Beyond Water, Telephones and Energy: Is Geographic Information the New Utility?

Ordnance Survey maps are everywhere, even when you can't see them.

What's your image of an Ordnance Survey (OS) map? Something that comes neatly folded to fit into the large pockets of a weather-proof jacket? Yet opens to the size of a small dining table, and is then almost impossible to close up again?

Because if it is, that's an extremely outdated perspective. The OS still sell around three million of those paper maps each year, but they represent less than 10% of their £140 million income.

What the OS really sells is geographic information. It's the authority on where everything is in Britain. The location of every cattlegrid, visible earthwork and windmill (with or without sails) across the UK is plotted and recorded by the OS's team of 250 field surveyors.

This is valuable information. We might inhabit an increasingly virtual world but it's hugely reliant on up-to-date maps of the physical landscape. Satellite navigation systems, insurance fraud detectors, online route planners, utility companies, emergency services and local authorities are all users of OS digital data. Google maps for the UK are powered by the OS.

Your business, whatever you do, relies on OS data. At the very least it's helps delivery drivers to find you.

Businesses are increasingly turning to location information as a way to drive business. Social media tools such as Foursquare allow phone users to record where they are and, more importantly, to see what special offers are available nearby. MyVoucherCodes local has launched a new service aimed at giving small retailers the opportunity to promote themselves to nearby shoppers, via their mobile phone.

Digital technology is discovering new ways of  exploiting the commercial potential of geographic information. Some entrepreneurs are building new business on it. Locatorz plots the postion of a mobile phone onto an OS map, allowing the user's position to be monitored. Mission:Explore London provides education through location-specific missions navigated via  mobile phone.

So is it possible that geographic information is a new utility? Like electricity, it's invisible and when it's turned on we appreciate the resulting effect - light, heat - but don't think about the power behind it. In the same way, as we use our smartphone to search for a local restaurant or rely on sat nav to get us to our destination, we don't give a moment's thought to the geographic information that's powering the service.

Despite being a government department the OS is entirely self-funded through sales of mapping data. It's currently moving its one thousand staff into purpose-built, environmentally friendly and very shiny new offices in Southampton. 

The complex has been designed to stand for a least 50 years, but it looks like the OS, and the powerful services that it delivers, will be around for a lot longer than that.

A Potential Solution to the Problem of Missed Parcel Deliveries

The other day I queued in the freezing wind outside the Post Office for almost half an hour.

It was a cold, uncomfortable experience. But I had no choice because I wanted to quickly get my hands on the Amazon parcel that I'd missed the day before.

As I work from home, being out when a delivery arrives is a rare event, and on this occasion it was particularly frustrating as I needed the item as soon as possible.

By coincidence, the following day I received a press release for a gadget that promises to solve the problem of missed deliveries.

The exotically named ParcelPal Secure Container is a big metal box with a key-operated door on the front. You attach it to your house or office and go out for the day in the knowledge that when your online shopping or an unexpected lumpy gift from Auntie Mabel arrives, you won't simply recieve a 'sorry we missed you' slip through your letterbox.

The Secure Container is more than just storage box. It comes with an intercom unit, which presumably has a button labelled: 'If we're out press here'. Pushing said button initiates a call to a pre-designated mobile phone number, allowing the delivery person to hold a conversation with the phone user.

Assuming that the phone user is happy to accept the parcel, they use their phone keypad to unlock the Secure Container remotely. The delivery is put inside the container and, I assume, the delivery person is responsible for ensuring the lockable door is firmly closed.

If you only miss parcels occasionally, the Secure Container isn't for you. Because of the mobile phone technology it has to be rented, rather than bought, at a cost of £24.99 per month. Amazon and eBay powersellers are interested in the product, apparently, because of the high volumes of deliveries they receive.

I won't be queuing for a ParcelPal Secure Container. But it's an interesting application of mobile technology and may find a niche with some home-based small businesses.

Want to find out more about the ParcelPal Secure Container? Click here.

Do you have an innovative product that might be of interest to small businesses? We'd be happy to hear from you.

MyVoucherCodes Local Promotes Smaller Retailers

If you're a retailer offering a promotional discount you want shoppers to know about it before they come into your shop.

Because telling them will encourage increased footfall, as more shoppers pay a visit to see what you have to offer.

The problem for small, independent retailers is that they often don't have the marketing power to reach customers outside of their premises.

Some might put adverts in the local newspaper or fliers through letterboxes, but for many the best way of drawing in passing trade is through shop front signage.

Now there's a new way for local shops to advertise special deals to customers, reaching them through their mobile phones.

MyVoucherCodes have launched a local, mobile service that lets shoppers see what special deals are available in the shops around them. The shopper simply looks at their phone and it displays the discounts to be had nearby. Using GPS it gives them an indication of how many minutes it could take to walk to a specific shop.

Set up in 2006, MyVoucherCodes is now used by over 11 million people every month and they claim to have driven over £480 million of sales in 2009.

To use the new MyVoucherCodes local on their phone shoppers download an application which they can check when they're out shopping. In 2009 they saved £52 million by using vouchers and codes from the website and the hope is that they'll save even more now that they can access savings while in the high street or shopping mall.

The MyVoucherCodes website says businesses can register for a free listing. They can also pay for services which give them more visibility to shoppers.

This new service is aimed at local, independent retailers. Mark Pearson, Chairman of MyVoucherCodes, said: "We have a proven track record of saving money for consumers at more national, well known retailers and businesses." He now wants to emulate this success at a local level.

Currently the MyVoucherCodes Local application works on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. An Android version is under development.

Gemma's Fresh Start in Online Retailing

Last year I wrote about Gemma Dawson's new online business selling fancy dress outfits and clothes.

That business failed.

Gemma (pictured right) has been willing to share her story here, to encourage other entrepreneurs to keep going in the face of adversity, and to learn from the hard lessons that business can deliver.

Having two very young children means Gemma's already got her hands full. She's young, not yet 20, and ambitious. Before going into business she wisely invested time to learn about it.

She studied Business and Management at college, tooks lots of training from BusinessLink, and researched her potential suppliers. She then launched her fancy dress and clothing websites in late 2009 and waited for the sales to come rolling in.

They didn't. Having spent £5,000 getting the business going Gemma was spending more time uploading information to the site than she was processing customer orders. Something had gone wrong.

Rather than hoping sales would improve she reassessed her plans and did more research. She found that many of her competitors in the fancy dress market also sold party supplies, so she decided to follow their example and ditched the idea of selling fashion clothing.

A couple of months ago Gemma launched two new sites, GD Party Supplies and GD Fancy Dress. This time she's engaged the services of an SEO (search engine optimisation) company to improve their visibility online and the investment is already generating results.

She's also employing a copywriter to create content and blog posts, which help generate more search engine traffic. Articles are also being placed on third-party websites, with links back to her own sites, and these are helping to build her SEO.

