Category

Running a Business

This section takes you through every important aspect of how to run a successful business. It offers expert guides and advice articles on the key elements of business management such as employing staff, finding customers, marketing and sales, pricing, people management, office and home working, business technology and everything else an entrepreneur must tackle in order to succeed.

Am I entitled to sick pay?

If I am self-employed, can I get any sick pay when I have an operation?

Employing & managing staff

Finding and selling to customers

How to find customers

Targeting the right person in a company is critical, but not always easy.

Business management

Top ten tips to business survival

Statistics show that in the first quarter of 2006 the number of company liquidations rose by 17 per cent on the same period of the previous year. To improve your chances of survival, Bibby Financial Services is offering these basic business tips.

Marketing

Benefit from podcasting

Even in the fad-friendly world of the internet, podcasting has become something of a phenomenon of late. But is podcasting simply the latest craze being toyed with by creative media types or is there more commercial substance behind it? Opinion is divided.

Business management

Handling interruptions

Busy owners of small businesses can be beset by constant interruptions: colleagues asking questions or presenting emergencies; pestering from overzealous salesmen; calls from customers and suppliers, and many more. Here are some tips and hints on dealing with interruptions.

Employing & managing staff

Hiring self-employed staff

We own a beauty salon and want to employ a self-employed nail technician, on a basis of splitting the money that she earns. How do we go about this and what do we need to put in her contract?

Employing & managing staff

How to reconnect young people and organisations

The Working Progress report, from Orange and think-tank Demos, highlights the damaging disconnect between graduates and employers and how this is affecting UK PLC. The report also provides solid and practical recommendations of ways in which the two can reconnect.

Employing & managing staff

Dealing with workplace relationships

Workplace relationships do happen, unsurprisingly when you consider how much time is spent at work by many in the UK.

Employing & managing staff

How to reconnect young people and organisations

The Working Progress report, from Orange and think-tank Demos, highlights the damaging disconnect between graduates and employers and how this is affecting UK PLC. The report also provides solid and practical recommendations of ways in which the two can reconnect.

Employing & managing staff

Dealing with workplace relationships

Workplace relationships do happen, unsurprisingly when you consider how much time is spent at work by many in the UK.

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?

Marketing

A guide to pay-per-click advertising

Internet advertising has rapidly come of age and is a method by which small businesses trading online can drive large numbers of customers to their sites at relatively little cost. This guide should prove useful in getting started on the pay-per-click road.

Legal advice

Moving abroad: legal issues

From a legal perspective, the rights and obligations affecting business owners vary greatly from country-to-country, so it is essential to understand the environment you are heading into prior to departure.

Legal advice

Legal entitlement to taking breaks

What is the legal entitlement to breaks relating to hours worked?

Business Loans

A guide to getting a small business loan

Everything you need to know on what small business loans are and what types of loan are available for your business.

Partner content

What are the funding options for hospitality businesses?

Hospitality businesses have faced a number of challenges in the last couple of years. Find out what funding and support is available.

Employing & managing staff

The importance of vocational rehabilitation services for SMEs

In Aviva’s latest SME research*, 57 per cent of employers surveyed agreed that nowadays employees expect benefits to protect against loss of income or earnings. What do you offer your people?

Partner content

What are the benefits of business broadband?

Business broadband offers a host of advantages over standard domestic connections, here’s why you should be considering an upgrade