LIVERPOOL
YOUR BUSINESS EZINE IS PROUD TO WELCOME OCEAN CREATIVE AS OUR FIRST SPONSOR OF THIS MAGAZINE. AND WE LOOK FORWARD TO WORKING CLOSELY WITH THEM OVER THE COMING 12 MONTHS AND BEYOND.
Why YOUR BUSINESS EZINE membership makes a difference to your business? • Advertising offers in each issue for as long as you’re a member • An active link in your advert to your website or email address • Helps with your site SEO • 10% discount on full, half, or quarter page adverts • Business resources & support • Member only meetings • Submit your own stories and get noticed • Have the Chance to be featured • Ask our experts for advice
08000 432 734 or email: membership@yourbusinessezine.com Free Phone:
CONTENTS
Cover •
MANKEY MONKEY
Team Talk
Emma talks stress
Technology For business
We tell you what the future has in store
Total Reclaim
We look at real ethical business and how you may be able to recover your finances
Have your Say
08
Ask The Expert
• Business Coach • life coach • Solicitor • Tax Accountant • Humour Consultant Our panel of experts are offering their expertise to the members. Also get an insight to what they see effecting us this month and what advice they have.
Mankey Monkey
Masses of monkeys came in off the banana boat and are running loose. we try and find them so that you can foster them.
Networking
We see what everyone got upto in October and look at the month ahead
November Calendar
The months events all in one place. Arrange your month in advance and target the events more effectively.
06
Phil The Fire Engine
We look at one professional that is trying to inspire children to be more observant and resposible.
John Haynes Vs. Liverpool FC
John Haynes interviews Liverpool FC’s Avis Lundberg about people management
Offers To Readers Contact Us
18
32
TEAM TAL Can you believe that Thirteen and a half million working days were lost last year through stress alone. In these difficult times, we find it harder than ever to cope with challenges on and off the job. The stress we take with us when we go to work and the stress that awaits us are on the rise. Not to mention the stress we take home with us in peak hour traffic! All members of the work force, employers, managers, workers, even friends and family feel the added pressure. While some stress is a normal part of life, excessive stress interferes with your rate of production and reduces your physical and emotional health, so it’s important to find ways to keep it under control. .
ger, fear begins with an impulse to the brain, which excites the very aptly named “sympathetic nerves” to stimulate various regions in our body. They do this by means of a substance called Adrenalin which is released at the nerve terminals within the organs concerned, our two adrenal glands secrete additional adrenalin into our blood stream. This is what gives us the strength to fight, or run like hell.
When faced with a constant amount of pressure and stress at work, our nervous system works in the exact same way. It can quite often be very alarming for someone to suddenly have this reaction whilst simply sitting at their desk. Attending a meeting with a pounding Our bodies have a very complex heart, sweaty hands and dry mouth system, and it is often our inability isn’t ideal and often sends us into to recognise the signs that allows a panic. Any prolonged amount of us to spiral out of control. “Lay- this type of stress would eventuoffs” and “budget cuts” have be- ally wear the fittest and calmest of come all too often familiar words persons down to a quivering wreck. in the workplace, the result being The point is we do not consciously an increased amount of fear, uncer- react this way and have no power tainty, and higher levels of stress. to stop these reactions, other than Imagine how scary it would be if to change our mood. we were walking down a dark alley to be suddenly met by a large, So how do we cope with it? Our first salivating vicious looking dog. Our step is emotional intelligence in reaction would be to freeze, heart the work place. Be self aware, and pounding, your breath irregular and recognise your emotions and their manic, shaking, your pupils dilated impact to guide your decisions. like pins, hands sweating, knees Bespoke treatment may be needknocking, dry mouth… you get the ed in many cases as there is ofpicture. ten external factors to such levels of stress. But there are still guide This all happens for a very impor- lines that everyone can follow to tant reason. The Fight or Flight reduce our chances of that downresponse. When faced with dan- ward spiral.
LK
Talk to your colleagues. A problem shared….. Try to laugh about situations you would normally worry about! Laughter produces endorphins, which in turn makes us feel happy. (If you want to know more about this, then email our expert Stephanie Davies on our Laughology page) Take time out when you feel your overwhelmed by any situation, big or small and deep cleansing breaths. Breathing is very important to correct our balance of gas-
ses, as when we are anxious our breathing becomes irregular and can often leave us feeling lightheaded and anxiety stricken. Most importantly, if you feel it is all getting too much, seek help. Educate yourself as to what is happening and try to stay positive regardless of the situation. Tell yourself life is good every day and stay away from those nasty “oh woe is me” moments, they will only drag you further. I have only skimmed across just a few examples, but you will find endless amounts of help and advise from your library and the internet. It may be a good time to say I am so knowledgeable of this, as I have myself been victim to the unwelcome fear of stress and anxiety, and I suspect there are many of you reading this that may be saying “me too” Share it with people, tell them what happened and how you recovered. This is nothing to be ashamed off. . Stress and anxiety is not prejudiced, it can effect anyone, regardless of their position. Acceptance and awareness of these problems are crucial. The more we understand the physical reasons for this normal response, the easier it will be to tackle.
comment by emailing teamtalk@yourbusinessezine.com
By
Emma Dolan
The mere mention of exercise sends some people into a sweat, but it is a way of alleviating not only tiredness, but stress, by releasing those endorphins for a sense of physical and mental satisfaction. Yoga and Tai Chi are also effective in the fight against stress, with an emphasis on freeing worry and stress to achieve a state of relaxation. Cutting down on caffeine can improve your well being also as your body doesn’t have to work overtime trying to deal with toxins. Try replacing your coffee with water, as too much caffeine can create an over anxious, over stimulated and ultimately, over stressed mind and body. This also applies to alcohol im afraid. I know the first thing we say when we have had a terrible day is “I need a drink!“ seriously, it’s the last thing you need. Alcohol is not only a stimulant at the time, but is also a depressant. Be sensible with any alcohol and enjoy it social, not as a crutch to your stress at work.
TECHNOLOGY forBUSINESS
A
lot has gone on in the world of technology in the past month. So much so that I have spent all my time monitoring the activity of new and forthcoming releases that i have not managed to complete the review of one single bit of technology. Instead of bringing you something half hearted I thought it would be better to bring you some of the most anticipated reviews over the next couple of months. In the next few issues you’ll be treated to some of the most practically tested products available to you as a business. who knows, we may even put in some fun gadgets too. Here is some of the stuff we’ll be taking a look at over the coming months...
“Total reclaim is licensed and regulated b of their counterparts, they actually adher
O
ver the last few years, we have come to find out that a good many of the institutions that we traditionally just assumed we could trust, were not actually that trustworthy. Predominantly I am talking about our financial institutions here. Funny that isn’t it, how we refer to them as ours. They are in fact businesses, like any other business, except they deal in money, our money. Now, as a business, they are designed to make a profit. Unfortunately, when they have felt they are not being watched, or that they could just get away with it, instinct takes over and many of them thought it would be ok to take advantage of us, their customers,
even to the point of not only breaking their own governing bodies guidelines, but also the law. Now, if you or I break the law and then fight the system every step of the way, after being found guilty, we are more severely punished. Not so our financial institutions. They are not made to put right the wrong they have done, the onus is on the victims, you and I, to go through the rigmarole of then claiming back what’s rightfully ours, at our own expense and even then they try to block you every step of the way. It’s no wonder then that most of us need help with the process. Unfortunately, that’s when things often go from bad to worse. You see, this spawns a whole raft of less
regulated and often unscrupulous companies. They step in and offer you a solution that sounds like it will solve all of your problems, for a fee. Once you pay your up front fee, there is sometimes little, or sadly no incentive for them to do anything else. Then try getting your money back off these people, not a chance. Wouldn’t it be nice if a company existed that took no up front fees. Better still, what if they took no up front fee’s and had a no win no fee policy and were fully registered and regulated. Too much to ask?