Gemma's advice to anyone starting a business is be willing to invest. She admits that the first time around she was afraid of spending money on SEO and copywriting. She tried to do it all herself but didn't have the right skills. Now she's paying specialists to do it she's seeing more traffic to her sites.

She also recommends that entrepreneurs get as much feedback as possible about the quality of their business website, and should not become defensive when they receive criticism. No site will please everyone all of the time, but it's still important to listen to what people say and be willing to accept that much of it is probably right.

Gemma's example is an inspiration to anyone who's been brave enough to set up their own business only to see it fail. She's learned from her mistakes and is bouncing back.

Is Email on its Deathbed?

"We don't think a modern messaging system is going to be email," said Mark Zuckerberg earlier today.

The CEO of Facebook was announcing a new messaging system that will be rolled out to users in the coming months, as reported by Yahoo!

Quite what it will look like is not clear. But Zuckerberg's intentions are. "If we do a good job, some people will say this is the way the future will work," he told the audience. Which is an understated way of claiming to be replacing email with something much, much better. And with the Facebook stamp all over it.

The fact is that young people don't use email. They message one another through texts, status updates and chat. Curiously they don't seem to have wholeheartedly embraced Twitter although its short form communication fits right into their way of doing things.

Of course it's far to early to know what will become of email. And it's highly unlikely that long form digital communication, in the form of person to person messages, will disappear. It will always have a place, as do handwritten notes and face-to-face encounters.

The way email integrates with other systems will definitely change. Facebook's new communication system will pull together telephone text messages, online chats, emails and Facebook messages into a single system that is driven by user preference rather than technology. The term email may, in time, become redundant as it's absorbed into a wider form of digital communcation.

Quite what the new Facebook system will look like and how it will impact on our lives is yet to be seen. Zuckerberg had the wisdom not to trumpet it as the new way of sharing information; we've all seen what became of the much vaunted Google Wave, which was meant to transform the way we worked but has died quietly because no one used it.

Email is not dead, or even dying. In fact it could be on the road to rejuvenation and a completely new look.

Do You Use Bribes to Secure Business?

Your answer to the question in the title is probably 'no'.

But from April next year it might not be so clear, especially if you or your company provide any form of corporate hospitality as part of an export business. Your firm will also be responsible for the behaviour of people acting on your behalf, which means you need to be doubly careful.

The purpose the of Bribery Act 2010, which takes effect from April 2011, is to clear up the current mess of legislation under which people and firms are currently prosecuted for bribery. It's also an attempt to clean up what the government calls an "increasingly sophisticated, cross-border use of bribery in the modern world."

Businesses of all sizes are concerned about the impact of this legislation. David Frost, director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce warned that the new law could have a major impact on small businesses. He's reported in the Telegraph.co.uk as saying: "Where small businesses are exporting and are using an agent or third party, how will they ensure that everything is above board?"

The Federation of Small Businesses wants 'specific' guidance for firms with less than five staff. And the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) wants the government to clarify the rules on corporate hospitality.

Firms and individuals will need to take care that they are not breaking the new rules. The Serious Fraud Office has set up a special unit to deal with bribery and the new law will result in a new focus.

So even if your answer at the start of this article was 'no', and you don't think there's even a risk that bribery is going on, it would be wise to have a stated policy of zero-tolerance. And if you're working with people where you believe there's a real risk of bribes changing hands it might a good time to find alternative ways of doing business.

Google Add Another Feature to Search

Yet more information is now available to users of the Google search engine.

Yesterday Google announced the launch of Instant Previews. The concept is very simple - the user sees a snapshot of the page that was found by the search engine.

If you're using Google regularly you might have already spotted this. But it's not obvious because to make it work you need to click in the area of the search result to turn it on (at least, that's how it seemed to work in Google Chrome).

Once on, the preview changes everytime you move the mouse cursor over a different search result. It didn't work for sponsored links.

What does Instant Previews mean for businesses?

Users can see a preview of your website before they choose to click on it, and what they see might make a difference between whether they click through to you, or not.

In a search of 'plumber london' the fourth site listed come up as 'no preview available.' That might be because their site uses the nosnippet meta tag - Google warn that this turns off the preview function.

Another website has an ugly grey box at the top of the preview, indicating that it requires a plugin. When opened, the page contained a moving Flash graphic. This looks great on the page itself, but it spoils the preview.

According to Google searchers are 5% more likely to be satisfied with the page they choose when they've previewed it first.

So why not take a look at how your website appears in a preview, and think what you can do to make it more attractive.

More information on Google Instant Previews.

How To Make Someone Redundant Without Feeling Too Bad

Telling someone their job is no longer required is rarely easy.

Doing it in the environment of a small business is particularly hard. Big companies can blame the cut on faceless executives and the market's insatiable desire for results. There's almost a safety in numbers.

But when you're the owner of a small firm and you decide you can't afford somone any more, it can be very, very hard to deliver the news. Trust and personal relationships are on the line, along with a nervousness about whether it's really the right thing to do.

Here are some tips to help make the process a little less painful. You'll still feel bad afterwards because (almost) everyone does, but these may help to smooth what's always a difficult path.

1. Don't delay. If you've decided you need to act, then do it. Don't hold off in the hope that next week things will pick up or that your staff might leave before they're pushed.

2. Always take professional advice. Don't assume that your staff will understand and go quietly, even if you know them very well. It's amazing how someone's attitude can change once they're made redundant. Get advice about the process and follow it to minimise the risk of being taken to a tribunal.

3. Be honest about the reasons. You need to spell out why someone is being made redundant. Partly because it's essential to make it clear it's the role, not the person, that's being cut. And partly because it's the right thing to do. If someone was making you redundant, you'd like to understand why.

4. Don't make unrealistic promises. It's too easy, in the heat of the moment, to offer more help with finding another job than you can reasonably give. Or to make commitments to the staff who remain. You can't guarantee that there won't be a need for more redundancies in the near future, so don't say there won't be any.

5. Don't use redundancy as a cloak for dismissal. Sometimes you need to get rid of someone because they're not up to the job or their behaviour is poor. It can be tempting to do this as redundancy because it's relatively easy and less confrontational. But it can create distrust amongst the remaining staff who know what's really going on.

Want More Web Site Visitors? Add More Content

If you want your web site to keep attracting fresh eyes, it's important to keep adding fresh content.

There are stacks of businesses out there who don't bother. They invest time, effort and (usually) money in building a site. They might even pay someone to weave some SEO magic over it. Then they let it sit for months without adding a single new word.

As a result less and less people visit the site. Successful sites aren't static, they're active.

This blog is a case in point. It hasn't been updated for about three weeks. As a result the level of incoming traffic has dropped off. The same thing happened when it was neglected over the summer. No new content means visitor numbers decline.

Any business that wants its web site to play a key role in marketing or sales needs to make the effort to keep the content fresh. Adding a new page every now and again, or simply posting new blog entries, will make a difference.

