Tips & Advice

Because setting up a company can be such a quick and painless process, it is easy to forget that there is more to it than just registering your business name with Companies House. Whether you do the job yourself or use a company formation service, once the business is established, there are other responsibilities that the company director has on a regular basis. Fail to comply with these and you be facing an unpleasant encounter with the business bogeyman – HMRC.

Company formation basics

When you decide to start a business, then you have different formats to choose from, depending on the nature of the business. For some, setting up as a sole trader is the ideal solution but for many businesses, being formed as a limited company is the best option. There is a process to follow to set up a company that involves both Companies House and HMRC and a series of information that is required to create the company.There are some rules about the name you can give your company to start with – Companies House website has a page that tells you all about this here and includes things like not using the word ‘royal’ or ‘queen’ as it hints at a connection with the royal family. Once you have a name that is acceptable, you need at least one director and one shareholder. All of this information is submitted to Companies House and you can do this yourself or simplify the process by using a company formation service.

Annual responsibilities

Once the company is set up and you have a Certificate to prove it, then that stage of the process is complete. But there are also a number of other responsibilities that business owners have during the course of the year. Firstly, there are the annual tasks that need to be done.Each year a Confirmation Statement needs to be filed with Companies House. This is an overview of the company including the shareholders and directors and confirms that all the information held on the business is correct. It needs to be done once a year and can be done online or on paper, though the latter is more expensive.Annual accounts are required to be filed with Companies House, although this only needs to be an abbreviated version. HMRC will require a full set of accounts including profit and loss accounts and a director’s report. These need to be filed separately as the two don’t pass papers between them. Along with this, form CT600 needs to be completed and this is usually done by the company’s accountant as it is quite a complicated form.Every company director must also complete an annual self-assessment to declare the income they have receive from any source including from the company. Any businesses that have staff are also required to report their annual employer returns, although most of this is now done through the PAYE system in real-time.

Quarterly responsibilities

Any business that earns more than the stated threshold must registered for VAT and it is important to remember that when you register, the accounts for the previous 12 months must be taken into account. Being VAT registered means you need to complete a quarterly return on your VAT which can be done online. It is due by the end of the month following the end of the quarter.While you only file one form, both HMRC and Companies House will fine you if you don’t complete this information so it is very important not to miss this.

In the last few years there has been a massive increase in the number of people who are becoming self-employed or starting their own small business. From freelance accountants and bookkeepers to odd job people and even fashion designers, more and more people are setting up on their own and for a great number of these people, this means setting up business from your home. But how can you ensure that your business remains professional and will be successful when you share your workplace with your living place?Lets take a look at some top tips and sound advice about running your own business from home and not letting it take over your whole home life.

Starting the business

The first step to having a home business is to know what you want to do. Planning is crucial to avoid vagueness and a sense of panic when work doesn’t start to arrive when you expect it to. Therefore, creating a business plan is something you should do before you give up your current job or register yourself as self-employed. Questions you should ask yourself include:

• What can I do?What do I enjoy doing?Is there a market for this service or product?Can I make a living from it?How will I make and store this item pending sale?

People looking at a service based business have a few less considerations than those creating a product. For example, the self-employed accountant simply needs space for computer equipment, maybe some filing room but someone making handmade crafts needs room to store both the equipment and supplies to make the products and for the finished items themselves. So you need to assess what space you need and if you can take over enough of the house to do this when planning your business.A lot of people make good use of a spare room in their home, extend into their loft space or convert a cellar or garage into a storage area. You have to make sure that these environments are safe for storage or to work from.

Creating the business

Once you have an idea, know it is viable and there is an active demand or market for it then you can move onto the next step. Whether you simply register with HMRC as self-employed as a sole trader or form a company will depend on your plans. For example, a self-employed accountant might not plan to ever take on staff and only do the work that he or she can manage on their own. But the handmade crafts business may plan to eventually have employees making the products or have staff to handle packaging and distribution. So while being a sole trader might work for the former who never plans to expand, forming a limited company might be better for the second.When you work from home, this could mean giving out your private home address to everyone you do business with and this might not be a good idea. Therefore as part of forming your company, it might be worth investing in a registered office address service. This allows you to use an address, say in London, where all of your statutory business mail is sent. This address will go on all of your official documents and will be on the public register at Companies House for anyone researching your company.Once the company is formed you need to create an online presence for it. This means a combination of a website and social media accounts, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, that are for the business and will help start to make its existence known to the world. You can hire a web designer to build your website for you if you don’t feel confident doing the job yourself. You might also want to consider having a blog for your company as this increases your online exposure, helps your search engine rankings, and can drive new customers to your business.

