If you’re anything like us then you’ve probably got your holiday season sewn up all neat and tickety boo already. OK. Scratch that. Actually if you’re anything like us you’ve probably got more than a couple of last minute arrangements to take care of.
For holiday business…
Reception cover, virtual pa and office services: at Tailored Time we are still very much around to help with the last minute tasks you might still have at hand.
…or pleasure
Presents still to buy, flowers, gifts or transport to book? However big your to-do list, hopefully our list of can-dos will have something that can help you. Give a call and lets see how our extensive contacts book can help you. Speak to Sarah on 0845 075 1044.
Closing down the office - last minute tips
Finally the following are a couple of last minute reminders as you close your offices for the holiday season…
• Make sure you have a list of home and away contacts for anyone in your organisation you may need to speak to over the festive season
• Make sure your clients know when you will be around – have up-to-date out of office and voicemail messages for all staff and a note of your holiday office hours on your website
• Do a spot of housekeeping; leave your offices tidy and write a new year to-do list! Sounds a bit of a bore, but believe us, this will make for a much more manageable return to work in January.
That’s all from us for 2008 – wishing you once more, a lovely Christmas and a very happy new year indeed!
TT
Business Support Services for UK and Foreign companies and entrepreneurs. Our services allow companies to have an immidiate structure and presence in the UK. - Company formation - Virtual office - Personal assitant. - Marketing Development - Accouting, legal and HR support - Onshore and Off-shore services. Visit our webite: www.tailoredtime.com or contact us at contact@tailoredtime.com - tel: +44 207 243 6455
Sunday, 21 December 2008
Wednesday, 17 December 2008
New year's resolutions
New year’s resolutions (NSRs) can frankly be a bit of a yawn and planning them can feel a bit like homework. You make ‘em, you break ‘em, so what’s the point? NSRs often emanate from things you know you should be doing, but aren’t, like eating less, exercising more, doing something for charity… all too often they are a bit of a nag.
The trick to making your business NSRs go the distance then, has to be making them something you actively want to do and can see the benefit of. And while you’re at it, why not make them something you and your team can share (remember how much easier the gym can be when you have a friend to share the pain)?
At Tailored Time, we believe the principles of making good business resolutions are:
• Something we want to do
• Something we can see the benefit of
• Something we can share
• Achievable, aka realistic
• No resolution is too small
• Don’t make too many
And given these principles, we have put together the following, simple achievable NSRs for the TT team:
As always, we'd love to hear about your resolution planning for 2009 - please post comments or questions below.
TT
The trick to making your business NSRs go the distance then, has to be making them something you actively want to do and can see the benefit of. And while you’re at it, why not make them something you and your team can share (remember how much easier the gym can be when you have a friend to share the pain)?
At Tailored Time, we believe the principles of making good business resolutions are:
• Something we want to do
• Something we can see the benefit of
• Something we can share
• Achievable, aka realistic
• No resolution is too small
• Don’t make too many
And given these principles, we have put together the following, simple achievable NSRs for the TT team:
- Improve our aftersales care – follow up all sales with a written note of thanks
- Tighten our housekeeping – return all invoices before their 30 day deadline
- Take care of and listen to our staff - put two team away days/workshops in the diary
- Read the business press - allocate time and a system for the team to do this each week
- Eat less chocolate
As always, we'd love to hear about your resolution planning for 2009 - please post comments or questions below.
TT
Wednesday, 10 December 2008
Business planning for 2009?
Planning for your business can be a daunting task. We think the trick is to keep it simple and suggest a streamlined, 3 step plan. The basics are summarised below, see what you think…
Step 1: Know your red flag areas.
OK this might not be the most positive way to begin think about your business, but taking action before a crisis arises is much better than reacting under stressful circumstances. So – where are your red flag areas? Cashflow, turnover, running costs, staffing issues…? Whatever they are, have a good honest look at where these potential stumbling blocks lie and structure goals for the year ahead that include heading these off before they get too big for you to manage.
Step 2: Articulate your goals.
Goals are the end point of your plan. They also determine the direction you want your business to move. If your goals are going to drive your planning you need to first articulate these and make sure each is Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely.
Step 3: Develop a written plan.
With your goals and risks in mind, you can now shape a plan. This should be in a format you are comfortable with, can revisit and refer to, add to and importantly, print out and see. Generally, we start with an overview (2-3 paragraphs) of where the business is now and where we want it to be. We then follow this with a month by month breakdown of the year ahead, plotting first the goals we want to achieve, followed by the actions that are going to get us there.
No-one is saying it’s going to be easy, but by simplifying your initial approach, you can certainly reduce the stress. The most important thing is to get you off the starting blocks. Reemember: your plan should be a living document that you can revisit and add to throughout the year.
For more detailed advice, there's lots of advice online and in print, but try these references for starters:
http://www.dummies.com/ - for Business Planning for Dummies, from this series of books that offer an accessible approach to everything
http://www.businessballs.com/ - offers free templates and advice
http://www.bytestart.co.uk/ - this small business portal, offers tips for planning and much more
If you have advice to share or questions to ask, please add your comments below.
Step 1: Know your red flag areas.