It may not seem entirely logical. After all, if you have a site that's packed with information about, say, dog biscuits, then it'll keep attracting visitors searching for information about dog biscuits, won't it? Well, yes, it will. But if the content isn't changed or added to, the number of visitors will fall.

There is a continuous stream of competing new sites and pages being added daily. Search engines often have a preference for newer sites. And there's simply the effect of time - if it's old, it's generally less interesting.

So the message for me and for you is simple. If I want this blog to attract more visitors and if you want your web site to get more hits, we need to keep adding new content. It's very simple.

Have You Joined a Trade Association?

According to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) there are around 12,000 trade associations in the UK.

That is, organisations that represent commercial enterprises of all shapes and sizes. A trade association generally covers one specific trade or commercial activity, such as the Carpet Foundation (a forum for carpet manufacturers) or the National Hairdressers' Federation (whose membership should be obvious).

Whatever industry you're in, there's probably an association with your name on (or something close to it). Some of them are very specific, such as the Road Emulsion Association or the Adhesive Tape Manufacturers' Association.

The purpose of these associations is usually to share knowledge and good practice across their industry, and to represent their sector in the media. They may well provide guidance on standards along with training or directories of resources, and perhaps networking opportunities and even social events.

Associations can be a huge benefit to those going into business for themselves. In addition to the resources on offer, they can also provide the encouragement needed by a sole trader when they're wondering why they ever embarked on that path. Self-employment can be a lonely and frustrating way of earning a living, particularly in the early days, and making contact with an association can help relieve this.

So if you haven't already, how about taking a moment to see if there's a group that represents your trade, and spend some time investigating, to see whether it's worth joining.

Directories of trade associations can be found on the websites of the Trade Association Forum or British Services.

Celebrating Small Enterprise in the Countryside

This summer, up and down the country, small businesses have been promoting their wares at rural shows and fairs.

The British landscape is dotted with these celebrations of table-top enterprise. Quaint and curious stalls spring up selling anything from home-made jams and chutneys to hot tubs or army surplus Landrovers. What was often a hobby in times of plenty has, for many, become their main source of income - an essential financial lifeline.

We recently visited the Galloway Country Fair. Held in southern Scotland, just south of Moffat, it's squarely aimed at the hunting-shooting-fishing fraternity, so it's not to everyone's taste. But the fair provided a great opportunity to see local entrepreneurs at work, selling their varied collections of products.

A newcomer to the show was Helen Knowles of Tinnisburn Plant Nursery. For years she's been growing plants as a hobby and she's working towards converting her passion into profit. She specialises in unusual plants, often the older varieties which have been long-neglected but still have plenty of charm, even if they're not so fashionable.
In the craft tent, Duncan Smith was selling his unique range of hand-made glass birds and animals. A regular at the Country Fair, he was pleased that this year's event was relatively dry and attracting a good crowd. A craftsman in glass, Duncan has developed his own techniques for creating a distinctive range of gifts items. No two models are identical and even the simplest involve hours of work.

The photo at the top of this post is an example of his work and more information is available from the DS Glasscraft website.

Everywhere you looked at the show there were enterprising individuals who were turning their expertise into income. Makers of cheeses, fudges or cider, wood turners and cabinet makers, jewellery designers and creators of hand-made gifts. One or two regional or national businesses were also represented, but they were definitely in the minority.

While the recession might be formally over, belts remain tight and no one is complacent in the face of a possible double-dip. The ranks of the rural entrepreneurs seem likely to be swelled in coming months as more people seek alternatives to employment, partly through necessity as the job market remains static or even shrinks.

The summer of 2011 may see even more small businesses promoting themselves at fairs and shows across the country. Who knows - one of those behind the table might even be you!

6 Reasons Why Your 'About Us' Page is Losing You Business

The content of the 'About Us' page on your website can turn off potential customers.

I was recently looking at a customer's new website design. "We've put a lot of effort into the 'About Us' section," they told me, "because, surprisingly, it gets a lot of hits."

That was no surprise to me. I often visit the 'About Us' page on websites and so do many other people. The content often has a direct influence on my purchasing decision.

So here are 6 reasons why your 'About Us' page could be losing you business:

1. Your 'About Us' page is not about you. Visitors click on the 'About Us' link because they want to know whether you're a credible business. It's your opportunity to build trust. Yet too many 'About Us' pages just repeat the sales message. "We sell wonderful widgets - buy now." A page packed with SEO keywords might attract more hits, but it won't necessarily attract more sales.

2. Your 'About Us' page doesn't tell people how big your business is. Most people know that a slick website could be the shop front for a business run by a teenager from their bedroom. The chances are that if your 'About Us' page gives no clue to the size of your business, it's probably very small, and that means it might be here today, gone tomorrow. Which in turn means buying from you could be riskier than buying from someone else.

3. Your 'About Us' page does not explain the history of your business. History tells visitors where you came from and helps them to decide whether you're believable. If your business has a long history and you trade offline as well as online, that's a huge asset and you need to tell your visitors. Take every opportunity to win their trust because it helps to win their business.

4. Your 'About Us' page does not talk about real people. The adage 'people buy from people' still applies to online purchasing, particularly if visitors are not familiar with your brand. In the social media age, relationships are important and visitors want to engage with individuals, not a faceless website. Being open will help potential purchasers relate to you.

5. Your 'About Us' page does not have any pictures. Photos of your premises and your staff reinforce all those great messages that you've articulated in words. They help to demonstrate that you're a credible business, someone they can rely on. The quality of the pictures are important too - the more professional they are, the more they say about how seriously you take your business.

6. Your 'About Us' page is empty. Thankfully, it's rare these days to find a page that claims to be to be 'still under construction.' That's another way of saying, 'We can't be bothered with this page.' But the 'About Us' page often seems to be an afterthought, because it doesn't actually sell anything, and as an afterthought it can be too brief or even left almost empty.

Finally, here are some examples of 'About Us' pages that work well:

Callidus Consulting, automotive recruitment specialists - brief, to the point and with links to mini biographies and photos of all the staff.

Petersfield Photographic, supplier of photographic services - it has pictures, a history and short biographies of key staff. They're real people you'll want to buy from.

Dots and Spots, home-based makers of greetings cards -  meet the person behind this business through lots of pictures and snippets of text.

5 Tips for Getting Your Message Across

Great communication doesn't need to be complicated.

Whether it's a warning, a marketing campaign, an encouragement or a news update, the most effective messages are often extremely simple.

Finding the right way to express yourself involves more than using the right words. It's also about using the right medium, about excellent timing and about tone.

Here are some useful tips that can help you to improve your communication in either your professional or personal life, or both!

1. Use the right tool for the job. Getting your message across effectively means using the right form of communication. We can do it in so many ways that it's easy to choose what's most convenient for us, not what's going to be the most effective.