Growing the business

As the business grows and takes up more of your time, you may start to outsource some of the tasks to other professionals or companies that specialise in certain aspects of running a business. One good example is a call handling or mail handling service, or a complete virtual office that can answer your calls and sort through your mail. This frees up your time to deal with other matters and means you only get the calls and mail that is important to you. Mail handling services can even scan mail and send the content to you via email, reducing the time between receiving it and you handling the contents.Other tasks you may want to outsource include your accounting and the writing of the blog. Freelance accountant paired with online bookkeeping software can make the process of submitting tax returns and other official documents much easier. And if you want to continue to grow your online presence, hiring a freelance writer to create blogs posts is ideal. Some offer virtual assistant services too where they can handle your social media awareness and marketing campaigns.

Take a break from it all

One of the most important things when working from home is that you take a break from it all on a regular basis and that you try to have an established working pattern. There’s always the temptation to do another 30 minutes after dinner because you work in one of your bedrooms and it is convenient to check emails or follow up on messages - but beware, this can lead to burnout! And because your home is also your place of work, it is important to take a break and get away from it all for a while.Remember, if you set up your outsourcing correctly, the business can continue to run without you for a week or two!

Every limited company needs to have at least one director as part of its company foundation along with at least one shareholder, though they can be the same person. There are certain responsibilities with being a company director and certain things you need to disclose to a public register. One of these is an address and this is where our directors service address service comes in.

Limited company basics

A director is just one essential part of the information required to create a limited company. There are a series of pieces of information that must be submitted to Companies House to create a new limited company. These are:

• The company name – this needs to comply with the rules regarding what you can and can’t call your company, available through Companies House websiteThe address for your company – this can be the business premises or a registered officeOne director and one shareholder – they can be same personMemorandum of association – agreed by all shareholders to create the companyStatement of capital – details of the shares of the company when it is formedArticles of association – company rules about how it will operateDetails of anyone with significant control – this is more than 25% of shares or voting rightsSIC code – standard industry code for the type of business you are creating

As well as registering the details above with Companies House, the company needs to let HMRC know that they will be paying Corporation Tax.Company formation can be done online or using a company formations service such as the one we offer. This means you simply provide the information and we go through all the necessary forms and procedures then provide the certificate to prove the company has been formed.

Being a company director

Being a company director means you will be listed on the public record as being associated with the company. Anyone can become a company director apart from if they have been disqualified under the articles of association, are an undischarged bankrupt, have been disqualified from such a role by court order or you are also the auditor for the company.A director doesn’t have to be a shareholder but they can be both – it depends on the individual and the company. There are also ways to add a director after the company has been formed as well as remove one if they no longer wish to have the role – although there must always be one director listed for the company.

Director’s service address

There are several pieces of information filed on the public record at Companies House for the director of the company. These include name, date of birth, residential and service address, occupation and nationality. This is where the director’s service address service comes in very handy. Your residential address is not a matter of public record but your service address is, and often people don’t want their home address to be available publicly. If you ran your business from home, I am sure you wouldn't appreciate the risk of cold-callers knocking on your door at all hours.Therefore, many company directors make use of our service to use our London address as their service address. The only stipulation with being a service address is that it can receive statutory mail and that it can be found – so it has to be a real 'bricks and mortar' address. Our Directors Service Address is a real address based in the heart of London.Our comprehensive service means we can collect your statutory mail on your behalf and forward it to an address of your choosing. It keeps your personal address from the public record and allows you to ensure no-one can find out where you live through this register.The additional benefit of the system is that you get to use a London address, with the prestige this gives a business. It doesn’t matter where a director lives or where the business is based – they can still use the London address as the director’s service address. It can even be used as the registered office address for the whole company if this works well for the business.

Conclusion

Keeping information such as your home address private is an important step for most people with concerns about security and identity fraud. By using a service address such as ours for your director’s address, you can have the security of keeping information private as well as the reassurance that your mail will be handled in a top quality manner and that you will receive it in a timely manner.

There are any number of reasons why the life of a company has to come to an end ranging from insolvency through to having served its purpose and no longer being required. Whatever the reason, there are a series of processes to follow to close or dissolve a limited company.

Reasons for closing a company

The reason that you are choosing to close the company is part of the process as to how you can dissolve it. Therefore, understanding the reason will help any agents you use in the process understand what method needs to be used to close down your company.

If the company is solvent

If a company is financially secure and can pay its bills, it is termed as solvent. This means if you want to, you can apply for the company to be struck off the Register of Companies held at Companies House. Alternatively, you can start a member’s voluntary liquidation. These are the cheapest two ways to close down a company.

