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Three ways to check if a Paralegal is Licenced to Practise – before you engage them.

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More and more small businesses are turning to Paralegals to help with a variety of legal issues.

Most Paralegals offer a great service, at a fraction of the cost of a solicitor or barrister, but it is still worth checking that you are using a registered practitioner:

  • If they do not work for a solicitor or barrister, then you should ensure that they are a member of a professional body such as NALP (National Association of Licenced Paralegals) or registered with the PPR (Professional Paralegal Register).
  • They should have either a NALP Licence to Practise or a PPR Practising Certificate, and should have professional indemnity insurance (PII).
  • Ensure that the activity you need help with is something that a Paralegal is allowed to deal with. Essentially, Paralegals can do almost everything a solicitor can do.

However, there are a few exceptions, known as ‘reserved activities’ i.e. activities that remain the monopoly of solicitors:

For example, to buy or sell property, an individual must be a solicitor or Licensed Conveyancer (licensed through the Council for Licensed Conveyancers), otherwise they cannot perform a conveyancing transaction on your behalf.

A Paralegal cannot apply for a Grant of Probate on behalf of an Executor of a Will, although they can advise the Executor her/himself how to go about it.

Paralegals do not have an automatic right to appear in all courts on behalf of a client, although they can represent a client at most Tribunals and before a District Judge in small civil claims in the County Court. However, most higher Courts will, at the discretion of the Judge, and with prior notice of representation being given, accept a Paralegal to represent a litigant, provided the Judge is of the opinion that the Paralegal is competent to do so.

In the unlikely event that things don’t go as planned and you need to make a complaint about a Paralegal, here’s how:

If you are making a complaint about a Paralegal who is employed:

  1. Communicate your concerns to the Paralegal to give him/her a chance to put things right. If you get no joy from this, then if the Paralegal is employed,
  2. contact the employer clearly stating your complaints to give them a chance to sort it out. If, however, you are still not satisfied,
  3. you can take the matter further by contacting the Legal Ombudsman (Office of Legal Complaints). However, this route only applies to Paralegals who are employed by a regulated professional such as a solicitor or a barrister.

If the Paralegal is working for themselves and has not put things right to your satisfaction and the Paralegal is a member of NALP or another body then you can:

  1. Communicate your concerns to the Paralegal to give him/her a chance to put things right. If you are not satisfied then:
  2. Make a complaint in writing and request an investigation to the Paralegal’s Membership Body. The membership body will investigate and then respond within a given time frame. See NALP’s Policy regarding complaints about a member.

NALP has Codes of Conduct and Ethics for members and Guidance to members on Offering Legal Services and Holding Out to which all NALP registered Members have to agree. It is a requirement that all Paralegals offering legal services, must have Professional Indemnity Insurance and either a NALP Licence to Practise, or PPR Practising Certificate. NALP can apply stringent sanctions against any member against whom a complaint has been upheld.

Finally, Paralegals can help with a wide variety of legal issues, and many specialise in specific areas, for example dealing with disputes between landlords and tenants, or chasing debts, and they charge much less than solicitors, so are well worth considering if you have a legal issue.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Amanda Hamilton is Chief Executive of NALP, a non-profit Membership Body as well as being the only Paralegal body that is recognised as an awarding organisation by Ofqual (the regulator of qualifications in England & Wales). Through its training arm, NALP Training, accredited recognised professional paralegal qualifications are offered for a career as a paralegal professional. 

See: http://www.nationalparalegals.co.uk and http://www.nalptraining.co.uk/nalp_training

Twitter: @NALP_UK

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NationalAssocationsofLicensedParalegals/

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-hamilton-llb-hons-840a6a16/

 

 

 

Are you overpaying for your business energy?

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A recent report found that if you fail to renegotiate your business energy rates, you could be overpaying by £532 per year. This is a grand total of £7 billion every year across all the 5.2 million SME’s in the UK.

Half of the SME’s who are customers of the Big Six energy firms haven’t changed provider in five years. If you have never changed or dealt with your provider (you may have never found the time, or you moved into new premises, for example) you will almost certainly be with the incumbent provider for your area and therefore on their standard tariff. There are also such things as ‘deemed’ or ‘out of contract’ tariffs which can be up to 116% more expensive. It’s been found that 45% of small businesses are on these, so this is definitely something to check up on.

