A Very Simple History of Brexit in the UK

I’m not going to get in to the politics of Brexit – far too busy for that. Like it or not though this is history in the making and it’s very likely to have an impact on your small business. I thought it would be interesting to put together a consolidated timeline of events. An impartial version of the story of Brexit… so far.

Self employment lockdown grants extended… again!

Yes folks, here we are again. We have a 3rd and 4th lockdown grant. The government have announced the UK will be in lockdown from the 5th Nov to 2nd Dec 2020. This will be devastating for a lot of small businesses who were just getting back on their feet. The good news is there’s more money available through the self employment income support scheme grant. The bad news is they will only cover 55% of your profits at best versus 80% for furloughed employees. Oh, and a lot of businesses won’t qualify for them at all. Are self employed folk really 30% less important than employees? Let’s take a look at how it all works.

Is it time to stop using Twitter as a free support platform?

If there’s one thing that the Covid pandemic has highlighted it’s that we’re far from ready for an ‘all online’ approach to running our daily lives. We’ve entered the weirdest phase so far in our juvenile approach to handling sensitive customer data. We’re now positively encouraging people to send personal information via 3rd party public forums, such as Twitter or Facebook. This would be fine if it wasn’t for two things: a) it’s a 3rd party and b) it’s a public forum. Not only is this a terrible approach to customer service but it’s also dangerous and massively short sighted. Is it time to stop using Twitter as a free CRM platform?

How do you take remote payments with Zettle?

Did you know you can take remote payments using Zettle? In this article I’m taking a look at the ‘Pay-by-Link’ feature. Is it any good and how can it benefit your business? This is great for businesses who are used to taking face-to-face payments who are rapidly evolving their business model to handle more remote ways of working. In this article I’ll step you through taking remote payments from customers.

Budget 2020 – What does it mean for the self employed?

The 2020 budget has been long awaited. Delayed due to Brexit shenanigans, scuppered by a general election, complicated by a change of chancellor and then almost entirely wiped out by a global pandemic, this has been a hard one to get across the line. Across the line it is and Rishi Sunak did an admirable job. So what does it all mean for you hard working self employed folk out there? Let’s find out!

Is cash dead? …what about cash-in-hand work?

At the time of writing we’re approaching the start of the 2020’s. Physical cash is dead. Everyone wants to pay by credit card or contactless technologies. It’s more professional and it means you no longer need to be an unpaid credit facility for your customers. Money can circulate around your business faster and this can massively promote growth, especially in the early days of self employment. In this article we’re asking the question, is cash finally dead?