Allow me to introduce.....
by the Ministry of Justice and unlike many re to there guidelines for good practice.�
T
otal Reclaim was set up over the last 12 months in order to meet the needs of anyone who has been miss sold payment protection insurance. I have met a number of IFA’s and solicitors over the past year who are offering this service and I have to say, I have not met anyone who is as well prepared, organised and ethical as Total Reclaim. Daryl and his business partner Dave are happy to put their money where their mouths are. They will look at any potential claim and if they believe you have a case, they will take it on, covering all of the up front costs of making the claim, then wait until the claim comes through before taking their fee of 15% for a loan claim, or 25% of a credit card claim. If the claim is unsuccessful, which is not usually the case if they have taken it on, you owe nothing. Total reclaim is licensed and regulated by the Ministry of Justice and unlike many of their counterparts, they actually adhere to there guidelines for good practice. But just how big of a problem is this. Well if I was to tell you that the selling of these policies is worth a whopping £5 billion per year and that currently there are 20 million policies in circulation would you be surprised. How about this for a figure then. Given the number of policies and their value, I was wandering how many of these could have been miss sold. Total Reclaim has found that 25% of everyone they speak to doesn’t even know they have a policy at all. That’s 5 million policy holders that don’t even know they have it. If that’s not miss selling, I don’t know what is. This is besides everyone else who knows they have a policy, but thought they had to have it.
Now that this has all come to light and the financial companies have set aside money in order to repay and sometimes compensate their victims, at least it’s a lesson learnt and anyone now taking out a loan or credit agreement will be treated with respect and not be miss sold to. Actually NO. This is something which is still going on. They are still miss selling policies. Why you may ask. Well, if you refer back to that earlier figure I quoted, these policies are worth £5 billion per year, that’s why. You see, even if 10’s of millions of pounds are paid out in compensation each year, it’s still financially worth doing, despite being morally bankrupt. When a pay out is made, none of these companies accept any wrong doing and always cite that the payment is being made as a gesture of good will. I am so tempted to swear write now…… no, no I won’t……… just allow me to calm down a minute…………… ok I’m fine, I’ll carry on now. Good will, you have got to be joking. If these companies were interested in good will, they would stop doing what they are doing and automatically pay back what they have miss sold in the first place. If this was an SME that traded in this way, then trading standards and the courts would string them up by their sensitive bits and some program like watchdog or rogue traders would be poking cameras into every aspect of their lives. Total Reclaim already have dozens of success stories and testimonials. Almost every day there are more and more satisfied clients who have not had to risk anything to get back their money. The entire process varies in length, depending on various factors, not least of which is who the claim is against. To give you an idea, the claims generally take 8 to
10 weeks to come through, but the fastest has been 2 weeks, with the longest being 6 months. The claims very rarely get as far as court as the financial company would not be able to use that good will little nugget if they lost a case and that would generally open the floodgates to more claimants. If you think you may have payment protection insurance that has been miss sold to you, or if you’re not sure, especially if you’re not sure, speak to Daryl or Dave. There’s no hard sell, you simply get a pack sent out to you and you decide how you want to go forward. You never know, you may end up getting back 1000’s you didn’t even realise you’d lost. Total Reclaim are also looking to build a network of introducers. They currently work with IFA’s, mortgage brokers and even charities, in fact anyone with a client database that would like to offer a decent risk free opportunity to their clients and get remunerated at the same time.
FREEPHONE 0800 915 2998 OR VISIT
www.total-reclaim.net
HAVE YOUR S AY
T
his section of the magazine is for you, the local business people of Merseyside. It is a platform for you to voice your opinion about anything you feel you need to say. If you’re particularly not happy with something, maybe it’s something holding you back, then let us know, we may even be able to help. Also, if you are particularly happy with something or someone, tell us about it here. We are not a news paper and we don’t need to push doom and gloom to push our readership. We believe there is a lot of positivity around at the moment and it’s good to share that. So we are happy to print genuine testimonials for people, (not a blatant advert though). Here at Your Business E-zine we also believe that working together makes us all stronger. People whom you may have traditionally thought of as your competitors can actually be your greatest allies. If you need support in a certain area of your business, why not let us know, we could put you in touch with the right people to fill your particular gaps. Maybe you have a proposal or an idea that you just want to put out there and see what response you get, this is the place for you to do that to.
Your Business E-Zine also believes that business should be fun. There is nothing wrong with enjoying what we do and even our extra curricular activities. With this in mind we have a proposal we would like to put to you. We would like to organize an event for next summer. Something fun that we can all get involved in. My thoughts are to run a soap box derby. Each company building there own machine, fully logo’d up of course, and we would get a suitable road closed off somewhere in or around the city centre, build a bit of a track and race down it. Prizes for the winners of course and even a podium with champagne spraying etc. What do you think? Is it something you would get involved in, either taking part or helping to organise? Let us know, or any alternative suggestions you may have. The previous edition of this magazine had in excess of 50,000 views. That was our launch edition, it’s only going to increase from there and increase substantially. So use us to your best advantage and have your say, we will put your name and your company name after your piece. Let me tell you, the exposure won’t hurt. We look forward to your comments.
Mark. Team member Your Business E-Zine.
eMail your stories and articles to
haveyoursay@yourbusinessezine.com
Ask The Ques
Ask The Exper
stion
rt
Business Coach Life Coach Commercial Solicitor Tax Accountant Humour Expert
Ask The Expert
Busine Richard Dickinson
Richard started out in his working life in the Navy, were he served for a number of years, travelling around the world learning some fantastic skills and meeting people from many different cultures. After leaving the navy, Richard entered the world of banking and finance, ending up in a role as East Midlands Region Development Manager for a high street bank. Richard then decided he was ready for another challenge, so he left the bank and set up his own national insurance brokerage, which he ran for 5 years, until selling the business in 2005. Given Richards extensive experience over the years in dealing with businesses and more importantly business people, Richard felt he would make a very good business coach. He then trained and was accredited by the Adler School of International Coaching and took on a franchise from Ology Coaching, which gives him the support of a multi national company, whilst at the same time still being able to give a local personal service to his clients. We are very pleased to have Richard on board and are sure you will benefit from his wisdom and experience.
Keeping In Touch Pays Off! Do you want to know the secret of increasing your conversion rate massively but without spending a fortune?
I can see you’re thinking… “So what”?
Have you ever wondered why so many successful businesses are forever bombarding you with emails or mail shots (or in some cases phone calls)?
A mere 2% of sales are made on the first contact
Well the answer is revealed in these interesting statistics:
Just 5% are made on the third contact
• A massive 48% of sales people never follow up with a prospect
But 10% are made on the fourth contact …
• Just 25% of sales people make a second contact… and stop there
… leaving a massive 80% of sales that are made on the fifth to twelfth contact! Surprised? Don’t be! Think of your own buying behaviour – how often do you respond to the first, second or even third contact you have from a sales person?
