In this situation, I always make it clear that whilst I have had some success in business, I by no means have the holy grail. I still make mistakes and I only ever give advice if I have had a direct experience of whats being asked. So anyway, this isn’t actually the point I want to make – a few people after a few more wines had passed, as well as numerous business cards exchanged, said – ” Thanks for your help – it’ll be a shame when we become a big business and won’t be able to use you anymore! ”

And this got me thinking – at what point does a “Small Business” become a “Big Business” or even a “Medium Business”. In fact, while we’re on the point, what actually makes and business a “Small Business” in the 1st place?

Its all phraseology that I must admit to using all the time, as does everyone I think – but in reality, the size of your business is down to you. A team of 3, a moderate turnover – whilst not on the scale of Shell or Marks and Spencer for example – could be classed as a big business by it’s owners if it is big in proportion to what they started with.

I am probably going to lose myself in a tangent in a minute, so i’ll leave this one here for the time being, but for all business owners – your business is the size you think it is. I think.

We approached all of these people and told them what we offered as a basic package – registration of a new company, company name search and all the paperwork behind these two things – plus we would complete the process within 3 working hours 90% of the time – marvellous.

But what else could we help with? The list was varied, but the same things did keep cropping up – I have listed below the top 5 things which new businesses claimed they would like help with, and which we are now in a position to offer :

Top 10 Services We Provide For New Businesses

Company Registration – Ok, it’s a given and we weren’t going to include it in this list, but we didn’t want you to think we couldn’t do it. So if its a Company Registration you’re after, just get in touch with us, and we’ll do the rest!

Accounts – It came across strongly that a lot of new businesses were not sure if they needed an accountant, when they needed an accountant, what an accountant EXACTLY did, how much should they cost. So we’ve teamed up with a network of accountants across the UK to provide a top notch accountancy service at a price that’s right for a new business. Additionally, if you would just like some information, we can provide that too.

Web Site – Everyone knows they need a website, but few know how to build one and what should be on there. So again, we now offer this as a packaged service. From a basic 4 page website through to a full singing and dancing ecommerce site, we can do it all and at prices that represent excellent value for money.

Online Marketing / Marketing – These two are actually very separate, but i’ll bundle them together here. Online marketing is all about marketing your services and business and your website – this is something we have many years experience in and so are well equipped to offer this as part of a package to our customers. The best thing about it is, we work to a strict ROI model, so we believe for every marketing £ you spend, you should make a profit on it.

In terms of traditional marketing, we have some excellent in house experience in this sector, and we can provide you with a fully detailed marketing strategy that will meet your requirements and won’t bust your budget.

Office Space – Office space is available everywhere and so it may seem like a no brainer to get some. However, we have a lot of experience in getting the best type of office space at the best price. Give us a call to have a chat about it – you’ll be amazed at what there is to consider, but don’t worry, we can take the headache away for you!

Business Advice – The thing with advice, especially in business, is you never know if it is good advice until you put it into practise, and then it can be too late!!! We offer all our clients advice if they need it – and we only give advice on subjects we know about and have had experience with. If we don’t have the experience we are honest and will tell you – and if we know someone better, we will pass you onto them to talk too.

I hope this little list is helpful!

Register A Company Services Team

For a second lets put all the legal reasons to one side – after all, you do have to register a company in the UK so HMRC know you exist and you can submit your accounts and pay your tax – not much of an incentive there to do so, but it is a legal condition so I would recommend you all do so!!!

But as I say, lets leave that to one side just for the moment. The consequences of not having a registered company can be far more damaging to the success of your business then you may first think. The biggest problem you may face is not being able to get any credit from suppliers or other businesses you trade with.

Your credit score and rating is in part worked out on your company address and all the details held against the company, including you as an individual unless you are limited company. So without registering your company and all these details, there will be no credit score – and a lot of businesses will view a “no credit” score as being worse than a low credit score. There is some comfort in the fact that if you are registered, you exist and can be tracked down!!!!

Also, think of the image and reputation a company who is registered and can be displayed as being so, gives off, in contrast to a company who is not? The credit score aside, if I was choosing between 2 companies for a product or service – I’m going with the registered one every day of the week!

Its also incredibly important for when your company takes off, and you may want to either sell it, float it or take on some senior directors. Mistakes made in the first few years of trading, such as not registering your company can have dire consequences in the latter years – so my advice is do it right, do it right from the start, and continue to do it right.