Here’s what you need to do:

  • Set a reminder – By setting a reminder a few weeks before your notice period you will avoid missing your end date. Businesses do not have the same cooling off periods that consumers have with energy, therefore it’s important to take action first.
  • Speak to a broker – By providing a broker with a copy of your most recent bill they will be able to analyse your rates and find you the best deal. You can talk to an energy broker at any time to lock in rates and look into different suppliers. Even if you don’t end up going with what they offer, speaking to a broker can give you a much better understanding of the industry and how the market currently stands.
  • Do your research – Review websites like Trustpilot and Feefo can give you a good idea of the level of customer service the suppliers provide. There are also the typical comparison websites that can give you an idea of current prices – remember to search for business energy. Don’t be afraid to step outside the Big Six energy companies.
  • Better the devil you know – There is absolutely no need to stay loyal to a particular energy supplier; switching provider is generally hassle-free. If you are able to find competitive rates elsewhere, there’s no harm in contacting your current provider to see if they can match it. When doing this, avoid making any verbal contractual agreements over the phone unless you’re 100% ready as this will lock you in and prevent you finding a better deal.

Most of us are familiar with the Big Six energy firms and will have seen the recent coverage about price rises. However, it is, in fact, all energy suppliers who will be or have already raised the bar – even the ones traditionally known for being cheaper.

With this in mind, if you do feel you’ve found a particularly good rate or a broker has highlighted this for you, it is sometimes possible to lock in this price for one or even two years – meaning you can enjoy today’s prices later on down the line.

Diarize regular audits to check for inaccuracies on your bills, these errors often derive from incorrect meter readings and rate charges. Only 20% of UK businesses currently check their gas and electricity bills on a regular basis – yet, one in five businesses’ energy bills contain errors.

Overpaying for your business energy can be avoided by switching energy provider or renegotiating your contract. This will only ever be made difficult if your contract has rolled over or your switching window has passed. So act early.

About the Author

Nolan Braterman is from Frontier Utility, an independent energy brokerage providing businesses with flexible, bespoke and price competitive energy solutions to suit any type or size of company.  See: http://fvdata.co.uk/

Twitter.com/fvdata

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Taxing the robots to pay for the people?

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It is inevitable that automation will drive up the number of people facing permanent unemployment.

It would therefore be reckless for governments not to explore the scenario of rising technological unemployment over the next decade, and how we will fund either a higher total unemployment benefit bill or the provision of some form of guaranteed basic income and / or guaranteed basic services.

Labour has been mooting the idea of “robot taxes” to finance the cost of adult retraining, education transformation and unemployment provisions. The argument is that robots should be taxed because they will be considered as something that creates value for the owner, like property, and if firms are cutting headcounts, then they are likely to be making higher profits. Furthermore, the belief is that those who will receive the benefits will spend that money with the firms who paid the robot taxes.

Alongside unemployment costs, there is also a strong argument that a significant proportion of the revenue from robot taxes should be channelled directly into public education. This would create a positive role for robots in society, which would be to pay for public schools and universities, and perhaps even a new approach to education which develops the whole person, not just the ‘future worker’. These would include life skills (cooking, health and household management), interpersonal skills (listening, leadership, writing) and self-awareness (mindfulness, meditation, mental health strategies). The underlying principle is that we should use the value of automation to benefit society and prevent future problems.

When and where?

We could see these taxes in place by 2030 in many industrial nations. South Korea, Japan and Singapore might be among the first to implement some form of automation taxation mechanism.

China is saying little right now, but it has the capacity to enact policy rapidly should the need arise. Whereas, India is likely to be a late adopter due to the overt and hidden political power of the super-corporates.

Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, and Germany are likely to be among the first to revamp their tax systems in Europe.

But the US could well be among the last to go down this route and might conceivably not do so at all without a fundamental change in its governance and electoral systems.

What?

The entry point should be to evolve a more flexible approach to creating income to fund future public services. Algorithms could take account of factors such as expenditure on training and retraining current and former employees, the support given by firms to start-ups, the level of employment created further down the value chain, and the amount of tax paid by the firm’s employees.

Perhaps evaluation of a business’s broader impact on society could also factor into the level of taxation applied to its profits.

The key here is modelling a variety of different approaches to see which produces the fairest and most transparent system. This may well evolve over time as the controlling AI algorithm learns about what behaviours it engenders in firms to try and reduce their tax bill.

