Twitter tips and tricks: a beginner's guide for small business

With millions of users, all potential customers, Twitter shouldn’t be ignored. Here’s how to get started, from hashtags to management tools.

“I don’t get Twitter” is a common statement among small business owners. Typically lone rangers traversing the terrain of social media with little guidance, they cite limited resources as the main obstacle between them and an explosive Twitter feed.

In truth, success on Twitter is dependent on little more than social media savviness. And with more than 316 million active monthly users engaging in instant conversations, the social platform shouldn’t be ignored.

Here are some tips to turn your Twitter trepidation into a fantastic tool for winning customers.

1 Make connections

Twitter offers the opportunity to find people who are interested in your industry and turn them into customers. But it isn’t enough to blindly fire out tweets each day.

Get creative. A quick search using Twitter’s free search bar will give you an idea of the kind of topics your target audience is engaging with.

Think laterally. Are you a bed company? Perhaps you want to target those complaining about a bad back or a sleepless night. A removal service? Look for someone excitedly tweeting about their impending move.

Active Twitter users will tweet about most aspects of their lives, making Twitter a huge database buzzing with real-time information. Searching keywords such as “bad sleep” and “house move” will pull up a stream of tweets. You can then do an advanced search on location and actively identify your ideal customer.

Twitter allows you to interact with anyone with a public account, an opportunity not afforded by any other social platform. Avoid becoming spam by offering useful content and tips to your followers, based on your business expertise, or even reply to their tweets – generic responses won’t cut it.

2 Develop a personality

There are a range of successful business accounts on Twitter, some with hundreds of thousands of followers. No matter what their industry, they have one thing in common – they develop a unique personality rather than a stream of self-promotion.

Your Twitter feed should be a combination of useful content, such as “how to choose the right mattress for you”, and tweets that demonstrate your personality.

Innocent Smoothies used Twitter to catapult their brand. Their Twitter account is chock-full of witty repartees and quirky stories that don’t always relate to their product, but ooze with brand personality. They are just about the best example of a business doing Twitter well.

Use images to create more of an impact – Tweets with images get on average 35% more engagement than those without. The ideal image size for Twitter is 506 pixels by 253 pixels.

3 Have a content strategy

Twitter is fast-paced. With thousands of tweets on any one topic being fired out every minute, messages get lost easily and it can get overwhelming.

Having a clear content strategy with an editorial calendar is a good way of keeping on top of the day-to-day feed, leaving you free to interact with customers. Your editorial calendar should include events, blogs, brand messaging, sales and products or services you wish to promote throughout the month.

This is a good opportunity to offer discounts exclusively to Twitter, or run competitions to create engagement – one tactic that works surprisingly well is asking people to follow you and retweet your tweet for the chance to win a prize.

When The Salt Room launched in Brighton, they used Twitter to organise a city-wide treasure hunt under the hashtag #SaltSearch. This generated publicity for the restaurant before it had even opened. This hashtag spread across the world, with thousands of retweets and competition entries.

4 #Newsjack

If something big is happening, it’s happening on Twitter and the chances are, it has its own hashtag.

Hashtags are used to centralise a conversation. Searching a specific hashtag in the search bar will bring up a stream of any tweet that contains it. Hijack the hashtag, get involved in the conversation, and watch your engagement levels grow.

Hashtags can also be a more general link to a topic, person or interest – so if Twitter users are searching for tweets on a certain subject, a hashtag can alert them to your tweet. For example, when we tweet about our campaigns at Bozboz, we may use the hashtag #contentmarketing or #digitalcampaigns.

You can also get involved with, or even facilitate, #hours. These are conversations that happen on Twitter at specific times around a specific subject. There are Twitter chats for cities, industries, hobbies, sports – #UKrunchat is a great example of a sports chat that grew from nothing to over 20,000 followers in just two years.

To find relevant hashtags, look at the trending stream to the left of your profile, or check out what your competitors are doing – are they interacting with a specific topic? If they’re doing it, you should too.

5 Stay organised

Twitter can be a lot of work. Make things simpler by streamlining your processes. Use the list functionality to organise individuals into helpful lists. Having a list for customers, influencers, prospects and even competitors will make monitoring and targeting easier and much more effective. If you don’t want the person to know you’ve added them to a list, make the list private.

