Business Plus Baby

There’s no doubt about it, there are big changes ahead for us in the UK business community. But would you actually be better off starting your business in the UK, France or Germany? Hiscox has made the infographic below featuring all the main tax rates, employment laws, costs and incentives in each of the three biggest economies in Europe.

If you need more information, Hiscox have put together a guide to starting a business which answers the most frequently searched business start-up questions on Google. You can download the guide here.

If you’re wondering what business venture to start up you might want to think about investments. Investments can be more than just a way to make some extra money. It can be a full business model. So let’s look at how you can get started on this path.

Choose Your Investment

There are lots of different investment possibilities to consider. For instance, you can start a property investment business. Essentially, you’ll be flipping property. Buy it, increase the value and sell it on. We’re making it sound simple but if you make the right moves it can be that fast paced. Alternatively, you can become a whiz trader. One possibility would be forex because you can invest as little or as much as you like. So, you can avoid taking on a massive risk.

Get Expert Advice

No matter what investment you choose, you must make sure you get advice from a broker. An investment broker will recommend which investments you should be making and where you would benefit the most. Everyone needs a broker, particularly with risky investments like stock. But an investment broker won’t just keep you out of trouble. They could also help you find possibilities that you would never of been able to access without them.

Dip Your Toes In

Although, before you even think about this step you may want to get a taste for investments. Micro-investing is an awesome opportunity for this and you can do it straight from your cell phone. There are plenty of apps that will allow you to make small investments and understand the processes behind making money this way. Be sure to check out the infographic below if you want to learn more about this possibility.

Designed by The Fortunate Investor

In 2010, the world experienced an unemployment rate that was beyond anything anyone had seen before. For a rate that tends to stay between 5-8%, it hit 12% and beyond. For the past five years, individuals and corporations have been playing catch up without much luck. It’s no wonder that people are turning to entrepreneurship in their time of need. As the boss, they can make the decisions that will benefit them the most. And, there is no reason to listen to stuffy politicians in suits. Anyone that wants to become a self-made person can as long as they enter the right sector. Below are the industries which are ripe for budding businesspersons.

Street Vendors

People like to look at numbers, so here are a few. The industry has grown by almost 4% since 2010. In total, the street food vendor sector is now a billion dollar industry, $1.7 billion to be exact. Clearly, there is more room for growth and for a businessman or woman to take advantage. What is even more lucrative are the social factors that surround the business. Not only is it an easy company to start, but it is also becoming more popular in 2017. People don’t have the time to cook, or to do anything, to be honest. As a result, they have no qualms eating off the street.

Ethnic Supermarket

Think about this for a second. How many people gravitate towards their nationality when they go abroad? The answer is almost everyone that has ever stepped foot on a plane. There is nothing wrong with experiencing a sense of nationality because it’s normal. What’s not normal is the fact that businesspersons aren’t taking exploiting it to their benefit. The world is a big place thanks to globalisation. As a result, thousands of different ethnicities all live under one roof, metaphorically. These people will always want to shop at places which cater to their culture. There is a reason that Asian corner shops have been so popular in the UK for decades.

By 玄史生 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Salon/Hairdresser

Yes, there are hundreds of salons in a single town. Still, that doesn’t mean that it isn’t a lucrative startup. The great thing about a hairdresser company is that the owner will always get traffic. Unless the entire area goes bald overnight, people will need a trim. The important thing is that entrepreneurs understand how they will stand out from the crowd. A promotion is often a good option, as is a job well done because it inspires customer loyalty. A well-run, professional outfit is essential, which is why a feature like Phorest makes sense. Even though it’s a salon, people don’t want a mani-pedi from a cowboy. That is unless dressing up as a cowboy is a gimmick.

Photo credit: Jane Coffey

App Development

Apps take off because people want a quick and easy way to shop or communicate. WhatsApp is the prime example. The public was getting tired of messaging by text, so the market was open to change. The instant messaging service came along and took the world by storm. Nowadays, it’s one of the biggest social media platforms on the planet. As long as the concept is solid, the app will get traction. And, developing one is pretty easy.

