Recession is no more than a state of mind

4 03 2009

As business owners it is impossible not to hear all of the talk of recession going on everyday, you turn on the news in the morning and the first things you here are more redundancies, share prices dropping, banks imploding…where does it stop! You do however have a choice, that choice is to listen to the news let other peoples opinions and perceptions of a situation affect you and go to work today feeling like it will be an uphill struggle to survive.

Or, you can chose to listen, make your own judgement and know that you have the ability to prove them all wrong.

Your mental state determines your success, if you feel like it is not worth even giving it a go because everything is against you then it will be. If you get up each morning knowing that what you are offering is fantastic, that your customers and prospects see it as a necessity to have rather than a luxury then it will be!

The Law of Attraction is widely talked about, and if you have read/watch/listened to The Secret then you will already know what I am about to say. You get exactly what you focus on.

I know there are skeptics out there who really don’t believe in it but I always use this example, when you are looking to buy a new car and have decided on a make and model have you ever noticed how many of them you see? They were always there, they haven’t suddenly become more popular it is your awareness of them that has changed. So, equally if you decided who you want to buy your product or service you will find them so much more easily, they are there already, you just need to focus on who you want.

So when I say recession is no more than a state of mind I truly believe it. If we focus on recession then it will come to us, if we focus on success that will come to use instead.

Which are you going to choose for you?





Identifying Opportunities

2 03 2009

Today, again, the newspapers are full of the gloom of the recession, HSBC shedding jobs, house prices are down, manufacturing businesses are on a higher turn down than thought… and it goes on!

But, I want to talk about an alternative approach to business at the moment. If you think about your own business you are still spending money when you need to, on those items you feel are essential to your business. So, have you looked at your business and applied that theory? What is it that you make or provide that is, or could be changed easily, to be essential to your target market? Or is it as simple as changing the marketing message you use to make your current offer essential?

If you search through the small articles on line you will find businesses doing well during these times. We can all have success even in recession, it is all about flexibility and adapting to the situation.





Did you know you can charge interest on late payments?

25 02 2009

As a small business owner late payment can mean the death of an otherwise fantastic company. What many small businesses don’t seem to know is that you can charge interest on outstanding invoices. I have been using this website for some time and their advice is great for sorting out late payments.

Let me know your thoughts and ideas.





How Small Business are surviving

24 02 2009

Very interesting article for all small businesses. Dragon’s Den star Theo Paphitis looks at how small businesses are surviving during the economic down turn.

Here are his top 12 rules:

RULE 1: REDUCE THE RISK
RULE 2: DON’T FOOL YOURSELF
RULE 3: LEARN TO LET GO
RULE 4: KNOW THAT CASH IS KING
RULE 5: EMBRACE CHANGE
RULE 6: USE COMMON SENSE
RULE 7: MAKE DECISIONS
RULE 8: WEIGH UP THE OPPOSITION – AND YOURSELF
RULE 9: START SMALL
RULE 10: GET YOUR STAFF ON BOARD
RULE 11: CAPITALISE ON OTHER PEOPLE’S IDEAS
RULE 12: TURN YOUR DREAMS INTO REALITY

The programme was on Monday 23 February at 8.30pm Panorama: Credit Where It’s Due is on BBC One. So you can catch it on BBC iPlayer

Read the full article here: BBC: Theo Paphitis





More time to pay Tax, VAT and NI!

23 02 2009

Hi all

I’d like to share a newsletter I received from BusinessLink. It provided some interesting information for those businesses who are struggling with paying their taxes etc to HMRC. You can now get more time to pay VAT, tax or NI to HMRC. Check out the link for information on grants, cashflow management, preventing late payment and much more.

I never thought there would be a time I would be sharing a BusinessLink newsletter because it was relevant!

BusinessLink Newsletter





Introduction

22 02 2009

I know what it’s like to run a small business both in the heady days of the early 2000’s and also the not so heady past year. So, I decided that I would put together this blog, focussing on how to help small businesses. I will be inviting along some special guests to post comment and offer great advice. I hope you will enjoy it and help the blog along with lots of comments.

Posts will be frequent so pop back and check the site out regularly or follow us on Twitter to be notified of new posts