There are a range of Twitter management tools, such as Tweetdeck and Hootsuite, that will help you keep on top of your social activity. Meanwhile, Twitonomy helps you measure return on investment – you can track follower growth over time and the number of clicks on links. 

Many of these tools are free and will quickly become an invaluable part of your social strategy.

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Growing complaints about UK’s banking firms

UK banking firms saw complaints rise by 8 per cent in the first half of the year, mainly as a result of packaged bank accounts, new research has found.

Barclays, RBS and Lloyds TSB have shared payments of almost 732 million pounds in order to compensate customers who may have been mis-sold packaged accounts.

Packaged accounts, otherwise known as premium accounts, charge customers a monthly or annual fee in exchange for insurance policies and better deals.

However, banks have seen complaints about packaged accounts rise by 8 per cent, causing concern that it may turn into another compensation problem.

Last year, banks faced criticism over the mis-selling of PPI, and new complaints have seen the total rise to 94,091 complaints in the past 6 months. PPI complaints account for 55 per cent of all banking complaints, according to the financial ombudsman.

Banks have paid more than 28 billion pounds in compensation for PPI mis-selling, with 13.4 billion being paid by Lloyds Banking Group alone, making it the most expensive scandal in the industry.

Besides from PPI, all other complaints revolved around financial products, including packaged accounts.

The total number of new complaints in the six months increased to 173,994, in contrast to the 161,649 complaints in the July-December 2014 period.

The majority of the complaints were successful, as 57 per cent of customer found that their complaints were upheld.

The number of claims is slowing, but not as fast as banks had expected, as firms that were set up to claim on PPI cases have now switched to claiming on packaged accounts.

Click here to read the original article "Growing complaints about UK’s banking firms"

11 productivity tricks small-business owners can use to get more done every day

When you own a small business, there are dozens of people and projects vying for your time and attention. It’s hard to figure out where to focus your resources and easy to become overwhelmed.

But your personal productivity helps determine your company’s productivity, so it’s crucial that you stay efficient.

To help you out, we scoured the web for the most practical and insightful advice on getting things done. Read on for tips on prioritizing tasks, managing digital distractions, making decisions, and more.

1. Schedule monthly 80-20 analyses.

Productivity guru Tim Ferriss used this technique to increase sales and cut his hours when he was running a small online supplement company called BrainQuicken.

The point of the exercise is to highlight the most important things you should be focusing on. First, you figure out the 20% of activities that are producing 80% of desired results. Then, you figure out the 20% of activities that are taking up 80% of your time.

Finally, you look at the overlap, or lack thereof, and eliminate the activities that are keeping you busy but aren’t producing key results.

“As a business owner, it’s very easy to fall into the trap of being busy, and being busy is not necessarily productive,” Ferriss told Business Insider.

2. Keep your list of priorities short.

When you’re in charge of a small business, it might seem like your to-do list is endless and everything needs equal attention.

But Chris Licata, owner of Blake’s All Natural Foods in New Hampshire, told Entrepreneur that his best productivity tip is to “embrace the reality that there is no such thing as a list of 10 priorities.”

Licata advises that entrepreneurs come up with a very short list of priorities in order to keep their teams focused on truly important projects.

3. Sideline nonurgent emails.

It’s important for small-business owners to keep abreast of the latest news in the area where they work. But reading every newsletter the minute it arrives in your inbox could be hurting your productivity.

Instead, Jonathan Long, founder and CEO of Market Domination Media, suggests creating an “offers” email address for newsletters and promotions that don’t require immediate attention. Check that inbox a few nights a week so it doesn’t distract you from focusing on important tasks during the day.

4. Restrict meetings to 30 minutes.

Most calendar software defaults to one-hour meetings. But according to Jeff Haden at Inc. Magazine, most issues can be addressed in 30 minutes or less. Make it a habit to schedule 30-minute meetings unless you know a subject will require extra attention.

5. Spend at least one day a month thinking about the long term.

GoodData CEO Roman Stanek told Business Insider that strategic thinking often gets lost in the shuffle of day-to-day calls and meetings.

