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.