How?

We don’t know yet what robot taxes might look like in practice because no one has really tried. Thus, the first stage must be to run some serious computer simulations of different scenarios for the pace of automation and the impacts on employment in different countries around the world. These could be used as input to the development of economic models to explore the funding requirements of different public service strategies and how they might be met. If there’s a shortfall between what’s required and what could be collected under the current taxation regime, then the potential for different robot tax models (and any alternatives) could be evaluated and the likely implications assessed.

Artificial intelligence is creating the tools that are driving the pace of automation and the prospect of increased unemployment. Equally, AI tools could also be used to design and develop new approaches to taxation that could help us address the societal consequences of technological disruption and ensure a very human future for all.

About the Authors

Rohit Talwar, Steve Wells and Alexandra Whittington are from Fast Future which publishes books from future thinkers around the world exploring how developments such as AI, robotics and disruptive thinking, could impact individuals, society and business and create new trillion-dollar sectors. Fast Future has a particular focus on ensuring these advances are harnessed to unleash individual potential and ensure a very human future. See: www.fastfuture.com

Twitter                  http://twitter.com/fastfuture

Blog                       http://blog.fastfuturepublishing.com/

LinkedIn              http://www.linkedin.com/in/talwar

How not to network – 5 small business networking clangers

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There are so many networking groups out there, and I personally really enjoy networking and meeting people, that it is so easy to end up spending all your time networking rather than actually working on your business.

So, before you start, work out what you want to achieve.  Are you looking for support and encouragement; to learn from other business owners; to meet potential clients or customers; to find suppliers, coaches or investors?  This will help guide you as to which groups to join, and which are the most effective.  Your time is precious so be prepared to move on if a particular group isn’t meeting your needs.

Once you’ve found the right group, then there are a few classic mistakes you really want to avoid.

Here are my top five networking clangers:

  1. Not taking no for an answer

Often when people first start a business their enthusiasm for what they do borders into pushiness – which is off-putting!  We have all come across people who are preachy and won’t take no for an answer. Chances are you didn’t buy from them, or if you did, you felt pressured and uncomfortable. So, yes, be passionate, but avoid being pushy; your product or service isn’t right for everyone.

  1. Not speaking clearly  

Mumbling, addressing the floor, and speaking so quietly you can’t be heard, means your fellow attendees will have no idea what your name is or what you do. This is a missed opportunity.  My recommendation is to stand up as this helps to project your voice, and look at people around the room, not just one person.  Try look at someone’s forehead rather than their eyes – its less intimidating!  Also practice in front of a mirror or another person, and ask for feedback from someone you trust.

  1. Not keeping to time

It’s amazing how many people do not actually know how long one minute lasts and so take five! This is disrespectful of people’s time and a sure-fire way to get them to switch off. Aim for around 120-150 words for a one-minute pitch and make sure your pitch is concise, builds interest and is memorable. Time is valuable so respect it and others will respect you.

  1. Not committing

Some people turn up to a networking group once, force their business cards on everyone, add the entire group to their email newsletters and then never turn up again. And then they complain that networking doesn’t work!  It takes time to build up relationships, so once you’ve chosen which is the right group for you, attend consistently, wait to be asked before handing out your business card, and arrange those one-to-ones to really get to know people.  

  1. Not being interested

Networking is not about selling. It’s about building relationships. When you approach other networkers, show genuine interest in them and what they do before even mentioning what you do. Build rapport and connection. Because without connection, they will quite simply never buy from you or refer you. It takes time – but the payoff makes it worthwhile.

Avoid the mistakes above and you’ll find that networking that can give your start-up business a great boost.

About the Author

Sue Fish is from Toastmasters International, a non-profit educational organisation that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of meeting locations. Headquartered in Rancho Santa Margarita, California, the organisation’s membership exceeds 352,000 in more than 16,400 clubs in 141 countries. Since 1924, Toastmasters International has helped people of all backgrounds become more confident in front of an audience. There are more than 300 clubs in the UK and Ireland with over 7,500 members. To find your local club: www.toastmasters.org Follow @Toastmasters on Twitter.

Why your business needs a second Internet connection – or risks losing money

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Connection to the internet has quickly become an essential part of any business. Whether you’re a retail shop or café and only need the internet for card payments, or if your staff rely on the basic use of emails and web browsing, or if internet connectivity supports your telephone system. There are also the more advanced uses such as cloud-based applications and disaster recovery solutions that keep larger organsations ticking.