He advises business leaders to go for a bike ride or do something else alone that allows them to clear their mind. That way they can concentrate on “where is the industry going, where is the company going, what should we do differently, what should we do better.”

6. Plan your day around your emotions and energy levels.

Depending on how much flexibility you have, you can schedule your workday according to typical fluctuations in your mood and energy levels. It can make all the difference between a super-productive day and a wasted one.

For example, if you notice your energy tends to flag in the late afternoon, arrange to answer emails from 4 to 5. And if you know you’re always super-pumped after 10 a.m. team meetings, plan to work on a creative project for the rest of the morning.

7. Learn to delegate.

Overwhelmed? Don’t take on the entire burden of moving the company forward. Instead, figure out which tasks should be accomplished by someone else and distribute them among your team.

“Make sure you delegate to people who often are better equipped to make decisions in a particular area than you are,” Shayan Zadeh, cofounder and CEO of online dating app Zoosk, told Mashable.

8. Avoid analysis paralysis.

According to James Waters, who served as the deputy director of scheduling at the White House, sometimes you have to make a decision with imperfect information — as uncomfortable as that may feel. In fact, Waters said it’s something that the White House has to do all the time.

In other words, do as much analysis and data gathering as possible, but don’t delay the moment of decision-making.

“That’s frustrating for everyone,” Waters said.

9. Have one meeting-free day every week.

If you allowed them to, meetings could probably take up all 168 hours of your week. That’s why it’s important to designate one weekday when meetings are verboten, so you can work on big tasks without distractions.

Dustin Moskovitz, cofounder of Facebook and cofounder and CEO of Asana, said he clears his schedule every Wednesday. It's "an invaluable tool for ensuring you have some contiguous space to do project work,” he said.

10. Create a comfortable workspace.

Research cited on 99U suggests making your own decisions about the way your workspace is set up is linked to improved productivity.

Whether you’re working from home or an office building, the little design features matter. Personalize your space with photos of friends and family (or at least personalize your desktop background). Keep things tidy by using a basket to hold your papers and books. And make sure there’s enough light by placing a small lamp on your desk.

11. Make your health a priority.

Finally, don’t invest in your business at the expense of your personal well-being. Research suggests that poor nutrition and lack of physical activity is linked to lower productivity at work.

Encourage your team to maintain good health habits, too. If they’re sitting hunched over their computers all day, they could end up with health issues in the long term, which will only hurt your company’s performance.

Click here to read the original article "11 productivity tricks small-business owners can use to get more done every day"

Is your business geared up to be very responsive on Facebook?

If until now you’ve been reluctant to embrace Facebook as a customer service platform for your small business, then you may wish to read on.

On August 5, Facebook dropped a megaton announcement that looks like it could change the face of customer service communication for the foreseeable future.

For as far back as one can remember, reliable customer service has primarily taken place either face to face or over the phone. Facebook and Twitter have steadily drawn people away from these methods with the premise of convenience; the only downsides being the public broadcast of your conversation and a lack of immediate response.

It’s been argued in the past that the open nature of Facebook business pages was a positive as it allowed people to see first-hand how the company dealt with complaints. In the coming weeks, Facebook page administrators will be able to communicate to page posts in discretion, allowing both parties to resolve any issues efficiently and in private.

Little has changed in the way customers initiate a conversation and others will still be able to see their initial post – the main difference occurs in the resulting transaction. The page admin can now click ‘Message’ under the post and continue the conversation in private with the customer.

Best of all are the new business page accolades, which award the most responsive and efficient business pages with a “Very Responsive” badge. Businesses will have to respond to 90 per cent of all customer messages on their page with a median response time of less than five minutes.

This could well cause businesses to take their Facebook far more seriously and allocate a committed individual to monitor the page at all times. A race to achieve the “Very Responsive” award is expected, with many businesses already gearing up to accommodate this game changing update.

Click here to read the original article "Is your business geared up to be very responsive on Facebook?"

Employment laws could be damaging UK SMEs and jobs

New market research by consultants Citrus HR suggests UK employment laws could be damaging small business and preventing them from taking on more staff.