If you need to get an urgent message to someone, email is almost always the wrong way to do it. If you want your message to have maximum impact, deliver it in person or on paper. Text messages are a quick way to update people without requiring a response. To share important news with the widest possible audience use a mix of methods, including social media, such as Twitter and Facebook.

2. Have someone proofread every message. Getting a second opinion on your messages is essential, and not just because they might spot a typo. Ask your proofreader what they think the message means. It's easy to include assumptions in your message, such as industry jargon, which won't mean anything to at least some of the readers.

In an ideal world, you'd want an 8 year old to read your message and tell you clearly what it means - if they can understand it, so will virtually every adult.

3. Don't make promises or commitments you can't keep. This is harder than it looks. It's easy to avoid making statements that are obviously wrong but you can fall into the trap of implying something will happen, setting false expectations. Often leaders will say that they are thinking of taking some particular course of action, or dangle the possibility of "we might do this".

The problem comes when such statements are made in a public manner, because some listeners won't hear the "might". This inevitably leads to disappointment when the implied happening doesn't occur, and possibly a loss of trust in the leader who made the comment in the first place.

4. Assume that every word you write or speak will be carved in stone. Of course they're not, but you'll be surprised how enduring some can become. Every parent knows that children remember every word they wish they hadn't said, and the same is true in other areas of life.

Anything written down, on paper or digitally, may well have a longer lifespan than you expect and even the spoken word can linger on. So your every communication should be something that you're not going to be embarrassed by the following day, month or year.

5. Make your message memorable. The very best communicators have messages that stick because people don't forget them. There are lots of ways to make your message memorable - the words you use, the medium you use or the timing.

Which messages make the most impact on you and why? Think about what gets your attention and, importantly, what you remember afterwards. Ask what works for other people. Then use what you learn to make your own communication more effective.

Why Bother With Federation of Small Businesses?

My Membership Certificate for the Federation of Small Businesses arrived today.

Delivered in a stiff A4 envelope that protected the precious document from creases and corruptions, it's now begging to be hung proudly on my office wall. Here it'll be enjoyed by me, the bookkeeper (with whom I share the house) and my teenage children, who'll probably take it as further evidence that their father's dabbling in self-employment has its roots in mid-life insecurity.

So, other than a shiny new certificate, what has membership of the FSB done for me?

On the face of it, absolutely nothing.

But that's a little unfair, because for the last month I've been under the invisible protective wing of their various support services.

True, I haven't needed them, but if I'd run into a tricky problem with a client I could have rung their free 24/7 legal helpline. I know a friend who justifies their FSB subscription on this service alone, because they've found it invaluable when resolving potentially difficult staffing issues.

If I'd have fallen seriously ill I could have benefited from free access to a personal nurse advisor, including home visits. I've heard of a newcomer to the FSB, with a pre-existing condition, who was able to use this service from day one and found it very useful.

Should I be bothered to go online I can get into the FSB library of legal and tax information, including downloadable documents I can use in my own business. At the same time (well, during the same visit to the website) I can add myself to the free online directory of businesses which is, apparently, visited several hundred times a day by potential customers.

One more freebie that I could take up is a free VoIP phone line, which apparently gives me a unique phone number for my business. As I work from home this might be a useful tool.

A significant, but hard to quantify, benefit of FSB membership is their research and lobbying of government. It's difficult to know exactly what difference organisations like the FSB make to government policy, but there's no doubting that they are an influencing force and they're promoting actions that benefit people like me - owners and managers of small businesses.

In addition to my certificate of membership I've received a stack of other paperwork from the FSB offering me all sorts of special deals that are unique or tailored to FSB members. How many of them I'll use I don't know yet. I intend to get along to some of their networking events to make new contacts.

The letter that accompanied the certificate closes with the exhortation, "Do not allow your membership to lapse thereby losing your protection." It'll be interesting to see whether, in 11 months time, I've decided that the benefits offered to me by the FSB are enough to entice me into paying for another year.

Step Up Your Health & Safety Assessments

It's estimated that about 100,000 people injure themselves on stairs in the workplace every year.

That's a lot of people falling down stairs. Fortunately, most of these accidents only result in minor injuries but a significant number have a long-term impact on the lives of those who slip or trip.

Angela Hurcomb, 55, from Hereford, is one of those whose life has been changed forever by a stair accident. She's had to give up horse riding and can't drive a car for more than half-an-hour at a time. She's still in pain after falling down a spiral staircase at her place of work in January 2008.

The incident cost her employer £5,000 in compensation, not to mention all the staff time and resources given over to dealing with the personal injury claim. While the retail chain she worked for could probably absorb these expenses relatively easily, a smaller business may have struggled.

Your firm probably has a staircase or two about the place and it's almost certain to see regular use. Your staff don't give it a moment's thought - most of us frequently go up and down stairs at home, at work or when we're out shopping.

But if one of them were to slip and fall their view of the stairs could change, literally and legally. You would be exposed to the risk of personal injury claim that could suck precious time and money from your business. You might also lose a valuable employee, possibly forever. Angela Hurcomb now works for someone else.

Have any of your staff complained about a possible risk on one of your staircases? A loose step, a slippery tread or a poor handrail? You should follow it up straight away, even if it's an informal observation. Angela Hurcomb complained to her employer about the staircase she eventually fell down and they failed to act.

Don't trust to luck or to the goodwill of your staff - even the most accommodating employee can become remarkably litigious when there's the possibility of a pay-off.

Health and safety is a perpetual source of frustration for small businesses. There's almost always more that could be done and it's a distraction from the real work that earns the money. But that doesn't mean it should be constantly ignored or put off. Investing a little time now could save you a lot later on.

Spin Your Staff For A Change

Have you rotated your staff recently?

No, I don't mean set them all spinning on their office chairs - tempting though that might be.

I'm talking about rotating their roles. Getting them to do one another's jobs for a while. Or even better, having a policy of switching every six months or year so that over time everyone gets to do all the jobs in the office.

If you're a typical manager, as I am, you'll already be listing the problems this would bring. Productivity would drop. Some would struggle to get to grips with new tasks. Skills built over months or years would be wasted. Why put your business at risk in this way?

As a freelancer one of the services I offer is CV writing. In 2009 I wrote over a hundred Curriculum Vitaes for professionals. Some that stand out are the successful managers who achieved recognition and promotion by creating effective teams, and one way they did it was through staff rotation.

As I said, you've probably already listed the negatives, so let's look at the positives. By changing their job people get a deeper appreciation of what's involved in different roles. They discover that Sam in marketing isn't just surfing the internet all day or that Jo isn't as slow as they thought because it really can take all morning to input a pile of invoices

This new knowledge sparks creativity and better ways of doing things, as people realise how one job impacts on another and they begin to find ways to making the office work more effectively. It also means it's easier to find sickness or holiday cover for a specific task.