Striking off the public register

To have a company struck off the register, it must first comply with a number of requirements. These include:

• It has traded or sold any stock in the previous three months
• There have been no changes of company name in the last three months
• There is no threat of liquidation
• There are no agreements in place with creditors such as a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA)

Next you must apply to legally close down the company. To do this, you must announce your plans to anyone involved as well as to HMRC. Any employees must be treated according to current employment laws and any business assets and accounts must be handled correctly. People to be informed include members or shareholders, creditors, employees, managers of any employee pension fund and any directors not already having signed the application.You are also obliged to send your final accounts to HMRC and a Company Tax Return form but this doesn’t need to be filed with Companies House. All documents must be retained for 7 years after the business is closed.To strike off the business, you complete the form DS01 with Companies House. This must be signed by the majority of the company directors and all assets should have been dealt with before the form is completed. There is a charge of £10 to do this and you will receive confirmation that the process is complete, usually two months after notice is filed.

If the company is insolvent

If a company is in financial difficulty and cannot pay its bills, it is termed as insolvent and this where the company owns money to its creditors, whose interests come before those of shareholders or directors. In this case, you need to use the creditors’ voluntary liquidation process or the company may be forced into undertaking compulsory liquidation.To have a creditors voluntary liquidation of the company, a shareholders meeting is required and 75% of them (by value) must agree to pass a winding-up order. After this, the company must appoint an authorised insolvency practitioner as a liquidator to deal with all company assets. The liquidator will sell the business and send a copy of the resolution to Companies House within 15 days and advertise in The Gazette (The Official Public Record).

If the company has no director

If the company finds itself in the position where it has no director, say if the sole registered director has died, then the company may be struck off if they don’t appoint a new director to take their place. To do this, shareholders need to agree to appoint a new director and vote on it. If the sole director has died and there are no company shareholders, the executor of the estate can appoint someone to be the director, as long as this is catered for in the articles.

Dormant company

An option to think about when you first form a company is to create a dormant company. This is a company that isn’t actively trading at the present time. You can also make your company dormant if the company has stopped trading and is no longer carrying out any business activities or receiving any income. In this situation, although you will not be actively trading, the company will still be registered with Companies House and annual accounts and confirmation statements will still be required to be submitted on an annual basis. A company can remain dormant indefinitely if you wish.

Restoring a dissolved or struck off company

Once a company has been dissolved or struck off, this doesn’t have to mean that this is the absolute end for the company. You can restore a dissolved or struck off company as long the right paperwork is completed to do this. You can use a service to restore a dissolved or struck off company to undertake this process on your behalf and this will ensure it is done correctly. It usually taking around 4 to 6 weeks to complete. The process will include fees if there are any court proceedings to undertake as part of the process.

While it is a pretty straightforward process for a UK resident to open a business bank account here, it can be a little more complicated for a non-UK resident. Although it is not a legal requirement for you to have a separate UK bank account for your business, it will be wise for you to do so from a practical point of view.Without a business account for your limited company, it will be very difficult for you to manage your finances and sort your business accounting records from your personal ones. It will also be much more difficult for you to obtain business financing for your company as you may not be taken very seriously without a proper business account. A business will have much more credibility in the eyes of financial institutions if they are seen to be running professionally with a dedicated business bank account.As a non-UK resident you may be eligible for a business bank account from some of the major UK banks: Barclays International or Lloyds Bank for example. The second option you could try is to open a bank account overseas by legalising your company formation documents.

Verification

It is routine for banks to perform credit checks on all applicants wishing to open a business bank account. This is done to verify the applicants suitability. Checks will include providing them with photographic ID and proof of a UK address, both of which must be submitted in person at the bank you are applying to. With Lloyds Bank, you may be allowed to open an account for your business if at least one of the account signatories resides in the UK. With Barclays International, it may be possible for you to open an account if you can provide an initial security deposit along with your application.If you are yet to incorporate your business, then you may be able to take advantage of our Barclays Business Banking service available to our registered clients. Please contact us for more information.Here are some details for the requirements to open a business bank account in the UK:

Lloyds Bank

An account with Lloyds would be suitable for a limited company with at least one UK-resident signatory. Applications can be made online or by telephone. The UK based director will be asked to present photographic ID and proof-of-address documentation in person at a Lloyds bank branch. Overseas company owners and account signatories must send copies of their photographic ID and proof-of-address documents to the same Lloyds branch. The documents will have to be legally certified before presentation by a banking official, notary, solicitor or government body.Remember to take copies of your paperwork. Do not post your original documents just in case they get lost in transit. Get your copies legalised and post those instead.

HSBC Business Banking

An HSBC account may be suitable for UK registered limited companies with all non-UK resident shareholders and directors. To meet with the requirements of the bank, the shareholders of the company must travel to the UK to meet with an HSBC representative at a HSBC bank branch.

