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the Giving you the heads up....
Monthly Newsletter of TI Payroll & Accounting
February 2015 Edition 33
Welcome to February’s Newsletter Anyone watching “The Councillor” on Sky demand? If not – don’t bother!!! It’s on at the moment and is a star studded production, which when reading the cast list you can’t help thinking it’s going to be a great film – it’s not and that’s two hours of my life I’m never getting back! This got me thinking about what makes a good movie? You can have great actors, great location and great equipment but if the story is weak or entirely missing it can all become tedious and uninteresting.
A lot of small companies don’t consider telling a story through their marketing, they don’t understand how to find it, or how to get it out to their prospects. Your story is made up of your company’s history, your mission, your goals, your key personnel – it’s why you exist. Humans are a fascinating species and it is our natural instinct to be curious about one another, by giving away a story about yourself or your company makes it more real and attention-grabbing to your reader. The more honest you can be in your story telling the more magnetic your marketing becomes; when crafting stories, if they are rooted in reality then they will be consistent with your brand and be more believable to your target market. If your stories are inconsistent they’ll confuse your clients who will lose trust in your brand. Creating characters that your audience will like and connect with will also help engagement. This could be creating a client persona or telling the story from an Employees point of view, they don’t have to be real but they do need to be someone your prospects can empathise with. You can have so much fun with storytelling and it will bring out your personality within your marketing.
It’s the same with your marketing. You could be sending your marketing play out to the right people, on the correct platforms, but if your message (your story) is all wrong then your marketing can be unengaging to your prospects.
It’s National Story telling week from 31st January to 7th February – why don’t you use this as an opportunity to look at your marketing and see if you tell stories? Does your website have a story to tell or is it just informational content with no life?
Storytelling isn’t a new concept, but with the explosion of social media and content marketing, the opportunities to tell stories as part of your direct and indirect marketing has never been hotter and more relevant than it is today.
Have a great month
Tracy x
We are all storytellers. We all live in a network of stories. There isn’t a stronger connection between people than storytelling
Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas in the world today. Robert McKee
Jimmy Neil Smith, Director of the International Storytelling Center Tip the Wink | February 15
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“” Humans are not ideally set up to understand logic; they are ideally set up to understand stories
Roger C. Schank
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Twitter of the Month Soc for Storytelling @sfs_uk
Established in 1993, the Society for Storytelling aims to support and promote the most ancient art of oral storytelling. Join us: http://sfs.org.uk/join_us For more infomration on Storytelling week, the Society for Story telling has its own twitter and its own website. sfs.org.uk
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Taking Control of your Retirement At present the basic state pension stands at £113.10 per week. In today’s world it is difficult to imagine how that would ever be sufficient to obtain even a basic standard of living. In some cases there are extra components of the state pension available such as the graduated pension, SERPS, state second pension etc. All in all, the maximum sum you could hope to achieve per week is in the region of £250. This figure looks a bit better and slightly more manageable, however, if you have been self-employed or a small business owner drawing a small basic wage for the majority of your working life, the most you are ever likely to receive is the basic state amount mentioned above. The good news for the self-employed, is that from April 2016, the government plan to roll out a new flat rate state pension which will be no less than £148.40 per week, however, the actual amount will be set in autumn 2015. As you may or may not be aware, to attain a basic state pension you currently need 30 years of qualifying national insurance contributions or credits to qualify for the full amount. The only drawback to the new flat rate pension from a self-employed point of view is that from 2016 you will now need 35 qualifying years to claim the full amount. Fear not, if you believe that you may not have enough years to qualify for the full pension, it is possible to top up your pension entitlement through class 2 and 3 voluntary National insurance contributions. There is also a new form of national insurance contribution due to be accessible from October 2015 for those already drawing their state pension or due to draw this before 6th April 2016. This method of top up will be known as class 3a National Insurance. As an illustration, the class 3 National Insurance required for an extra £196.04 of state pension per annum in 2014/15 (The cost depends on the year you want to pay for) is just £722.80. This represents a very generous return of 27%, not a bad return in anyone’s book! It is worth noting though that if you have gaps in your National Insurance contribution record you usually have to make up any shortfall within six years from the end of the tax year for which the contributions are being paid. Ryan Woodhouse Independent Financial Adviser The Independent Asset Management Company 07730 563408 | ryan@iamcompany.co.uk
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Business of the Month
Coco Cheveux Ltd From their base on Dalton Road in Barrowin-Furness (opposite Marks and Spencer), Coco Cheveux offer the opportunity for shoppers to have some well-deserved indulgence and ‘me time’ through their range of beauty treatments. Among the pampering products offered by Coco Cheveux are: Shellac waxing, facial aesthetics (botox), hot stones massage and chiropody/podiatry. Also included is a wedding service, which covers all bridal hair and make-up requirements for a bride’s special day. Coco Cheveux has four directors sharing equal ownership: Jo Granger, Sara Croslery, Jessica Wood and Jemma Allen. One of their main aims for the business was to create a relaxing atmosphere for clients. They have put a lot of consideration into this and have pulled it off by making the space aesthetically pleasing, with a range of different styles. They tell us that the middle floor is ‘funky, bright and uplifting’, while the third floor is ‘neutral, tranquil and the perfect haven for relaxing’. After six months of trading, the business has attracted ten new staff members, some of whom are selfemployed. Coco Cheveux also gets plenty of positive feedback from clients, which the business takes on board. The directors of Coco reckon that choosing the legal structure of the business was the most challenging aspect of starting up in business. Also, being in the beauty sector, they had to take into
account the necessary contracts for employees and self-employed people renting a chair. Mundane but important matters such as gaining agreement over Coco’s policies and procedures and staff holiday entitlements were approached in such a way as to ensure fairness across the board. The directors of Coco all thoroughly enjoy their work and show this in their commitment to the business, which reflects their various areas of beauty expertise. The economic outlook is looking a lot clearer as far as Coco Cheveux is concerned. They say that ‘people are willing to spend and not just save’, which is vital for a high street business like theirs: ‘luckily we live in an area where ladies will always pamper themselves’. The potential market for beauty and pampering is also expanding: they add with a smile that ‘men are also trending this way’! On the subject of what the government could do to create more of an economic feel good factor for small businesses like Coco Cheveux they believe that if business rates could be cut then that would encourage more entrepreneurs to open their own shops. It seems that high street shops often have to pay higher business rates because they are in a more prominent position. They comment that this works against the town centre…and encourages people to spend in supermarkets and shop online. With the pace of life nowadays, it seems that people do not have the time to shop around anymore. The vision is to expand the number of salons. They hope to get established in the Lake District as well, taking advantage of the clientele from this area and making Coco more accessible. This would also enable Coco to develop its spa treatments and wedding service. In the beauty industry, spare time is often a mirage. The directors at Coco say that it is the fastest moving industry behind computing. This pace means that staff need to constantly update their skills by going to industry events. Training is also done in house, so that no part of the business gets left behind. A couple of the directors have families so any time off is spent with them. TI Payroll and Accounting has helped Coco Cheveux to thrive, they took a mirror to Coco’s finances, for instance, by helping to make their cash flow as attractive as possible. Coco says that TI Payroll and Accounting have made everything clear and simple and regularly kept in contact with us to make sure that we were keeping on top of everything. tel: 01229 490343
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The service has been professional (as you would expect) and friendly (a welcome bonus). The staff are always willing to help, provide friendly answers to my questions no matter how many times I ask the same thing! The process has been very easy and straightforward and the added extras, including the newsletter are really great! Thanks :-) Rebecca Rawlings, Womens Community Matters
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