• Another 12% of sales people only make 3 contacts… and stop • Only 15% make more than 3 contacts
The answer is simply this:
Only 3% are made on the second contact
So how do we tap into this incredible opportunity? It’s remarkably easy – you need to create a structured and consistent follow up system – a Touch System – to keep in touch with your prospects. In fact not just your prospects but your customers as well – if they don’t hear from you regularly then why would you be the first person to come to mind when they need services or products like yours? Why wouldn’t your competitors have been contacting them and persuading them to switch? I’d like to leave you with another couple of insights… If you have sold to a customer and they’ve not bought from you in the last 10 weeks… and you’ve not contacted them during this time … they aren’t a customer anymore!
ess Coach
To ask Richard a Question, Please email him at: richard.dickinson@yourbusinessezine.com or visit Ology Business Coaching at www.ologybusiness.com/richarddickinson/
Ask The Expert
Life C Lisa Madariaga
Lisa is a life coach of some distinction. She is what you might call one of life’s achievers. Allow me to explain. Lisa is a qualified Barrister and a Chartered Accountant. She has worked around the world for both NYSE and FTSE 100 companies. Then one day, in November 2005, she collapsed in her London office. Not only was she unable to work, but could barely get out of bed for 5 months. As her health slowly improved, she was able to re evaluate her life. Lisa found that with her unique experiences of life, she was able to help others. She re trained and is now also qualified with the Institute of Leadership and Management, (ILM), as a life coach and executive business coach. Lisa is the founder and trainer of the Finance Coaching Academy of RSA, (formerly Royal and Sun Alliance). Soon to publish a self help book for people living with or recovering from ME, we are truly privileged to have Lisa contribute for us. So, don’t be shy, use this fantastic opportunity and ask Lisa some questions and don’t miss her articles, they may just change your life.
Change, Love it or Hate it? There is one thing that we can all say with absolute certainty, everything changes. Tomorrow will be different to today and we will not be the same person we are right now by next year. So then, if change is life’s great certainty, why do so many of us dislike change so much, to the point of avoiding it? We all get into our “comfort zones” where we feel safe and secure – it may not be a nice place, but it is our place! Individuals obviously react differently to change. Recovery times from a shock and celebrations for happy events are for different periods of time and to varying intensity depending on the individual. There are five accepted stages of
change: 1 denial, 2 anger, 3 bargaining, 4 depression and 5 movingon. Not all of us will experience every stage, some of us may move backwards and forwards along the curve a number of times. However, generally the experience of change can be illustrated as below.
After a “change event”, such as hearing we are to be made redundant, moving house, the birth of a child or the loss of a loved one, the initial reaction is to increase activity, to raise our input to the world generally. We then move on to the main 5 stages.
Coach “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”
~Author unknown, commonly misattributed to Charles Darwin
The denial phase is the initial stage of an individual’s reaction to change. At this point we are trying to ignore what is happening, the “la la la I’m not listening” phase. We are all aware of someone who has tried to pretend that a change event is not happening. The phrases “just getting on with it” and “putting on a brave face” usually relate to this phase.
on extra clients and work overtime if you just let me keep my job” or even “If I don’t eat that chocolate cake, then maybe the illness will go away”. We are attempting to take back control, which of course we cannot actually do.
brush ourselves off and “get on” with our lives, hopefully with the new learnings we have gained following our change experience. We are ready to face the world again with new, improved insight and courage.
The depression that often descends in the fourth phase is the stage most people think of when considering a “sad” change event; however, it The second phase is that of anger. can also occur following a happy This is usually when we try to find event. The sadness, powerlessness someone or something to blame and loss of hope can become allfor the change and our upset we pervasive. We are all familiar with are experiencing. We all have our the feelings of loss following a failown targets, our parents, partner, ure to pass an exam, or win a prize, children, god or boss are often loss of a loved one or a friend. The screamed at in these periods, “why good news is that this stage is very me???” and “It’s all your fault!” seldom permanent (as in the case of miss Havisham in Great ExpectaThe third phase is that of bargain- tions) and the next stage is a huge ing. At this point we attempt to relief and personal victory and libmake everything right by agreeing eration when it arrives. to do something or give up something so that we can alter the The fifth and final phase of the change event to what we think we change curve is the acceptance and want at that time. “God, I will moving on in our life. At this point go to church next Sunday of only we have realised that we cannot you...” or “Mr. Jones, I will take sit and mope forever, that we must
Understanding where we are in the change curve is a great help when dealing with the life events that we all, inevitably, experience. It does illustrate that there is hope in all situations and the light at the end of the tunnel is nearer than we may imagine in time of turmoil. So, next time a change occurs in your life, take a moment to stop and consider how you feel and where you are on the change curve, awareness if a great weapon. To ask Lisa a Question, Please email her at: lisa.madariaga@yourbusinessezine.com or visit Lisa’s site at www.lisa4coaching.com
Ask The Expert
Solici You may notice a little difference this month. Unfortunately, Bernadette was unable to write this months section or answer any of your questions. We would like to thank Kirwins for stepping in last minute to bring all of you an informative article and answer any questions you may have. please direct your questions to editor@yourbusinessezine.com
Commercial Property: tips for leaseholders and freeholders
O
ne characteristic of the downturn in the property market is a swing in the balance of power towards buyers and business tenants involved in lease negotiations.
the end of their existing lease who are looking to renew or relocate hold the upper hand in lease negotiations.
In particular tenants should be seeking competitive rents coupled In the last twelve months, we have with favourable rent review proseen a general decline in new busi- visions, rent free periods and adness tenancies coupled with an equate break clauses all of which unfortunate but inevitable rise in will continue to benefit a business commercial tenant insolvencies. long into the future and beyond the The result has been a significantly current downturn. reduced demand for commercial property tenancies causing land- In our experience many landlords lords to suffer lower rental incomes are taking a realistic approach to and increased costs from holding the current climate and are working with their existing and prospecempty properties. tive new tenants in order to survive Simple economics tells us that low the recession. demand coupled with high supply moves scarcity power away from Tenants should therefore be looklandlords and into the hands of ten- ing to take the lead in active lease negotiations to take advantage of ants. increased flexibility on the part of Whilst it is in both parties interests landlords and should be involving to ensure that a tenant’s business their solicitors and other profescontinues to the end of the tenan- sional advisors in the negotiations cy, those tenants shortly coming to in order to achieve the best pos-
sible lease. Those looking at investing in the freehold of a property rather than taking a lease should be wary of title matters that could have an impact on their future use of the property. Buyers of freehold land are often shocked when they find out that there may still be restrictions on how that can use their property. One way use can be restricted is as a result of restrictive covenants being imposed by previous owners. Many freehold properties are subject to these restrictions, confusing purchasers who expect to buy the land and buildings outright, ‘free from encumbrances’. However, thanks to the evolution of land law over the years, buyers are at risk as owners are able to transfer land subject to any of a variety of rights, restrictions, obligations and even charges. The limitations caused by restric-
itor tive covenants often mean that a simple course of action, such as extending a building on freehold land, can be costly if the property is subject to a covenant requiring consent for alterations and additions. Certain covenants are ongoing, for example the restriction could state that land should be used for one dwelling house only, so if developing the land was the intention, this would be in breach of the restriction. It is vital to check title deeds before signing any contracts. A purchaser’s first step should be to visit a solicitor so they can review the deeds and identify any covenants, and consider the wording and context of the covenant to check whether it is valid and enforceable. Problems can arise when the covenant appears valid and enforceable and the buyer’s intended use of the property will put him in breach. It is important to be aware that this can be the case even if planning permission has been granted for the intended use. However, if such a restrictive covenant is in place, solving it isn’t always just a case of reaching for the cheque book. Depending on the age of the covenant and the parties to the deed that created it, one option is to go ahead and breach (or carry on breaching) the covenant without making enquiries of or alerting the person who has the benefit of the covenant. Clearly there is risk involved in such a strategy. The most common protection if choosing such a strategy is to put in place restric-
tive covenant indemnity insurance, often for a modest premium. Alternative strategies include seeking the consent of the party benefiting from the covenant, or applying to the Lands Tribunal or Courts for discharge or modification of the covenant. Both can be costly, especially as success with an application cannot be guaranteed. The age of the covenant and any change in the character of the neighborhood since the covenant was imposed are factors that may be taken into consideration in an application. Bear in mind that indemnity insurance will almost certainly no longer be an option once the party benefiting from the covenant is aware of the breach or potential breach. Again it is worth involving your solicitor at an early stage as the issues involved with restrictive covenants are often technical and complicated, so it is crucial to seek legal advice at an early stage. John Tuson Head of Commercial Property Kirwans
To ask John a Question, Please email him at: editor@yourbusinessezine.com or visit Kirwins at www.kirwinssolicitors.co.uk
Ask The Expert
Tax Ac Pat Cobham
Pat Cobham owns and runs Cobhams, tax consultants and accountants based in Crosby. Pat has recently been highly recommended to us here at Your Business E-Zine, but it was only in the last few day’s before going to publication that we were able to meet up and confirm that she would be able to be our expert accountant. This didn’t exactly give Pat much time to prepare a piece specifically for the e-zine, however, as Pat is very much in demand, she had recently written an article for someone else that, after some minor alterations, she was able to let us have. So next month we will have some more information about Pat herself and Cobham’s tax consultants, as well as an article written specifically for us. So I would just like to say thank you to Pat for responding so quickly and I hope you, the reader, finds this piece informative and useful.