The process? Get in touch with a developer and pitch them the idea. They should have it up and running within weeks.

If you are like every other business owner across the world – you’ll be constantly on the lookout for ways in which you can improve. There will be no end to your quest in searching for the ways to take your business to the next level. That is a great thing! Your business needs that mentality to get anywhere.

But where should you look for ways to take your business up a notch? Well, start at dragging up the foundation to put yourself on a higher level. With any good business the foundation is computing. Get your computers refreshed, optimized and updated to give yourself the best chance for success. Your company needs ways to work, after all. But what next? Well you gear up your computers and equip your staff with the tools that they need to succeed. That comes in the form of software. Thanks to what seems like a never ending list of developing talent, there is a software package out there to meet your business needs. What a world we live in!

What package should you get started with? Well – any business that is a business is making some kind of money, even if it isn’t breaking even just yet. This means that accounting software is important. Freshbooks and Quickbooks are two packages that come as close to automating finances as you’re going to get right now. They rely on basic data entry (what you’ve earned today and what you have spent today) to calculate financial records, but can also help you claim expenses such as fuel spent on travel. They also help the legal side of your business thanks to the assistance provided with tax returns. No matter the size of your business, this type of accounting software can help you out! Financial software packages aren’t just limited to accounting software, no, contract management packages exist such as Exari’s professional suite of contract management software. No matter your financial needs, there will be a piece of software out there that can help you and your business.

There’s no point in succeeding in business if you lose your work because of a powercut or outage. Sensible business owners back their work up – so nothing stops them from succeeding. Backing up work doesn’t need to involve software as you can back up to the network and external hard-drives. Mozy is a subscription software that automatically backs up your workplaces computers to ensure that no disaster impacts your business. Google Drive also offers remote storage with remote working and collaboration possibilities. For dedicated collaboration, you won’t have to look further than Vyew. Vyew allows you host sessions over the internet so that discussion can take place and work can be done on a remote basis. This is essential if you want to go global with your business as your workers can collaborate on work from anywhere in the world.

If you are serious about business, you need to be serious about communications. There is no better communication tool than Slack, which positions itself as a virtual office allowing you to communicate instantly across the world with your team.

 

Businesses are constantly embracing digital technology in new and intuitive ways. Some companies are now taking the step to develop their own software either to help their staff or help their customers. Examples of uses include training programmes for staff, loyalty card apps for clients and electronic catalogues for recording stock. If you’re looking to develop your own business software, here are the steps you should take.

Research the market

Is there a real need for your software? Better still, is there already a programme out there than you can be adopting rather than building your own? These are the questions that you should be first asking yourself before developing software. Research online and read reviews of already existing software. Offer clients and customers a survey to find out if they think it would be an effective move to make.

Establish a budget

Developing software isn’t cheap – unless you’ve got the coding know-how to do it yourself, and even then you may have to hire team members and testers. Create a budget that you’re willing to spend. When you approach developers with your idea, you can then find out how feasible your idea is. Developers may be able to negotiate tweaks with you so that it meets your financial plan.

Design your software

It’s important to design your software before approaching developers or doing it yourself. Write down all the features you want and draw out how you’d like it to look. Look at other similar programmes to get ideas.

Start developing

If you’re developing the programme yourself, you’ll need to assemble a team to help you (otherwise it could take a long time to build). Use management software and tools to make the process more organised and give your team more power – this guide What is DevOps? discusses the importance of giving your team ownership. You’ll also need to hire a testing team and get to grips with testing software.

If you’re paying a development team to do it for you, make sure that you keep in contact throughout the development process in case they need to discuss any issues or much needed tweaks along the way.

Putting your software to use

Once your programme is built and fully tested, it’s then time to put it into action. If the programme is for staff use, you’ll need to get to grips with it first and then ideally write up a guide on how to operate it so that your staff can then get trained up on it.

If the software is for clients, you’ll need to market it. Let all your existing clients know about it via email, over social media and in person. Keep promoting it so that all your clients use it and highlight how it will make their lives easier (a digital menu app for a takeaway restaurant might also give clients loyalty points that could make future meals cheaper).