Advice

The Ups and Downs of Becoming an Entrepreneur

If you're thinking about starting a small business you need to avoid rose-tinted spectacles and consider the challenges you will face as well as the benefits you'll reap.

Alternative finance

Need to know: Asset-based finance

Waiting for invoices to be paid before investing the proceeds in your business can seriously impede growth. SmallBusiness.co.uk examines how factoring and invoice discounting can speed up expansion.

Legal advice

Renegotiating signed contracts

As a business owner you'll be required to sign hundreds of contractual agreements with suppliers, customers and shareholders. But what happens if circumstances change and you want to get out of a contract?

Business Ideas & Planning

Setting up in Australia

Considering seeking business fortunes Down Under? Then there are a set of steps you will need to take, including devising a thorough business plan, settling on a suitable business structure, and scouring the local market to ensure there's sufficient demand for your service or product.

Finding and selling to customers

Top 10 ecommerce tips

Online auction websites such as eBay and Amazon have spawned a generation of online entrepreneurs setting up their own ecommerce sites. These top ten tips may help you follow in their footsteps.

Office & home working

Finding suitable business premises

The majority of start-up businesses begin life at home, but there may come a time when a fledgling enterprise deserves to stand on its own two feet, having grown to a size that warrants dedicated premises. Use our handy guide to help you choose property that fits the bill.

Marketing

Is radio advertising for you?

You can't close your ears. That's the principle behind claims that radio is one of the best mediums for advertisers. Growing businesses in a range of sectors find it significantly boosts brand awareness, especially in conjunction with other media.

News

Office design key to retaining staff

Poor office design and layout is causing high staff turnover and lower profits, according to a recent survey that suggests that almost a third of employees would leave a job because of the physical environment.

Business Technology

Outsourcing website and email systems: the benefits

A study into web and email systems in SME businesses has revealed that organisations the length and breadth of the UK are wasting thousands of pounds every year by relying on badly managed and unreliable in-house server systems to deliver their website and email communications.

Finding and selling to customers

Need to know: CRM

Loyal customers can sustain your business by consistently returning and buying your product or service. But you cannot create loyalty without putting in the groundwork. This is why it's crucial to establish a customer relationship management (CRM) system to help you identify who your most loyal clients are, why they keep coming back and how to enhance their overall customer experience.

Small Business Banking

Business bank account checklist

Charges and services vary a great deal from bank to bank so it pays to do your homework and find out what suits you and your business.