TTT – Topical Tax Tips No 2
Partnerships with Spouses/Civil Partners
I
f you are self-employed and a 40% tax payer it is good tax planning to consider bringing the above in as partners in the business. There should be good commercial justification for the partnership. Note however that it is only good tax planning if the other partner has unused basic rate band. Ensure that you check with your accountant so that he or she can crunch the numbers and advise you on this. Transferring Company Shares to Spouses/Civil Partners If you own a company it may be tax efficient to transfer some shares to your spouse. Again it depends on individual circumstances and so advice should always be taken before doing anything. The Revenue do not like such arrangements which they call “in-
come shifting” so, as with partnerships, there should be commercial justification for doing this. There has been a tax case going through the courts for a number of years known as Arctic Systems. In a nutshell this involved an IT Consultancy firm were the husband went out and did all the business but the shares were split 50/50 between himself and his wife. She received dividends at basic rate whereas he was a 40% tax payer. The Revenue took the case because they thought that the arrangement was artificial and that the shares were given to the wife purely to exploit the basic rate band.
with this year’s budget but because of the recession the Revenue have delayed this. Hopefully the proposed legislation will die a death as it is difficult to see how any legislation in this area could be workable. However, because of this, it is vital to get advice from your accountant. Transfer of a Trade into a Limited Company
If you are a higher rate tax payer and retain profits in your business then you may well benefit from incorporation. Unincorporated traders pay income tax and National Insurance Contributions. DirecThe case went right up to the House tors/shareholders of small owner of Lords and the Revenue lost. managed companies generally pay However, this did not deter the themselves by way of a small salRevenue and they announced that ary with the balance being taken as they would bring in legislation to dividends. There are no NI contristop such arrangements. The leg- butions on dividends hence this is a islation was meant to be brought in direct saving. As with most things
ccountant there are pros and cons to consider when looking at incorporation, not least of which is the fact that the accountancy costs will be higher with a company because there is more work required. Tax planning is not “one size fits all” so again speak to your accountant. Another aspect to look at when incorporating is actually selling the goodwill of your business to the Limited Company. This can produce a very tidy tax free sum for the proprietor or the ability to draw money out of the company at very low tax rates. Yet another complex area of taxation so make sure you look before you leap. Disincorporation My tax advice has changed over the years because of course tax itself keeps changing. A few years ago I was getting all my clients to incorporate because of the low corporation tax rates. However, corporation tax rates are now going up whilst income tax rates are coming down slightly. Because of higher professional costs as mentioned above I know look at my smaller companies to see whether we should opt to disincorporate. However, if you are a building contractor operating via Limited Company then the last thing you should do is to disincorporate – more about this in the coming months when I talk about CIS penalties. Salary v Dividends I mentioned above that most directors are owner managed companies
pay themselves a small salary and take the rest of their drawings via dividends. You may wonder why a director should take any salary at all if dividends are more tax efficient. There are two reasons for this. There must be a small salary going through payroll and year end PAYE return made to the Revenue for the director otherwise he will not get his National Insurance “stamp” – for those of us old enough to remember when we actually did get a real stamp! In other words if there is no salary then there are not benefits entitlements built up for that year. Do not panic however if you know you are getting a small salary but are not paying any NI contribution at all. It is because there is a nil rate band for NI purposes so providing your salary falls into this band the benefits are protected. The second reason for paying a salary is in order to utilise personal allowances. Personal allowances are wasted if the only income is dividend income so again paying purely by dividends is not tax efficient. Have a look also to see whether you are making the best of the tax allowances in relation to your company car – see above. If you keep the car off the company then you have pay all the expenses in relation to the car but you can claim a mileage allowance for business use. This can be very effective if you have a lot of business mileage. The mileage currently is 40p for the first 10,000 miles and 25p thereafter. The company gets a tax deduction for this.
To ask Pat a Question, Please email her at: pat.cobham@yourbusinessezine.com or visit Cobhams at www.cobhams.com
Ask The Expert
Humour Stephanie Davies
Director and Founder of Laughology, Stephanie Davies has over 10 years experience working in the public and private sector which has gained her an unsurpassed reputation for designing and delivering laughter and humour interventions for businesses, practitioners, clients, young people and adults. Stephanie is recognised as one of the UK’s leading voices in laughter and humour. She was recently invited by the University of Chester to develop and deliver the UK’s first MA course in Humour in the Workplace and will soon complete an MA on The Psychological Benefits of Laughter, Humour and Personal Growth. On leaving Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts in 2002 she began performing stand-up comedy, firing her fascination with the power of laughter and humour. After attending Dr Kataria’s Laughter Leader course Stephanie was accepted as a participant in world-renowned, Dr Patch Adams’s Health Care Intensive Training in the USA. She worked with Patch exploring the relationship between health, humour, community and the arts. On top of her busy training schedule, Stephanie is often asked to contribute to popular television programmes, such as Trisha, The Bank of Mum and Dad, BBC’s Heaven & Earth and ITV’s Stand-up Jenny. She is also a regular on BBC Radio
The humour being H
umour is a human trait requiring insight and intelligence and it often provides us with perspective and helps us get through stressful situations. Over the past few weeks my sense of humour has been tested, with one precipitating event after another, which caused me to analyse my behaviour and the behaviour of others in such scenarios where “good humour” was necessary for keeping calm. Being a comedian I have always looked for the humour in a situ-
ation and often find that it is the tragedies in life that create the best comedy material. Ever since Shakespeare wrote ‘A comedy of errors’, a story about a series of mishaps which appear more tragic than funny, comedians have used their own misfortunes in life to create wild tales that mirror the ridiculous situations that life can sometime throw at us. Last week I had my car towed away for returning late to a parking space and the next day I found myself on a replacement bus service
when my train had been cancelled. Ironically I had decided to take the train since the towing experience as I wanted an easier way to travel without the hassle of parking. The replacement bus broke down before we even pulled out of the train station which meant waiting over an hour for a ‘replacement bus’ for the replacement bus service. At this point I began to believe that the comedy gods were trying to send me a message to get some new material. It struck me that during times of
Consultant stress some people react in such a way that causes them to lose control. During the broken-down train incident one gentleman in particular stood out as he became irate, shouting at anyone who would listen. He became quite distressed and reacted by being rude to others; not just the rail staff but other passengers who were trying to make helpful suggestions. After much ranting, that funnily enough did not get him anywhere any faster, everyone breathed a sigh of relief when he announced that he was getting a taxi and that they would receive a bill from his lawyer.
love!” I wondered if people who do behave angrily when they are not getting what they want, get it any sooner and how they might feel afterwards?
