April's TIP the Wink!

TIP the Wink

Giving you the heads up...

Monthly Newsletter of TI Payroll & Accounting

April 2013, Edition 13

Welcome to April’s Newsletter

Dates for your Diary

I hope you all had a great Easter break, the weather may have been cold but the Sun shone all weekend. As you will probably have heard by now – WE’VE MOVED!!! In fact it has taken us the entire long weekend. Also, I can’t quite believe it, but we are celebrating “Tip the Wink’s” first birthday this month. I have really enjoyed preparing these newsletters and I love looking back on everything that has happened over the past year.

For those who knew me this time last year you will remember that I was in the run up to “The Wedding” at this time. Anyone who is married will know what a stressful time it is, however, the stress of organising our wedding was nothing compared to the stress I’ve felt moving the business this month.

With having such a tight schedule between getting the keys to the new offices and having to move from our old offices you can imagine I had to ring in a few tradesman and office suppliers. While organising everything for the new office I was astounded (and frustrated) at how many people do not answer their phones. Do these people really have enough work to keep them going that they do not need to answer the phone to new clients?

I think this is a very important lesson to any business, is your phone getting answered each and every time it rings? If not you ARE losing customers.

When I rang carpet fitters for instance as I had the number for five companies, do you really think I rang the two back that didn’t answer when I initially dialled? Heck no, I was too busy on to the next job.

You don’t have to be available to answer your own phone if you are busy “working” during the day, there are lots of cost effective answering Continued overleaf

April 1st 8th 11th 12th 18th 19th 19th

Easter Monday RTI officially starts International Pet Day Pink Link Furness - Abbey House The Business Network Payment to HMRC CIS Submission Due

May 4th 6th 16th 17th 19th 19th 27th

Star Wars Day Bank Holiday Monday The Business Network Pink Link Ladies Furness Payment to HMRC CIS Submission Due Bank Holiday Monday

Tweeter of the Month St. Mary’s Dalton @daltonstmary Christmas capital of Furness Dalton in Furness, Cumbria http://www.daltonstmary.co.uk As it’s Easter I thought I would look at someone appropriate for this festive time. I believe our local church may be one of the most up to date with its modern technology as not only does it have its own website - it also has its own twitter feed.

This is a great twitter feed to follow, especially around Christmas time as Dalton-in-Furness is the Christmas Capital of Furness with its Christmas Tree Festival and real camels at its light switch-on.

Marketing Tip Newsletters: How many of you enjoy my newsletters? How many of you send out your own to your clients?

Having a newsletter is the single most effective way of creating a relationship between you and your clients.

Follow us on twitter @tr4cyirwin

Find us on

Business of the Month

TI Payroll helps Louise to make more dough out of her dog bakery business Louise Sutherland runs a bakery with a difference. When her customers are not out chasing sticks, they enjoy fine food and company. Black Dog bakery makes artisan food items for dogs – healthy, wholesome treats that might even make their owners jealous!

The ‘tail’ of this business began when Louise started making liver fudge for her own Labrador Dougal. Other dog owners caught the scent of these treats and started to ask Louise where they could get them from. Louise sniffed a feasible business venture as a result, and began supplying them on a wider scale by starting her own bakery business.

they’re delivered right to their door. What more could a dog ask for? Louise certainly gets many barks of approval from her canine customers (and their owners) for these tasty treats.

Louise wants one day to run a café, which she says ‘will brings the Black Dog Bakery to life’. Dogs could bring their owners(!) to enjoy the treats and socialise with like-minded people. If nothing else, it will certainly sets tails wagging!

Previously, Louise was a dog photographer. So what were the major differences between that and her current bakery business? In photography, Louise adapted to her clients’ individual needs. But with the dog bakery, she’s found that marketing the quality of her products is crucial to success.

One of the most rewarding parts of her business is to see the pleasure that owners get from giving their dogs these treats.

It also gives Louise the chance to donate some of her profits to animal charities.

Louise adapted to having a retail business by ‘learning the difference between producing stock to sell and providing a service’. She found that ‘putting procedures and strategies into place correctly’ helped to ensure the success of the business.

In these financially ‘ruff’ times, is the economic outlook enough to make her howl with frustration? No, Louise advises people not to listen to the media doom and gloom. She reckons that the mindset of the small business is central to whether it succeeds or not.

Louise does more than just give a dog a bone – she provides culinary treats for her customers’ four-legged friends. She’s happy to make items to order in case of special dietary needs, so every dog can have its day of food heaven (and more besides). These treats are also multi-purpose – customers have said how great they are for reward-based training – surely a recipe for success!

