The Business Owner Magazine - November 2020

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t h e b e st magazi ne s p eci f i ca l ly f o r bus i n es s o wne r s

THE BUSINESS

OWNER MAGAZINE BUYING A COMPANY VEHICLE We take a look at what considerations you should be making when purchasing a new company vehicle.

WHY OUTSOURCE? Outsourcing your business functions can free your time, so you can spend more efforts on building your business.

ARE YOU MAINTAINING YOUR CYBER OUTREACH?

CAN YOU GROW A BUSINESS WITHOUT SALES?

With a second lockdown underway, its time to make sure you are protected against a possible cyber attack.

ta ke a look into our top 10 sales tips for business owners.

GROUP

SALES

ACCOUNTING

MARKETING

MEDIA

ARE YOU A BUSINESS OWNER LOOKING FOR GROWTH? GET IN TOUCH WITH THE EXPERTS AT iPLUS

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By strategising with our customer over their needs, wants and expectations of our services, we build packages to meet their criteria and targets.

We grow with our customers by taking the time to understand their business, then build our service to reflect their needs.

Magazines, video, podcasts, books and e-guides are all within our diverse portfolio.

We can help you create all your business collateral.

Our team of experts take the time to really get to know your business so we can promote your services creatively and effectively.

iPlus Group is a company providing high quality, value added, outsourcing services for business owners predominately in the UK. Our clients are a specific demographic of business owners who recognise the need for professional assistance with sales, marketing, accounting & finance and are willing to work closely and in collaboration with us to get their required results.

Agile, clear, driven, honest and intelligent.

We have a vision and we are making it happen.

Letter from Hello and welcome to the very first edition of The Business Owners Magazine, a free monthly publication dedicated to giving Business Owners, Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneur’s and Company Directors relevant, current and interesting content.

Business Owners come in all shapes and sizes and have a variety of different needs and wants, but what we all have in common is the desire to build something and share it with the world. This publication aims to share those stories, struggles, innovations, tips and glories, positively.

We’re showcasing businesses, people, start-ups, products, services and technology. We’re in this together and, with plenty to go around, let’s share.

NO click bait, NO hard sells, NO doom and gloom, NO whining, NO rehashed PR content Get in touch and tell us how we are doing. If you’d like to be interviewed (and why wouldn’t you?!) please don’t be shy (or grumpy) – we’d love to hear from you.

th e b est m agazi n e s p e ci fi cal ly for bus i n e s s own e r s

THE BUSINESS

OWNER MAGAZINE

IF THE PLAN DOESN’T WORK, CHANGE THE PLAN, NOT THE GOAL. - unknown

table of 06

Buying a new company vehicle

10

have you ever heard of eos?

13

can you grow a business without sales?

18

how we deal with uncertainty as business owners

21

kickstart scheme

23

lockdown 2.0

24

why outsource?

27

working from home - the new norm?

No material may be reproduced in any way, or translated, without written permission of the publishers.

COPYRIGHT © 2020 IPLUS MEDIA

Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to ensure that adverts and articles appear correctly, but The Business Owner Magazine cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage caused directly or indirectly by the contents of the publication.

The Business Owner Magazine is published by iPlus Media.

Editorial: hello@iplusgroup.co.uk Telephone: 01242 312121 | Website: iplusmedia.co.uk Head office: Suite 2, 14 Union Street, Stroud, Glos, GL5 2HE

The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of its publisher or editor.

and what business considerations should I make?

You’ve decided now is the time to replace vehicles in your company, but what is the best way to fund it?

What considerations do you need to make?

What are the legal implications? What are your most important considerations as a business? … let’s dive in and have a look.

- Cost

cheapest overall ownership proposition

- Image

matching the vehicle to your brand

- Usage

selecting a vehicle that best serves your requirement for it

- Environment

There are so many things to consider here, and it is a subject in its own right, but to summarise these are some of the considerations. Purchase price, lease payments, depreciation, maintenance costs, fuel consumption, tax and insurance. There is also the cost of finance and, if using your reserves, the future value of that money. On top of that is how you or your staff treat the vehicle. When you pull this all together, if cost is overriding consideration, then consider the overall pence per mile of the vehicle you choose.

hpi.co.uk/tco-check

how efficient and which fuel

- Management looking after one vehicle is vastly different to 100 - Funding

COST:

how to pay and obtain the vehicle

IMAGE:

Some companies pride themselves on always arriving on site to a customer in a clean, modern, efficient vehicle. Others treat employees or themselves for jobs well done

with a nice new car. Just make sure that the vehicles you obtain match the persona and brand awareness of your company - it can, believe it or not, potentially influence a buying decision or future relationship.

USAGE:

What is the purpose of the vehicle? How far will it need to travel on a daily, weekly or annual basis? What is it carrying? Does it need to be modified to suit your particular needs? Are there restrictions for its use (clean air zones or size)?