Barclays International

Barclays offer accounts that are suitable for companies with no UK-resident directors or shareholders. To apply you must go through Barclays International that is based in the Isle of Man. Usually, you will be asked for a security deposit of £10,000 for the first month after account activation. Your account will be classes as being offshore. However, your account will be based in London and you will be able to access the same facilities as any other type of bank account, such as credit cards, debit cards, cheque books, online banking and telephone banking.

Your Local Bank

Check to see if your local bank has a presence in London. If this is the case then if you go through them you may be able to get an account opened at their UK branch.

An International Bank with a Branch close to you

An international bank will likely have a branch in operation in the UK. Check with them to see about setting up an account with their UK branch.

Online Merchant Accounts

There are companies who offer merchant account facilities and a type of basic banking and even MasterCard, but they are not registered banks so banking regulations do not apply to them. Some examples are Paypal.com, Skrill.com, and Cashflows.com. They also charge much higher fees than regular banks, so you may find banks to be more cost-effective in the long run.If you have a registered company in the UK, but you want to open a business bank account in your country of residence, you can obtain an Apostille for your Certificate of Incorporation and the Memorandum and Articles of Association. These corporate certificates will be required by overseas banks and authorities as evidence of the legal existence of your UK company.It is quite straightforward to get your documents legalised by a Notary by going to a qualified lawyer specialising in Notarial Practice. They will sign your company documents and liaise with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London to obtain the Apostille Certificates. You can also apply online through the Legislation Office.

Google is the number one search engine across the world and is the search engine of choice for everyone from big businesses assessing their competition, students for conducting research, to millions of people who use it for shopping and entertainment purposes.It is almost like second nature for most people to open a browser and conduct a Google search, but are you actually making the best possible use of Google? How do you know that you are searching effectively for what you are looking for and getting the best results?We have put together a few helpful tips to make the most of your Google searches:

1: Check out the tabs in Google search.

Whenever you conduct a search in Google for something, the first screen that appears with your results will usually be displayed on the Web tab. However, if you look at the top of your search results page you will see a number of different tabs that run horizontally across the page. These tabs are usually named Web, Image, News, and More. Many people pay no attention to these alternative tab options and will only ever look at the results on the first page that comes up.You can use the different tabs to help you define what sort of results you need. Often you may find much more targeted results in a different tab to the default 'Web' tab that you have displayed automatically. For example, if you are wanting to catch up with all the latest industry news in your business sector, you may be better off entering your keywords to search and then clicking the 'News' tab. This tab will display all the latest press-releases and relevant media results for your chosen keywords.

2: Search using quotation marks

Google will always produce search results containing the keywords you choose, but you can take some of the guesswork out of the search by using phrases and keywords enclosed in quotation marks in your Google search. This helps to narrow down your search results to deliver a much more relevant selection. For example, if you were looking to buy someone a gift of a silver locket and chain for an upcoming birthday, then actually typing in “silver locket and chain” into your Google search will bring up results that contain those exact words in that order rather than a mixture of results using those words in any order.

3: Exclude unwanted words with a hyphen

You may want to do a quick Google search but the keyword you want may have an ambiguous meaning. For example, you want to look up some information on Cheddar, but you are more interested in the Somerset Town rather than the variety of cheese. To prevent your search results becoming overloaded with cheese references, use a hyphen to discount any cheese related results. You can do this by typing Cheddar -cheese into your Google search bar. This will effectively remove any cheese related links and provide you with information about the town only.

4: Get site specific results by using a colon

Sometimes you may want to catch up with news and articles about someone from once specific website or news source. Rather than having to wade your way through results from many other sources, you can narrow down your results to display only those from a particular website.Lets say for example that you typed in the following keywords: David Cameron site:BBC.comThe results that Google will provide will be content written about David Cameron, but only that published on the BBC website. This can be a great time-saver.

5: Discover sites that link to another

OK this is one that is quite an obscure trick, but nevertheless could be useful to find out who citing articles from other sites. So lets say you read Cosmopolitan magazine and wondered what other sites linked to it. You would type, link:cosmopolitan.com to find out which other websites were linking in with it. The URL you choose to add could be practicality anything, but the more specific it is, the less results you are likely to turn up.

6: Make use of the asterisk wild-card

The asterisk wild-card may not be very well known by many but is one of the most useful tricks on the list. Using asterisks (*) in your search terms will make Google leave placeholders that could be filled automatically later on. This can be a very handy way of discovering missing song lyrics, famous film lines or poetry quotations that you cannot remember too well. If you were to type in, we * fight them on the beaches, we shall fight * streets, it may look like complete nonsense, but Google will know that the asterisks can mean any word, so will look for phrases that closely contain these words and provide the results you will need. This quote is indeed the famous speech given by Churchill during WWII, but how many of us can remember it exactly word for word?