OK this might not be the most positive way to begin think about your business, but taking action before a crisis arises is much better than reacting under stressful circumstances. So – where are your red flag areas? Cashflow, turnover, running costs, staffing issues…? Whatever they are, have a good honest look at where these potential stumbling blocks lie and structure goals for the year ahead that include heading these off before they get too big for you to manage.
Step 2: Articulate your goals.
Goals are the end point of your plan. They also determine the direction you want your business to move. If your goals are going to drive your planning you need to first articulate these and make sure each is Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely.
Step 3: Develop a written plan.
With your goals and risks in mind, you can now shape a plan. This should be in a format you are comfortable with, can revisit and refer to, add to and importantly, print out and see. Generally, we start with an overview (2-3 paragraphs) of where the business is now and where we want it to be. We then follow this with a month by month breakdown of the year ahead, plotting first the goals we want to achieve, followed by the actions that are going to get us there.
No-one is saying it’s going to be easy, but by simplifying your initial approach, you can certainly reduce the stress. The most important thing is to get you off the starting blocks. Reemember: your plan should be a living document that you can revisit and add to throughout the year.
For more detailed advice, there's lots of advice online and in print, but try these references for starters:
http://www.dummies.com/ - for Business Planning for Dummies, from this series of books that offer an accessible approach to everything
http://www.businessballs.com/ - offers free templates and advice
http://www.bytestart.co.uk/ - this small business portal, offers tips for planning and much more
If you have advice to share or questions to ask, please add your comments below.
Friday, 28 November 2008
What’s letting your business down?
Times are notoriously tight at the moment. In a bid to help you hold on to your business hats, at Tailored Time we’ve been talking to our clients about some of the most common things that let a small/medium business down.
• Underestimating your out-goings – taking time to get these right from the start will help you avoid nasty surprises when it comes to calculating your margins.
• Bad cash flow – this can hit whatever the size of business. Keep a closer eye than ever on this – if people are beginning to let you down, don’t fulfill any more orders with them until it is sorted.
• Biting off more than you can chew. More clients mean more orders mean more cash. Or do they? This works fine if you have the operational back-up to support this but if you don’t, it can wreak havoc with your reputation.
• Forgetting your customers once the order is in the bag. All too often the customer who was king pre-order falls to earth with a bit of a bump as soon as they’ve signed.
This a selection of feedback from a few of our clients. If you are struggling, remember you are not alone. Some immediate, useful sources of business advice, fact sheet and information to help rationalise your business fears include:
The National Federation of Enterprise Agencies – impartial advice for small businesses.
The Institute of Directors - factsheets, online help and more.
Business Link – government agency established to offer support for small business
Please share!
If you want to share experiences or good practice of your own, we’d love to hear from you. Please ask your questions or add your comments here.
• Underestimating your out-goings – taking time to get these right from the start will help you avoid nasty surprises when it comes to calculating your margins.
• Bad cash flow – this can hit whatever the size of business. Keep a closer eye than ever on this – if people are beginning to let you down, don’t fulfill any more orders with them until it is sorted.
• Biting off more than you can chew. More clients mean more orders mean more cash. Or do they? This works fine if you have the operational back-up to support this but if you don’t, it can wreak havoc with your reputation.
• Forgetting your customers once the order is in the bag. All too often the customer who was king pre-order falls to earth with a bit of a bump as soon as they’ve signed.
This a selection of feedback from a few of our clients. If you are struggling, remember you are not alone. Some immediate, useful sources of business advice, fact sheet and information to help rationalise your business fears include:
The National Federation of Enterprise Agencies – impartial advice for small businesses.
The Institute of Directors - factsheets, online help and more.
Business Link – government agency established to offer support for small business
Please share!
If you want to share experiences or good practice of your own, we’d love to hear from you. Please ask your questions or add your comments here.
Saturday, 15 November 2008
Help on the way: Imminent tax cuts for small businesses
Help on the way: Imminent tax cuts for small businesses
Government has this week announced that plans are afoot to provide new support for small businesses. In a pre-budget report, due in the next week, it is understood there will be substantial measure to help small business and revive the economy. Details are sketchy at the moment, but keep an ear out for the announcement and your eye on the ball to make sure you don’t miss what’s due to you. Keep abreast of developments via national media websites which will report this news as it happens. Try:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/default.stm
Government has this week announced that plans are afoot to provide new support for small businesses. In a pre-budget report, due in the next week, it is understood there will be substantial measure to help small business and revive the economy. Details are sketchy at the moment, but keep an ear out for the announcement and your eye on the ball to make sure you don’t miss what’s due to you. Keep abreast of developments via national media websites which will report this news as it happens. Try:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/default.stm
Monday, 27 October 2008
Why do a Christmas event?
Corporate events are your way to say thank-you to your clients and build on the relationship you have with them with an eye on business for the year ahead. The ideal environment would be relaxed, it should encourage chat and networking amongst your guests and above all have them resoundingly know that you appreciate them and their business.
Who do I invite?
Making sure your guests feel comfortable is paramount. Events we have arranged for Tailored Time clients often see guests invited to bring a friend or spouse. This works for two reasons. First: your guests are blown away by your generosity and secondly, and most importantly, they are relaxed and more likely to have a good time in your company.