Having an inappropriate vehicle may cost more overall, cause safety issues such as overloading and contribute to or against your employee’s well being.

MANAGEMENT:

As a company director or business owner you have many responsibilities concerning the use of a vehicle. It must be insured properly for the work its doing, it must be taxed and safe to be on the road, the driver must have a valid driving licence and be fit to use the vehicle. The law of use, cause and permit enforces the company to take its management of the vehicle and driver seriously. There is also legislation surrounding health, safety and corporate responsibilities. If you have one company vehicle it is quite easy to manage however if you run a substantial fleet you may need external help or benefit from employing a Fleet Manager to make sure all is running correctly.

ENVIRONMENT:

With the improvement in electrification of road vehicles and the tax benefits surrounding their purchase, would your company benefit from going electric?

If that’s maybe a step too far, which fuel and therefore environmental impact - will you choose that is best for your company?

Environmental sensitivity and ISO14001 could also have impact on your image. nextgreencar.com

orsa.org.uk

FUNDING:

We’ve left this one until last as it is normally the most pertinent question. How should I fund my vehicle? There are many methods but essentially it comes down to ‘do I rent or do I buy?’.

The biggest difference between leasing, loans, PCP, outright purchase, long-term rental and even paying ppm is whether the vehicle is on or off the balance sheet.

We asked one of our subscribers, Tim Beighton at MPH Vehicle Solutions, for his opinion;

The one question that we get asked a lot is ‘Should I buy or should I lease?’.

In short, everybody is different and will have different requirements so not one shoe fits all. Leasing is an ideal solution for many and if you would like a new(ish) car, change your cars on a frequent basis, need reliability, or want to manage your costs, then leasing is ideal for you.

If you are looking to keep a car for a number of years - generally I would say more than 5 years - you don’t like the idea of not owning a car, or it’s going to be used as a work horse so maybe get damaged, and you are likely to be doing very high mileage, then leasing probably isn’t for you.

Compared to the cost of a new car and how quickly they depreciate, leasing is a cost effective way of running a car. As Paul Getty once said ‘If an item depreciates in value lease it, if it increases in value buy it’.

- tim beighton

MPHVEHICLESOLUTIONS.CO.UK

You may have heard this term, particularly stated as a benefit from a leasing company, but what it essentially boils down to is whether you rent it or buy it.

Renting the vehicle (Rental, long-term rental and leasing) means you pay for the vehicles use through your normal overheads and when the term is up the vehicle is returned.

Buying the vehicle (Outright, Loan, PCP etc) means your company now owns it and the vehicle is shown on the balance sheet.

IN CONCLUSION

You need to find a vehicle that correctly matches your company’s needs.

Once this has been identified you can investigate the funding options and then make an informed decision on which way best suits you.

Or, you could seek assistance from your accountant to work through which funding option best suits. Please don’t forget your responsibilities to the company for making sure the vehicle is safe and legal to use.

BENEFITS OF LEASING: - Fixed monthly cost – overhead to your business

BENEFITS OF BUYING: - You can negotiate discounts on purchase -You maybe able to claim up to 100% of the cost against tax (depending on vehicle type and emissions)

- New or nearly new vehicle every (12-48mths) - No depreciation, asset revaluation or disposal to consider - VAT reclaim (50% on cars, 100% on commercials)

- The asset is owned by the company and shows on the balance sheet - It is at the company’s discretion when the vehicle is replaced - Maintenance can be sought from cheaper alternatives

- Maintenance can be included - Not using company reserves to fund purchase DISADVANTAGES OF LEASING: - Mileage and damage restrictions

- No mileage or damage restrictions - You can modify, within legal parameters, to suit the business - Can be cheaper overall DISADVANTAGES OF BUYING: - You either tie up your company’s reserves to purchase or you pay to borrow the money

- Fixed term contracts - Can cost more than buying and running ppm - May require better credit ratings

- Depreciation, asset value and disposal are all your responsibility - You may only be able to claim a smaller amount of capital allowance if you have a high emission or older vehicle

the pros

- May go out of manufacturers warranty and therefore any failures will be your responsibility

have you ever heard of

EOS is the Entrepreneurial Operating System created by Gino Wickman in his book Traction. The premise is that all companies, up to a certain size, run in exactly the same way and therefore you can have a standardized, process driven method to control it.

completely unachievable, the point being that by looking at the potential, you and your team will start to build towards that goal and will plan and think differently to achieve it.

The name was derived to be similar to the Disc Operating System for a computer (DOS), emphasising the point that all machines need a base program to run successfully.

By following the system, you can organise you, your team, your customers and your suppliers to focus on the same direction of purpose that you have envisioned and be pulling in that direction together.

WHY WOULD YOU WANT EOS?

HOW DOES EOS WORK?