If you need any more information, advice or have a question as regards registering a company, then just drop me an email and i’ll be more than happy to help out!

• Company Formation and Documents.
• 8 Page website designed, built and published, also including 8 email addresses.
• 1 years hosting of your website.
• Online marketing analysis of your industry, including a list of the opportunities we find which would deliver an immediate return on investment.
• 1 months online marketing management – usually priced at £300.
• Free business banking account with HSBC.

Note – this price does not include the purchase of your website name. typically this will cost between £10 and £20. We are happy to register this for you at cost price.

Because of this, the one thing a lot of new business owners ask me is if they should rent office space or maybe try and work from home. Now if your new business is something like a garage, or a wood crafter, the problem is taken away, as one assumes you’ll have a workshop to operate from anyway.

My advice to those who ask though, is always, always, ALWAYS, work from an office if your budget can at all allow it. The reasons are numerous, but perhaps some of the most compelling ones are :

1. Separate Work and Home

Work is where you go to earn money, grow your business, get stressed, chase payments, drink coffee – you get the idea. Home on the other hand is where you relax, spend time with the family, sleep, eat and drink.

The two should never encroach on each other. You see, its like a maths equation – if you work from home, you start mixing the two lifestyles and that can become uncomfortable. Look at the two lists above – now mix one aspect from the 1st list with one from the 2nd list – its like chalk and cheese – it doesn’t work.

2. Renting an Office Can Be Cost Efficient

Office space is increasingly cost effective. The recent economic downturn has resulted in a lot of empty offices and the companies that own them will be prepared to do deals in order to fill them. So you may be able to get broadband thrown in, perhaps a discount on the cost per square metre – and remember a lot of offices are now fully serviced, including cleaning.

Depending on the size of your operation when you launch, you may even be able to get the even cheaper option of hiring a virtual workspace. These are based in large office centres and you basically hire a desk and internet connection by the hour, day or week.

3. Professionalism

By having an office address and by way of the fact you need to go to an office each day in order to work, you are giving your company an air of professionalism.

Even if your business is online, you would be surprised how many consumers will Google your address to see if you really exist. If they find out your address is just a domestic house address, it could give the wrong impression. If however, they realise you are based in an office location, it gives them more confidence that you are a legitimate business.

It should also make you feel more professional and focused on your work.

In my next blog post, we will start looking at different office solutions and the costs involved in more detail.

As a bit of background, I am a small business entrepreneur, and have had many years experience in starting up companies, running them and then ultimately selling them. Like many, I have had failures along the way, and a lot of my advice comes from these failures as much as I draw on the successes as well.

My aim is to hopefully categorise the advice and discussion points into 4 main areas :

• Setting Up A Company
• Marketing
• Online Marketing
• General

I hope to try and build a community around this blog, so please do feel free to leave comments, questions, feedback and anything else you want!

Once a week, i’ll be featuring a case study, either from my own experience, or from one submitted by one of our members. I look forward to blogging and interacting with you all on an ongoing basis!

Additionally, if there is anything newsworthy in  the press that I feel is important and / or relevant to a small business owner, I’ll include here.

The Small Business Owner

• Company Formation and Documents.
• 4 Page website designed, built and published, also including 4 email addresses.
• 1 years hosting of your website.
• Online marketing analysis of your industry, including a list of the opportunities we find which would deliver an immediate return on investment.

Note – this price does not include the purchase of your website name. Typically this will cost between £10 and £20. We are happy to register this for you at cost price.

Our speciality for the past 5 years has been online marketing. Whether its getting your site ranking high for search terms in Google, researching and implementing an effective Pay Per Click campaign, or even setting up an affiliate program, we are experts in ensuring that your marketing expenditure results in a positive profit figure.

If the terminolgy above makes no sense to you whatsoever, then do not worry. Before we go ahead with any marketing, we make sure that you, the client, is fully aware on what we are doing, how it works, and what you can expect in return. Our ethos is all about having complete transparency.

If you woould like more information about how our online marketing services can help your business get off to a flying start, simply fill in the contact form below and we’ll be in touch to arrange an informal chat.

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We offer a complete web site design and build service which you can use either as part of a package deal when you register a company with us, or we can build you a site on bespoke and separate basis. All our sites are built using the latest design technology, and they are all search engine efficient – meaning that Google will be able to access and read your site.

If you would like to talk more about websites and how they can help you and your business, please do contact us.

Register A Company Services

Web Design

Online Marketing

Accountants