But I’ve only got a small budget…
Small doesn’t mean your guests need to starve. A simple solution may be to simply host a shorter event, where you can reduce both the pressure on your guests’ time and also your own outlay, by having a drinks and finger food reception rather than full, sit-down dinner.
What about the venue?
Many restaurants and bars have been advertising for Christmas business since September! If you haven’t booked your event yet, it means you should be thinking about it in the next week. Remember it needn’t cost the You can often reserve a roped off area of a venue at no extra cost. And for smaller groups, we have helped some of our clients with client parties in their own home. This keeps overheads down, but with outside catering and even a wine waiter for the evening, this type of gathering can offer a truly special touch.
Timing
Invites should be going in the next week, or certainly the minute you secure a date/venue. If you haven’t yet confirmed your details, do call around to clients you want to come along and let them know what you are thinking, the sooner the better. Above all this is the chance for some positive conversations between you and your clients.
TT
Who do I invite?
Making sure your guests feel comfortable is paramount. Events we have arranged for Tailored Time clients often see guests invited to bring a friend or spouse. This works for two reasons. First: your guests are blown away by your generosity and secondly, and most importantly, they are relaxed and more likely to have a good time in your company.
But I’ve only got a small budget…
Small doesn’t mean your guests need to starve. A simple solution may be to simply host a shorter event, where you can reduce both the pressure on your guests’ time and also your own outlay, by having a drinks and finger food reception rather than full, sit-down dinner.
What about the venue?
Many restaurants and bars have been advertising for Christmas business since September! If you haven’t booked your event yet, it means you should be thinking about it in the next week. Remember it needn’t cost the You can often reserve a roped off area of a venue at no extra cost. And for smaller groups, we have helped some of our clients with client parties in their own home. This keeps overheads down, but with outside catering and even a wine waiter for the evening, this type of gathering can offer a truly special touch.
Timing
Invites should be going in the next week, or certainly the minute you secure a date/venue. If you haven’t yet confirmed your details, do call around to clients you want to come along and let them know what you are thinking, the sooner the better. Above all this is the chance for some positive conversations between you and your clients.
TT
Thursday, 16 October 2008
Working with mr site
We are delighted to announce that we are working with Mr Site offering their wonderful website in a box as part of our business support solutions. Mr Site’s award-winning, Takeaway Website Standard gives users everything they need to get a professionally designed dot com website online eg. www.yourname.com, including a secure shopping cart, hosting, email and a smart website that would normally cost hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds.
It doesn't matter if it's for a business, a local art club or even a relative's wedding photos, anyone can create a website with Mr Site. How? It's all in the box, it's jargon free and seriously easy to use, with the Mr Site team always there to help every step of the way. We think it is a fantastic solution and it helps businesses get their name out there at a minimal set up cost.
Created by leading UK Web Designers, users can simply select a professional website design from the hundreds available and easily customise it to make it unique. Users can then drop in pictures, text, logos, music and videos and they're done.
Mr Site’s most famous fan is Levi Roots of Dragon’s Den fame. He set up a website for his famous Reggae Reggae Sauce with Mr Site and says, “I would recommend Mr Site to anyone. It’s fantastic.”
We think the website in a box rocks and there is no excuse to not have a professional looking website!
It doesn't matter if it's for a business, a local art club or even a relative's wedding photos, anyone can create a website with Mr Site. How? It's all in the box, it's jargon free and seriously easy to use, with the Mr Site team always there to help every step of the way. We think it is a fantastic solution and it helps businesses get their name out there at a minimal set up cost.
Created by leading UK Web Designers, users can simply select a professional website design from the hundreds available and easily customise it to make it unique. Users can then drop in pictures, text, logos, music and videos and they're done.
Mr Site’s most famous fan is Levi Roots of Dragon’s Den fame. He set up a website for his famous Reggae Reggae Sauce with Mr Site and says, “I would recommend Mr Site to anyone. It’s fantastic.”
We think the website in a box rocks and there is no excuse to not have a professional looking website!
Friday, 10 October 2008
know any good business magazines?
We are always on the hunt for new inspiration, new marketing ideas, exciting new business venture and do favour the occassional business magazine. We subscribe to quite a few but after a while we find they become a bit lack lustre (or maybe we just have the attention span of a gnat and get bored easily?)
We have subscribe to the Financial Times (please slit our wrists now... so full of doom and gloom) but after six months of wading through pink paper we gave up and thought there surely must be better ways to pass the time; we love the IOD Director's magazine; we have tried The Week, not so business focused but gives a quick glance of what has happened in the world; we get the FSB magazine which is ok but a bit flimsy on content and now we are going to try the Spectator wooooo.
http://www.spectator.co.uk/business/subscriptions/587856/subscribe-to-spectator-business.thtml if you want to subscribe to it too.
We have subscribe to the Financial Times (please slit our wrists now... so full of doom and gloom) but after six months of wading through pink paper we gave up and thought there surely must be better ways to pass the time; we love the IOD Director's magazine; we have tried The Week, not so business focused but gives a quick glance of what has happened in the world; we get the FSB magazine which is ok but a bit flimsy on content and now we are going to try the Spectator wooooo.
http://www.spectator.co.uk/business/subscriptions/587856/subscribe-to-spectator-business.thtml if you want to subscribe to it too.