And yet, almost 80% of UK businesses experienced a broadband outage last year, costing the economy £7 billion.

The impact

As a business owner, it’s worth asking yourself, ‘how much money would my business lose if I lost all connectivity? And would I be part of the lucky 25%?’

According to a recent survey, only 25% of those who were hit by internet outages last year were able to mitigate their down-time by adopting tasks which did not require internet usage. However, not all businesses are so lucky; especially those with widely dispersed departments in a variety of locations, with staff who need to stay connected.

Of course, there are various ways to get by when the internet fails. There’s the Starbucks down the road (other coffee shops are available) or tethering off your mobile data if you are fortunate enough to have unlimited 4G, but these are short-term solutions that just won’t cut the mustard during major outages. This is where a second internet connection comes in. The overall idea being that if your main service provider cuts out for whatever reason, your secondary connection is ready and waiting to take over.

The cost

Should your primary broadband service become disrupted, the cost to your business can be considerable. Everyday operations will come to a halt at 38% of businesses, 13% immediately start losing money following an outage and 46% will suffer a financial hit after four hours. However, considering that the average waiting time for service to resume is six hours, it’s surprising that only 13% of businesses switch to a backup solution. (Source: http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2017/03/isp-claims-uk-lost-7bn-2016-due-business-broadband-outages.html)

Whilst larger companies statistically lose the most money and productive hours, the effects of connectivity failure apply to all sized business; big, small and micro. As a general rule of thumb, the average downtime hours per business multiplied by the cost per productive hour lost, will give you the estimated loss to your business.

The average annual loss per business is as follows:

  • Solo (1 person) – £41
  • Micro (2-9 people) – £527
  • Small 10-49 people) – £3 ,950
  • Medium (50 – 249) – £15,670
  • Large (250+ people) – £497,433

The checks

There are dozens of reasons why an outage might have occurred; broadband providers themselves are not invincible, therefore malicious attacks or damage to the infrastructure is possible.

Aside from these situations that you cannot control, there are some simple actions that can be taken within your business to prevent outages:

  • Check that you are using internet connectivity that is suitable for your business purposes (this tends to be a common pitfall for many businesses that opt for residential connections as they are cheaper).
  • Check that all your routers have been configured properly
  • As your company grows its vital that regular checks and audits are carried out to ensure all IT and telecommunication systems are able to deal with the volumes and are protected against outages and cyber-attacks. You can internally review the scalability and resiliency of your systems by checking your bandwidth is still suitable for the size of your business. If your business has grown beyond your bandwidth speed and size, then it’s time to upgrade – before it falls over
  • Check the market, on a regular basis, to see if there’s anything available that your business could benefit from. In a rapidly evolving industry there are always new features that can make working life easier and more protected.

Unfortunately, despite your (and your provider’s) best efforts, sometimes a connectivity issue will arise. This is where the back-up connection comes into its own. Rather than wasting time moving to a temporary office space or rinsing your mobile data dry, a better option would be to implement a backup internet connection. What may seem like another unnecessary expense could save you a lot of unnecessary stress and money in the long run.

The solutions

Depending on the size of your business, there are two main options;

  • A step up from using your mobile phone data is a 4G router or MiFi device;these will connect to the 4G network in the event of an internet outage, meaning you can continue carrying out small tasks that require internet connection such as taking PDQ payments and sending emails. The cost of a device like this is around the £130 mark.
  • For businesses where a large chunk of the workload is carried out using internet connection, a second ADSL line would be a more reliable option. However, before taking this step it’s important to choose a different supplier to the one you currently receive your main broadband connection from. A second line should bring in the broadband connection from a different source, therefore if your main service provider encounters a major issue, your secondary connection will kick in.

Both new prospects and existing customers are key drivers in sustaining and growing your business. If neither can get through to you will they call your competitors? By adding a second low-cost connection, which can start from as little as £12.95pcm, you can be confident that your business will carry on as normal in the event of an outage. The figures really do speak for themselves.