Our subscribers are Business Owners. Being a Business Owner is a difficult task especially if you want to build the company and create a lifestyle that does not involve working 100-hour weeks and everything being based around you. We came across Traction and EOS from a successful Business Owner who had used the system to organise his companies in such a way that he was now able to step back, having empowered his team to be accountable, yet keep building and growing. It sounded mythical to us so we read the book, and the other books in the series, and set about following the principles – it has been fantastic.

By having a methodology for running your company which has been tried, tested and proven to work it allows the organisation to have great foundations from which to build.

EOS forces the company leaders to really focus on what it is they want the company to do, its purpose, how it is going to do it and what will it achieve. Our favourite, and actually rather daunting part, was creating the BIG HAIRY AUDACIOUS GOAL – a goal so large for the company that it feels

EOS defines six areas surrounding your business that need attention, planning and evaluating. These are the Vision, People, Data, Process, Issues and Traction.

VISION

You complete a document called a VTO that helps the owners and leader define the company, its purpose, core values, goals and ambitions. It’s easy to complete but difficult to work through accurately and with everyone’s consensus.

PEOPLE

The most important asset a company can have and this component defines how to get the right person in the right seat and pulling for the team in the right direction and making them accountable.

DATA

Setting a series of KPI’s on a scorecard that are understood by the leaders and religiously updated and monitored, gives a great set of numbers showing the direction and speed of the company and highlights very quickly any deficiencies.

PROCESS

Defining, shaping, moulding and recording your core processes means that the company works exactly as the leaders want it to, in the same way, every time. This aide’s productivity, consistency of service or production, growth and accountability.

ISSUES

All companies have issues. Dealing with these in a structured, defined manner is healthy and gets resolutions and solutions faster and with less angst. We found that identifying the issue in a single sentence was liberating as it had to be very specific and non-judgemental leading to better discussion and solution.

hear from those who have used EOS to generate powerful results Flying High

TRACTION

Once you’ve got the other areas defined, controlled and planned you’ve now got to DO. This is all about putting your amazing plan in motion and keeping it going.

Highlights are the Level 10 meeting and rocks!

Image One

Seems to be to good to be true, so it’s expensive?

EOS is all in the book Traction which is available online – currently £10.48 on Amazon. It is supplemented by Rocket Fuel, What the Heck is EOS and Get a Grip but these just assist understanding and are not essential. It is then up to you and your team (or the Visionary and the Integrator) to work out how to make it happen within your organisation. There are of course external companies and consultants that can aid and assist at a cost.

As an organisation iPlus concentrate on supporting a company by being able to carry out support functions such as Sales, Marketing, Accounting & Data leaving the core Operations to the company, this is both excellent value and allows the Business Owners to concentrate on what they do best, scale, grow and gain accountability for functions they may not be equipped to deal with properly.

ASI Asphalt, Inc

hear more testimonials at eosworldwide.com

Lockdown Week 1: We didn’t move our staff to cloud working.

(We moved thousands of yours.)

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www.lineal.co.uk | 01271 375999

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TURN OVER TO FIND OUT...

can you grow a business

So, can you grow a business without sales?

The obvious answer to this is no, but is that really true? After all, some companies have grown but have no idea on how to sell at all, but have just got lucky. If you ever watch Dragon’s Den then you will know that the key for most Dragons is to show a track record, even if short term, or have a product that can’t easily be replicated and is an industry changer.

If you are a business owner then should you be able to be production, sales, accounting, HR and all the hats you need to wear? Of course not, but too many business owners try to be all things to all men. In the early days of a business, you need to juggle and wear all the hats but, even then, you look for external help. How many business owners have used friends and family to help them in the early stages of their business?

Sales is the lifeblood of a business - it is the oxygen that a business survives on. In this article we look at some of the key sales areas a business owner can look at and have in place to gain sales.

Here are The Business Owners Top 10 Sales Tips:

1

KNOW YOUR PRODUCTS FFB

Fact, Feature & Benefit of your goods, product or service.

You need to understand the facts about your product; the features and the benefits of your product - there will be many more than you think. As an example, think of a waste paper bin and now look at it differently. The bin is an object, (fact) it is a children’s basketball hoop, (feature) you can catch a ball in it and, (benefit) the ball does not fall out and hit a child on the head!

Now think of your product/service and think of some facts, features and benefits. People are used to being sold to in a way of using FFB; watch any advert on the television and you are being benefit-sold to, simple FFB statements. Do you have the best product?

Let’s look at a brick hod (fact) for example, that is made of titanium (feature) and is lightweight meaning easier to carry (benefit).

2

KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERS NEEDS

It is very easy to think we know what our customers want. However, you need to completely understand what they want or what they already use your product for. The words ‘market research’ sounds a big thing but even a few people can help you understand either what your product does for them or what they want out of your product.