Someone sent us a link to this inspired online magazine... it made us laugh a lot, which is saying something in these crazy times...
http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/
Any great suggestion would be good to hear about... so drop us a line.
Thursday, 25 September 2008
7 Golden Rules to keep your business thriving
- Focus on your existing customers - these guys are valuable so keep that in mind!
- Keep an eye on your finances - do you know what your margin is, do you know what your projections are... Are you on target to hit your targets?
- Review suppliers - check out whether you are getting the best deals especially if they are increasing their prices
- Review your costs - maybe its time to switch utility bills, do you really need to take that taxi to the meeting?
- Adapt and add value - consider some 3 for 2 offers, make yourself stand out from your competitors (check out what ASDA have been doing so that they stand out from their competition!)
- Check in with your bank - make sure you have got a good rep with your bank because you just might need a bit more over draft!
- Dont face it alone - there is lots of advice out there and it is good to share!
Monday, 22 September 2008
Freelance or Full Time?
There is an interesting article in this month's IOD magazine about why small businesses are choosing to work with freelancers over employing full time staff and we think that at last people are feeling the same way over this issue. There are some businesses that do need full time staff and this works very well for them, but from experience I find that working with freelancers means that you are working with people who are more self reliant and keener to do a good job. If you find you are not working with someone who feels this way, you can tell very quickly and the work will dry up equally as quickly for them.
Speaking from experience, at some point in a business life you soon have a negative experience with a full time hire and if you are a small start up business that experience can put you off even trying to grow your idea further than work you can do yourself. By the time you realise that you have made a bad hire and are able to do something about it, you are often at least three months too late. Sounds a bit harsh but it's true. We all know we have to go with our 'gut feeling' but sometimes when you are working with another person, in the same environment day in, day out, its a tough call to sack them....especially when you realise all the red tape you have to go through to get rid of them. You can see it as easier to just be a bit more patient, give them a bit more training and surely... surely things will come out all right. By that time, its too late!
Managing a client/supplier relationship is much more simple; okay so it doesnt always mean you will be happy with the work but you can dump your supplier a lot more easily and quickly than you can your employee. And another thing you may find is that you will get more bang for your buck with a freelancer. So we reckon this type of business model rocks - especially in these changing times when you need to be as flexible and nimble as possible.
Speaking from experience, at some point in a business life you soon have a negative experience with a full time hire and if you are a small start up business that experience can put you off even trying to grow your idea further than work you can do yourself. By the time you realise that you have made a bad hire and are able to do something about it, you are often at least three months too late. Sounds a bit harsh but it's true. We all know we have to go with our 'gut feeling' but sometimes when you are working with another person, in the same environment day in, day out, its a tough call to sack them....especially when you realise all the red tape you have to go through to get rid of them. You can see it as easier to just be a bit more patient, give them a bit more training and surely... surely things will come out all right. By that time, its too late!
Managing a client/supplier relationship is much more simple; okay so it doesnt always mean you will be happy with the work but you can dump your supplier a lot more easily and quickly than you can your employee. And another thing you may find is that you will get more bang for your buck with a freelancer. So we reckon this type of business model rocks - especially in these changing times when you need to be as flexible and nimble as possible.
Friday, 19 September 2008
Managing Project successfully
Our next adventure is going to be finding a good project management tool. We have looked at Microsoft Sharepoint, Huddle, Google Docs/Sites, Basecamp and Zoho and have realised there are some fantastic cost effective ways to share data with clients and associates without shelling out £££ to design your own system. We have yet to decide but Basecamp is looking v.interesting!
If you have any suggestions of your own then let us know!
If you have any suggestions of your own then let us know!
Wednesday, 17 September 2008
Managing your databases
There comes a time in every small business when they need to use a new bit of kit which is invariably technology/software based. Its something that I love to get my teeth into - any thing to make the business work smarter and harder and make a process more efficient.
Recently, we felt it was time to grow up a bit with our CRM and move on from using excel and ACT. Both of these solutions work well but have their limitations. The brief was to find something that was accessible online, didnt cost a fortune (or free!) and would provide a way of categorising leads, creating call lists and storing all of the latest up to date info.
There are plenty of applications that will do this - some are extremely expensive and therefore mainly marketed to large corps and some are far too complicated to use. CRM systems are a bit like an iceberg and invariably you only end up using a small fraction of their potential functionality. This can either be because it is not user friendly or you just dont need it.
We reviewed Salesforce www.salesforce.com and free CRM www.freecrm.com - and ended up going for free CRM and spending far too long getting our data structure right, but its all a wonderful learning curve! It was a bit cantankerous to start with and some of the functionality was clunky (like deleting en masse) but now that we have it, it is fantastic! It makes me wonder why it took so long for us to sort it out... it is saving us so much time!
Recently, we felt it was time to grow up a bit with our CRM and move on from using excel and ACT. Both of these solutions work well but have their limitations. The brief was to find something that was accessible online, didnt cost a fortune (or free!) and would provide a way of categorising leads, creating call lists and storing all of the latest up to date info.
There are plenty of applications that will do this - some are extremely expensive and therefore mainly marketed to large corps and some are far too complicated to use. CRM systems are a bit like an iceberg and invariably you only end up using a small fraction of their potential functionality. This can either be because it is not user friendly or you just dont need it.