7: Similar site search

This is a useful site for businesses who want to keep up with their competition and see who is running a similar site to their own. It can also be used by anyone for entertainment purposes. For example if you are a fan of a band or an actor but were getting a little bored of the regular fan sites you visit, you can search for similar sites to find new places to go and get your information. Also great for shopping around and looking for a bargain on sale through a different site.Type in, related:eBay.com to come up with alternative sites other than eBay to browse through, or related:bradpittweb.com to find an alternative Brad Pitt fan club site.

8: Google mathematics

Did you know that you can use Google to do your maths homework for you? Either ask for basic maths solutions such as 8 * 5 + 5. The answer returned will be 45. You will also get a link to a calculator too if you need one.

9: Multiple word search

Due to the flexible nature of Google, you can search with a combination of words at once to get the results you want. Searching by single keywords may prove fruitless as the number of results given could be vast. By narrowing down your search using multiple words you will be more likely to find what you are looking for much quicker. Use complete questions or phrases such as 'how to prepare for a job interview' rather than simply typing in 'job interview'. This will give you more targeted results.

10: Search using numbers

This is a handy tip for those working in finance or who work with numbers and statistics on a daily basis. Basically you will use two dots and a number to discover what you want. So for example: Who won Wimbledon ..1973. This will tell Google to find results for that year only and no other years results should be included.

11: KISS

KISS is the acronym for Keep It Simple, Stupid. Google is great for searching out a lot of different information, but you don't have to be too specific to find the results you need. So if you wanted to find a local shoe shop, rather than type in something like: find me shoe shops in and around Birmingham city centre, you can simply type in: shoe shops nearby. Google will know your location and will deliver a list of shoe shops in your area with distances, web links, directions and map locations.

12: Add gradual keywords

If at first Google doesn't give you the exact results you want, then you can add more search terms to help narrow down your results further. So if you added: Job interview, but want more specific answers, then add in 'Job interview suit' for more targeted results.

13: Think like a website

When conducting your search, use words that websites would use. Most people use keywords that are the same as used for every day speech, but websites are not exactly human, so by using language that is more professional you stand a better chance of getting the results you want. So instead of typing 'I have toothache', try to use 'tooth pain relief'.

14: Use your main keywords

Google search works better by using your main important keywords to generate results. If you search with too many words, or use words that are a bit ambiguous, then the results can vary widely. Remember to cut the clutter when creating your search term to make it easier for Google to find the results you need.

15: Use Google shortcuts

Let's say you wanted to find out what the weather forecast is for the next 24 hours. Instead of doing a Google search for the Met Office, the clicking through to the weather map, then drilling down to the regional forecast and then selecting the 3 day forecast and scrolling through the information found on there, why not simply type in to Google search 'Weather' followed by your post code, so 'Weather SW1'. This will give you an instant weather forecast for your area.

16: Don't worry about your spelling

Google has evolved well over the years and can interpret simple grammar errors or when someone has a case of the 'fat fingers'. As long as the search term is pretty close to want you want, Google will work out what you mean and provide results that match.

17: Be descriptive

Don't be afraid to use descriptive words in your search term. The way Google interprets keywords is quite clever. Many things can be described in different ways, so be specific but also be descriptive. If you Google 'fork' you will get everything from cutlery to system calls and a copy of a repository! Do you mean a fork to eat with, a tuning fork, a river fork or a fork in the road?

18: Locating files

Google was always useful for finding specific files or file types, but this is often overlooked by people today. If you are wanting to download a specific PowerPoint presentation or PDF file that you remember looking at, you simply have to type in your search phrase followed by 'filetype:pdf' so for example: eat fat and grow slim filetype:pdf. Very useful for study purposes and also for business presentations too.

19: Currency conversion

Google also supply a very handy currency conversion calculator that is up to date with the current monetary values. It makes it easy to check the conversion rates between two different currencies, and also for when you are making overseas purchases and want to know how much the item will cost in Pound sterling. You can also convert miles to kilometres for when you are planning a journey.

20: Keep track of your packages

Many of the major delivery services such as UPS and DPD are now using track and trace to keep tabs on your deliveries. You can put your tracking number into the Google search bar and you will see the latest information about where your package is and when out for delivery, your expected time of delivery.

Conclusion:

Google is a very powerful search engine that is often underutilised by most people. By incorporating some of these handy tips and tricks into your search efforts you may well find better results or find what you are looking for much quicker without spending too much time scrolling around.

A business plan is an important piece of information, so you should take care to make sure your create one that will form a solid foundation for you to build your business upon. Simply put, it is a written document that accurately describes your business, outlines your business objectives, what strategies you plan to use for operation and marketing, and projections for your sales and financial forecasts.