Three-quarters of respondents said keeping abreast of legislation was a "significant drain on their time". When asked whether current employment law affected their decision to hire, 39% of small business respondents said they would take on more people if employment law was less complex. Only a quarter thought employment law was acceptable as is.

The research also suggests a marked lack of understanding of UK employment law among respondents. Less than a third knew the current National Minimum Wage (NMW) rates – despite the risk of a fine of up to £20,000 for employers who do not pay at least NMW rates.

Respondents said calculating holiday for part-time staff and those working "casual hours contracts" was particularly difficult. Changes to flexible working rules was a common answer when respondents were asked for examples of a recent legislative change that had made small business employment law compliance more difficult.

Almost a fifth (18%) of respondents didn't know which countries are in the EU, which, according to Citrus, means there is a risk of sanction for not carrying out checks to find out if workers are allowed to work in the UK legally.

Among the employment laws respondents most wanted to change included not being able to pay employees for unused holiday unless they leave (37%), followed by removing the compulsory retirement age (29%), employees being able to claim sick leave when unwell while on holiday (21%) and women on maternity leave continuing to accrue paid holiday (14%).

More than half (60%) of respondents used HR support, although much of the support aimed at small businesses was viewed as "expensive and cumbersome", which is a key reason why 36% of respondents did not use HR support.

In July, the government unveiled plans to launch "ambitious reviews into burdensome red tape" in key sectors (energy, waste, agriculture, care homes and mineral extraction) – its first step to working with British businesses to "axe unnecessary regulation and its poor implementation" by a further £10bn over the course of this parliament.

Business Secretary Sajid Javid commented: "I'm determined to take the brakes off British businesses and set them free from heavy-handed regulators. The government's pledge to cut £10bn in red tape over the course of this parliament will help create more jobs for working people, boost productivity and keep our economy growing. For the first time, these reviews will look not only at the rules themselves, but [how] they're enforced. We want firms to tell us where red tape is holding them back."

Click here to read the original article "Employment laws could be damaging UK SMEs and jobs"

Advertise your business on Dotty Directory – FREE

Dotty Directory promotes local small and medium sized businesses on our national website Dotty Directory and also on over 100 local directories.

Normally we charge £30 a year but take advantage of our special offer and advertise your business completely free of charge now.

For more information about this offer please either telephone us on 01824 719005 or email us at support@dottydirectory.com

Millions in R&D tax relief overlooked by SMEs

Laurence Bard, tax partner and R&D specialist at Smith & Williamson says that many businesses are investing large sums into developing IT systems, for example, but the firms are unaware that they could qualify for R&D breaks.

'Expenditure on systems development is widespread and companies are missing out. Following further increases, cash repayments of up to 33 per cent of qualifying R&D expenditure can now be claimed and this money feeds through to the current year, helping to boost a business’s profits,' adds Bard. 

The government has confirmed its commitment to R&D tax credits in a new report and this, combined with a slight further increase in the amount which businesses can reclaim, is good news for organisations in any sector, adds Bard.

Subcontractors undertaking work for other businesses are also eligible for the tax credits.

According to the report by HMRC, £1.4 billion was claimed in tax relief on R&D from April 2012 to April 2013, the most recent year for which information is available.

Claims must be submitted no later than two years after the end of the year in which the money was spent. For example, businesses with an accounting year end of April 30th have until April 30th 2015 to submit claims relating to 2013.

Tax specialists at Smith & Williamson analysed the figures and noted sector and regional imbalances.

Bard explains, 'The number of claims by SMEs in the finance and insurance, construction, real estate, arts and health sectors are particularly low. However, where successful claims have been made by firms in these sectors, the average sums received have been among the highest.

'We therefore believe there could be considerable scope for businesses in these sectors to claim R&D tax credits.'

Two thirds of the total amount claimed came from companies registered in London, the South East or the East of England.

Loss-making SME businesses are now eligible for a repayment of up to 33 per cent of qualifying expenditure, whereas those which are in-profit can claim a tax credit of 46 per cent of qualifying expenses. 

Bard adds, 'The potential for R&D tax claims on IT development arises, as software is specifically recognised by the tax authorities as technology, and its development is often difficult and uncertain.'