We reviewed Salesforce www.salesforce.com and free CRM www.freecrm.com - and ended up going for free CRM and spending far too long getting our data structure right, but its all a wonderful learning curve! It was a bit cantankerous to start with and some of the functionality was clunky (like deleting en masse) but now that we have it, it is fantastic! It makes me wonder why it took so long for us to sort it out... it is saving us so much time!
Thursday, 11 September 2008
Getting to grips with Second Life
We heard about Second Life a few years ago - it was grabbing headlines because there were stories about people making millions in real life from selling property in Second Life. For those that dont know what Second Life is it is an online, 3-D virtual world that's imagined and created by it's users - its more like a social network which is constantly evolving where virtual people meet, chat, explore and play. Sarah came across a business run by Debs Butler on her networking travels who is marketing Second Life London and thought that it was a good time to experiment with this form of advertising.
Jojo was tasked with finding out more about it and it seems that it isn't so easy as it seems and we need to spend more time finding out how it could work for us... after all we are a 'virtual company' so what better place to exist. We already have one member of staff with an avatar... Cinders Foxtrot.... ha ha ha what a silly name.... look forward to meeting you in the second life...
Jojo was tasked with finding out more about it and it seems that it isn't so easy as it seems and we need to spend more time finding out how it could work for us... after all we are a 'virtual company' so what better place to exist. We already have one member of staff with an avatar... Cinders Foxtrot.... ha ha ha what a silly name.... look forward to meeting you in the second life...
Wednesday, 10 September 2008
Small Business Trends
Just seen this interesting site about small business trends
http://www.smallbiztrends.com/hp/
it's worth a perusal!
http://www.smallbiztrends.com/hp/
it's worth a perusal!
Tuesday, 9 September 2008
inbox zero - have you achieved it yet?
Have you heard about inbox zero ... it's what we all want to achieve and never quite get there. A copy of the four hour week is bouncing around the office and some of us (ie Sarah) are new found evangelists of this new way of life; and 'inbox zero' fits quite nicely into this ethos. We know very well that we shouldn't be dictated to by what comes into our inbox and that in fact, this is a very inefficient way to work but still we do it. Inbox zero is the new way of inbox life which is based around five actions: Delete, Delegate, Respond, Defer, Do.
Personally, we like the delete action the most but are too scared to use it - so we did an interesting thing the other day - Michelle hoofed a load of emails into another temp folder and this was a month ago and she hasn't missed them, hasn't had to refer to them and so really she think they can be deleted. But then there are always those times when a year later, we might have to refer back to correspondence from a client by email.... and its a total night mare if it has been deleted.
King of the empty inbox is Merlin Mann who has been preaching his gospel since 2006 and he has even done a video too...
To find out more
http://www.43folders.com/izero
As they mentioned in the Times Online at the weekend, trying to get to inbox zero is like trying to loose those first two pounds after Christmas... but once it comes off, there is no stopping you... but equally, if you dont keep an eye on it you are back to inbox full all over again.
Personally, we like the delete action the most but are too scared to use it - so we did an interesting thing the other day - Michelle hoofed a load of emails into another temp folder and this was a month ago and she hasn't missed them, hasn't had to refer to them and so really she think they can be deleted. But then there are always those times when a year later, we might have to refer back to correspondence from a client by email.... and its a total night mare if it has been deleted.
King of the empty inbox is Merlin Mann who has been preaching his gospel since 2006 and he has even done a video too...
To find out more
http://www.43folders.com/izero
As they mentioned in the Times Online at the weekend, trying to get to inbox zero is like trying to loose those first two pounds after Christmas... but once it comes off, there is no stopping you... but equally, if you dont keep an eye on it you are back to inbox full all over again.
Wednesday, 3 September 2008
getting those payments in on time.
So yes, we are hitting (or have we hit?) a recession - some say that the first signs of a recession is that people are slow to pay... we have certainly been experiencing a bit of that lately. The best way to deal with this delightful part of running a business is face the non payers head on.
- Get those invoices out on time and more importantly make sure they are correct - dont give your customers any excuse to delay or not pay you
- Make sure your book keeper or you are on the phone or sending out a reminder by email as soon as the deadline is up; just one phone call and you will know what is going on
- Be prepared to keep your good customers happy and jetison those who are procrastinating with payments - there is no point keeping a customer and continuing with the service if they cannot pay... its the thin end of the wedge
Mmmm happy times - anyway, regardless of recession, this is how a good business needs to be run.
Monday, 1 September 2008
free ways to promote your business on line
Online networking can feel like a bit of a waste of time as it can take a good long while to get yourself out there but it can be an excellent way of building your profile, getting referrals, mentoring and achieving lots of publicity.
Its been a bit of a mission to get ourselves onto BT Tradespace... can you believe a huge organisation such as BT would launch a service, market it only not provide a proper customer support solution... amazing really. We actually tried to get ourselves on there nearly a year ago but eventually we gave up because of lack of customer support. With the new found skills of JoJo (our latest recruit!), her IT skills and tenaciousness has paid off and we are up there!