Another benefit is the cut in the risk of fraud. People in positions of trust can be tempted to take advantage of gaps in the system and help themselves - it happens at all levels. Suspicious activity may only be uncovered when they leave or take an extended break. Rotation of roles reduces the opportunities and temptation, and prevention is always better than fixing the problem.

Of course there are some jobs that can't be shared across the office. You can't ask Sam who does marketing to take over from Jo the bookkeeper, or vice versa. But not all organisations have roles with such sharply defined skills, and it's possible that Jo has some great ideas about marketing. In turn, Sam may bring a useful perspective to managing the finances, if given the opportunity to get involved in some way.

What would happen if you were to spin everyone on their chairs, at least metaphorically? Would it create disruption to long-established working patterns and practices? Would it allow you and your staff to see things in a different way?

Perhaps you should give it a go to see what happens. You might be surprised at the benefits that it brings.

Business Networking isn't Scary

Why do we find it difficult to talk to strangers?

I've been to a couple of networking events in the last week - the Business South trade show and a Business Link meeting in my home town.

At both I heard a clear message being presented - people are reluctant to engage. Business Link's speaker, ex-BBC man Roy Sheppard, was blunt about it. "Most of you want to run away at this point," he said, when we were asked to talk to someone we didn't know.

He was making a joke but the fact that over forty business people turned out to hear him explain how to network effectively was proof that it's not a skill many of us are comfortable with. And our town was only one stop on a road show of multiple venues in the south.

At Business South I watched the usual dance between exhibitors and visitors - the former lying in wait at their stalls, trying to catch the eye of passers-by and inject a quick "hello" to open a conversation; the latter scurrying past with their eyes firmly fixed on something in the distance.

I'm sure that part of the mystery and worry about networking is because we don't have a clear understanding of why we do it. There's an expectation, often self-imposed, that networking is a very thin veneer for selling. And most of us don't enjoy selling.

My approach to networking is not to proactively promote what I do. I want to hear what people have to say to me, which may include their sales pitch. I listen politely and ask questions about what they do and why. I demonstrate interest but make no promises. If I think I can share their information with someone who'd genuinely find it useful, I tell them so. I don't offer them a business card but I'll give one if they ask, which is quite often.

Inevitably when someone is talking to me they'll ask what I do, so I tell them and I explain the benefits of copywriting to businesses. I believe they listen more attentively because they've invited me to speak and they usually ask more questions and, at some point, request a card.

For me networking is about building a web of contacts. I can't predict what value they'll be to me in the future, nor I to them.

But one thing I do know: if I never make the effort to speak to them I'll never become a part of their network, nor they of mine. So ideally I want to talk to everyone, and I suggest that you do too.

Article by Andrew Knowles, freelance copywriter.

How to Maximise Impact at a Trade Show

Are you planning to have a stand at a trade show or promotional exhibition?

If you are, you want to ensure that you get the best value from your investment of time and money. Setting up and running a stand is relatively easy - successfully promoting your brand and generating valuable leads can be much more difficult.

Here are ten tips for getting the best from a trade show or business exhibition, based on experience as both an exhibitor and attendee.

1. Visit an event as part of your planning. Go to a trade show as a visitor to critically assess how the exhibitors are running their stands. See what appears to work and what doesn't, what you like and what you don't like. Ideally go with someone else to get a broader range of views.

2. Set clear and measurable objectives. You need to find ways to measure the benefit of exhibiting, with the most obvious being the number of leads generated. Other measures to support this could be the number of people spoken to or even the number of business cards collected. Set targets, both daily and for the entire event.

3. Make it look good. Your stand's appearance, even if it's a tiny booth, is part of your marketing message. If it looks cheap, what does that say about your business? Professionally produced graphics and a consistent appearance will make a huge difference. By saving a few pounds on your marketing material you could be losing a lot more in missed opportunities.

4. Have a clear and immediate benefit statement. Make it obvious what problem your product solves and how it can help customers. Most trade show stands are headlined with company names and a summary of what they do, and if you speak to someone on the stand they repeat the same information. A great way to start is by asking a question, such as: would you like to save money on [whatever problem your product solves]? The answer's always going to be 'yes', allowing you to take the conversation further.

5. Proactively greet people as they pass. If lots of visitors seek you out and keep you busy, that's great. But if not, you need to find a way of keeping your stand busy and engaging with visitors who'd otherwise walk past. A friendly 'hello' is often all it takes to catch someone's attention and make them stop, and it's better to engage with people than waiting hopefully for someone to stop for you.

6. Make giveaways available to anyone. One objective of exhibiting is to build your brand and you never know whether today's casual visitor could become tomorrow's potential customer. Everyone you engage with should leave feeling good about your business and if that means offering them a branded pen or the chance to enter your prize draw, then do it.

7. Engage with competitors. A business exhibition is a great way to find out what the competition's up to and to share experiences. You can probably learn from them, but expect them to reciprocate!

8. Don't eat smelly food at your stand. It might seem obvious, but when you're busy it's tempting to take that hot snack back to the exhibition hall. How will the next visitor to the stand feel when you offer a greasy handshake and brush the pastry crumbs from your lapel?

9. Make every visitor feel important. You're at the show to look for leads and build your brand but these require different skills. Looking for leads means focusing on people who may want your product while strengthening the brand means leaving everyone feeling positive about who you are. Don't qualify out people as you talk to them and starting looking over their shoulder for the next prospect. Your body language tells them you're not interested in them and that will devalue your brand.

10. Have a formal debrief and record how it went. Once you're back in the office it's easy to put the trade show behind you and focus on following up the leads. Take time to sit down with colleagues and record what worked and what didn't and any other lessons you learned from the show. This will be an invaluable resource next time around.

Nancy's Medical Billing Operation

Today's business start up story comes from the USA - the land of opportunity.

Nancy McClendon, from the Detroit area, has recently launched Horizons Comprehensive, providing electronic medical billing and related services to organizations and doctors.

With over 20 years experience in the medical claims sector Nancy is confident that she has the knowledge required to create her own business. Medical claims procedures can be complex and in the US organizations need the confidence that their supplier will deliver a highly professional and cost-effective service.

Nancy laid the foundations for her business a few years ago when she sensed that her employer was considering major changes. Early in 2009 the cut-backs began and by October she was no longer in employment, allowing her to focus full-time on the new venture she'd been planning.

Horizons Comprehensive finally went live in December 2009. The first few contracts are already being processed and Nancy expects to see significant commercial activity in 2010, with the business reaching its target level of operation the following year.

The nature of a business usually determines the level of investment required to get it off the ground. Nancy has made a substantial investment to buy the equipment and resources that she needs to deliver a professional service from day one.

She's also having to deal with the usual problem facing a start up - a significant drop in income. When you've been earning a good salary for 20 years it can be hard to adjust to a different way of living. Nancy's not afraid of that challenge and has cut her living costs dramatically. Like the cash she's put into the business, it's an investment in her future, as are her long working hours.