To be able to sell, you need to focus on the needs of your customer and match your product/service to those needs. If a

then there are numerous website template sites including Wordpress and Wix, but you do need a website and, ideally, you need it to be your business name url.

customer wants a brush with a long handle for sweeping up leaves, you would not sell them a toothbrush. It might sound simple, but it’s true – you need to find out the problem or challenge that your customer or potential customer has and help to solve it.

3

KNOW YOUR COMPETITORS PRODUCTS BETTER THAN YOURS.

Selling is as much about your product and those of your competitors. A golden rule of selling is never rubbish your competitors you can leave it to them to do that themselves. Potential customers will (most of the time) look at a competitor for a price or quality comparison and it is key to know your competitors; find out what they charge, find out about the features and benefits of their product and compare yours against it.

If a potential customer asks about ‘XYZ’ you should be able to give an answer. You should be able to acknowledge the competitor and counter it with your product’s features and benefits on that particular item. If you know your competitor’s features and benefits then you will be able to sell with confidence. There are many different ways to find out the costs of your competitor’s products, but it is equally easy to find out the features and benefits.

4

HAVE AN ENGAGING AND INFORMATIVE WEBSITE THAT IS EASY TO NAVIGATE

You do not need the biggest or best website in the World, but you do need a clean and crisp functional website. If you have the capability to design a website

If people hear about your business or you connect with them on LinkedIn or other places they will look at your website, it is your shop window. Sometimes a one page website will suffice with 3 or 4 anchors within the page such as ‘About’, ‘Products’ and ‘Contact’. Ideally a website that is easy to navigate, easy to view what you do, is on brand and it is easy to contact you is what you need. You don’t need to spend thousands to have a website professionally built, but it will cost you thousands if it is not right!

5

HAVE AN UP TO DATE PERSONAL LINKEDIN PROFILE

In today’s business world, a LinkedIn profile is essential. LinkedIn is the business directory for business people across the globe. As LinkedIn is free, there is no reason to not be on it, especially as you can hide information and keep your profile as open or as closed as you prefer.

Your customers and potential customers will search for you on LinkedIn. They will also search your sector using LinkedIn so you want to be found - many people are daunted

by LinkedIn and all the experts who say ‘do this or do that’, only to have another say the opposite. The most important thing is to have a profile, have a personalised url, have an up to date professional headshot and your company information. From that make sure you post at least once a week (although ideally three times a week).

6

CREATE A “SUSPECT” LIST

Time to get your pad of paper out and get writing. The best way to write a suspect list is to go through your phone, your emails and your head. Think about anyone you know what would want your product or you think might want your product. A suspect is someone you suspect will need your product, but you are not sure. Once you start writing names it is amazing how the list grows and grows.

A suspect list can be any person you may have worked with or know in the industry regardless of their position, because you don’t know who they know or are connected with - the saying ‘it is not what you know, but who you know’ is so apt. The best way to write the list is name, position and any company where you knew them from, from that you can start to move towards the ‘prospect list’.

7

CREATE A “PROSPECT” PIPELINE

A prospect list is a list of people you believe would buy your product and, unlike your suspect list, these are people who are decision makers or decision influencers. A person would migrate from a suspect list once you had qualified them or they are added directly to the prospect list.

On the pipeline list you can then define how you want to contact someone. As a business owner, sales might not be your natural environment but, by putting a list together, you can decide how you want to approach someone and you can add this to your pipeline. You might connect firstly on

LinkedIn, call someone on your list that you do know, use email where you have it, but most of all be adding to your pipeline and be active on it. If you hate using the phone for cold calls then send out 100 LinkedIn requests or messages, 100 of those is better than no phone calls!

8

DEVELOP AN ELEVATOR PITCH

“Tell me about your business”, how many times are you asked this, even by your friends and family? You don’t have to be a natural salesperson, but you do need to sell your business easily to anyone who asks. An ‘elevator pitch’ is an old expression and simply put, if you were in a lift with someone and they asked you what you did, you could easily tell someone, usually in 30 – 60 seconds?A simple pitch statement is a way for someone to know what you do without boring him or her or for them to get lost with what you say. A tip on this is to write down what you do and then Google it to see what others say. Even using definitions are common. For example, “ABW are based in Manchester and we produce hydraulic widgets for the aviation industry, commonly used with landing systems on a variety of different airliners including the A300. Our clients choose us because we are reliable and have our own in-house NDT team”.

9

ATTEND NETWORKING EVENTS ONLINE OR IN PERSON.

As a business owner you should be using networking to grow your reach and, ultimately, gain new business. There are

10

many networking groups around but it’s important to choose the right one for you – this can take time. There are plenty of local networking groups that are very generic and this can be good for some professions, but then there are others that are much more sector specific and you could look at those too.

When networking, it‘s important to speak with people but it’s equally important not to thrust your business card into people’s hands and be seen in the wrong light.

Networking is about building relationships through time, understanding other people’s businesses, asking questions and then, in time, give referrals with confidence and people will do the same with you. Never go looking for instant business as that doesn’t work.