About The Author

Nolan Braterman is from Frontier Voice and Data providing businesses with working, flexible, bespoke and price competitive communications solutions for more than thirty years. FVD is an independent supplier and carries a comprehensive, business grade suite of products to suit any type or size of company. See: http://fvdata.co.uk/

www.Twitter.com/fvdata

www.Facebook.com/fvdata

www.Linkedin.com/company/fvdata

www.Youtube.com/channel/UC9SAQW8iitmZxA8Ri5AeXIA

How to claim your holiday and golf lessons against your business income

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Can you really claim your holiday and golf lesson against your business? Yes – in certain circumstances and if done correctly.

Holidays

Holidays are another expense that most people don’t expect to be able to claim against but, again, if done correctly, you can. This is an area where there’s a lot of confusion but let me give you three common scenarios:

  • Extending a business trip: You need to go on a business trip to, let’s say, Las Vegas, and since you’re going there you decide to spend an extra day or two to do some shopping or sightseeing. There’s a great myth that because you’ve mixed business with pleasure, you can’t claim any of the trip expenses because now the trip has “dual purpose” and according to tax laws, you can’t make a claim for such a trip. But that’s not applicable if the primary purpose of the trip is business, that’s the key thing. But the only amount that you can’t claim against is the extra cost of staying in Vegas a bit longer. If you spend £1000 on the business trip and then the extra cost is £200, you can then pay the company back £200 and still claim the £1000 against its income, because the primary purpose of the trip was for business. Make sure you keep proper records, notes and also board minutes to document the main reason for the trip.

Also, if you decide to bring your spouse but they’re not a business partner or employee, then all you have to do is separate the cost; your spouse’s flights will be disallowed but your flight will be allowed and so on. So, simply put, as long as the primary purpose of the trip is business, you can claim against any cost in relation to that. Other non-business related cost will be disallowed. 

  • Mixing pleasure with business: Let’s say you’re on a business trip somewhere nice and decide to go to the beach, without incurring additional cost. That doesn’t mean you’ve ruined the chance of claiming the cost of the trip against your income, it’s just another myth. But because the original purpose of the trip was for business, you can still claim the whole amount through the company. All you have to do is keep receipts for everything that you’re meant to be doing on the business trip and claim that against your income, your little fun on the beach doesn’t matter. Why because there is no additional cost and it’s just an incidental benefit from the main business purpose.
  • Turning holiday into a business trip: This is the only time where you absolutely cannot claim expenses against your income. When you go on holiday and the purpose of the trip is personal but then you decide to do some business while over there, you’ve waived your right to claim any expenses. Because the purpose of the trip was personal, you can’t claim any of the cost incurred while doing business.

Golf lessons and school fees

School fees, care home fees, staff holidays, and even golfing lessons – can be claimed as a business expense in certain circumstances if you run your business through a limited company rather than sole trader or partnership.

If you provide your employees with vouchers that they can exchange for, say golf lessons or school fees, HMRC allows you to claim against that, as long as you report this cost as a benefit to your staff. So as director, you can have your company pay for your golf lessons, the company reports this as a benefit and pays Class 1 National Insurance on the cost and you, as an employee, pay tax on it. Then, the company can claim the cost of this benefit against its income. Is it worth it? Yes, because the crucial point is that the company would have to pay higher tax on the golf lessons cost if it went through the payroll, so this way you can keep the salary cost down.

You can also claim drink and food in certain circumstances

Contractual obligation: Where it’s part of your business to entertain, say if you’re providing a training course to businesses and you entertain them as part of the course – maybe providing tea, coffee, lunch and so on – even if it’s food, you’re still allowed to claim that because you’re under a contractual obligation to give them food.

Staff entertainment: You are allowed to claim £150 a year per head for entertainment. Even if it’s just yourself, as director of a limited company, you can still claim this expense against your income. Because you (the director) are classed as an employee. 

Quid pro quo: Let’s say you’re a freelance journalist and you want to speak to say Paul, a man who has world of experience on a topic you’re writing about. You offer to take Paul out to lunch in exchange for his insight into the topic which you’re researching. Because Paul is coming to the table with something of value but not benefitting from it apart from getting free lunch, you’re actually allowed to claim the expense, even though it appears as entertainment.

There is a helpful guide on HMRC’s site under their expenses and benefits section on this so if you’re not using a tax adviser or an accountant, you might find it useful.

Finally, make sure you get the paperwork and evidence right. Otherwise, you might be paying more tax than you have to, allowing your business to bleed money that it perhaps can’t afford.