Nancy has learned that when you're starting your own business you can't be an expert in everything. She had to find a way to promote Horizons Comprehensive and decided to use sales and marketing reps with the skills and knowledge needed to open the right doors. She understood that the steps taken to make potential customers aware of a business will determine the level of success.

Her advice to anyone starting their own business is: "It is not easy but at the end of the day you have a satisfaction that is unexplainable. Never give up."

If you'd like to know more about the services that Nancy's business offers, why not pay a visit to the Horizons Comprehensive website?

Have you set up a business in the last few years? Have you got a story to share? Drop us a line via email.

Read more business start up stories like this one.

Problems Facing Business Start Ups

Starting a business is easy. Making it succeed can be incredibly hard.

Almost everyone who enters the world of self-employment must overcome a variety of challenges. Here are some of the main problems they'll face, and that you'll probably have to deal with if you decide to go into business for yourself.

1. Finding customers - If you open a shop on a busy street you'll have people coming in from the first day. But if you're selling web design services or running an online service it's harder for people to find you. Winning the first few customers is a struggle for many start ups.

Ideally, as you plan your start up you should line up one or two customers in advance. Find people through your network of friends, family and colleagues. You might have to offer incredibly good deals to secure them, but having a couple of customers in place helps with word of mouth marketing and testimonials and it introduces you to the demands that they place on you.

2. Being taken seriously - This can be a huge problem for the young or for women, particularly those without a professional background. Friends and family may find it hard to see you as a business owner, which reduces their value as a networking resource.

The best way to overcome this is through success, measured by generating an income that you can live on. Unfortunately their attitude can make this harder to achieve, which is why it's important to maintain your confidence and keep a clear sense of purpose.

3. Knowing how to do everything - No one is an expert in every aspect of running a business. As a sole trader you'll be doing the business planning, marketing, selling, administration, bookkeeping, and customer support. If you're offering a service you need to have those skills as well. A common complaint from those going into business is that they don't have the knowledge or ability to cover all these different roles.

You need to identify early on what you can do and what you can't, or at least what you like doing least and what impact that will have on your business. Where possible try to get some help in the difficult areas. For example, there are plenty of people around with bookkeeping skills who'd be happy to sort through your receipts from time to time and write up the accounts.

4. Finding the time - Of all the resources you need to run a business, time can be the hardest to deal with because you can't create or borrow more of it. Ask anyone who's setting up their own business how many hours they work and the answers will be 'lots', which usually means 10-12 per day, often for 7 days a week.

Before starting your own business you need to be confident that you and your family can cope with the demands it will place on you. There's no way to be absolutely sure until you start, but it's an issue that must be addressed in advance. If your family are used to you working 9 to 5 and you give that up for self-employment, they have to know that the hours will be much, much longer in the early months or even years.

This is not an exhaustive list of the issues faced by those setting up their own business. But it gives a flavour of the challenges that await if you're thinking of going in this direction.

It's not all hard work and problems. Being self employed is also hugely rewarding in terms of personal satisfaction and if your business succeeds there are going to be financial benefits. You are also master of your own time to a considerable extent, although there will still be deadlines to meet or specific hours to keep.

Every day, all around the world, people are setting up new commercial enterprises. They're motivated by many different factors and they have differing expectations of how easy it will be. Most of them will quickly discover that working for yourself is extremely demanding, but if they make it over the first few hurdles they'll also find it brings many benefits.

Brian Answers the Business Call

Ten years in business taught Brian Barnes that he had excellent customer service skills.

His background was the licence trade, running bars and clubs, but he wanted a change. He couldn't find something that he felt matched what he had to offer, until he discovered call answering services. This seemed ideal, allowing him to pair his customer service expertise with his desire to work with a wide range of different organisations.

Making an investment of £500 he founded Call Assistant UK. The business model is simple - they provide a telephone answering service for individuals and organisations.

There's clearly a demand for the service because he now employs one full-time and two part-time staff and they've moved into larger premises, and they've only just begun their second year of trading. Brian's expecting business to increase by a massive 200% in 2010, and he's got the commercial experience to know that's a realistic figure.

If there's one thing Brian wished he'd known before he started out it was to have had a deeper knowledge of the industry. He made a few mistakes along the way which, with more information, could have been avoided.

Brian's achieved what many aspire to: he's matched his passion with a commercial opportunity and he's made it work. But it hasn't been easy - the hours are long and he misses the face-to-face interaction he had in the licence trade. But he feels it's worth it to be running a business that's succeeding despite the recession.

If you'd like to know more about the services that Brian's business offers, why not pay a visit to the Call Assistant UK website.

Have you set up a business in the last few years? Have you got a story to share? Drop me a line via email.

Read more stories like this one.

Olivia Wins a Starring Role in TV

Solicitor Olivia van der Werff is no stranger to business start ups. 

Some years ago she established a health and safety consultancy which she franchised and then sold.

Her latest venture, Beyond Dispute, is a great example of a business that began and grew in a gap in the market. It also grew out of her health and safety background - her firm provided H&S services on a television studio construction project and shortly before shooting she was invited to provide adjudication services for a new quiz programme.

Adjudicators are required on every show that involves quizzes or competitions. Their role is to ensure that if something goes wrong or a contestant is unhappy, a decision can be arrived at which is fair and reasonable.

Once Olivia started working in this area she discovered adjudication was a service very few businesses supplied and television companies relied heavily on very expensive, high profile accountancy firms. She could offer a much more cost-effective solution if the production companies could be persuaded to work with a smaller business.

Her strategy has proved successful. Although it's relatively new, her firm Beyond Dispute now employs four people and uses a team of a dozen freelance adjudicators. Olivia is confident that turnover will triple in 2010.

Setting up a service business does not always require a large investment of cash, but it does demand time. Olivia has poured hours into getting Beyond Dispute off the ground and she's pleased to have broken into a market where there is so little specialist competition.

Her advice for anyone else starting in business is to avoid turning into a "busy fool". You mustn't get bogged down in bookkeeping, marketing and administration. They're all important but you need to focus on what she calls the "widget", the thing that you do that actually makes money. Because at the end of the day that's what running a business is all about - generating an income.

Visit the Beyond Dispute website to discover more about the services that Olivia supplies.

Have you set up a business in the last few years? Have you got a story to share? Drop me a line via email.

Read more stories like this one.

Trina Makes Her Own Success

Do you want to run your own business from home, using a skill that you already possess and doing something that doesn't require a huge investment of cash?

That's exactly how Trina Jones of New Zealand felt. She'd worked for years as a legal secretary but when her children arrived she wanted to focus on caring for them, which meant finding a job which fitted around their needs. She was a school administrator for a while but following a relocation in Auckland she found it very hard to locate another role that met her requirements.

That's when Trina experienced what she calls her 'moment of enlightenment'. She has excellent typing skills and she'd done audio transcription work in the past, so she decided to set up her own business from home, Purple Giraffe Transcription Online.