HAVE A BIG BUSINESS MENTALITY.

No matter what size business you are, you need to have a big business mentality. This is not a mentality of being the largest in the World, but a mentality of having the right things in place as if you were a big business, but in a much smaller scale as you grow. A business owner by definition is an entrepreneur and, as such, you could look to Gino Wickman and the EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) program that has a system for growing a business. [Page 10] The biggest challenge as a business owner when you are selling is to portray your business as credible and as professional as possible. If you are just you then you can say that, but sometimes you can always say ‘we, as a team’, even if it is you!

get your team back If, like me, you’ve had to manage your company in very different ways this year, you’re probably itching to get back to “normal” – whatever that will be!

But the landscape has changed… new client priorities translate into new challenges and opportunities for you. Video meetings can only do so much. So, is this a chance to re-calibrate your business and re-energise your team? As we move out of lockdown, the perfect way to achieve that is a team event at Woodhall Manor: a chance to inject dynamism and develop new strategies… an investment that will pay dividends in the years to come.

Woodhall Manor, in the heart of the secluded Suffolk countryside, can be your own private business retreat for as long as you need: a calming, creative space where minds can run free and ideas have room to breathe. As well as larger rooms for up to 80 people safely socially distanced, smaller rooms will fit any business – plus all the breakout spaces you need… including nine acres of beautifully landscaped gardens.

Work over, first-rate chefs will serve a meal to remember in our historic panelled-lined dining room. You can even top off the evening with a (socially distanced!) gathering in our very own night club.

Between meetings, take in a round of golf or soak up the stunning local coastline and nature reserves. And while Woodhall Manor is delightfully located away from it all, it’s only a few miles from the A12 and just over an hour from the M25, while our exceptional broadband speeds keep everyone connected. woodhallmanor.com/business Or call direct and book a virtual tour. We can also tell you about our special deals…

Owner, Woodhall Manor

How we deal with as business owners

It goes without saying that 2020 has been an extraordinary year; the events that transpired are a once in a lifetime occurrence and the effects of this have been far reaching. At the time of writing, the UK economy was predicted by the IMF to contract by 10.4% this year - an astonishing figure - but one that will have far reaching lessons for business owners both now and in the future.

Added to this is the additional unknown of Brexit and how that may or may not affect the economic power of the country.

However, we are business owners, entrepreneurs, the intrepid, the hunters and we look for opportunities at every turn doesn’t mean we don’t worry though.

So, how do we deal with uncertainty? We asked a selection of our subscribers how they have dealt with, managed, planned, tested and predicted changes in the market, economy and society to get their take on what is going on and how they are moving forward. We took the essence of these chats and created this Top 10.

...I’d say diversifying into other markets is a safety net if you can make it work.

BUILDING AND MAINTAINING OUR REPUTATION

“It’s been our hard-core customers who have stuck with us and got us through lockdown.

Maintaining a solid, respectful and mutually beneficial relationship, which was always one of our core values, has paid dividends in these hard times. We lost a few customers, of course, but most came back as soon as they could”. Director – Courier & Parcel Handling

...that and the free biscuits we gave out seemed to have cemented our service level in our customer’s minds!

CUSTOMER SERVICE

“We deal with the general public and need to visit their homes in order to carry out our business. When lockdown occurred we had to put the staff on furlough and make sure they were covered, the very next thing we did was to inform our customers of what we were doing to mitigate risk and how we planned to resume once lockdown had been lifted. We were available on the phone and live chat and kept a dialogue going with as many of them that would engage with us as possible. That and the free biscuits we gave out seemed to have cemented our service level in our customer’s minds”. Owner – Domestic Appliance Repairers

GREAT FINANCIAL DATA

“Knowing where we were financially was probably the most helpful data I had when Covid struck. I could plan with the rest of my team how long our cashflow would last, how we could lower our outgoings, how much we were able to borrow instantly - short and medium term if necessary - and also what potential late payers or bad debt we were facing. Just having this information to hand, as our accounts are always up to date and accurate, relieved so much stress I can’t tell you. I’d previously owned a company where the accounts were out of control and that gave me many, many sleepless nights.” CEO - Manufacturer

SAVINGS

“We’d saved up over a number of years to make sure we had at least 12 months worth of bills covered in case something happened. I’d been given this advice when I first started my business in 1998 by my accountant, who was rather an old school chap, but I always remembered the advice. I had 3 months worth in an instant savings account, 3 months in a 32 day notice account and the rest in a 90 day notice account. Not exciting but helped me when 2020 happened”. Owner – Carpentry Services

DIVERSIFICATION

“Our business has always done well in a downturn but tails off when times are better.

