home, funding, bookkeeping and employment, but are mainly focused on small businesses. The blog aims to talk about the issues small business owners face in specific industries. Do get in touch if you'd like Tim's opinion on your query.
Blog archive - September, 2009
Look after your Key Staff
29/09/09 (8 a.m.)
I was chatting recently with a friend who works for a small business and he mentioned that he is responsible for bringing in more than half of the revenue generated by the business. Over a couple of drinks, the conversation opened up, and my friend admitted that he felt under-valued by the business owner.
I asked: “Well what would happen if you left?”...
Categories:Employees
Tags:employees,
staff,
motivation,
reward
Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS)
24/09/09 (10:35 a.m.)
Start-ups are you looking into angel investment as a finance option? You need to ensure you’re EIS compliant...
If you are raising capital for a start-up business and you plan to use angel investment, the investors will probably want to know whether the business will be EIS compliant. The EIS is a government backed scheme that gives tax breaks to investors. The benefits of investing in an EIS compliant business are principally two-fold...
Categories:Financial,
Running a Business from Home,
Small Business Help,
Start ups
Tags:angel,
investment,
HMRC,
EIS
Employees Verses Contractors
21/09/09 (9 a.m.)
Fortunately there are some very good employers out there – people who thrive on building teams and getting the most out of their staff.
For me – I know I am not the best employer. It is not that I am rude or offensive – very much the opposite I would hope. It is that I, like many entrepreneurs, am very absorbed in what I am doing – thus for me the business comes first, and that means everything else second.
Categories:Employees,
Financial,
Running a Business from Home,
Small Business Help,
Start ups
Tags:Staff,
employees,
employers
Taking a Holiday
17/09/09 (9 a.m.)
In a recent FT article, there was a discussion about how some business owners have taken a holiday this summer for the first time in years.
Are they mad?
Categories:Employees,
Running a Business from Home,
Small Business Help,
Start ups
Tags:holiday
Researching a New Business Idea
14/09/09 (9 a.m.)
So you’ve got your idea and your determination sorted. What next? God bless the internet and all the technology around it. It has completely changed the research landscape. Nowadays, there is no excuse for bad research and good research is essential if you are going to justify to yourself the validity of your business idea. Here are some ideas for what you ought to be doing:
Categories:Marketing,
Start ups
Tags:Business,
ideas,
research
Business Idea to Reality
11/09/09 (9 a.m.)
Believe it or not, and all entrepreneurs will agree with me on this, having the good idea is the easy bit.
Think of the number of pub conversations where you have had the ‘wouldn’t it be great if...’ and you think you have conquered the world with a great new idea? Everyone’s done it.
Sadly, the journey is only just beginning, and even more painful to admit is it is highly possible that the idea isn’t that good anyway.
Categories:Small Business Help,
Start ups
Working From Home
09/09/09 (9 a.m.)
Working from home is becoming increasingly popular amongst certain groups:
- Early stage start ups
- Mothers that want to get back to work
- People that run a business to supplement their salaries
- Businesses that don’t need a physical presence
- Businesses that don’t have staff
What are the benefits?
Categories:Running a Business from Home,
Start ups,
Working From Home
Stock Taking
07/09/09 (9 a.m.)
The bane of a bar or shop owner’s life I realise! But I’ve been there and it needs to be done...properly. Undertake full stock takes as infrequently as possible - once a year is often quite sufficient and it works best at the year end. How – I here you say – do I keep control month in month out?
Here are my five steps...
Categories:Small Business Help
Tags:stock,
taking
How to Save Time
04/09/09 (9 a.m.)
We all lead busy lives but in particularly business owners suffer with fitting everything into those short 24 hours in the day. Therefore, it brings no surprises that we are very alive to ideas that save time and jumping up-and-down if they save money too! In this post we discuss some stones to search under!
Categories:Bookkeeping,
My Bookkeeping Online
Tags:Save,
time
Expect to go Over-Time and Over-Budget
01/09/09 (3:05 p.m.)
If you are starting out in business and trying to plan the cost of a refurbishment, whether it be a shop, restaurant, bar or hotel - plan the extent of any refurbishment very carefully. I’m talking about every last detail and once that’s done, add in a healthy excess in terms of time and cash to cover any unforeseen events or delays.
I am sitting here working on getting My Bookkeeping Online live. Despite 3 months planning including a detailed prototype, we are late launching the site and we will definitely spend more than we originally planned. Whilst it is frustrating (I can assure you, everyone wants to get going), it is not a major concern.
Categories:My Bookkeeping Online,
Start ups
Tags:business,
ideas,
budget