The resolution of technological uncertainty in respect of software can present significant opportunities to claim R&D relief, Bard continues. 'If your staff are experienced professionals working in the field, and they consider their development assignments to be uncertain as to whether or how results can be achieved, you should look into the potential for an R&D tax claim.

'It doesn’t matter if competitors have already found a solution – unless they have published the mechanisms behind their discoveries.'

Eligibility

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) taking on work as sub-contractors are also eligible. Only 575 sub-contractors claimed in the 2012/13 tax year, suggesting there is little awareness of the opportunities.

SMEs can benefit from an enhanced rate of R&D tax credits compared to larger businesses. To qualify, SMEs must employ fewer than 500 people, and have either an annual turnover of no more than €100 million or a balance sheet total not exceeding €86 million.

Smith & Williamson has set up an R&D calculator which is available here and is free of charge. It provides businesses with an immediate indication of how much they can claim in R&D tax credits.

Click here to read original article 'Millions in R&D tax relief overlooked by SMEs'

5 social business trends companies can't afford to ignore

If there is one thing that has, more than any other, fundamentally changed how businesses communicate with their customers, it is the group of technologies collectively classified as Web 2.0.

It’s difficult to pinpoint the one trend or technology that has had the most impact on business in the past couple of years. Mobile computing, cloud computing, the “as-a-service” model—these have all transformed how businesses operate. But Web 2.0 is certainly high up on the list.

These technologies, which include social communities like Facebook, social publishing platforms like Twitter, and digital sharing platforms like YouTube, have transformed company-consumer relationships. These relationships continue to evolve as new interactive technologies become available and consumer preferences change.

Here are five current social business trends that companies can’t afford to ignore.

1. Social media is starting to be incorporated into business’s marketing strategies

2. Visual media is being used more often3. Analytics and social media are coming together to provide businesses with valuable new insights4. Social engagement is focusing less on the brand, more on the individual5. Businesses’ use of social media becoming more interactive

More than 90 per cent of marketers already use social media for their business, but not all of them are doing so effectively. In many cases this is because they don’t have a defined social media strategy in place. However, with more and more customer engagement happening on social networks and publishing platforms, companies are starting to look more closely at how social media is being used and to incorporate it into their overall marketing strategies.

When businesses analyse the click-throughs, shares, and likes that their social content generates, there is one trend that never fails to stand out—images and videos are shared much more often than any other type of content. With the cost of video production declining and the ease with which images and videos can be distributed across the Internet increasing, the use of these visual media is rising rapidly.

Social media generates an unprecedented amount of behavioural data, but until recently businesses did not have reliable ways of extracting knowledge out of the data. With the rise of social marketing analytics tools, businesses can now mine social data for valuable insights into customer behaviour that they can use to power their decision making.

When brands first started using social platforms like Facebook and Twitter, they often used those platforms the same way they used television advertising: as a way to broadcast their brand message. As a result, many brands saw their followers flee in droves. The lesson was that when people use social networks, they want to see information that is interesting and valuable to them, not just advertisements. Brands that responded by better addressing consumers’ wants and needs saw their followers return.

The next phase in this evolution is for brands to engage consumers on a more individual level. This trend is being driven both by analytics, which allow brands to get better insight into particular customers, and social marketing tools that enable personalisation. For example, when users are signed in, Google uses their Google+ activity to personalise their search results, a feature that businesses can use to their advantage to put the right content in front of the right people.

As another way to respond to consumers’ needs, businesses are using social media more for conversations rather than for brand messaging. This strategy can pay off considerably by turning customers into brand promoters. According to this CeBIT infographic, “71 per cent of consumers that receive a quick brand response on social media are likely to recommend that brand do others.”

Social media is one of the most influential channels companies are using today to reach and engage their customer base. These five social business trends represent the top new practices emerging and expanding today.

Rosemary Brown is a business and market researcher with over 20 years of experience and is currently conducting experiments with web-based help desk tools like ProProfs Knowledge Base Software. 

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Major upgrades to our local websites

Dotty Directory are delighted to announce that we have started to upgrade our local websites. We now have over 150 local websites throughout the UK and each one will be upgraded to our new template.