We needed to diversify to flatten out that trend and we moved from just trade to include dealing with the public too. As soon as lockdown started we lost all our trade work, which we’d never seen before, but we then saw an increase in our work from the public as we could send our products directly to their homes and they were, of course, locked down. I’d say diversifying into other markets is a safety net if you can make it work”. COO – Cleaning Product Supplier

...we had at least 12 months worth of bills covered in case something happened. I’d been given this advice when I first started my business in 1998...

ROLL WITH IT

“This isn’t very exciting but I just went with the flow. I couldn’t do anything so I tried to stop worrying about it. The furlough scheme saved our company. If the government hadn’t stepped in we would have been finished. But it didn’t matter how much I stressed there was still nothing I could do.

So I stopped worrying, stopped listening to the news and went for more walks”. CEO Recruitment

DON’T STOP MOVING

“We’d talked about home working for months and our business model supported this but we’d always been reluctant. As soon the virus started to cause havoc we implemented the home working plan and started further work to enhance our IT systems - we are fortunate to have our own IT department and developers. We then started to look at improving our efficiency and ways we could enhance our services to our customers. We learnt that we can get through anything as a team and that we all have to keep moving forward”. Ops Director – Maintenance

...we’re not clever, we just happened to notice the right thing at the right moment.

FORESIGHT

“We import goods from outside of the UK and had been quite on edge around Brexit anyway. As we saw the reports from China in Dec 2019 we started to plan on the virus reaching the UK and having similar consequences as they did in Wuhan. We took the decision as a board to limit purchases over a certain size until we could see things calming down. We’re not clever, we just happened to notice the right thing at the right moment”. Owner – Importer of Cosmetics

INSURE

“Our insurance broker Mat has always had a belt and braces approach and he’d advised that we take out business interruption insurance as part of our annual insurance plan. When the outbreak hit we contacted him and he started the process to claim for our loss of profit due to the pandemic. Our insurer is still assessing the claim but it would appear that we may well be covered”.

Owner – Independent Garage

...I was getting more and more stressed. I eventually turned to my best friend who in turn got me in touch with headstogether.org.uk and their helpline...

GET SOME SUPPORT

“I got very low during lockdown. The business was losing money, my savings were dwindling, I was being paid dividends only and my company was less than a year old, so the only financial support I got was from Universal Credit. I was getting more and more stressed. I eventually turned to my best friend who in turn got me in touch with headstogether.org.uk and their helpline.

They helped me see a bigger picture. I hope people get help when they need it, you shouldn’t be embarrassed”. Owner – Building Services.

These experiences and the guidance that our fellow business owners and entrepreneurs have shared have given us some clues to how we can deal with the next downturn, recession or challenge to our business.

Do what you do well, be adaptable, don’t spend all of your money, make sure you know exactly what you company is doing and always ask for help if you need it.

National Business Support Helpline 0800 998 1098 Business Debtline businessdebtline.org

GOV.UK gov.uk/business-support-helpline

Skills shortage meet free staff plus small print – the Government Kickstart Scheme unravelled.

KICKSTART SCHEME

Kickstart is a new £2bn scheme as part of the Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s ‘plan for jobs’ focusing on young people aged16-24 that’s due to have its first start in November 2020. The intention of the scheme is to improve the employability of young people by providing a 25 hours per week, six-month placement for those 16–24 year olds currently claiming Universal Credit.

covid corner

250,000 under 25s are claiming unemployment benefits since March and around 700,000 have left education which means there is a huge pool of talent waiting to be utilised.

So how do we, as business owners, get this valuable resource? We asked expert in this field, Steve Ackroyd, at ‘The Job Guru’, for a run down.

BUSINESS BENEFITS

Now, this scheme is obviously beneficial to the 16-24 year olds that get the work placement but where are the benefits for the business that takes them on? After all, the employer is responsible for providing employability training such as CV writing, interview techniques and how to look for a job. That all takes time, skills the employer may not have, and money.

For small businesses that haven’t employed anyone before, it’s a great opportunity to test out what it’s like to employ someone with minimal financial risk.

For businesses that already have employees, the Kickstarter employees may be an opportunity to expand a new product or service, and get more support in an overworked department (such as marketing). Very importantly in today’s Covid-aware society, it’s great PR for your business, to show that you are supporting a young person to get into employment.

HOW IT WORKS

A Kickstart application must be for a minimum of 30 job placements. If a single employer cannot provide this many job placements then they must either join a group of other employers and nominate a representative or register their interest with an existing representative.

Importantly, the Kickstarters don’t all have to start at the same time, this means you can stagger start dates rather than having them all start at once.

Jobcentre Work Coaches will promote the vacancies and candidates for the vacancies will be sent to the employer by the Jobcentre. Employers will interview the candidates and are at liberty to reject candidates that aren’t suitable; there is no obligation to take someone on.

Any business can apply for the scheme, whether they are a sole trader or a multinational corporate, as long as they satisfy the essential criteria.