The journey home took nearly two hours, during this time I met some pleasant people and managed to have a laugh about the situation on route, or not en-route as the case was. The end result was that I did get home a little later than I expected but in one piece and noone had died. Well I hope not, as the irate business man did seem he was on the verge of having a heartattack.
I had not had a particularly good week, though I felt fine and chose to laugh about it rather than make my week worse by getting angry and stressed which could cause me a headache and other physical disease which I didn’t want. I even laughed out loud when I thought about collecting my car from the compound and was asked to identify the car by naming five items in it. When I proceeded to say, steering wheel, radio etc...the man didn’t find it funny as I would imagine he has heard the same joke many times before. When I then identified five actual objects in the car: A crocodile, diablo, cuddly toy (perks of running a company called Laughology) I made a joke about the Generation Game, which made the man smile and he was also helpful then in giving me advice on how to appeal.
Once home I began to reflect starting out with having to retrieve my car from the compound. Of course I had to pay to have my car returned and I chose to be good humoured about this too. After making a few jokes about the situation to the man in charge, he was rather surprised that I was in “good humour” and even questioned me, stating that “not many people come in here laughing and joking
I am aware that sometimes we find ourselves in situations that we don’t want to be in and it can make us angry, the important thing to remember is we do have a choice and I often hear people saying things like “i’ll be able to laugh at this one day”, why not laugh at it in the present moment, why allow anger and frustration to make you feel worse? For me I feel lucky to be “good humoured” and yes it is a
skill, but a skill that can be learnt. Humour is simply a way of looking at the world, a system for processing information and we choose as individuals how to process that information. A very wise man once said to me, you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar. What wise words they were and something that has helped me to always act in a positive and good humoured way, that can lead to solving a problem more quickly and without you feeling any worse. When we are in difficult situations it’s always valid to ask yourself, will this matter in two weeks, two months, two years and did I get the outcome I wanted? For me the outcome was to get my car back and get home. So next time you’re in a difficult situation, take a step back, think for a minute and be pro-active in your behaviour rather than re-active and you may be pleasantly surprised by the outcome, or even the journey it takes you on and the people you meet on the way.
Ask Stephanie a Question by emailing her at: stephanie.davies@yourbusinessezine.com You can visit stephanies website at
www.laughology.com
BECOME YOU CAN FIND US ON
All we need to get started is : - Company Name - Your Name - Telephone No. - Email
&L
12 Offer Adverts (1 each month including a clickable link to your website, Ask The Experts (Ask the experts any questions relevant in their field of 10% Discount off any Full or Half, Page Adverts in The chance of having your business featured (this i Invites to members only meetings
- Address - And a message explaining how we can help. Simply click the email address below or call us free.
12 Offer Adverts (1 each month including a clickable link to your website, Ask The Experts (Ask the experts any questions relevant in their field of 15% Discount off any Full or Half, Page Adverts in The chance of having your business featured (this i Invites to members only meetings
PHONE OR EMAIL US TO SIGN UP OR TO GET MORE INF
08000 432 734 membership@yourbusinessezine.com
A MEMBER
LET US BRIGHTEN UP YOUR DAY
r a Ye
e, telephone no, 160 character offer & small logo) expertise and get it answered free of charge)
n this Magazine
is not gauranteed)
e, telephone, email address, 250 character offer & small logo) expertise and get it answered free of charge)
n this Magazine
is not gauranteed)
FO
4m
SUPPORTING
SPONSORED BY
WARNING!!!! Over the next three months masses of Mankey Monkey’s are expected to invade Merseyside. The Mersey is going monkey mad. We have had our top team of reporters out and about trying to track down what is causing this amazing phenomenon. We have had reports that Derren Brown has been around the Merseyside networking scene hypnotising local business people for an up and coming programme on channel 4 about the latent primate tendencies in scouse humans, but that turned out to be crap. We then had a report that Stephen Spielberg was doing a remake of Planet of the Apes and the ever resourceful and never camera shy liverpudlians were preparing for their parts as extras. Actually that was utter rubbish too. It seems that everywhere you turn in this city, people are talking monkeys. I’ve heard about Liver monkey’s, Spanky Spangler monkey’s, Wag monkey’s, Sergeant Pepper monkey’s, Snowy monkey’s, Ambassador monkey’s, even a Scooter monkey. Someone then gave us a tip off that Evan Davis, presenter of Dragon’s Den was heavily involved, but that just turned out to be a visual coincidence.
Our search took us to Church Street where we were told that this invasion could be something to do with a large new store that opened there in the last year. The one that gives out those brown paper bags, called Primates, but that just turned out to be a grammatical error. This was hopeless, just one dead end after another. I asked some locals in the city centre what they new and they sent me down to the Liverpool Council Chambers; apparently it was full of chimps. You just can’t seem to get anyone to be serious in this city. Then suddenly the break through I needed. I got an anonymous call from Kevin Mulligan at Core Design Group, he said; “Hi Mark, how’s it going, been away anywhere nice this year?” “Get to the point Kevin; I’m in the middle of a serious investigation here”. “Oh ok. I was just in my office in the Liver Buildings, doing some pretty drawings and stuff, when I looked out of the window and saw this huge banana boat tied up. I heard you were trying to track down some Mankey Monkey’s, so I thought you might be interested. The only thing is, I don’t want no trouble see, so don’t tell anyone it was me that told ye, you aint seen nothing right……..”. “Cheers Kevin”. Ooooops. I didn’t waste any time. I shot straight over there with my top shooter, Franky the Flash and got some top shots of this banana beauty at the Pier Head. We couldn’t get near the place, but Franky had his long lens which he bought especially for camping out over the road from Holly Woods flat. I didn’t know it at the time, but this turned out to be another important breakthrough. Just look at this picture he got that night. Now we were getting somewhere. We found how they got here, and now have photographic evidence of their leader cavorting with Holly the secret Mankey Monkey lover Woods.
Further investigations led me to IAWHQ in Colquitt Street. There we had a very interesting conversation with a rat, Sher Rat to be precise. He didn’t want to talk at first, but then Franky the Flash hung him out of the top floor window and he soon spilled the beans, plus the bacon and eggs he’d had for breakfast. “It was the Hoff”, he said. Aaahh, David the Hoff Hallangen, he was behind it all was he. “Where can I find The Hoff now”, I asked politely. “Get Franky to stop dangling me out of this window and I’ll tell you”. “Oh, of course, sorry”. “He’s in the Bling building in Liverpool 1. Under Herbert the Sherbert’s place. That’s the Mankey Monkey HQ. You’ll find him there”. We wait till nightfall before we start to sneak aroung Mankey Monkey HQ. Myself dressed in black and Franky The Flash dressed as Batman (just his excuse to wear the PVC i think). We have to wait till past midnight before the streets are quite and all of the Sherbert Kids have gone home. We approach the building and sneak a peak through the window to find complete darkness. But one thing is for sure, we could smell bananas. This was it, Sher-rat didn’t let us down. We found the Mankey Monkey HQ. We had to act quick as the smell of Factor 5 sun cream was in the air so we knew that The Hoff Hallangen was not to far away.