We use the local websites to promote businesses advertising with us by featuring the business on the local website, Facebook and Twitter pages.

Please have a look at some of the some of the local websites we have already upgraded:

www.wiganconnection.co.uk

www.ruthinonline.co.uk

www.northwichconnection.co.uk

Three in four small business owners will work through holidays

MORE THAN three quarters of small business owners will work through the upcoming festive holidays, as they sacrifice time off for the bottom line.

A One Poll survey of small businesses, conducted with 500 respondents on behalf of Xero, found 15 per cent will work more than half a day through the holidays, while as much as 17 per cent planned to take no break at all.

Gary Turner, managing director at accounting software firm Xero, said: “As Christmas approaches, small business owners, like anyone else, deserve a break. But these results highlight that even during a time like the festive season, it isn’t possible for most of them to switch off altogether.”

When asked about future plans, just 35 per cent of 18 to 24 year olds said they would prioritise on their company’s performance.

This jumped to more than seven out of 10 for 45 to 54 year olds who put profit at the top of the agenda.

Younger respondents may have a better mix of work and leisure, with less than one in five 18 to 24 year olds and one in 10 25 to 34 year olds saying they need to improve work-life balance. This rose to around two in five for business owners aged 45 and over.

Mr Turner added: “Getting a good work-life balance is tricky, but it’s really important that we all switch off occasionally.”

Click here to read original article 'Three in four small business owners will work through holidays'

UK small businesses contribute £22 billion to UK economy by working overtime

Overtime worked by small business decision makers is worth an estimated £22 billion to the UK economy, according to new research.

The research by Everline, the digital lender for small businesses, and the Centre for Economic and Business Research (Cebr) found that the value of small business overtime was equivalent to more than 1% of the UK’s annual GDP.

The research surveyed over 1,000 small business decision makers as part of the Everline Small Business Tracker and found, on average, almost four in five of those with responsibility for a small business reported working overtime in the last month, with 18% working more than 60 hours or more per week.

In addition, half (52%) of small businesses owners that usually work conventional weekday hours (i.e. not at a restaurant or a pub) plan to work on their business to some extent on at least one bank holiday over the next 12 months, with more than one in ten expecting to work this Boxing Day and New Year’s Day (12% and 13% respectively).

This additional work would boost the UK economy by up to an estimated £1.7 billion over the next year.

For the majority (51%), working over bank holidays is performed because owners do not want to get behind on their work. Interestingly it is the older generation of small business owners that tend to work more hours outside of their standard working day than their younger counterparts (13 hours vs 9 hours in the last month). As a result, older business owners are more likely to be primarily responsible for a wider range of functions such as marketing, administration and finance.

Russell Gould, managing director at Everline, commented: “Skills remain an issue for small businesses, and evidently working ‘9 to 5’ is a misnomer for employers who are working longer days in order to compensate for those gaps.

"The worry is, that in a digital world where speed and time are paramount, small business owners are spending too much time covering other people’s work when they could be focusing on growing their business.“

Sam Alderson, economist at Cebr said: The strong pick-up in business activity illustrated by the Everline Small Business Tracker is evidently stretching the capacity of small businesses.

"A shortage of skills is constraining the ability of businesses to expand their resources and as such decision-makers are being forced to take on responsibility for greater range of functions.

"While small business owners should be applauded for their dedication and hard work, it’s a shame that these qualities are being devoted to tasks such as administration rather than strategy and business development; areas that could translate into sustainable growth for the small business sector.

Click here to read the original article: "UK small businesses contribute £22 billion to UK economy by working overtime"

Victoria Beckham tops chart of Britain’s most successful entrepreneurs

Designer heads rankings based on turnover growth and job creation over the past five years for her fashion label

Victoria Beckham, the pop star, model and Wag who reinvented herself as a fashion designer, has topped a list of Britain’s 100 most successful entrepreneurs of 2014.
The woman formerly known as Posh Spice came in at No 1 in the list compiled for business magazine Management Today. The rankings are drawn up by assessing turnover growth and job creation over the past five years.

The magazine said of the designer, who opened a 6,000 sq ft (550 sq metre) boutique in Mayfair, central London, for her fashion brand last month: “Beckham is living proof that celebrity may be the most marketable commodity of all.”