We have also joined up on free index - http://www.freeindex.co.uk/myfreeindex.htm which looks a bit like http://www.bestof.com/ in the way your customers can leave testimonials.
There are literally millions of sites out there that you can use to promote your business. We reckon that it is really worth spending time exploring the different sites available and working out which ones work well for you. Another thing to explore is online networking... and it can seem like a huge bottom less pit. Sarah has spent time exploring lots of them like http://www.ecademy.com/, http://www.linkedin.com/ and some of them are better than others. If you set out just to get business, it probably wont work...just like face to face networking. People switch off if you are always trying to sell them. The best thing to do is to connect with others and ask them what they do; never try to sell yourself first without establishing a relationship first. And most of all be patient, it takes time to build trust.
Musings over... back to work xx
Its been a bit of a mission to get ourselves onto BT Tradespace... can you believe a huge organisation such as BT would launch a service, market it only not provide a proper customer support solution... amazing really. We actually tried to get ourselves on there nearly a year ago but eventually we gave up because of lack of customer support. With the new found skills of JoJo (our latest recruit!), her IT skills and tenaciousness has paid off and we are up there!
We have also joined up on free index - http://www.freeindex.co.uk/myfreeindex.htm which looks a bit like http://www.bestof.com/ in the way your customers can leave testimonials.
There are literally millions of sites out there that you can use to promote your business. We reckon that it is really worth spending time exploring the different sites available and working out which ones work well for you. Another thing to explore is online networking... and it can seem like a huge bottom less pit. Sarah has spent time exploring lots of them like http://www.ecademy.com/, http://www.linkedin.com/ and some of them are better than others. If you set out just to get business, it probably wont work...just like face to face networking. People switch off if you are always trying to sell them. The best thing to do is to connect with others and ask them what they do; never try to sell yourself first without establishing a relationship first. And most of all be patient, it takes time to build trust.
Musings over... back to work xx
Friday, 29 August 2008
legislation around temp workers... pain or gain?
We ponder... will the new legislation around temporary employees and those on maternity leave really start to affect SME's soon.... heavy stuff...
Reckon so - this legislation which comes into force over the next few years and according to the Federation of Small Businesses 98.5 % of the 885 who were polled said they would be less likely to recruit temporary workers as a result of the extended rights theyare to be granted by new Brussels legislation. In a nutshell it means that there will be equal pay to all temp staff after three months, the right to request flexible working for parents will children up to 16 years of age and finally when women go on maternity leave they will also be entitled to non-pay related contractual benefits such as childcare vouchers.
What do we think in the TT office... well, the world has to develop more flexible ways of working and lets face it, that is what Tailored Time is all about!
Reckon so - this legislation which comes into force over the next few years and according to the Federation of Small Businesses 98.5 % of the 885 who were polled said they would be less likely to recruit temporary workers as a result of the extended rights theyare to be granted by new Brussels legislation. In a nutshell it means that there will be equal pay to all temp staff after three months, the right to request flexible working for parents will children up to 16 years of age and finally when women go on maternity leave they will also be entitled to non-pay related contractual benefits such as childcare vouchers.
What do we think in the TT office... well, the world has to develop more flexible ways of working and lets face it, that is what Tailored Time is all about!
Friday, 22 August 2008
getting yourself out there....
When you think about promoting your business, we are sure that the word 'networking' might have popped up a few times. Some people love it and some people cringe at the word. Sarah is the networking queen in the office (as she is the driving force for sales, it kind of makes sense!) but previously she had never done it, in fact she was one of the people who cringed at the word. Its strange that, when it is your own business, talking about what you do becomes more easily. There are lots of ways to boost your confidence too from getting a bit of 60 seconds training to practising in front of the mirror. Having our base in London does mean that there are a huge amount (in fact too many to list) of networking events, some a great, some are terrible but here is a list of Sarah's favs of the moment
http://www.sistersnog.com/ - this is women only, always full of interesting businesses meeting at interesting venues
http://www.bni.com/ - mmmm sometimes it can be a bit naff, a bit americanised but it works!
http://www.ozoneconferencing.com/network/index.php - you can network every week from home and meet lots of interesting businesses without the hassle of leaving home
And there are of course lots of 'online' netorking available too - these can be very timeconsuming and not always give you reward (ie being a source of new clients) but can be a good source of new suppliers.
Sarah's top tip is to choose wisely as it is all time consuming and you will need to devote time and energy to each one - its ok being a social butterfly but you need to be seen as someone of conviction, otherwise people wont trust to pass on business to you.
http://www.sistersnog.com/ - this is women only, always full of interesting businesses meeting at interesting venues
http://www.bni.com/ - mmmm sometimes it can be a bit naff, a bit americanised but it works!
http://www.ozoneconferencing.com/network/index.php - you can network every week from home and meet lots of interesting businesses without the hassle of leaving home
And there are of course lots of 'online' netorking available too - these can be very timeconsuming and not always give you reward (ie being a source of new clients) but can be a good source of new suppliers.
Sarah's top tip is to choose wisely as it is all time consuming and you will need to devote time and energy to each one - its ok being a social butterfly but you need to be seen as someone of conviction, otherwise people wont trust to pass on business to you.