Just as Franky The flash was about to take a running leap at the door to force it open I realized that these cheeky monkeys might not know how to lock doors. As I opened the door Franky The Flash Flashed past me in his attempt to get into Mankey monkey HQ. He disappeared into the darkness then made an almighty CRASH. I took out my touch and followed him in. I found Franky on the floor under a table and a pile of papers. Franky and I were horrified to find evidence of what the Mankey Monkeys look like and how they plan on roaming the city unnoticed. I turned to Franky The Flash and said; “Franky, do you see this? This doesn’t look good”. Franky looked back and shook his head. To this day we have never come face to face with a Mankey Monkey but we will be prepared when that day comes. All that we can do now is go back to Your Business eZine HQ to assess the photographs and sketches and monitor internet activity. We urge you to help us track down the Mankey Monkeys by regularly checking various sources and locations for cheeky and monkey like activity. Here is a list to get you started: -Hanover Street, Liverpool One - www.mankeymonkey.com - Facebook h t t p : / / w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / p a g e s / M a n k e y Monkey/167310635773?ref=ts - Twitter www.twitter.com/mankeymonkey
S
ome of the best things that happen tend to do just that, just happen. When companies do marketing or PR campaigns, it can all seem, well, contrived. Here at Your Business EZine we work very closely with and in support of our local networking organisations. It was at one such event, Ian Denny’s Plus One Networking, ( www.plus1networking. co.uk ), that I was asked to give a 10 minute talk, which I did, about the psychology of how networking works, (boring I know, but I’m quite sad like that), during which I used a small cuddly toy monkey as a prop. After the event was over a number of the delegates asked me what the name of the monkey was, to which I replied, “I don’t know, why don’t you give him a name”, Rachel Brown from Approach Sales Services, ( www.approach-uk.com ), interjected and suggested that we should put him on Facebook and see who comes up with the best name. That honour went to David Hallangen, of Hallangen Art, ( www.hallangen.co.uk ). After the Monkey was named through Facebook, something occurred to David. Given the response this monkey had already got and the fact that a monkey seems to represent the fun and cheeky nature of the
people of Liverpool, why not see if the business community around Merseyside will get behind Mankey monkey as a city wide art project, similar to Super Lamb Bananas, but for a very realistic and affordable price. The answer was a resounding YES. Craig, who’s in charge of the social media and all things technical for this magazine, set up a Mankey Monkey fan page on facebook and also a twitter account. As I now type this article, Mankey Monkey has almost 750 fans on facebook as well as his own web site courtesy of IAW, ( www.itsaboutwebsites. com ). Everyone now involved in the project, at every level is doing it free of charge. Some are donating time and expertise, others materials or space, but most important of all are the companies that are fostering our little army of monkey’s. They are just £50 each. Each one of them is being transformed into a unique work of art by David Hallangen and will represent whatever your heart desires, (almost anyway, they are going to be on public display you know). A small percentage of the £50 is to be donated to the monkey enclosure at Chester Zoo and the rest is going to Alder Hey’s Imagine Appeal. After a few
www.mankeymonk
months of being on display, either the end of January or beginning of February, the monkeys will be taken back and then auctioned off at our Grand Charity Auction, 100% of the proceeds of which will go to Alder Hey. There are currently 3 main companies responsible for bringing the Mankey Monkey’s to Merseyside. They are Hallangen art, Your Business E-Zine and IAW. Other companies currently playing a leading role are Grosvenor, (Donating our Liverpool 1 Bling building Mankey Monkey HQ), Red Hot World Buffet, (for being the Official Mankey Monkey team feeders) and a few more companies that are about to confirm their support at the time this is being written that we will be mentioning next month. There is not much time left in order to foster a monkey. So go to www. mankeymonkey.com and fill in the form on the front page to express your interest. Our Chief Monkey Ambassador will contact you regarding your requirements. Also, any company fostering a monkey will get £100 worth of advertising in next months edition of Your Business E-Zine included with their £50 fostering fee.
key.com
N
N IN ASSOCIATION WITH
NOVEMBER
NETWORKING NETWORK WITH A BANG! N
etworking In The City Business Networking
N
etworking In The
Business Networ
Your Business eZine
Out & About Networking
Please send your pictures to events@yourbusinessezine.com
Juice Networking New kids on the block, Juice networking are taking a fresh and fruity approach to the Merseyside networking scene. With a bright, light and focused approach, Juice officially launched on 23rd September with their launch event held at Home, the cafĂŠ / bar at Woodside Ferry Terminal. The event was a huge success, with around 60 business people attending and Juice now look forward to growing the brand across the region. With plans already to set up groups at Hoylake or West Kirby, Liverpool and Chester, the future looks bright and healthy for juice. The 5 strong team at Juice consist of James and Mel Pope, John Fairbrother, Jason Stephanides and Becki Wilson. Talking to Mel and the rest of the team, they felt there was a gap in the market that they were more than happy to fill. With a lighter and less formal approach to breakfast networking, there is still a substantial amount of business done. Juice meet once every fortnight at Home cafĂŠ / bar on a Wednesday or Thursday between 7 and 8-30am. The meetings are broken down into easily digestible sections, for example, Intro Juice, Lime Light, Passion, Slice of knowledge, Pear Up and Produce Section. Attending one of these events will surely exceed your 5 a day requirement and set you up for the weeks ahead.
www.juicenetworking.com
My Networking PA is an exclusive site that will find suitable business networking and referral events in your area, tailored to your specifications. So you can spend less time searching and more time networking.
www.mynetworkingpa.com
Juice is a networking club that brings a fresh and vibrant flavour to blending different people together, in order to help businesses to grow and prosper. Juice has a friendly, professional and unique approach whereby there are NO rules. Just one simple request which is that each member attends the meetings with a zest to demonstrate commitment.
www.juicenetworking.com
Juice is about creating fresh opportunities... It’s about sowing the seeds and reaping the rewards.
Due to the nature of networking events and the shear quantity, we are unable to list all of them in time for the release of the eZine as they may not of been confirmed. So, we have set up a public calendar on Google where the events will be kept up to date. Take a look... Clich Link Below http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=calendar%40yourbusinessezine.com&ctz=Europe/London
To notify us of an event you can email the details to
events@yourbusinessezine.com or Call 08000 432 734 Alternatively...
Invite calendar@yourbusinessezine.com directly from your calendar.
27th
OCTOBER BSB Networking Hollins Hey Hotel, New brighton, Wirral 0700hrs - 0900hrs Full BSB Members£ 9.50 Online BSB Member£ 12.00 Guests£ 12.00
http://www.bsbnetworkingclub.co.uk/Events/Event.aspx?EventId=215
Plus 1 Networking Andersons Bar, Liverpool 1500hrs - 1700hrs Entry £15 (pay on door) contact:http://www.facebook.com/iandenny
http://www.plus1networking.co.uk/
30th
OCTOBER Finish @ 5 Fridays Parr Street Studios, Parr Street, Liverpool Time: 5:00pm - 8:00pm FREE
www.mynetworkingpa.com
3rd
NOVEMBER Ocean Creative The Royal, Formby Street: Liverpool Road Time: 5:00pm - 7:00pm Free
www.oceancreative.eu Business for Breakfast is a business club whose key aim is to help its members significantly grow their businesses through relationship marketing and the passing of qualified referrals. We run fortnightly meetings at locations in Liverpool and Wirral. Business for Breakfast only allows one person per industry sector to join a forum. This effectively prevents any of your competitors from participating - so all the referral business for your particular industry is yours. Why not take a look at the opportunities and benefits that your Business for Breakfast membership offers?
