7 Key Steps to Growing A Business Online (Part 2)
Last week, we discussed if passion could translate into a good business, the processes of defining what you want to sell and using the Keyword Tool to do research. Now we shall cover the other four points:
- Red Ocean or Blue Ocean
This is where reality sets in. Through your research you may be excited to learn that few people or companies offer what you plan to offer. This could be great news, as it may represent a wholly unique opportunity - a ‘blue ocean’. Or, as is highly likely, you’ll find a lot of competitive activity in the space - a ‘red ocean’.
The distinction between red and blue oceans comes down to one thing - competition. A red ocean simply represents a market where competition results in ‘metaphorical blood in the water’. It’s a market that may be price sensitive with little margin to be made, or one where larger company dominate - sharks.
On the other hand, a blue ocean represents a space where there is little competition and you are free to explore and test your ideas. Beware though, blue oceans also have their dangers, rather like being cast adrift with no land in sight (like your ideas are so obscure that they don’t create a demand). Blue oceans require a wholly different strategy, because you are essentially creating your own market or building on a ‘nascent’ need - a need that people are only just becoming aware of. These of course, are the most exciting and potentially the most rewarding and is why the research is so important.
The outcome of this exercise will bring in to sharp focus the job ahead.
- Develop a marketing plan
At the risk of being clichéd, we’ll use a cliché here: “Failing to plan is planning to fail”. In the online world this is particularly true because ideas and business can be destroyed very quickly if you haven't thought through how you plan to reach your market audience and fulfil their need.
Basically, you need a marketing plan. It’s a painful but worthy exercise. Again, whole books are dedicated to this, so we’ll be brief here. Your ‘online’ marketing plan should at a minimum accomplish the following:
- Identify your audience, how you can reach them (email, search engines, auction sites, blogs, Youtube, social media, etc) and what ‘information’ they will respond too.
- Identify your competitors, if there are any, learn from them. Try to figure out how they became successful and what they did to achieve it.
- Outline your digital marketing strategy - what you need to build to reach your online audience. Examples include a website, a social media presence (and which ones).
- Identify the type and form of content you need to create to appeal to your audience and engage them.
- Outline how do you plan to advertise and what budget you have. Many options include ‘pay-per-click’ and ‘display advertising’ with Google Adwords Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, among others. You don’t always need to pay for advertising though; creating awareness through social media and other people’s blogs of valuable content on your own venues, can achieve the same end result.
- Set some KPI’s (key performance indicators), such as: number of website visitors, response rate to emails, conversion rates (this might be actual sales).
- Learn how to analyse your performance and the actions of your audience
If you are using a website or social media, each has its own tools to analyse who interacts with you on-line. In the case of websites, Google analytics provides a wealth of data as to how many people and how they interact with your site; and it’s free. Others, such as SEMRush, are paid tools, but allow you to track your entire online performance - from keywords to social activity.
Using data in this way will help you adjust to the feedback implicit in how people use your website or social venue. It also allows you to monitor the performance of your advertising campaign. If you are an advanced user, you can also conduct tests to determine which ads perform better and adjust accordingly.
If there’s one aspect of an online business that sets the winners apart from the losers, it’s the ability to analyse and interpret the wealth of data at your disposal through these tools - it can help you beat your competition.
- Review regularly and don't be afraid to change
Change is a constant in the world of online business. Online customers are fickle, technologies are changing all the time, as are search engines and the way people use social media. Adapt quickly by being aware.
Your end game maybe to sell product or services, but your goal should be to attract and engage your target audience. To do that you need to create a unique experience around what you have to offer. This is done through great content and content marketing. People share, and you want them to share your experience as this drives brand awareness and customer loyalty.
Best of luck to your online business.
Small Business: Make Cyber Security a Priority
The threat of cyberattacks is clear and present for small businesses, as most don’t have a dedicated IT department looking after cyber security. Therefore, it is always good for small business owners and entrepreneurs to attend conferences and seminars and pick up a few tips. In the past few months, we learnt a few useful tips which we thought may be beneficial to you as well.