About the Author

Jonathan Amponsah CTA FCCA is an award winning chartered tax adviser and accountant who has advised many clients over the last decade on tax deductible expenses. Jonathan is the founder and CEO of The Tax Guys. He is also the co-founder of Easy Tax Returns (a tax return app to help tax payers avoid stress, penalties and find their peace).

For more information see:

www.easytaxreturns.online

www.facebook.com/EasyTaxReturnsApp/

@easytaxreturns #easytaxreturns

www.thetaxguys.co.uk

67% of businesses do not use a form of customer relationship management system (CRM)

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A recent survey by Applied Business, providers of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, discovered that 73% of SMEs who aren’t using any form of workflow management software are “constantly” or “frequently” facing errors in manual processes.

Half of the respondents also admitted to never carrying out daily backups of IT systems, indicating that a considerable number of files, data and customer information could be lost.

Having No CRM Throws Away Opportunities

67% of those surveyed admitted to not using any form of CRM. A previous survey conducted by Applied Business also found that 28% of businesses believed manual operational errors were frequently affecting their CRM.

A strong CRM helps a business to organise and segment their customers based on their interactions with the business and maintain stronger relationships with them, providing more opportunities to upsell. Furthermore, a streamlined CRM is crucial to delivering a competitive edge by retaining existing clients through outstanding service.

Resistance to Change Delaying IT Updates

Change is a big deal to an organisation that is still using traditional methods or antiquated IT systems.  According to the survey, 81% of respondents who aren’t using a CRM admitted “not knowing where to start” is the main change management challenge they face: 41% of all respondents said that not knowing where to start was the biggest hurdle.

Respondents also acknowledged how employee resistance is a major barrier, delaying system upgrades and achieving organisational change.

Having No ERP Results in Poor Workflow

73% of businesses who constantly or frequently face errors in manual processes are not using resource planning or workflow management software.  For some businesses, poor project management could put their reputation on the line and seriously affect revenue.

Disaster Recovery Plans

When asked how often “do they back up their business systems and files”, 50% of respondents confessed to not conducting daily backups of IT systems. This represents a much higher potential risk of suffering losses due to having a lack of suitable systems in place and poor project management.

A thorough backup and recovery plan could make or break a company in the event of a disaster, which was the case for Zurich Insurance when they were fined £2.3 million after losing the personal details for over 48,000 customers during a routine data transfer to a data storage centre in South Africa. Considering the enormity of the data transferred, backing up the data beforehand could have prevented this catastrophe and the resulting damage to their reputation (source BBC).

How Often Should You Upgrade or Change Your Software?

Only 55% of businesses have updated their ERP, CRM, or project management software in the last two years, whilst 26% say they never upgrade theirs.

Running on outdated software can seriously affect productivity, but constantly changing software would cause mayhem in any operational environment. So, what’s the answer?

Employee resistance was found to be greatest for businesses that change or update their systems every three years, compared to shorter or longer time frames. On average, planning for updates, upgrades, or changes every two years reduced employee resistance.

What To Consider When Starting A Small Business – Where Will Your Premises Be?

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If you are considering starting your own business, the location of your office / shop will be one of the most important considerations. Here we share some tips on what to consider:

Home or away?

First of all, what sort of business will you be running? If it something where people won’t generally need to visit you (for example, you provide an internet marketing business or a virtual assistant service), you may wish to weigh up the pros and cons of working from home.

If you have a spare room at home and know you’ll be disciplined in treating that room as your “office” and going there every day, this may be an option for you.

Also note that if you do work from home, there may be tax implications (good and bad), so do speak to an accountant for further advice.

If your business is to be one where people visit – whether it is an insurance brokers or hairdressers or fast food restaurant – then choose your location very carefully.

While this will be initially driven by any budget you have allocated, location is key. So, a hairdressers on a high street or near a railway station where getting to it is easy may do better than one where it is a drive away, from other shops. Also, take in to account the “treat” factor – if your premises is somewhere where there is lots of footfall, you are likely to get more people just walk in off the street to “treat” themselves, whether it is to a new haircut or something to eat.

Grants

Once you have narrowed down the location, talk to other shop owners in the vicinity to see if any properties are due to come up for rent /sale or whether there are any special government assisted grants available. Ask if there are any rumours about the local area (for example, if you are thinking about opening a coffee shop, make sure there are no plans afoot for a Costa Coffee or Starbucks to open up nearby). The less competition you will have, the better.

 

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