Business For Breakfast
Benefits of Business Networking It is the most cost effective way of attracting new clients and generating new orders. It provides you with invaluable contacts that gives your company a dramatic boost, regardless of size or turnover. It frees up your time, reduces your overheads and opens doors to great success. Guest Membership We welcome guest members regularly to our meetings. It is the perfect opportunity to come along to chat to our members and listen to their real experiences. It only costs ÂŁ10 to come along and we usually indulge in a great breakfast to start the day!! Find out more about events and venues or please contact grahame@bforb.co.uk or call on 07970 896 677 to reserve your seat(s).
4th
NOVEMBER Net in The City - Liverpool Curry Club Mayur Restaurant, 130 Duke, Street Liverpool, L1 5AG
N
1200hrs - 1430hrs Cost: £15.00/person
N
etworking In The City Business Networking
etworking In The City Business Networking
http://www.networkinginthecity.co.uk/
11th
NOVEMBER Juice Networking LIVERPOOL
Curry
MANCHESTER
Curry
CHESTER
Curry
PRESTON
Curry
Home at Woodside, Woodside Ferry Terminal, Birkenhead, CH41 6DU 0700hrs - 0830hrs £10 Breakfast
You can register online: http://www.juicenetworking.com/events.php
NOVEMBER
11th
Simply Networking Malmaison hotel, Liverpool Capacity: 50 people Cost: £10 (on the door)
http://www.networking4business.com/liverpool-events.htm
NOVEMBER
12th
Juice Networking Home at Woodside, Woodside Ferry Terminal, Birkenhead, CH41 6DU 0700hrs - 0830hrs £10 Breakfast
You can register online: http://www.juicenetworking.com/events.php
Our Next Event: Andersons Bar, Exchange Street East (a right off Dale Street just before Royal Bank of Scotland), Liverpool City Centre 27th October 09 | www.plus1networking.com
Ph
Fi Engi the
hil
ire ine I
t’s November. We all know what that means. Bonfire night. Like most people, I love fire works and for some strange reason, bonfires. Perhaps it’s because throughout history man has used fire to cook his food, keep him warm and protect him from predators. Through our recent history, this vital resource has become more controlled and hidden from view, just think how we heat our homes and cook our food in our modern so called civilised society, so whilst this ingrained fascination remains, our understanding and respect seems to have waned. This seems to be especially so with our adolescent population. It seems that each generation, having not been brought up with using fire on a daily basis for all of the aforementioned activities, seem to discover it for themselves in their teens, and sometimes with devastating conse-
quences. So, what to do about it? Well we can’t reverse the technological advances of mankind in order to get these kids to get used to fire from an early age and develop that respect for it. So what’s the next best thing? When we lived in smaller tribal communities, the elders would sit down with the youth and tell them fantastic stories and some scary ones too. We still do this today, its called education. With the level of knowledge and understanding we now have of the human psyche, why is it that our educational resources are still being deployed in the wrong areas. Allow me to explain. Fires are often set by mischievous 12 to 16 year old children. So our educational resources are being focused onto this group in order to try and stop them from doing it. Now I’m not suggesting for one minute that this should stop altogether, but isn’t that what
we would term in the business community as “fire fighting”. You see, their already there. They’re already at that stage of curiosity and capability. Francis Xavier is attributed with saying, “give me the child until he is seven years old and I’ll give you the man”. If we start with our kids when they are at school starting age, 4 years old, they are already at a stage were they can understand information they are given, especially in a story format. Information gained in these early years becomes ingrained within our very being, that’s why events of our childhood have such a profound affect on the rest of our lives. What we need is for someone who has been there and done it. Someone who has the experience, expertise and passion to make a difference. Dave Fanning of Mersey Fire and Safety may just be that man………..
D
ave Fanning joined the fire service as a cadet at the age of 16 in 1964. Throughout his career he has seen many distressing and often unnecessary things. In 1985 Dave attended a fire were he recovered the body of an 18 month old child from its cot. The fire had been set by a 3 year old jealous sibling. As you can imagine, an incident like this has a profound affect on ones life. It was after this incident that Dave began to write children’s stories with a fire safety message. Whilst on nights, after coming back to the station from a call out, he would doodle away. In 1995 he wrote and implemented schemes for schools for the fire service and was given an award from Prince Charles in 1996 for schemes for children of all ages. Between 1995 and 1999, whilst Dave was running these schemes, there was a 50% reduction in false alarms and small fires. Dave left the fire service in 1999 and when he did, they stopped running those schemes in the schools. Dave set up his own company called Mersey Fire and Safety, were he advises other companies on their fire safety, but the children’s stories and passion to make a difference never stopped. In 2006 he got his first book published by Redwood Press. Phil the Fire Engine was officially launched. Phil the Fire Engine is aimed at 4 to 8 year olds. It is based on the engine himself having a series of adventures. There are 4 fire personnel that work with Phil called Roger, Rhani, Robert and Robin. All of the adventures that Phil has, not only raise awareness, but also contain a fire safety message. The books are
also being used in the burns units of some children’s hospitals. Clinical Nurse Specialist Kevin Ryan from Booth Hall Burns Unit says: “There are good educational and preventative messages within the books which prompt discussion with the children about the circumstances of the fire they were involved in. Sometimes the children have real fears and experience some degree of post traumatic stress and often are unwilling to talk about their experience. Phil the Fire Engine books are a useful tool in helping them open up and talk about their experiences”. As public sector budgets get squeezed ever tighter, it often falls to the private sector to pick up the slack. It is through story’s like The Adventures of Phil the Fire Engine that this can ease some of the pressures off the fire service and re allocate their budgets into other areas. Dave remembers when there used to be 4 aerial units that covered Merseyside, they are units that are capable of getting a fire fighter up to 100ft off the ground in order to fight fires as opposed to the 30 to 40 ft of a standard unit. Now there is only one. Phil the Fire Engine is actually endorsed by the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority. So, what does the future hold for Phil the Fire Engine? Well, more books to be published is a certainty, but Dave also needs more exposure and a bigger uptake from schools. Some national exposure wouldn’t go a miss and who knows, maybe a cartoon series on the TV. After all, prevention is much better than cure, especially given the nature of the message, sometimes cure is not an option that is available to the victims of fire.
www.philthefireengine.com
LEADERSHIP
Vs AVIS LUNDBERG PERSONELL MANAGER LIVERPOOL FC
A
ll great companies, great nations and even great football clubs are built on the foundations of inspirational leadership, total loyalty to the cause, and people who go the extra mile without expecting anything in return. I have met many people on my journey through life who have lived up to these highest of orders. But over the last year I have met and then witnessed all of these fine attributes in a lady from Liverpool Football Club called Avis Lundberg. Avis is the Personnel Manager at the club, and has loyally served it for over 12 changing and at times turbulent and successful years. Avis, I believe is the unsung hero at the cub, she works tirelessly behind the scenes in her role, she is thought by many and many more alike, as the number one reason that makes great clubs and companies achieve so much success.
It is for the above reasons why I have selected Avis Lundberg, to be the first person to be interviewed for this magazine. This interview reveals how true Leadership, Business skills, loyalty from staff, and team empowerment is conducted at the highest and most successful level. So, sit back, learn and enjoy this remarkable woman’s insights of what makes successful leaders tick and succeed……….. Avis Lundberg began working for Liverpool Football Club 12 years ago. She was the first personnel manager to be employed at the club, which just employed 72 people at the time. Now, 12 years later, they employ 450 people and Avis has been instrumental in this growth, still heading up the clubs HR department. The first thing I wanted to find out from Avis was about change.