Philip Beresford, who drew up the list, said it was “her finely tuned business acumen” that won her the top spot.

Since the 40-year-old mother-of-four and former Spice Girl set up her fashion business five years ago, her staff has grown from three to a 100-strong team with the latest turnover at £30m.

Offering leather credit card holders for £150, T-shirts for more than £700 and handbags for up to £18,000, she has seen sales growth of 2,900% and employment growth of 3,233%. “Deservedly she is number one in these two crucial measurements for success,” Beresford said.

The accolade follows her topping of a poll to find the greatest style icon at London fashion week in September.

Beckham spoke of her transformation from singer to designer in a recent Guardian interview, saying: “First time around I felt famous, but now I feel successful.”
She added: “I used to wear clothes which would make me stand out and now I don’t so much because I don’t feel I have anything to prove.”

Born Victoria Adams in Harlow, Essex, she burst on to the pop scene with the Spice Girls in the mid 1990s and married the England footballer David Beckham in 1999. The couple’s joint wealth is estimated at £380m, and she is credited as the driving force behind “Brand Beckham”.

She joined the other Spice Girls for a world tour in 2007/8, but chose not to perform a solo song, instead posing as though in a fashion show, in a nod to where her real ambitions lay.
Beckham launched her eponymous fashion label in 2008, and a lower priced diffusion label in 2011. As a businesswoman, she has demonstrated herself to be “an adept exploiter of her own celeb value”, according to the list. By 2011 she was a fixture at New York fashion week.

Her Dover Street shop opened in September, but she missed the official opening to speak to the UN general assembly in New York about her role in the UNAids campaign. Since then a steady stream of celebrities have been through its doors. It has been likened to an art gallery, with sparse interior, clothes hanging from chains on the ceiling or a jagged rail, and no cash tills as all purchases are completed through an iPad.

The “burgeoning entrepreneurial talent” of Britain’s Asian community is also evident in the list, said Management Today, with nine individuals or families making the rankings. They are led by brother-and-sister team Amit and Meeta Patel, in second place, just pipped by Beckham. The siblings’ London-based pharma operation, Auden McKenzie, specialises in the development, licensing and marketing of niche generic medicines, and is at the cutting edge of work into areas such as treating heroin addiction.

Mahmud Kamani, 50, of online fashion site Boohoo.com, is ranked third, while Julian Dunkerton 49, of clothing chain SuperGroup, claims fourth spot.

Apart from Beckham, the list includes 14 other women, up from 11 when the rankings were last published in 2011. Among them are software entrepreneur Suzanne Marshall-Forsyth and Cathie Paver, founder of Paver Shoes.

The top 100 were “real job creators”, said Management Today. “In five years, they have added more than 61,556 employees to their payrolls taking their head count to 158,189. This represents a 64% rise, and shows that in the critical area of productivity,(in which much of the UK economy is notably lacklustre) our MT 100 members are right on top of their game.”

Spice Girls – where they are now?

Emma Bunton, 38, Baby Spice. She has guest-hosted on shows including GMTV, Lorraine and was a judge of Dancing on Ice. She presents a show on Heart FM and has two children

Melanie Brown, 39, Scary Spice. She has been a judge on a number of reality TV talent shows. She is currently a judge on X Factor and has three children,

Melanie Chisholm, 40, Sporty Spice . She has sold more than 12 million records as a solo artist, including collaborating with Bryan Adams on the hit “When You’re Gone”. She has also won acclaim in muscial theatre. She has a daughter.

Geri Halliwell, 42. Ginger Spice. She has recently appeared as a judge on Australia’s Got Talent and has one daughter.

Click here to read original article 'Victoria Beckham tops chart of Britain’s most successful entrepreneurs' 

Are your customers paying you what you’re worth?

When you’re feeling the pinch and money is tight it’s easy to assume that everyone is feeling the same way. You transfer your money beliefs over to your potential customers, by thinking: “Surely they won’t pay that” or “They can’t afford those prices”.