How will a business plan help me?

You may have the perfect business idea in your mind, but actually writing out your business plan will help you to clarify your business ideas and help you to think about them in fine detail. Laying out your business plan can often show up potential weak spots or problems that you may not have considered, but will also allow you to set about solving them before they ever become an issue.Everyone that sets up a business will have goals to achieve. Your business plan will enable you to set your business goals, whether they be short-term ones that can be easily reached within a few short weeks or months, or longer-term goals for where you see your business in five or ten years time.You can also use your business plan as your guide as you grow your business and measure your actual progress against your set goals and milestones within your plan.Many businesses will look to secure financing from banks to help them start up or expand their business. You will need a sound business plan in place if you want to gain a business loan from a bank or seek investment from other financial bodies.Having a well thought out business plan can also help to establish your reputation as a serious business. It can help to build trust in customers and clients, convince suppliers that you are genuine, and also help potential new employees to believe in you and feel secure in their employment.

How much time does a business plan cover?

Your business plan will set out your strategy and plan of action. Most typical business plans initially cover the first one to three years, but sometimes this can be longer depending on the rate of growth you want to achieve.Putting your plan into writing will help you focus on each goal or idea and prioritise the most important ones to achieve first. Once you have sorted out your priorities and shelved any objectives that can be brought in at a later time, you can end up saving yourself a lot of precious time.What you originally thought may take three years to implement may actually take less than two to achieve once you have sorted out your most important objectives. Your business plan will act as your benchmark for your business performance. It can help to keep you on track to achieve your goals and prevent you wasting time on other actions that may not be as crucial right at that time.

Tailoring your business plan to suit others

As well as setting out your own business goals and objectives, your business plan may be needed to sell the idea of your business to others, such as investors, shareholders and bank managers. In this case you should base your plan on detailed financial information where possible. Investors may not be too interested in the minutiae of your operational and marketing strategies, so you can tailor your plan to suit their interests and needs.When applying for financial backing, try to keep the plan short. Use our checklist to make your business plan more appealing to investors:

• Keep the plan short
• Focus on what the investor needs to know
• Cut out any waffle or details that are not of their concern
• Check your spelling and grammar
• Overly detailed business plans are often quickly shelved

You might want to include:

• CVs of key personnel
• Detailed financial forecasts, projections and assumptions
• Market research data
• Product literature or technical specifications

Presentation is key

When presenting your business plan to others, the overall presentation is very important. Make sure it looks professional or else you may not be taken seriously. Put a cover on your plan and include an easy to read contents page at the front complete with page and section numbering.It would also be wise to start your business plan off with an executive summary as a nice introduction and overview for the reader. People will often make assumptions and judgements based on the summary you provide. This will basically summarise the key points of your plan to make it easier for your readers to understand. You should treat your business plan as an important and professional document, even when it is only ever going to be for internal use only.Put yourself in your readers shoes. Look at your business plan from your target reader's point of view. Does it make sense to you? Would it convince you to invest into it if you were approached for financing with this plan? Review and amend your plan until you are completely happy with it.

How to write your business plan

Going into detail about how to write your business plan and what to include in it would take up a lot of your reading time here, so instead we would like to recommend that you take a look at the Princes Trust website where you will find plenty of free tips on how to write your perfect business plan as well as free business plan templates that you can download and use in Word or PDF format. You will also find free downloadable business tables in Excel that you can use for your financial projections.

Setting up your company and business banking

When you have your business plan in place and are ready to make your new business official, you should take a look at our Company Formations service. Establishing a business can be a complicated process that involves a lot of paperwork and reporting to the correct authorities. Should you be unsure about any aspect of setting up your own company or even make a mistake with your registration, you could experience a whole range of problems later down the line.This is where we at Capital Office can help you. We have decades of experience in these areas and offer a fully comprehensive professional company formation service. No matter if you are looking at setting up as a Limited Company, a Limited Liability Partnership, or a company that is Limited by Guarantee, we have the right package for you. We can help and guide you through every step of your company formation process and ensure your new company is properly and expertly founded.

Barclays Fast Track Banking

You will want to set up a separate business bank account for your company and we can help you with this too. We provide all clients with Barclays fast track banking. We know how important it is to keep on top of your finances, and that is why Capital Office have teamed up with the UK's leading Bank and Accountancy Practice. Capital Office can help you get a Business Bank Account through Barclays, this is a fast track scheme which is available through us.

Your customers are what helps a business survive. When customers spend money, your business can keep its doors open for another day. It is important to listen to the feedback given by customers to make improvements to slow down the frequency of customers buying from the competition.