Wednesday, 20 August 2008
something new from Ikea for businesses
whilst flicking through their latest catalogue (life was v.exciting in the TT office one afternoon), we spotted something about joining their business network. We are always up for new ways to promote the business and meet interesting businesses so we have signed up.... watch this space
www.ikea.co.uk/business
www.ikea.co.uk/business
Friday, 15 August 2008
"If You're Not With Me In Person Then How Can This Relationship Work?"
This was exactly what a client asked us the other day at a meeting.
And it's what a lot of business owners who are accustomed to having their staff in their own office, think.
The best way to approach this is to review the way in which you work before introducing someone virtually into the process. Our guess is that as a result of this you might find better and more efficient ways of working. Often the reason why we like to have our co-workers physically next to us is so that we can share information as it happens in real time but, we pose the question... is that really necessary for every task? We are not advocating working on your own and becoming a machine (unless you like it that way) but if it is time to shed some of your work load onto others and free up your desk space, then it is a very good place to start!
These are our Top Tips.....
And it's what a lot of business owners who are accustomed to having their staff in their own office, think.
The best way to approach this is to review the way in which you work before introducing someone virtually into the process. Our guess is that as a result of this you might find better and more efficient ways of working. Often the reason why we like to have our co-workers physically next to us is so that we can share information as it happens in real time but, we pose the question... is that really necessary for every task? We are not advocating working on your own and becoming a machine (unless you like it that way) but if it is time to shed some of your work load onto others and free up your desk space, then it is a very good place to start!
These are our Top Tips.....
For a longer term working relationship:
- Establish what tasks can be grouped together - multi tasking is not always the most efficient way to work (ironically)
- Evalutate whether a virtual meeting each week at the same time would be beneficial to your workload and that can be your point to download with your virtual PA
- Provide enough information then you can empower them to make decisions on your behalf et voila, you have the startings of a good working relationship.
For smaller/random projects and requests:
- Give precise instructions (nothing wooley otherwise you leave it up to someone else's interpretation of what you need)
- Request a confirmation email with an explanataion email back from them in their own words of what you have asked them to do.
- Set a deadline for your assistant to check in with you with a progress report
Good luck!
Monday, 11 August 2008
take a power nap...now
Two of our lovely clients came to the office other day and one of them had a quick snooze whilst we were discussing the next projects... granted...it wasnt a very excited topic (book keeping) and they had been doing lots of jet setting holding their training sessions all over the world... and when our client had awoken from her little snooze we had a laugh about it and they explained they are all the rage these day and so we had a little cruise round the web and low and behold all the big corps are up to it with their special nap pods.... bring it on is what we say....
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-557752/Business-giants-install-power-nap-pods-boost-productivity-workforce.html
and you even have a helpful film to show you how to do it too...
http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-power-nap
love
the power nappers from Tailored Time
x
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-557752/Business-giants-install-power-nap-pods-boost-productivity-workforce.html
and you even have a helpful film to show you how to do it too...
http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-power-nap
love
the power nappers from Tailored Time
x
Friday, 8 August 2008
.....and relax.....
yeah right we should be so lucky.....
This the title of this week's London Time Out (we always have a copy floating round the office) and whilst everyone in the world is relaxing we are busy with supporting all our clients' businesses so sometimes, June, July and August can be the busiest time for us. Some people have caught on that to truely relax you just have to leave all your blackberries, dooberies and however you access your work emails at home - apparently a group of city workers were surveyed and 83% of them take their blackberries with them and over a quarter check them at least once a day... bonkers if you ask us but then perhaps they are a bit paranoid of loosing their jobs at the moment.
We were commenting today that somehow it gets so busy in the office that it gets to late afternoon and we havent had lunch or popped out for breath of fresh air... somehow we get so engrossed in our work, we forget... madness.
Just in case, some of you are still in London then this is a list of our favourite things to do... when we escape the office
This the title of this week's London Time Out (we always have a copy floating round the office) and whilst everyone in the world is relaxing we are busy with supporting all our clients' businesses so sometimes, June, July and August can be the busiest time for us. Some people have caught on that to truely relax you just have to leave all your blackberries, dooberies and however you access your work emails at home - apparently a group of city workers were surveyed and 83% of them take their blackberries with them and over a quarter check them at least once a day... bonkers if you ask us but then perhaps they are a bit paranoid of loosing their jobs at the moment.
We were commenting today that somehow it gets so busy in the office that it gets to late afternoon and we havent had lunch or popped out for breath of fresh air... somehow we get so engrossed in our work, we forget... madness.
Just in case, some of you are still in London then this is a list of our favourite things to do... when we escape the office
- hang out by the south bank with a few ciders (classy) watching the world go by
- hire a canal boat and cruise around the byways (cant quite fit that in during a lunch break though)
- Lie under the trees in Holland Park listening to the birds whilst they are practicing opera for a show at the Korn Ferry pavilion
- Sit outside Julies in Notting Hill with a pimms
who are we trying to kid... we never get time to do that but we can dream!
Wednesday, 6 August 2008
Doing your bit for Charity
We have been pondering about volunteering and doing our bit for charity, mainly prompted by Sarah's strenuous bid to take part in a Dragon Boat race for the Back up Trust in September. We also received some information from Volunteering England last week which has also helped the thought process along.