And your mind reinforces these beliefs by adding little comments such as: “Who do you think you are, charging those prices?” and “They’ll see through me and realise I’m not as good as they think”. This is what happened to someone I was chatting to recently. Instead of positioning herself as the true expert and brilliant coach she is, she made it into a money issue.

There are loads of business owners who feel uneasy when they’re discussing price and who subsequently charge a fraction of what they’re really worth. And assuming their customers have the same money beliefs as themselves is just the start.

They don’t know who their ideal customers are and, as a result, don’t understand the huge value they bring to them. They have a “spray and pray” approach to marketing, where any customer will do, and then they end up competing on price. Bad place to be.

Let’s face it, when you get into the “competing on price” game you’re always focused on being the cheapest. If you only attract people who want the cheapest, you will always have to offer more for less, just to keep up. It’s a hard way to make a living.

But do you really want to be the cheapest? People looking for “the cheapest” probably won’t be loyal. They don’t really care about you. They just want a commodity at the lowest possible price. Which is fine if you’re selling baked beans or toilet rolls.

But you’re a small business. Your business is a huge part of your life, filled with your passion, energy and time. So it’s better to find those ideal customers – people who really value you, love what you do, for whom you make a real difference. They aren’t looking for cheap. They’re looking for the best fit for them. There’s a big difference. Leave cheap to the others.

Value what you do. Price it so you make a decent profit. Get clear on how you make a difference to your ideal customers. Then, only market yourself to your ideal customers, not people looking for “cheap”. It will make a huge difference to both your bottom line and brand value.

Click here to read orignal article 'Are your customers paying you what you’re worth?'

Making switching simple for small businesses

Small Businesses can also use the free bank account switching service launched by the banking industry

It isn't just personal current account customers who can take advantage of the free Current Account Switch Service to swap between banks - small businesses up and down the country can make the most of the service, too, if they want to move to another current account provider.

Launched by the banking industry last September, the service ensures that existing payments such as Direct Debits or standing orders will be moved to the new account automatically, and any transactions which do go through to the old account will be redirected to the new one for 13 months, avoiding the problem of any payments going missing. 

The company making or taking the payment using the old account details will also get a message instructing them to update their records with the new account information. On top of that, the service is backed by a guarantee which means that if something should go wrong during a switch, any charges or interest will be refunded.

Until the service was brought in, changing from one account to another could be a lengthy process, with the switch typically taking between 18 and 30 days after the new account had been opened. 

That was a huge hurdle for small businesses heavily reliant on cash flow, with worries about missing out on invoice payments landing in the right account or suppliers not being paid according to terms, with the possibility of late payment charges being incurred.

But that timeline's been reduced right down to seven working days from the day the switching process starts to when the switch takes place.

One of the drivers behind the Current Account Switch Service has been to increase competition between banking providers, and make it much easier for small businesses to vote with their feet when it comes to picking the account which works best for them.

So, is it time for you to look at whether you're getting a good deal with your business banking? Here are the things you should consider:

Do I need a business bank account at all?

If your business is either a limited or incorporated company you must have a business account. If you are a sole trader or partnership, you could use your personal current account but that can make your finances messy - keeping personal and business accounts separate is the better option.

Am I spending too much on bank charges?

Some banks charge a fee for business banking services, and some don't. Other costs are transaction-based, like fees for cash withdrawals, cheques, Bacs transfers and overseas payments. Think about exactly what you need to use and check the charges for each service. Some providers offer free banking, either for a set time or with limits on the number of transactions over a month - look at the penalties for going over those limits, and charges which kick in when the free banking period ends.

What if I need an overdraft?

Costs can be quite high but will vary between banks - check interest rates, set up fees and the amount you can borrow this way.

And what about a business debit card?

Lots of business accounts come with these facilities but ask if you're eligible for a debit card - and a cheque book, if you need one - before changing to an account where you might not qualify for these.

What if I'm not happy with the service at my new bank?

With the new Current Account Switch Service, you can change your provider again quickly and easily.

Will switching bank accounts affect my business credit rating?

No -  as long as you repay any outstanding overdraft with your old bank or building society. If there are any problems with payments as part of the switching process, your new bank or building society will deal with them as quickly and make sure your credit rating is not affected.

Click here to read original article 'Making switching simple for small businesses'