Poor Customer Service

Poor customer service is at the top of the list when it comes to customer retention. When customers feel like a number or as “just as sale”, it does not make them want to continue to do business with your brand. Customers should be made to feel important and their questions should never be a bother to any of your employees.

Not Trending

Is your business following the current business trends? If not, your customers may be discontent with your brand. Consumers like brands that can change and evolve with advanced technology, buying trends, and consumer needs. Consumers are more attracted to brands that stay up-to-date on industry and society trends. The use of advanced technology will help your business become up-to-date and able to compete by being trendy.

Defective Products

Repeated reports of defective products makes customers leave and seek a substitute with a competitor. It is important to fully test products for safety, function, and practicality prior to releasing them for sale. When consumers see multiple product recalls from one company, their impression of the company suffers.

Poor Website Performance

When a website is slow, freezes, or does not have a properly working search function it drives traffic away. If a consumer cannot easily find what he or she is looking for, frustration sets in and additional options are sought. Ensure that your brand’s website is mobile-friendly, optimized, and organized.

Poor Brand Reputation

All it takes is one bad review being posted to start an ambush of negativity for a brand. The negative reputation can be difficult to overcome, but persistence pays off. Begin interacting with your audience, posting reviews, and reacting professionally to negativity to bring customers back.

Inconsistencies

Inconsistencies in content display, and even shipping, confuses customers. A recent trend is the demand for same day delivery, businesses not offering this option are losing customers. Society has become impatient. With advanced technology and logistics options, society expects brands to be consistent with the rest of the industry. Consumers also expect brands to deliver consistent content on a regular basis for communications purposes.

Toxic Employees

Employees that are not focused on their jobs are easily detectable by customers. When customers see employees checking cell phones, chatting in corners or are seemingly distracted, it is a big turn off. Not only does it reduce productivity, it tells customers that employees do not care about their employer or the customer.In some cases, a toxic employee may be bringing their personal issues to work, which sabotages the productivity of the entire staff.

Pricey Products

If the products manufactured by your brand are too expensive for the target audience, customers will seek out more cost effective items. It is difficult to regain customers when your prices drive them away. It is important to be competitive while still making a profit, but this cannot be at the expense of losing your customer base.

Behind Technology

Customers want to work with brands that are up-to-date on technology and features. It tells the audience that the company pays attention to society’s evolution and technology. Advanced technology enhances consumer experiences and increases brand efficiency.

Boring Marketing

If your brand’s marketing attempts are not performing, your consumer base either is bored or is unable to connect with the product. This big marketing issue needs to be fixed immediately. When marketing campaigns fail to capture the intended audience, customers will go to a competitor that has marketing campaigns that do grab their attention. To reel in new customers or keep those on the fence around, consider a few promotions.

Final Thoughts

If you make a few changes to your business strategy and standard practices, your customers will stay loyal for a longer period. With that being said, consumer experience should be a priority for your business. The customer may not always be right, but their words should act as insight regarding their unique experience with your business.

In order for a business to remain relevant in today’s world, it has to be up-to-date with trends. It also has to be in-tune with technology. Brands that use the latest technology to improve customer experiences are dominating their respective industries. To become a driving force in your specific industry, it may be time to make some upgrades to your business’ methods, tools, and strategies.

Use Video Marketing

Video marketing is trending in 2016. It is important to learn the tricks to creating a compelling video-marketing campaign that displays the brand’s ability to adapt to change. When creating video advertisements, make sure to only include text that is relevant. Society wants to watch and listen rather than read. Show examples of how a product or service works while explaining simply why a consumer or business needs the product/service. Simple is the best approach with video marketing.

Telecommuting Employees

Telecommuting (virtual) employees are ideal for growing businesses. Not only are virtual offices and virtual employees becoming more popular, it is a better way to keep overhead costs down for businesses. Employees that have the ability to work remotely are more productive, have better work ethics, and are more relaxed. They also have less sick days and require less vacation time than traditional employees. Going virtual is trending in 2016 as more businesses see the advantages of a virtual workforce and the need to cut spending on traditional office spaces.

Mobile-Friendly Websites

In 2016, much of the world has gone mobile. This means that your business needs to be able to go with them. More people are accessing the Internet from wireless devices like smartphones, tablets, and laptop computers. Google has also made changes to its policies requiring businesses to be mobile-friendly.Your mobile users should be able to access the same features as your web-users. When consumers have to go to a computer to place an order rather than right from their mobile device, it is seen as an inconvenience.

Increased Demand for Faster Service

Consumers do not like to wait for ordered items to arrive in the mail or via parcel delivery. More are demanding same-day service for goods, services, and consultations. If your business has multiple locations, it may be a great marketing strategy to advertise same-day delivery for local customers. This will increase your client base and allow for the business to expand to more areas around the world with the same business model, operations, and delivery practices.Those that are not local should be offered the option of overnight delivery, at their cost for shipping. Companies have to be able to cater to customer demand in order to have longevity in their industries.