IN ACTION
s. JOHN HAYNES (EVERTONIAN) YOUR BUSINESS EZINE
All businesses have to deal with change, so how do LFC do it. Avis said that the footballers at the club get very well looked after. They are constantly trained, coached and mentored. But this should be the same for all of the staff. If you give your staff the skills, responsibility and even accountability, they will cope much better with change and be less likely to leave. One of the biggest changes they have had to deal with in recent times was when the American and Canadian conglomerate bought the club out 2 to 3 years ago. This had the potential to cause major disruption and uncertainty for the staff, but because of the back up and support from the management team at the club, much of the anxiety that could have been felt, just didn’t happen. This was fantastic, in my role as a trainer, I tell people every day about the importance of gaining new skills and taking responsibil-
ity, but to hear someone like Avis Lundberg saying the same thing is inspiring. So if doing these things is part of what makes a business successful, then what does she think makes companies fail. Well, in Avis’s opinion, many smaller companies get carried away with enthusiasm, without doing enough research. As she say’s “with any business, the devil is in the detail”. The other major down fall people have is in asking for help. There is so much free help and advice out there at the moment, but quite often people just don’t like to ask, or worse, are afraid to. So I suppose the message here is quite clear. If you are not sure, JUST ASK! One issue that many companies tend to struggle with is staff retention, but is this an issue that Liverpool Football Club has to consider? Avis said, “Football is fairly unique in this respect. The club is like a
series of mini businesses all running under the banner of football. Everyone is there to support the team and this brings with it a strong sense of pride, status or kudos and a definite feeling of connection with the club. There are no special privileges for working at LFC, you don’t get higher wages or special benefits, in fact it’s really hard work and not at all glamorous, but it’s just a good place to be. We like to think that we communicate very well with all of our staff and this helps to eliminate Chinese whispers. We also empower people by making them part of the decision making process. A combination of all of these things means that the staff here at Liv-
erpool Football Club do tend to be less likely to leave. So, for a premier football club who really takes the time to look after their people has less of a staff turnover, how about recruiting them in the first place, what’s the magic formula for this? Apparently there are no magic formulas. You can do all the testing you like, but there is no substitute for sitting down with someone and actually listening to what they are saying. The interviews are usually held in the corporate boxes at Anfield as this is usually the quietest place throughout the week. We want, over the course of a few interviews, for the
manager doing the interview and the candidate, to really understand each other. We look for honesty in people. Provided they have the relevant skills to do the job, it all comes down to personality after that. Something I hadn’t considered before speaking to Avis about this was whether it is actually beneficial for someone to be a fan of the club. As it turns out, the answer was not what I was expecting. You see, it all depends on what their job will actually be within the club. If for example you were going to be employed at Melwood, the clubs training ground, it wouldn’t do to be a big fan, because the players are wandering about all day long and people get a bit star struck and don’t end up getting any work done. So in that situation, indifference to the game would actually be an advantage. Alternatively, if you were going for a public facing job, an extreme example of which would be a tour guide at the stadium, then being a huge fan would definitely be beneficial.
As a respected business leader, I wanted to know what Avis thought were the qualities of leadership. With no hesitation Avis quickly reeled off, communication, commitment, empathy and vision. Everyone within the organisation is important and they must feel so. Sometimes, as people climb the corporate ladder, they forget what it’s like on the lower rungs and that just isn’t good leadership. You need to be able to inspire those around you and then, very important, deliver on what you promise. So how is the staff affected by the team’s performance on the pitch, both winning and losing? Would that make any difference to the people working at the club, besides the fact that they may be supporters themselves. On the whole, it turns out that the staff pretty much get their heads down and get on with their jobs, but as this is a sport were the fans are so passionate, this also means they are very reactive. If the team wins for ex-
ample, the shop will be very busy, but if they lose, the shop becomes very quiet, but the complaints department becomes busy. If there is a winning streak, then everyone seems to get busy. How about the current media speculation over the ownership of the club, how does this affect the mood amongst the people there? “It is very difficult. Again, communication is the key here. We have gone through lots of change before, but we just need to hook on to the positives. People can become paranoid, but little things can lift spirits. It’s up to all of us to be as open as possible”. Liverpool Football club is a world renowned brand. This is something that Avis originally underestimated. Now they are further developing that brand with partnerships all over the world. Of course they need to win on the pitch in order to attract the sorts of partnerships they would like, but the spirit and focused determination of the club is as strong as ever, which is down to a well trained and loyal team of hundreds that we don’t see every week, but are there, day in day out, making it all possible. Well thank you Avis, I am sure our thousands of readers will take great heart and learning from your in-depth insight of how successfully you conduct your responsibilities on a daily basis. You are a truly loyal and great Ambassador for the club. So readers, or should I say my entrepreneur guerrilla fighters, lets learn from Avis, be inspired by Avis, and then conduct our own businesses, be a role model and develop our own people , just like Liverpool Footballs Clubs behind the scenes inspirational driving force, Avis Lundberg.
Visit
www.liverpoolfc.tv
for the latest information and news on the team and take a look at their online store.
Abberley Heating & Plumbing
B2B Commercial Solutions Ltd Commercial debts collected NO collection, NO fee, and NO up front payment. Low commission rates charged on success Password protected online tracking system for clients.
07811 551895
01744 613 604
Gas Safety registered plumber with many years of experience. Fantastic low rates of pay. 10% discount on any full house central heating system.
07864 977 634
The Training Expert
Step Clever
The Training Expert would like to offer all readers a 15% discount on any of our courses throughout October. We specialise in SALES and MANAGEMENT training. Take a look at our web site. www.thetrainingexpert.co.uk
0845 300 5519
www.stepclever.co.uk
0800 030 4376
It’s About Websites Ltd
Horlock Horticulture Allerton based Landscape gardener offering complete garden services throughout Merseyside. FREE estimates given, with 15% off any ground clearance.
horlockhorticulture@hotmail.co.uk
A government funded organisation that serves sefton based businesses & residents with support & resources. We have a team of business managers fto offer start up advice
07952368437
Total –Reclaim
Half Price Social Media For Business Training. IAW would like to offer all yourbusinessezine.com members a half discount on our Social Media For business training where we’ll help you build your user profiles. www.itsaboutwebsites.com
0151 324 0102
Diamond Events & Weddings If you have ever had a loan or credit card and were sold unemployment cover by your lender you could be entitled to thousands of pounds in refunded premiums. Receive your free consultation.
www.total-reclaim.net
0800 915 2998
Myriad Mortgage Services Ltd. Free Consultation - Here at Myriad we offer a in depth look at your monthly and annual expenditure.We can review mortgage interest rates, insurance premiums and even tips on cutting your household expenses. Call Brian info@myriadservices.co.uk
07899 804 004
get in touch to arrange a free consultation and let us add that sparkle to your special occasion. Plus, quote ‘eZine’ and receive a 10% discount off the management fee.
www.diamondeventsandweddings.co.uk
08445 763 240
To become a member and advertise here as well as receiving business support and gaining access to business resources, please call
08000 432 734 or you can email
membership@yourbusinessezine.com
PRESS FOR HELP
HELP US TO HELP YOU!
We know that being a member of “Your Business Ezine” is already fantastic value, But we would like to know if there is anything else we can do to help YOU, for us to add yet more value to your membership. Here’s a few idea we’ve had, we would love to know what you think of them, and please suggest your own. If we can do it, we will. “All of the members offers to go into an online Directory” “Produce a seperate pack for hotels, so when they have visiting business people, they can see Networking Oppotunities, Members Offers and Contact Info.” “Optimise the eZine for Mobile devices”
What Are your suggestions? Click Below:
editor@yourbusinessezine.com
eco Lean, We’re Green, We’re Your Business eZine We’re
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT US CALL EMAIL
08000 432 734
OR
editor@yourbusinessezine.com
Saving The Environment One greenZine At A Time