Use a Virtual Private Network
Commonly known as VPN, it allows you to connect to the web with an encrypted connection, preventing other parties seeing your online data and communication, including your ISP. Many businesses use a VPN connection when they are working from a Wi-Fi hotspot in a public place, in fact, this is absolutely essential these days. You can use VPN from your home and in your office too. As today most of owners conduct their businesses over mobile devices, you could download an application like Rocket VPN, which is a free app on Google Play and iOS.
Update your software
Virus protection software, firewalls, and operating system should be updated regularly. If you are concerned about data like your payroll information, our dedicated team for Payroll Services for Small Business will take care of your payroll activity for you.
Use the cloud if you can
Cloud applications can typically keep your data safe. Do remember to use a strong and unique password for each application.
Stay vigilant
Don’t open emails and download suspected files - if it looks unusual, it’s probably a phishing or malware email. This will go a long way to keep your company safe.
Have a plan
Back-up your important data routinely and have a plan to ensure that your operations can still run should an unfortunate attack happen and negatively impact your operations.
Keep abreast
It is always useful to get the latest the news and information from the National Fraud and Cyber Crime Reporting Centre.
Attend a course
There are quite a few courses available across London. If you are free for 3 hours a week for 8 weeks, more proactive approach may be to consider this free course titled Introduction to cyber security run by the Open University.
Let us all work together to keep our business safe from cyberattacks.
Small Business: Top Tips to Manage Cash flow
If you run a small business, you’ll know first-hand about the challenge in managing cash flow. At Tax Agility, we have witnessed many cases where business owners are certain about achieving sales targets and profitability by the end of the year, yet they encounter negative cash flow in the process, hampering their growth plan or even putting them out of business because they cant pay their bills.
Cash flow management is essential, and this is where we can help. Apart from bookkeeping and accounting services dedicated to small businesses across London, we also offers management consultancy where we work with you in two specific areas:
- Business plans, forecasts and projections
- Credit control and cash management procedures
With that in mind, we’d like to share some top tips in helping you manage your cash flow.
1. Focus on Cash Flow, not Profits – you probably have heard this from other entrepreneurs and it really is a golden rule. The first step is to create a cash flow worksheet, tracking each payable and receivable for the next week, next month, next quarter, and the whole financial year. Use Excel, or other software to help with the task. After a while, you can definitely see the payment patterns from your clients and your vendors’ patience; while you become good at planning, from spotting new opportunities to anticipating expenditures.
2. Collect Receivables – we all know the downside of people not paying your bills on time. So here are some helpful tips aiming to motivate clients to pay up quickly:
- Require a deposit payment at the time of order whenever you can.
- Issue invoices promptly.
- Offer discounts to clients who pay their bills within a certain time period (like during the first 5 days).
- 1 week before the due date, follow up with a reminder.
- If clients are still not paying after the due date, follow up with a phone call.
- If you know a particular client who is slow in paying their bills, then you can either impose a late-payment charge or institute a cash on delivery policy.
3. Surviving Negative Cash Flow – getting an overdraft from time to time to tide yourself over a challenging period is not usual. The bad news is bank may not want to approve your overdraft; but the good news is the UK government has passed an Act which now requires the UK’s nine major banks to refer you to an alternative provider (if they refuse to finance you).
In fact, there are three online platforms pre-approved to receive these referrals and help small business owners with financial options. They are: Funding Options, Business Finance Compared and Funding Xchange. These online platforms aim to make the financing process clear, easy, and transparent – you even have the control to choose which lenders you want and the payment terms. Apart from the standard loan, you can also try Invoice Financing, whereby you draw money against sales invoices before customers pay.
If you want to know more about managing your cash flow and how we can help, contact us today on 020 8780 2349 or get in touch with us via our contact page to arrange a complimentary, no obligation meeting.