THE JOB PLACEMENTS MUST NOT: - replace existing or planned vacancies - cause existing employees, apprentices or contractors to lose work or reduce their working hours THE JOB PLACEMENTS MUST: - be a minimum of 25 hours per week, for 6 months (you can give them more hours and pay the difference) - pay at least the National Minimum Wage or the National Living Wage for the employee’s age group (you can pay them more but the DWP will only pay the National Minimum Wage) - only require basic training

FUNDING

So that the employer is not left out of pocket by taking on a Kickstarter employee, the DWP will fund the minimum wage salary of the employee for 25 hours per week.

This will be paid back to the employer monthly, in arrears and will be triggered by the payroll information supplied to the HMRC. The DWP will also give the employer a grant of £1,500 the week after the Kickstart employee has been registered. This funding is for setup costs and to support the young person to develop their employability skills. Employers can choose to get someone else to do this for them, such as a Kickstart gateway or a service provider such as The Job Guru.

So, the Kickstart Scheme can give your company some additional funded support that also helps get a young person into work. Although not without its cost to the employer, the benefits to all parties could be very advantageous. In addition, the grant to help with employability skills and the growth of service providers to assist with the whole process makes it very attractive if you need additional help.

get all the details on this new job scheme at gov.uk/government/collections/kickstart-scheme

© DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

covid corner Protecting your Team and Maintaining your Cyber Outreach With England entering another lockdown it is worth remembering that this will once again present another opportunity for the cyber attacker to exploit the situation for their own financial gain.

The latest report from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) covering the period September 2019 to August 2020 stated that there was a rise of 10% in investigated attacks (723), of which 194 were Covid themed related. Additionally, the NCSC disclosed that it had thwarted 15,354 campaigns that had used coronavirus themes as a ‘lure’ to fool people into clicking on a link or opening an attachment

containing malicious software.

Not only does a business need to consider the mental well-being of its home working employees, but it must endeavour to ensure that its cyber security practices are adapted or re-introduced to protect their people in these troubled times. Without the ‘easy to reach’ friendly on-site IT team to report any suspicious activity, remote workers present an easy target for the cyber-criminal to exploit. Moreover, with businesses not necessarily providing corporate IT for its remote workers, it is vital that every business has a robust ‘cyber outreach’ programme in place to protect their employees.

We spoke to cyber experts Cyber Security Associates for their views.; Awareness campaigns and tips for employees provide useful updates on the latest cyber scams and attacks, but more often than not it is the technological measures that need to be on our PC’s, laptops and servers that provide the best level of cyber defence, said David Woodfine, Director at Cyber Security Associates.

Having a software capability that stops ransomware and malicious applications in its tracks along with a cyber team in the background detecting any unusual activity is a must for every business. CSA Ltd is the managed security services provider for ‘Appguard’, a one-stop capability that protects a customer`s IT from all dangerous and malicious application attacks2. David continued.

- david woodfine

CSAZEROTRUST.CO.UK

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The business world has changed so much during the last 6 months and is showing no immediate signs of settling down, so why would you consider outsourcing now?

Outsourcing is paying an external company or person to carry out business functions for your company. Obvious, but worth stating.

These functions could be anything from specific operational processes, through to whole departments such as sales or accounting, either way why would you do it?

WHY

- The most compulsive reason to use a specialist outsourcer for your delegated role would be expertise. By using an expert in that field, you are harnessing their talent, energy, training and resources to maximise the effectiveness of that function. Having a professional lead generator, marketing guru, IT support or accounting expert on your team can drive you and your company forward and potentially give you an edge within your market.

- Time is your most valuable commodity, so concentrating on what you and your team do best will maximise your efficiency and create savings. If your metier is importing medical equipment into the country, selling and maintaining it, do you really need to employ your own accounts team rather instruct an outsourcer to process, complete, report and produce KPI’s for a fixed cost.

MASTER YOUR STRENGTHS, OUTSOURCE YOUR WEAKNESSESS - ryan khan

- In these unsettled but potentially rewarding times, having the ability to reduce your cost base or fix your costs for a company function could well be a way of increasing profit or reducing loss. Taking the time to analyse what monies comes in and what goes out, you and your team’s effectiveness and which areas could be outsourced may reveal an opportunity to create or save money, assisting the bottom line.

- Creating agility for your company is a tool that should not be underestimated. Using outsourcing for business-critical roles that have variable costs, enables you to scale up and down as your sales or operation requires.

- Setting parameters, goals or boundaries may well be easier through a contract with an outsourcer than getting the buy-in from your current team or from making the changes to your infrastructure. Choosing the correct outsourcing company who take the time and have the ability to understand your company’s business and then tasking them correctly to carry out that function, with all the necessary reporting, data and communication needs means you have control back again and accountability.

- If you have business critical information that you do not want the wider company to have access to, using an outsourcer, this works particularly well with accounting, means this information can stay offsite and safe.

Having listed the main points of why outsourcing might well work for you and your company lets have a look at what might stop that happening.