Did you know that just 14% of small businesses are currently taking advantage of employer supported volunteering (ESV) schemes, and with that in mind Volunteering England has just launched a campaign asking small and medium sized businesses to give more help to charities.
Volunteering England is urging small to medium sized businesses to set up ESV schemes in a campaign, supported by The British Chambers of Commerce, the Federation of Small Businesses, the Forum for Private Business and a range of other industry bodies, which is the culmination of a three year project aimed at developing Employer Supported Volunteering.
It aims to encourage smaller companies - which account for 59% of private sector employment, – to join the ranks of bigger firms that enable employees to volunteer their time to good causes through a work context.
Now you may think that it is all just giving and you don’t have time to do it if you are running a small business, it's all about money making not time giving… but apparently an employer supported volunteering programme can bring considerable benefits; often companies with ESV programmes find that employees are proud to work for them and potential employees want to join them. It often makes a difference with customers too, who feel good about buying from them and can lead to added investment which can't be a bad thing...
You may remember that the highly successful ‘Give a few bob’ campaign? The campaign, launched in June last year, brought the late comedian Bob Monkhouse ‘back to life’ and helped raise over £3m worth of free advertising space for prostate cancer through a massive media promotion. It was developed by a marketing company with around 45 staff, The Communications Agency. So there you go!
Did you know that just 14% of small businesses are currently taking advantage of employer supported volunteering (ESV) schemes, and with that in mind Volunteering England has just launched a campaign asking small and medium sized businesses to give more help to charities.
Volunteering England is urging small to medium sized businesses to set up ESV schemes in a campaign, supported by The British Chambers of Commerce, the Federation of Small Businesses, the Forum for Private Business and a range of other industry bodies, which is the culmination of a three year project aimed at developing Employer Supported Volunteering.
It aims to encourage smaller companies - which account for 59% of private sector employment, – to join the ranks of bigger firms that enable employees to volunteer their time to good causes through a work context.
Now you may think that it is all just giving and you don’t have time to do it if you are running a small business, it's all about money making not time giving… but apparently an employer supported volunteering programme can bring considerable benefits; often companies with ESV programmes find that employees are proud to work for them and potential employees want to join them. It often makes a difference with customers too, who feel good about buying from them and can lead to added investment which can't be a bad thing...
You may remember that the highly successful ‘Give a few bob’ campaign? The campaign, launched in June last year, brought the late comedian Bob Monkhouse ‘back to life’ and helped raise over £3m worth of free advertising space for prostate cancer through a massive media promotion. It was developed by a marketing company with around 45 staff, The Communications Agency. So there you go!
If you want to find out more about Volunteer England visit this link http://www.volunteering.org.uk/
and if you want to also get together a dragon boat team for The Back Up Trust to rival Sarah's team 'Truely Oarsome' (geddit???) then visit this link http://www.backuptrust.org.uk/dragon.html
Tuesday, 5 August 2008
Swapping Providers - its not always painful
We are having lots of fun in the office changing over our email provider to Cobweb Solutions hosted exchange package... and actually so far... so good - it is running relatively smoothly and the guys at Cobweb are very helpful with our many questions. We thought that as we recommend them as one of our suppliers it was about time we sample their services rather than feedback from other happy customers... anyway, this wasnt meant to turn into an advert for Cobweb but having sampled other providers who are a nightmare to get on the phone and coach you through a new procedure (v.important if you dont have your own IT person sitting in the office all the time), they have got it going on with their Customer Services.
The reason for our change is expansion which is always an exciting word - as we are hiring more staff who work virtually with our clients it is necessary to have the platform to help the business grow...and Sarah is happier with her blackberry too as it means she doesnt have to remember to sync it with her computer every day...everyone is happy.... watch this space!
The reason for our change is expansion which is always an exciting word - as we are hiring more staff who work virtually with our clients it is necessary to have the platform to help the business grow...and Sarah is happier with her blackberry too as it means she doesnt have to remember to sync it with her computer every day...everyone is happy.... watch this space!
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
We thought it was time that we began to share the collective knowledge of Tailored Time that we have amassed over time (since 2004 woooo!), to help businesses out there who are either just starting up or are thinking of making some changes to their business structure to outsource parts of their daily tasks. And those wandering souls who are just passing by in the big wide world of the internet....
This week we have been mainly putting our money where our mouth is and entering into the world of auto responders.... exciting things.... we keep preaching to our clients about automating and reviewing procedures well, guess what, we have done it ourselves too!
Check out www.aweber.com for starters - it all seems a bit complicated at first but plod on and it will be worth your while! There are many many different providers out there - we have been using an piece of software that sits on our computers called http://gammadyne.com/ which rocks in its own way but as we preach the virtual word, we are thinking virtual software is the way to go.
This week we have been mainly putting our money where our mouth is and entering into the world of auto responders.... exciting things.... we keep preaching to our clients about automating and reviewing procedures well, guess what, we have done it ourselves too!
Check out www.aweber.com for starters - it all seems a bit complicated at first but plod on and it will be worth your while! There are many many different providers out there - we have been using an piece of software that sits on our computers called http://gammadyne.com/ which rocks in its own way but as we preach the virtual word, we are thinking virtual software is the way to go.
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