Making accounting & finance better for Restaurant Owners
You have made the important first step to own and run a restaurant. You have the passion and the motivation to see you through the long and challenging hours in a hot kitchen. However, when it gets very hectic, which is ‘par for the course’ in a busy restaurant, there’s a real possibility that your restaurant’s finances will drop down the pecking order in terms of priorities. This can be dangerous. So how can you, a restaurant entrepreneur and small business owner, make sure that your books are balanced, your business is profitable and thriving even, in the highly competitive restaurant business?
For a start, you can work with our dedicated team at Tax Agility. We are chartered accountants and tax advisers specialising in managing your day-to-day accounting and bookkeeping functions, along with tax guidance, operational support, financing and general management consultancy.
Managing your restaurant’s finances
Our dedicated team of accountants will work alongside with you on issues that are specific and important to you, which may include key areas such as:
- Determining if you are applying sound methods in nailing down issues such as table turnover rates, sales by shift, average guest bill etc. There may be some unknown flaws in your systems, and so a review certainly wouldn't hurt. In fact, on occasions, clients who have adopted new approaches in self analysis tend to gain significant improvements.
- In our experience, the most successful restaurants have a well honed monthly closing process with well defined checks and balances. There are a variety of ways to achieve this, which commonly differ depending on restaurant size and the size of the business in general. Throughout though, it is critical to ensure that data is easily accessed, simple to understand and readily shareable.
- Ongoing, proactive cash flow management will help you sleep well at night. There's no secret here, however it may surprise you how haphazard this can be for many restaurants. If you haven’t already done so, consider a more detailed approach to cash flow projections. Build in seasonality of course, anticipated expenses & expansion plans etc. The more detail you can add and the more conservative you are about income expectations the greater the chance you’ll avert a serious cash flow issue.
Benefits of working with Tax Agility
At Tax Agility, helping your restaurant to drive profitability and growth through our extensive knowledge of best practices, is our key mission. We work with you to define your business and therefore your financial goals, and we are here to cover your tax and accounting needs so you can focus on what you do best - running a restaurant.
Our services include:
- Accounts and bookkeeping
- Corporation Tax
- Company Secretarial
- Payroll
- Tax Planning
- Corporate Services
- Management Consultancy
- Tax Investigation
As a restaurant owner, you probably have enough on your plate without trying to handle bookkeeping and balancing your books. Work with our dedicated restaurant accounting team at Tax Agility today. Let us manage your day-to-day restaurant accounting services for you, let us help you monitor your costs to prevent them getting out of line, improve your profitability and rely on us for solid tax advice.
Making Tax Digital: Welcome Change or Worrying Burden?
The government’s Making Tax Digital plan was first touched upon during Budget 2015, then again in December of last year when they launched the ‘Making Tax Digital Roadmap’ in an effort to explain how their plan to turn HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) into one of the most “digitally-advanced tax administrations in the world by 2020,” would be achieved.
But the question remains, despite all of the government’s assertions that Making Tax Digital will reduce the taxpaying burden for all individuals (small business owners, employed individuals with other income, retired individuals, and more), should this be seen as a welcome change for taxpayers or indeed a worrying burden?
With the consultation period on these changes due to run until 7 November of this year, here at Tax Agility we’ve looked at what Making Tax Digital may mean for you, and how we can help you to navigate these changes.
Who is Affected
If you’re a small or medium-sized business (SME) owner, self-employed, or a landlord with turnover over £10,000 per year, you will be affected by these changes. This last point refers to all landlords making over £10,000 per year (gross), even if you’re in full-time employment and you just rent out a property on the side.
There are also edge-cases that will also be affected, such as pensioners whose pension exceeds their personal allowance.
What is Required
If you’re affected by Making Tax Digital you will be required to have a digital tax account through which you will report your accounts to HMRC every three months (once a quarter) under standard categorised headings (sales, expenses, etc).
This will no doubt be a burden, as despite what the government wants to think tax is not at the forefront of most people’s minds on a day-to-day basis; that’s what accountants are for. That said, the government is correct in its assumption that more frequent reporting by those who don’t work alongside an accountant will help to keep them on top of their tax liabilities.