- Finding the time to accurately assess what functions or processes you could successfully outsource and then document what you require properly. This is particularly difficult if you are a micro or small company who are currently extremely busy. You know that if you get help you can grow, breath or relax but taking that step requires effort to get it right and this can be a problem. You could either rush into getting the wrong partner or supplier or just not even consider it as you are too busy.

- Locating the right outsourcer can be more difficult than you think. Where do I start, what do I need, how much will it cost…… If you can target what you need there are many ways you can find your talented outsource partner. LinkedIn searches, Google recommendations, People Per Hour, networking groups and associations, personal recommendations and even getting an outsourcer or virtual assistant to find you one.

- At some point in your company’s growth outsourcing may become a limiting factor and taking back that function in house may well be the most sensible action. An

example could be when your company has the funds to employ an IT expert who can not only attend to your teams daily issues, but write new scripts, build infrastructure and sit on the board – there would be recognisably greater value than outsourcing.

In uncertain and challenging business times having the agility, cost and scalability benefits of outsourcing your non-operational departments or processes can increase productivity, sharpen team focus, maximise accountability and probably cost less money doing so. You just need to find the right partner.

the pros PROS: - External expertise and talent - Only pay for what you need - You can switch it on and off - Save your time and energy for your company - Delegate the accountability for a function - Keep confidential information externally CONS: - Ending up with the wrong outsourcer - Communication issues - Ownership of issues - Vision not shared for company - Quality of outsourcer - Can cost more if economy of scale is wrong

- the new norm?

As the UK enters a second lockdown how will Working From Home (WFH) become the new norm? It is unlikely that everyone will ever return to offices and of course those in manufacturing can only work from a factory or similar.

The last few months have shown that business can adapt and that staff can work from home, it also shows that the technology is there for this too. We look at the key technology that can be used for a business to operate working from home.

To be able to work from home you will need a laptop and internet connection, you might want a mobile phone but not a must have.

The next stage on is deciding the software needed and some of this you may already have. You need to have an email account through Gmail or Outlook (yes others are available), you will need a remote server

access such as Microsoft Teams or a VPN to your company server, you will need a VoIP phone (voice over internet protocol) and you will also need a cyber defence application.

Turn to page 23 for our feature on Cyber in Lockdown 2.

We spoke to the Midland Comms about Microsoft Teams and how Covid has triggered many companies to adopting Teams for an integration between those working from home and those in the office.

Midland Comms has put together a really useful guide to Teams and we picked out three key basic tips from their top 10. The first was to get Teams and start a chat with colleagues, a great way to communicate in the moment; secondly add Apps to channels, such as Word and Powerpoint to integrate within chats and meeting, lastly elevate email conversations by adding an email to a team channel for continued conversation.

Up until recently VoIP telephony systems were really for big business, but advances in technology and also internet speeds has seen VoIP systems now available for any type and size of business. VoIP actually stands for voice over internet protocol, so it is a phone system over the internet and wish it comes significant cost savings for calls. In todays business setting telephone calls can be made through landline office phones, mobile phones, over the internet through WhatsApp and through VoIP, even Facetime is using VoIP technology and with it comes flexibility.

The Horizon VoIP system is actually the system chosen by iPlus Group, through Lister Communications, who use it as the front end telephone system with an 01242 area code and from that all staff have the Horizon icon on their phones, laptops and PCs. The system then routes calls to the team or individuals seamlessly with staff located within the UK and France. The Horizon system has all the telephony functionality you would expect from a phone system along with conference call facility and video calls and a low cost per month.

Create a professional,

suitable home office to help increase productivity

1

Make sure the room's temperature fits you You're the only person in the room, so set whatever temperature makes you feel most comfortable.

2

Personalise the decor

It's your space in your home. Having an office that fits your personality can help exponentially. Decorate the room with whatever makes you feel content.

3

Get comfy

A good desk chair is really important for maintaining proper posture and preventing aches and pains, so be sure to test a few out before making your purchase.

4

bring the outside in

Use potted plants and fresh flowers to create a nature feel. Also, perhaps use materials such as stone or wood which are normally found outdoors and make them a part of your home office style.

Light it up

Discover more about Teams midlandcomms.co.uk

Midland Comms Guide & for VoIP Horizon lister-communications.co.uk

5

Where possible make the most of any natural light you can harness, but as the nights draw darker consider how you can bring lamps into your home office.

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DON’T QUIT When things go wrong as they sometimes will, When the road you're trudging seems all up hill, When the funds are low and the debts are high And you want to smile, but you have to sigh, When care is pressing you down a bit, Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is strange with its twists and turns As every one of us sometimes learns And many a failure comes about When he might have won had he stuck it out; Don't give up though the pace seems slow— You may succeed with another blow.

Success is failure turned inside out— The silver tint of the clouds of doubt, And you never can tell just how close you are, It may be near when it seems so far; So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit— It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

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