Upgrade Computer Networks

Upgraded computer networks using an individual business server, cloud networks and integrated applications, makes working easier for your employees. Advanced technology is designed to make performing tasks, staying productive, and reaching co-workers with questions easier. It is important to include a central location for employee chatter for employees to decompress, joke a bit, and take some of their work-related stress off.Consider implementing the use of tablets, mobile inventory counters and mobile conferencing technology, to keep all employees on the same page. Outdated technology tends to fail over time, and this can result in a huge loss of company data. It is vital that you stay up-to-date with technology.

Use Digital Tools

Digital tools help keep all of your employees on the same page. Tools like Dropbox, Slack, Trello and Evernote, are ideal for keeping files in a specific location while allowing access to them by all employees. Some of these tools can be used with additional integrated apps to create time lines, have productivity reminders, and deadline reminders. Anything that helps employees stay on-track, upbeat and happy at work, is a good addition to your digital tools. The tools should be available to all employees so that none are working at a disadvantage.

Final Word

Working to get your company up-to-date may cost a bit up-front but will be worth it. It will also provide a better overall experience for your customers. The increased revenues from happy customers that continually come back, gives you more to re-invest into the company for further technological improvements to your everyday operations.

Recognizable business leaders often become authors to help other business owners become successful. Each successful person has had a different path to success. Each has learned what works and what doesn’t in terms of building a strong company, meeting business goals and becoming dominant business leaders in their respective industries. These New York Times best sellers offer guidance, tips and strategies for business owners to command attention and dominate in their respective industries.

The Third Wave

Written by Steve Case, The Third Wave is both a New York Times bestseller and Wall Street Journal bestseller. Case is a very successful entrepreneur. He is partially responsible for the biggest merger of companies in business history. His writing help aspiring business leaders achieve their goals and creates a pathway to success through examples.Case stresses that hard work is required to be successful. The book also displays that without a few failures, the “next big thing” cannot come to its full potential.

Shoe Dog

The creator of Nike, Phil Knight, gives readers an inside look at how the most recognizable name in shoes came to be. Nike was started with a small, $50 loan to import a high-quality running shoe from Japan with low costs. Knight began his vision by selling pairs of shoes from the trunk of his car before ever opening a brick and mortar location or starting a manufacturing facility.

#GIRLBOSS

Sophia Amoruso, author of #GIRLBOSS, discusses her difficulties as a teen. She started from nothing, and was tired of living an unhappy life. She struggled to feed herself, keep a roof over head and just live. After getting angry at her situation, she did something about it and started one of the most successful retail companies in the world, Nasty Gal. The goal of this book was to display that fancy degrees and expensive college educations aren’t needed to be a successful leader in the business world.

Dream Home

Drew and Jonathan Scott, hosts of multiple HGTV television series’, are successful in the real estate industry. Drew Scott is the realtor and his twin brother, Jonathan, is the construction expert. The brothers have built a business based upon buying and selling homes while making a few improvements prior to selling, to maximize selling potential. A theory of theirs is to invest a little now to have a bigger return later.Their book outlines how others in the real estate or property investment industry can maximize profits and achieve goals, even on a tight budget.

Money: Master the Game

Financial freedom is something that most people want to achieve. Tony Robbins outlines how to make good investments, how to reach financial goals at any age and be a successful leader. He includes that diet, exercise, setting goals and making a profound impact on those around you at work are part of what makes you a successful business leader.

Disrupted

Decorated and previous Newsweek writer, Dan Lyons chose to make lemonade when he was given lemons with the news that he was being let go. He became a marketing fellow with HubSpot, which seemed great at the time but turned out to be what he did not want. Disrupted outlines how investors and startup companies seem to conspire to achieve financial greatness, which is often misinterpreted as success.

Extreme Ownership

Take a few lessons from a former Navy SEAL, Jocko Willink and co-author Leif Babin. This compelling read outlines how SEALs have to plan attacks and each move on the enemy carefully to be successful. This applies to leaders in business because every move has to be carefully laid out and followed to a “T” to work. This book discusses how to motivate those around you, and those in your workforce. It also talks about overcoming adversity and strife in times of turmoil while still coming out on top. It is motivational and inspirational for all of those aspiring to be a leader in business.

Closing Thoughts

If you wish for your business to dominate in its industry, study your competition and what led them to success. Take notes and set goals for your own career and/or business. Meeting goals means that you are making progress and are successful. Some of the best leaders in business started as followers who chose to follow their own dreams.