Ten Steps to Starting up a Business

While many are shivering a little (and some...a lot) with the coronavirus pandemic at the moment, many people will be looking for the opportunities and be knee-deep in looking to starting up their own venture. There will be an end in sight, so why not use this time wisely?

Starting up a business today could not be easier and, for many, all you need is motivation, a laptop and the guts to go out there and “do it”. However, there are some key steps to make sure that your endeavour will hit the ground running and not smash to pieces, taking your confidence and bravery with it!
 
Having worked with more than 1000 businesses in my more than three decades as an accountant – I can say that there are some crucial success definers which, if not considered, can badly hamper an intrepid new entrepreneur.

Read the full post here.

Keep your sanity & business in check, in the face of COVID-19

While the media is hyper focused on the spread of coronavirus and the stock markets are tumbling around us - it is important as business owners to take on the Government's advice, make plans and be flexible to change (often on a day-to-day basis).

Yes, this is a significant enough event to knock your confidence, but you have employees, suppliers and customers/clients who are also feeling the pain and worry.

By taking sensible steps to look after you, your family and your business and put a proper plan in place to help mitigate the rough waves - you will be showing your employees and customers that you are confident and have a plan.

You will also feel much more positive if you focus on controlling the things you can control and make sure you have levels of business continuity in place. I recognise it must be really tricky for bricks and mortar businesses at the moment of course. What other online opportunities are there that you could leverage? How can you keep your customers engaged whilst you struggle with delivery?

What is Clifford Towers doing differently? 

We have considered how the virus affects both our staff and our clients, so we have looked at the two main issues of:

• Staff shortages brought on by illness and absence
• Ensuring that both we and our clients avoid passing on the virus to each other

We have restricted the amount of physical contact we have with our clients by using e-mail and the phone as much as possible. We are in the fortunate position that the majority of our staff will be able to move to home working for the duration of the virus control procedures. We are also fortunate with our IT systems that we can do our work remotely from home and communicate electronically with the majority of clients.

If you need to drop anything off at our offices, please call or email us first to discuss a suitable way in which to do this, or indeed to work out how else to transfer the information that doesn't involve non-essential travel or movement. (In light of the PM's last update on 23rd March in terms of lockdown and restrictive movements)

The best advice I have seen is to follow hygiene precautions with the mindset that you are infected and do not want to infect anyone else rather than seeing the precautions as being a means of stopping yourself catching it.

We have a few clients who may be disproportionally affected by the economic slowdown that will occur while the virus spreads and then peaks. We have committed to introducing clients going through serious business turn down to reliable Insolvency Practitioners if they are concerned about the financial viability of their businesses going forward.

Please do reach out if you have any specific financial worries and would like to talk through some specific business decisions you feel you may need to make in the wake of the economic turbulence.



Online business events

In a slight shift from our usual local business event listings, we've gathered together a selection of FREE online events, training and webinars which you may find useful. As always, please check these events are still taking place in these unprecedented times, and register in advance where advised.

• 2 April, Facebook Live event: The Meteoric Rise of Podcasting
• 7 April, online seminar: 11 Steps for Businesses to Survive and Thrive in a Crisis
• 7 April, online event: How to Give a Killer Presentation
• 7 April, webinar: Global Cyber Alliance Cybersecurity Toolkit for Small Business Workshop
• 17 April, webinar: What should you do when you can’t do the right thing? Moral dilemmas in the workplace
• 22 April, webinar: Financial Readiness Talk
• 23 April, webinar: Emotional Intelligence and Leadership: what why and how
• 30 April, webinar: Lunch & Learn Webinar - Building a Brand Strategy
• 30 April, Zoom meeting: Learn how to energise your business website