When Louise gets some spare time, she enjoys walking and playing with her dog, and travelling.

Louise’s range of products is impressive – from liver fudge to banana and honey biscuits and peanut butter and banana muffins – nothing is too much trouble. All this is enough to remind any dog why they’re man’s (or woman’s!) best friend.

As an artisan baker for dogs, Louise offers a range of tasty treats to satisfy even the most discerning dog palate. Her canine customers don’t even need to fetch these treats, as

TI Payroll’s support meant that starting a business was not a dog’s life for Louise. She particularly appreciated Tracy’s pragmatic approach to testing whether the business could be viable. Louise valued how Tracy was able to bring an expert, outside perspective on her initial ideas.

The help that TI Payroll gave Louise really put the icing on the cake for her. Tracy’s advice and support meant that Louise didn’t feel like a ‘lone wolf’. Above all, Louise found that Tracy was ‘a pleasure to work with’. If you are starting a small business, or need help with accounting or payroll, don’t feel ‘hounded’. Talk to Tracy for some professional friendly advice.

services/virtual assistants that not only take messages for you but also gives the impression that your business is larger than just you. This can only be a good thing surely ….

Well, all the stress has been worth it as TI Payroll and Accounting is now established in it’s new home. We are now at 73 Buccleuch Street, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria LA14 1QQ (right opposite Santa Marina for fans of takeaway) and we have a new number 01229 813388. So please can you change our details on your systems and phones.

5

6

2 4

8

7

7

9

2 7

4

8 5 2

3

3 3

9

2

8

6

1

8 1

2 6

1

1 4

8

5 3

8

Thanks as always to Lorraine at Powder and Paint for my photo this month, she has been great for the past year coming up with ideas for my newsletter photos, let’s hope there are many more to come and you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy preparing them.

Have a great month.

Tracy x

Business Quote

“

Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you’re right!

7

Henry Ford

”

Why Do Employers Need to Issue Contracts of Employment?

Our client base is mainly small and medium sized businesses and as a Human Resources Consultant, one of things that makes me weep at times is the inadequacy of or complete absence of Contracts of Employment.

An Employer must issue a Statutory Written Statement of Terms within 2 months’ of an Employee starting work with them.

The contents must include names of the Employer and Employee and their respective addresses, normal place of work or locations for the Employee, date employment started and date of continuous employment, job title and a brief job description, pay and payment method and frequency of the payment, hours of work, holiday entitlement, sick leave and sickness payment, pension and pension scheme arrangements, entitlement to notice period from both Employer and Employee, if the contract is negotiated through a collective agreement, type of contract, what the company’s grievance procedure is - and who to go to if the Employee has a grievance.

A Contract of Employment does not need to be in writing, however, as a business owner, your priority is to protect the business and to be fair and reasonable in your work practices with your employees.

Although you cannot put everything in writing, as a rule if it isn’t written down and issued to your employees, it could be a costly oversight or a potential business failure by becoming regarded as 'custom and practice' - which then automatically becomes an element of a contract of employment.

The Contract of Employment is more than the Written Statement of Terms, as it gives you, the Business Owner, the facility to state clearly elements of your business that need protection under the employment legislation.

Some of the areas that you should think of covering in your Contracts of Employment over and above the Statutory Written Terms are probationary period, review of performance, data protection, anti competition, conflict of interest, intellectual property rights, anti bribery and disciplinary and grievance procedure.

A final thought for you, are you in breach of the law in any way? Well, if you are, then ultimately it will affect your bottom line....

Bina Briggs Plain Talking HR Limited t. 01582 488410 m. 07739 549234 e. bina@plaintalkinghr.com w.www.plaintalkinghr.com t. http://twitter.com/PlainTalkingHR

payroll administration bookkeeping services

“

I found them pleasant, professional and ready to help and explain any queries I had.

George Park Park UPVC Windows Limited

construction industry scheme

�

self employed limited companies tax returns SAGE training bespoke social media training secretarial services

If you would like to receive this newsletter posted direct to you on a monthly basis please visit www.subscribe.tipayroll.co.uk and fill in the online form, or ring Tracy on

01229 490343

TI Payroll and Accounting 73 Buccleuch Street Barrow-in-Furness Cumbria LA14 1QQ tel. 01229 813388 email. tracy@tipayroll.co.uk web. www.tipayroll.co.uk