To her surprise, it worked. Business started to come in. In her first year, ending in late 2009, the turnover was in excess of NZ $25k and Trina is optimistic that business will grow considerably. She's invested NZ $4k and lots of her own time. She's discovered that the most successful form of marketing is by word of mouth and her main frustration is the low return on paid advertising.

Trina has also learned a great deal about herself, the internet and running a business. She's discovered how committed and determined she can be, which helps to overcome the occasional sense of isolation that comes from working at home.

One piece of advice that Trina has for anyone else looking to start up in business is "to keep the down times in perspective". They will come, but it's essential to remain upbeat and proactive and to get through them.

What Trina's really looking forward to, like so many other new entrepreneurs, is doing business in a thriving economy rather than one that's in recession. The good news is that she's been able to set up and maintain a business at a difficult time, putting her in a great position for the future.

Visit the Purple Giraffe Transcription Online website to discover more about the service that Trina supplies.

Did you set up a business in the last few years? Have you got a story to share? Drop me a line via email.

Read more stories like this one.

Making Customers Want You

A Guest Posting by Nick Bramwell

One of the things I’ve learnt is that as a small business it’s really hard, in fact maybe impossible to compete on price.

If you’re selling a product the big companies, such as Tesco or Amazon, will almost always be cheaper.

If you’re providing a service, such as web page design, the cheap competition comes from the opposite direction. There are plenty of amateurs willing to do the work for less because they have a day job to pay the mortgage and they just want some extra spending money.

So how can you compete?

Competition drives prices down and reduces quality because you can’t give customers as much time and attention. So if you can’t compete on price, you can choose to compete on quality instead.

Over the last year I’ve met lots of people at events and I’ve done plenty of networking. If you take the time to get to know people they could turn to you when they need your services or products.

I met a lady a little while ago and we spent a while talking about web sites. The price I charge for a web site was outside the budget she had, but after we’d talked, she didn’t just want a web site, she wanted one of my web sites. She decided to save up the money to afford it. In the meantime she keeps telling people she thinks my work is great and that they should get me to design a web site.

By investing a little time talking to her I’ve won a great evangelist who tells people how much she likes my work. If I tell you my work is great then you may just believe me, but if someone else tells you how great they think I am it sounds much more believable.

There are times when we all go for the cheapest option. If we’re buying petrol then we go for the cheapest filling station because to most of us, petrol is the same wherever you buy it.

But sometimes we want to buy something that really matters to us. If you’re a coffee lover then there is a huge difference between a cup made with cheap instant coffee or freshly ground beans. You’re willing to pay the extra for quality, because you appreciate the difference.

Final thought

Something I heard once was “give and forget, receive and remember”. That means if you help someone else out, forget about it and don’t expect anything in return. If somebody helps you out though look for opportunities to help them back. This helps you to become the kind of person that others want to do business with.

Nick Bramwell runs TwoLittleFishes web site design.

TwoLittleFishes creates web sites for small businesses. Great web sites should be easy to use and provide valuable content to customers and potential customers.

David Splashes Out in Scotland

Another in the series of articles celebrating businesses founded during the current recession.

David Chick has a passion for business. He's been selling since he was 16 and kept working while he studied for a degree in economics in Aberdeen. In 2008, at the ripe old age of 22 he decided it was time to stop flogging advertising space and take what he calls a "leap of faith" into a gap in the market.

He started selling hot tubs and created the Galaxy Spas brand in 2009. He sells luxury hot tubs and spas, offering a nationwide service which already boasts a turnover of around £400k and he's optimistic of a 50% increase in the next 12 months. But it wasn't a cheap operation to set up, requiring an investment of £150k.

Why did he choose hot tubs and spas? "I thought it would be fun." He was also confident of his selling skills and he believed he had found the one thing entrepreneurs love: a space in the market that was waiting for someone to fill it.

Hot tubs don't come cheap and they take time to produce and deliver, meaning a lot of cash gets tied up very quickly. Cash flow is probably David's biggest single issue and he deals with it through careful management of his resources.

If there's one thing that David wishes he'd known before becoming self-employed it's how a new business can take up all your time and energy. Working seven days a week puts a real squeeze on his personal life and to add to his challenges he's launching another new business next month - Fantasy Garage Doors.

But he's not bothered, because he loves it. "Ultimately I am doing what I always wanted to do - run my own business - and I believe one day it will all be worth it."

Visit the Galaxy Spas website to discover more about the products that David supplies.

Did you set up a business in the last few years? Have you got a story to share? Drop me a line via email.

Read more stories like this one.

Take Control of Your Debtors

Cash is tight at the moment.

For many it's an achievement to pay the staff on time every month. It's at time like this you're grateful for your customers but you wish they'd pay up more quickly.

It's a quirk of language that managing your debtors is called credit control. But whatever it's known as, it's a vital part of your business that you cannot afford to ignore.

Giving customers time to pay is standard business practice. But just because you allow them 14, 30 or 60 days doesn't mean they should get away with taking twice that long. I happen to know a local business that insists on paying on time, or even early, but they're in the minority. I also know plenty who'll only cough up once you've jumped several hurdles every month.

Here are some suggestions for sharpening up your credit control:

1. Set a target. Your accounting system should let you analyze what percentage of your debt is more than, say, more than 60 days overdue. Make a note of that number and set a target of reducing it by, say, 50% in the next month.
2. Don't be afraid. You're unlikely to upset someone by asking for money; don't be frightened of losing their business by being a little firmer in your approach.
3. Telephone your debtors. Emails and printed statements are easy to ignore; it's not so easy to overlook someone on the phone.
4. Take the name of the person you're speaking to and if they try to fob you off by saying the invoice still needs to be authorized, ask for the authorizer's name as well.
5. Make a record of every conversation including the date and time, who you spoke to, what they said the next steps were and how long it would take. Next time you call you can remind them of what they agreed to do.
6. Don't ignore the small debts because the older they get the harder they are to pursue.
7. Do it every day. If you don't have a dedicated credit controller make sure someone gives time every day to chasing debtors.
8. Check how you've done. Remember that target you set in step 1? Whether you achieved your target is not as important as whether you've reduced your debtors, because if you have, the process is working. What you need to do is keep at it.

There are plenty of other tips for debt chasing and feel free to add your own in a comment.

One final point. When you give a customer 30 days credit it means on the 30th day they should pay you, not start the authorization and payment process. Remember that and feel free to remind them of it.

Existing Customers or New Prospects - Who's More Important?

Neither. That's the answer to the question in the title above.

Or to answer it in another way: both. Either answer is valid because they recognise that existing customers and new prospects are equally valuable to your business.

I used to work for a global software company that sold systems costing hundreds of thousands of pounds. It operated a hungry, fired-up sales team that vigorously hunted for new customers. They pursued big businesses, persuaded them to sign contracts, and then handed the customer into the care of the service and support team.