Is Big Brother Watching?
Though there’s really no need to be paranoid, especially if you have nothing to hide, this is a fair question and one that’s come up consistently since the government announced their ‘Making Tax Digital Roadmap’ back in December of last year.
It’s certainly true that the more we use our smartphones, tablets, and laptop computers to digitise our records and store them in ‘the cloud’ the more opportunity there will be for this data to be used against us should it get into the wrong hands. And for those of us who grew up before the computerisation of everything, the idea of taking photographs of our receipts and uploading them to the internet can seem somewhat daunting. But from working with computerised accounting software here at Tax Agility for many years we can tell you that so long as you’re sensible, computerised software is both safe and convenient.
Experienced Tax Accountants
To speak with a professional accountant to discuss the government’s upcoming Making Tax Digital changes, or for anything else, contact us today on 020 8780 2349 or get in touch with us via our contact page to arrange a complimentary, no obligation meeting.
Working with an Accountant Specialising in Tech Startups, The Benefits
Technology startups are taking over the world, and here at Tax Agility we believe this can only be a good thing!
The innovation coming out of tech startups, both here in the UK and around the world, is astounding, and it’s only going to continue. We’ve been working with tech startups for several years now, and in that time we’ve been blown away by the quality of operations we have experienced while working alongside some of the smartest minds this country has ever seen.
With this in mind, we believe there are a lot of benefits to working with an accountant specialising in tech startups. Just a small number of these benefits are as follows:
We take time-consuming and complicated accounting work out of your hands
Whether you’re the CEO, CFO, or you hold another role within your tech startup, we’re here to take all the time-consuming and complicated accounting work out of your hands so you can focus on what you do best.
We can’t claim to be as innovative as you, but we are committed to using revolutionary accounting techniques that will help to hold your tech startup up above the rest. We understand the importance of working fast and ‘shipping’ our work; and we’ll be at your beck and call should you have any questions related your financials.
We focus our efforts on helping to maximise your profitability
There are a number of ways in which we can help you to maximise your profitability. As specialists in accounting for tech startups, we find that looking into whether you’re eligible to receive any tax reliefs from the get-go is a great way of achieving an early win that can help to save you money over the long term.
One such relief is the Research and Development (R&D) relief, which is available to all UK startups that are spending money on innovative research in certain industries (primarily science and technology, though there are many overlaps).
We’ve been in this business for decades, and we bring this experience to you
One of the greatest qualities of tech startups is how young they are; you don’t have to unlearn outdated business strategies and can, therefore, forge ahead on your own path, unafraid of the potential pitfalls ahead you.
And that’s where we come in. Here at Tax Agility we have been in business for decades, which means we know exactly what pitfalls you may come up against, even if you don’t know them yet. When you work alongside an experienced accountancy firm such as us, we take the guesswork (or lack, thereof) out of your startup’s future.
Experienced Accountants for Tech Startups
To speak with a professional accountant to discuss our unique accountancy packages for tech startups, contact us today on 020 8780 2349 or get in touch with us via our contact page to arrange a complimentary, no obligation meeting.
The Benefits of Working with an Accountant Specialising in Dentists
The dental industry is constantly changing and evolving. Far from being an old-fashioned institution, dentistry continues to change both internally and externally, with dentists running their own dental practice having more responsibility than ever before.
Here at Tax Agility we know the pressures that are being placed on dentists just like you, and we know just how often these pressures are changing (and often, increasing) as new legislation and other changes come into effect.
For this reason, we think it makes absolute sense for any dentist or dental practice looking to hire an accountant to consider working with an accountancy firm that specialises in the accounts of dentists. Just a small number of these benefits are as follows:
We keep ahead of your changing industry
From new legislative changes to the challenges brought on by private dental competition, here at Tax Agility our specialist accountants make it their priority to keep on top of everything and anything that could affect your practice’s growth and revenue, whether positively or negatively.
