Setting up a computer system for business
Data cabling is the basis for setting up a great computer system for any business. Coaxial cable is… [more]
Business Finance
Good accounting times are here to stay and they’re free
Starting your own small business? You’ll naturally be wary of financial outlay, but without a business plan and some accounting software behind you, you’ll find it hard. In fact a Business plan is essential. You should decide on any legal structure you’ll need and set out a profit/loss forecast with a cash flow analysis for the battle ahead!
If you’re concerned with financial outlay at this time, you might like to take advantage of some free accounting software available online? There is some available at the click of a mouse. It should offer you all the support you need for ease of invoicing, quoting your customers, VAT payments and general cash flow. It’ll be like having an Accountant on board, but hey – YOU can use it! There aren’t many big, reliable and highly respected financial software companies who are prepared to let you have their product for free; however, you can find at least one.
The free accounting software should be fully functional. It shouldn’t have a trial period or even an expiry date attached to it. It’s ideal if you’re a new business and you’re about to grow bigger. As you get used to the functionality of the software, you will need to store more details and that’s when you might find it better and easy to upgrade. It will be good if you can use if for a minimum of at least twenty customers and it should help you manage sales and expenses. [Read More...]
Business Plans
Business Plan and Market Research
It is important an honest business plan that sets a realist goal to follow. A business plan is a written document that describes a business, its aims, its strategies, focusing on the current market it is in and its financial predictions.
What a business plan should include
Your business plan should provide details of how you are going to develop your business, a time scale, job roles within the company and the financial side of the business.
Technology for Business
Setting up a computer system for business
July 12, 2011 By admin
Data cabling is the basis for setting up a great computer system for any business. Coaxial cable is nearly always used for offices, and is made up of copper or aluminium wire with an insulating wrap of flexible material. This material must have a high dielectric constant and the whole thing should be encased in a conductive layer, ensuring high operating speeds. Optical fibre data cabling consists of filaments of glass fibre wrapped in layers. It carries the data as pulses of light and transmission speeds can reach trillions of bits per second
But why is it so important to get your data cabling right when installing a computer system at work? It’s an incredibly complicated task that must be completed by a reliable Data Cabling Company. [Read More...]
Career Advice
Working From Home
The Home Office
Working from home can take some getting used to. There is no doubt that being your own boss and having the power to dictate the shape of your own working day are luxuries not to be underestimated. That said, working from home and maximising levels of productivity can be a trial and error style process of investigation. Different schedules and working methods work better for different people and it is important to try out a range of working styles in order to establish the best regime for you and your business.
One of the most important factors to consider when moving from office space into a work from home environment is to create a clear, physical division between work and home through effective interior design. There are many ways to do this.
If you have the space you could dedicate a whole room to work. Affordable office furniture and technological accessories, from desk shelves to printers, can be quickly sourced from retailers such as Rymans and having one room designed specifically for work will help you to keep business and family life a healthy distance apart. At the end of the working day, you simply shut the door on the office and return to the rest of your living space.
If you don’t have the luxury of an extra room to use as an office, then there are a range of creative solutions that could help you to find the same balance. Try installing a desk into a large cupboard space. Whilst you are working, the doors can remain open allowing you to feel that you are working in a large and airy space though you will have your back to the rest of the room helping to avoid time wasting distractions. Once you’ve done enough for the day, you simply close the cupboard doors and the desk is blocked from view.
No convenient cupboard space? Then simply set some ground rules before you embark on your work from home venture. Set strict working hours and do your best to stick to them. When you have designated a certain time of day to work, be sure to focus and be productive in order to avoid concerns later on that may eat into your own personal time. Set yourself breaks at healthy intervals and allow your mind sufficient time to rest between tasks. This will allow you to maximise productivity whilst you are tackling your to-do-list for the day. Think about splashing out on a coffee maker or something else that will help give you something to do during a five or ten minute break. Short breaks have proven to be the most effective when concentrating on complex tasks.
Staffing Considerations
Employers’ reaction to Agency Worker Regulations
One thing is certain, for some businesses using agency workers as temps to cover short term absences, to undertake short assignments of a specialist kind when in-house staff are not available is an important, but relatively small part of their HR strategy along with the use of contractors for specialist projects who may or may not be agency workers. Other companies have been used to having temps as a major way of dealing with the rise and fall of demand for their products or services. The Agency Workers Regulations have certainly given this second group cause for an evaluation and re-think of how they might continue to use temporary staff in the future. The issue is about the employment entitlements temps get after a 12 week qualifying period and the additional rights they get of the use of company facilities.
There are a number of ways employers could or may react to the legislation. They can accept the value of their agency workers and accept the additional costs and even decide to bring them in house as their own list of temporary workers on a casual contract with no guaranteed hours. Or they can decide to stop using agency workers at all and respond by giving more work to existing staff.
Not all the options employers choose will be detrimental to all agency staff – after all so many companies gain expertise and flexibility by using the temp staff. It will take some time to see how these Worker Regulations impact overall on the movement of people from temporary to permanent contracts. And will this, we wonder, lead to fewer or more jobs for the unemployed?
Business Advice
The first big step for a small business
Figures from the latest CBI report have found that some sixty per cent of all new businesses were started from home last year, which just goes to show that entrepreneurial types are still keen to save some money on where they work.
Launching a business from home is all well and good. It certainly has a lot of benefits, because you can keep costs low, avoid time-wasting commutes and also get a few other things done around the house during any down time. It’s pleasant too, although homeworking isn’t always for everyone due to the solitary nature of the surroundings.
Move on up
So, if you’re one of the sixty per cent that has taken the plunge and launched a small business from home, but feel like you could do with a breath of fresh air then it’s worth taking time out to look at renting desk or office space. Indeed, you may have got to the point with your new venture whereby a small bedroom, study or even the garage is proving too small for you and your business anyway.
If either factor is the case then renting desk or office space is currently way more affordable than it used to be. Although the recession continues to rumble on in the background, the wealth of available office space has never been more plentiful. Landlords are also keen to fill this dead space, meaning that prices are good and the options on space generous.
Where to start
If you’re a start-up then it’s likely that you’ll want to keep a very close eye on finances, but going down the desk space rental route makes sound financialsense for a number of reasons. Renting desk space in an already up and running office allows you to have an ideal base for networking, meeting clients and generally getting yourself seen, all of which is bound to be good for business in the long run.
Better still, rents are often as cheap as chips, contracts are handed out on a short term office rental basis and therefore highly flexible. A chunk of rented desk space will get you the desk, basic amenities and probably a broadband connection too; so all you really need to do is turn up with your laptop and start working.
Bigger and better
Anyone looking to go to the next step on the expansion ladder will also want to look at shared offices, as these multiply the desk space rental concept and add in things like a receptionist, post and IT support. If your business is at the point where it has outgrown the home-based environment, and you need to have a credible shop-window for all to see, then the shared office could be the answer to your needs.
About the author: Rob Clymo writes on behalf of www.officegenie.co.uk, the UK’s first proper online marketplace for desk space and shared office space.
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