Service and support were not sales people. They did a great job of making systems work and keeping them running because that was their job, but they didn't sell.

What was odd about this set up was that the software company made its money not from sales of new systems, but from ongoing support fees. It's also a recognised fact that it's easier to market to your existing customers.

So if the business made most of its money from customers who chose to renew their support agreements and they were easier to market new products to, why were the sales team so heavily focused on signing up brand new customers? With the result that existing customers sometimes felt like second-class citizens.

It's too easy for businesses to focus on 'new business' while neglecting existing customers. It's not deliberate, it's just the way it happens. A new customer is more exciting than an old one. But which is more valuable?

So I'll come back to the question in the title of this post. Existing customers or new prospects - who's more important? If the answer is 'both' then the next question is obvious: do you treat them both in the same way?

Do you?

Don't Pay Taxes - Legally

Are quarterly VAT payments causing you a major cash flow problem?

If they are, you may already be aware of, or even using, the HMRC's Business Payment Support Service (BPSS). Established in late 2008 as the recession deepened, this service is intended to help businesses spread their tax payments over time, reducing cash flow pressures.

If you've got this far without needing to use BPSS, well done. But the continued uncertainty of 2010 means you might yet have a need. So I thought you might be interested to hear how it's worked for others.

I took advantage of the scheme almost as soon as it was launched. I was working with two firms with VAT payments due in January 2009 and neither had the cash to pay. I called the BPSS and in both cases they agreed to the VAT payment being deferred into three monthly instalments. They asked very few questions and took very few details. It all felt remarkably informal, particularly given that I was talking to HMRC.

I used the scheme again at the end of the next quarter and once more it was easy to arrange. But this time they wanted some assurance, though only verbal, that they'd get the money.

I conducted an informal survey of the experience of other businesses through UK Business Forums. The feedback is that most businesses have received favourable treatment so far, but it does seem to depend on who answers the phone at HMRC's end.

One accountant reported that a client had two very different experiences on the same day. One VAT office insisted they spend time providing 12 months accounts and cash flow forecasts while the other office allowed a deferral of over £50k of VAT and PAYE with virtually no questions asked.

There are signs that HMRC are tightening up. If you're calling to defer your payment for the third or fourth time you'll probably find it harder to get what you want. Regular users of the service are being challenged about what other steps they can take to improve their cash situation. Some are being told that repeat calls will increase the likelihood of a VAT inspection in the near future.

HMRC originally intended the BPSS to be available for 2009 only. But in his pre-budget report last month the Chancellor announced it would continue for as long as necessary. On the other hand, the UK government needs all the money it can get and I'm sure it would like to reduce the one billion pounds it's lending to UK businesses through BPSS.

One of the UK's top accountancy firms, Wilkins Kennedy, believes the service is being wound down as the government tightens its belt. Director Anthony Cork, quoted on bytestart.co.uk, says businesses will probably need even more support as the economy picks up.

So if you're beginning 2010 with cash flow woes and you make VAT, PAYE or Corporation Tax payments, you should do all you can to exploit the opportunities for deferring these with BPSS.

But be prepared to make a good case - the reason why you need to defer and, more importantly, the reason why you're confident you can pay in the future. You might have to argue for a deferral, but at the end of the day BPSS is there to help UK businesses.

Recession-Beating Tales

This blog is featuring stories from ordinary people who've decided to become their own boss despite, or perhaps because of, the current recession.

The stories so far...

Green fingers grow a hobby into a business:
Helen's a winner at Gardening Scotland

Young mum learns lessons from business failure:
Gemma's fresh start in online retailing

16 year old girl becomes inventor and business woman:
Ruth takes a steady approach to success

New Zealand mum turns typing skills into her own business:
Fiona Wins with Audio Transcription

Bolton couple shelter beneath an online umbrella business:
Brolly success for Chris and Rebecca

A football coach aims to score with iPhone applications:
Craig's developing his own future

Two students ditch a toxic solution and find a better way of cleaning:
Adam and Amber launch a green clean business

Converting employee experience into a business:
Nancy's medical billing operation

Turning a passion for customer service into a going concern:
Brian answers the business call

Solicitor finds a niche role in the media:
Olivia wins a starring role in TV

A mother creates employment and an income for herself:
Trina makes her own success

A keen salesman finds himself in hot water:
David splashes out in Scotland

Marketing Manager turns redundancy into opportunity:
Debs does marketing services

An entrepreneurial tale from New Zealand:
Lenna finds keys to success

21 year old generates £28k from £3.69 in 6 months:
Matthew's story of serial success

Young graphic design talent goes solo:
Gemma's eye-catching new venture

A new business in training:
Ross takes a health and safety risk

Mum turns her hobby into a business:
Becky Spots a Dotty Opportunity

Where there's muck there's brass:
John Cleans Up in South Wales

Turning fashion sense into business sense:
A 2009 Start Up Story

If you'd like your story to be considered for inclusion, get in touch by sending an email. Or contact us through our Twitter account: @biz_oh.

Becky Spots a Dotty Opportunity

Here's another in my new series of articles celebrating businesses founded during the current recession.

This is the story of how a hobby became a business.

Becky Peabody, of Somerset, has always designed and made her own greetings cards. Ten years ago, following the arrival of her first child, Becky created a personal Christmas card combining her artwork with a family photo. She had 100 copies printed locally.

This became a tradition that led to a friend asking Becky to create a Christmas card for a small business. The opportunity for a larger print run, with its economies of scale, led Becky to start selling the card to others. So Dots and Spots was born.

With an initial investment of just £500 Becky has built up a range of unique and distinctively styled cards, pictures and gifts which she sells online and to a number of shops.

Getting into the market meant Becky had to approach a number of small, independent retailers directly and persuade them to take her stock. It was a thrill to have a first repeat order because it meant her creations were selling and soon other retailers were contacting her to buy stock.

Becky does not have a business background; she's worked for about ten years as a teacher and taken time out during her career to have her own family. In 2009 she took the brave decision to leave teaching to concentrate full time on Dots and Spots, which had a turnover in its first year of about £10k.

Leaving work has meant a cut in income for Becky and her husband, who has a full-time job but runs the Dots and Spots website. She's confident that business, and income, will pick up in 2010. Two agents now represent Dots and Spots products and she is hoping to participate in one or two trade shows. Turnover targets for the next year are around £20-30k and these appear realistic based on recent activity.

These are still early days for Dots and Spots. In common with most entrepreneurs Becky is investing a considerable amount of time and money (about £2k to date) in her business. She says that one of the main lessons she's learned is that "the trade element is the main 'earner' for the business and this is the area I really want to grow, but the retail provides a nice residual bit of cash, too!"

Visit their website if you'd like to know more about the Dots and Spots original and unique range of cards, gifts and pictures.

If you set up a business in late 2008 or 2009 and have a story to share drop me a line via email or make contact with @biz_oh via Twitter.