This means we’re committed to your growth, and we’ll stop at nothing to ensure that you benefit from (or at least aren’t hurt by) any industry changes that occur. Your success is our success, and our experience working alongside other dental practices gives us the unique ability to help to realise your success, whatever life throws at you.
We take care of all of your accounting and bookkeeping needs
Here at Tax Agility, no task is too big (or small) for our experienced accountants. You can rely on us for all your accounting and bookkeeping needs; we have worked with countless dental industry professionals in the past, including incorporated practices, self employed hygienists, employed dentists, consultants, and specialists (oral surgeons, periodontists, orthodontists, and more).
In the same way that you wouldn’t expect any of your patients to start performing light dentistry work on themselves, we don’t expect you to have to handle any part of your accounts.
We treat you, and your practice, as the individual you are
We make a point to treat all of our clients as individuals, which means we understand that just because you’re a dental practice specialising in a certain target demographic, that doesn’t mean you have the same financial goals as a different dental practice focusing on the same target demographic.
We believe that it’s our job to understand your hopes and desires for your dental practice before we swoop in and start dealing with your books. When we develop this understanding ahead of time it helps us to better serve you both in the beginning and, hopefully, for many years into the future.
Experienced Accountants for Dentists
To speak with a professional accountant to discuss our unique accountancy packages for dentists, contact us today on 020 8780 2349 or get in touch with us via our contact page to arrange a complimentary, no obligation meeting.
The Benefits of Working with an Accountant Specialising in Property Owners
Property owners (both residential and commercial) and estate agents know that there’s an enormous number of different financial areas to consider when buying, selling, or renting out property.
From having to contact HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to let them know you’ll be receiving rental income, to knowing what business rates you or your tenants will have to pay when moving into a new commercial property, there’s a lot to keep track of in order to ensure you stay on the right side of the law.
For this reason, there are a lot of benefits to working with an accountant specialising in the accounts of both residential property owners (landlords) and commercial property owners. Just a small number of these benefits are as follows:
We know our stuff
Here at Tax Agility, we have been working with property owners for YEARS/DECADES. For this reason, we know exactly what taxes you need to pay if you just bought a commercial property, or indeed we know exactly how you need to report your rental earnings to HMRC if you have started out renting residential properties for the first time.
Other accountancy firms that don’t specialise in this area will take up your valuable time by having to look these things up, and potentially even miss them altogether, which could be very costly to you.
We keep an eye on tax changes that may affect you
Equally important to knowing our stuff is our willingness to keep an eye on all and every change to the tax codes and legislation that may affect how much you, as a property-owning accountancy client of ours, is liable to pay.
Though it’s rare for a large, overarching tax change to be enforced under the radar, smaller changes can often come up that catch out property owners who are tasked with dealing with their own accounts, or indeed these changes can even catch out accountants who are not well versed in the complexities of property ownership taxes.
We provide a full-service accountancy experience
Here at Tax Agility, we provide a full-service accountancy experience to all of our property owner (both residential and commercial) and estate agent clients.
We understand the problematic tax implications of owning, buying, or renting property, and we take it upon ourselves to ensure you only pay the tax liabilities owed to you, nothing more, while keeping your books up to date and in line with the law. No property owner can operate without having their books in order - we make sure you’re always operating both legally and efficiently.
Experienced Accountants for Property Owners
To speak with a professional accountant to discuss our unique accountancy packages for residential (landlords) and commercial property owners, contact us today on 020 8780 2349 or get in touch with us via our contact page to arrange a complimentary, no obligation meeting.
The Benefits of Working with an Accountant Specialising in Hospitality
If you’re an owner or manager of a business operating in the hospitality industry (you operate a hotel or restaurant), you’ve probably heard all of this before.
Running a hotel or restaurant is no easy task. The trials and tribulations of running a successful hospitality business are frequent and numerous, and that’s before you even consider the notion of trying to forge a profit.
Given this point, and the always-on environment of working in the hotel or restaurant industry, it’s clear to see that there are numerous benefits to working with an accountant specialising in the accounts of hoteliers and restaurateurs. Just a small number of these benefits are as follows:
We help define (and work with) your financial goals
Often the task of simply running your hotel or restaurant is so time-consuming that it’s hard to think of where the time to sit down and define your financial goals would come from.
Despite this, we think it’s essential for all of our hospitality clients to define their financial goals with us before we start working with them, so we can create a clear picture of your wants and needs, and we can therefore serve you better going forward. We can help you find areas in which you can save money, increase profit, and even help you to leverage your assets.
We help you focus on what you do best
You have a million and one things to do. For this reason, when you work with one of our specialist hospitality accountants here at Tax Agility we help you focus on what you do best: running your hotel or restaurant.
Because we’re specialists in this industry you don’t need to spent your time teaching us the small intricacies of a hotel or restaurant’s accounts. We’ve been there, done that, with a large number of current and former hospitality clients, therefore all you need to do is provide us with the accounts we ask for, and we can immediately get to work.
We’re at your beck and call
Most accounting firms try to maximise their profits by working with as many clients as possible. The problem with this approach is they quickly lose the personal touch, losing touch with their clients unless it’s time for you to file your annual tax return or you make the effort to go to visit them personally.
Here at Tax Agility, all of our hospitality clients are at our beck and call. If you have a question about your accounts, or even just a new piece of government legislation, get in touch and we’ll answer your question right away. Our close relationship with our clients not only helps you get your questions answered faster - it helps us to better understand you and your business.
Experienced Accountants for Hospitality Professionals
To speak with a professional accountant to discuss our unique accountancy packages for hospitality professionals, contact us today on 020 8780 2349 or get in touch with us via our contact page to arrange a complimentary, no obligation meeting.
The Benefits of Working with an Accountant Specialising in Doctors and Healthcare
Would you call up a surgeon when your child gets a nasty cold? Or indeed, would you expect your child’s paediatrician to be able to operate on you at the drop of a hat?
The answer to both of those questions (we hope!) is a solid no, which is why here at Tax Agility we think it’s so important that as a doctor or healthcare professional your accounts are being taken care of by a professional accountancy firm that has a long history of working with other doctors and individuals working within the healthcare industry.
There are a huge number of benefits to working with an accountant specialising in the accounts of doctors and other healthcare professionals. Just a small number of these benefits are as follows:
We have a clearer understanding of your unique needs
Here at Tax Ability we have worked with (and in many cases, are currently working with) a wide range of individuals working in the healthcare sector, including audiologists, dermatologists, family practitioners, gynaecologists, orthopedists, surgeons, and more.
Working closely with other healthcare professionals has helped us to develop a much clearer understanding of your unique needs than we ever could have gained if we hadn’t chosen to specialise in this area, whether in terms of the comprehensive understanding we now have of the preferred accounting practices in your industry, or the insight we have gained regarding how best utilise these practices.
We keep an eye on legislation changes that are specific to you
As professional tax accountants it’s our job to keep our fingers to the pulse (so to speak) with regard to any new legislation that comes out that may affect our clients. When you work with an accountant with a large number of clients already in the healthcare sector, you know we’re going out of our way to keep you updated about any legislative changes that may impact you specifically.
If new legislation comes into play that will help (or hinder) your tax saving plans, you’ll be the first to hear about it, alongside a list of our suggestions on how to move forward.
We take a long-term approach to working alongside you
Here at Tax Agility we take a long-term approach to working alongside all of our clients. Whether you’re working through an agency, an umbrella company, or your own limited company, we want you to be a long-term client of ours, and we do this by offering you exceptional service at every turn.
Though we love working alongside doctors and other healthcare professionals, we want to take up as little of your time every month as we can. We keep your financial accounts up-to-date and accurate so to ensure you can focus on your job, while we focus on ours.
Experienced Accountants for Doctors and Healthcare Professionals
To speak with a professional accountant to discuss our unique accountancy packages for doctors and other healthcare professionals, contact us today on 020 8780 2349 or get in touch with us via our contact page to arrange a complimentary, no obligation meeting.