Working from home – five top tips from our team
It’s been a few weeks since Coronavirus changed the way we live and work for the foreseeable future, and so we wanted to check in to see how you’re doing? With the type of job that you do, are you able to work from home (or WFH as the cool kids on Instagram are calling it)? How are you finding it? What have been the challenges for you? Have you noticed any benefits to working from home as opposed to an office?As you may know, our team normally works from our offices in Consett. That said, we...
May 13, 20208 C’s to help you focus on what you can control in your business during Covid19
Every news story is covering the C-word. Here’s 8 C’s to help you focus on what you can control in your business during Covid19: Cash, Credit, Colleagues, Customers, Condense (your plans), Change, Communication and Compassion. The information overload is real. The ramifications of Covid-19 on businesses are being felt and speculated upon every minute of each day – probably leaving you feeling like a rabbit caught in the headlights. Here’s eight simple words also beginning with ...
May 6, 2020Supporting your family and team through the lockdown
As a business owner, along with your own wellbeing and resilience, supporting your family and team through the lockdown is critical. While the #Covid19 lockdown is out of your control, you can minimise the impact on your family and team to help bolster morale as well as business out outcomes.Many of our clients have been busy ‘firefighting’ and haven’t had a chance to document a clear plan beyond this critical phase. Hopefully the initial shock of going into lockdown is fading and you have...
April 22, 2020The value of cashflow forecasting during a crisis
Understanding the value of cashflow forecasting during a crisis is often the last thing on anyone’s mind. Yet, many business owners are seeing income either disappear completely or drop to dangerous levels. To be able to navigate the future path of your cashflow, you need to start forecasting – so you can map out your financial position over the coming months and can take the appropriate action to safeguard your cash position....
April 15, 2020How to keep your business running during an emergency
Many business owners at this time are wondering how to keep your business running during an emergency.‘Business continuity’ as it’s known, is the process of planning out how your company can continue trading – when disaster hits. In essence, it’s your Plan B for how to set up a means of trading, when you don’t have access to your usual offices, workspaces or equipment. Right now businesses are having to put ‘Plan B’ into action....
April 9, 2020Valued Business Community
Valued Business Community – a safe space online for us to help support one another during the COVID-19 crisis It’s a worrying time for us all both personally and professionally. Whether you’re a sole trader, partnership or limited company. Regardless of shape, size, sector, how many employees you have or the number of dependents counting on you at home, COVID-19 otherwise known as Coronavirus, means that we’re living in unprecedented times. Certainly, I can’t remember anything like thi...
March 10, 2020Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update
As concerns about the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19 increase for small businesses I wanted to update you on what we are doing at Valued to care for both our employees and clients during this time....
March 9, 2020Getting yourself in the performance zone
Getting yourself back into work after a few weeks break can be hard. You might be struggling to get back into your routine and engage your brain in work. Or, perhaps you spent time setting your goals and planning your year and you’re full speed raring to go. There is, however, an optimum approach somewhere between these two scenarios – we call this hitting ‘The Performance Zone’....
February 24, 2020Newsletters – how to get started
A newsletter is a great way to connect with your customers and prospects probably sits on your ‘to-do’ list. Here’s a quick guide to help you achieve it....
February 19, 2020Nail your marketing goals this year
If you’re looking to nail your marketing goals this year then you will quickly realise that marketing and selling is all about making a connection with people looking for solutions. And now that we (mostly) control most of the channels we advertise through such as your website, your Facebook page, your Instagram feed or your email database, it’s time to make the most of them. Build some time into your day to ensure you have the fundamentals of your marketing sorted. Are you making the most o...
February 12, 2020How to say NO if you’re a YES person
One of the hardest things for business owners is to learn how to say no if you’re a yes person. Are you a yes person? Even when you’re snowed under with work, family, and life admin, do you find yourself saying yes to things you don’t really have time or headspace for?...
February 5, 2020How to use Forecasting and Scenario Planning
For centuries, accounting was all about reviewing historic information – but that only told you about the past, not what was going to happen in the future. That changes once you know how to use forecasting and scenario planning.If you’re only looking back at past periods and historic numbers, that limits the insights you can achieve into your business. With a backward-looking ideology, it becomes difficult to plan, run through different scenarios or understand the path of the business.Foreca...
January 27, 2020What are SMART goals and why use them?
What are SMART goals and why use them in your business? You’ve probably heard of SMART goals and, spoiler alert, they’re not rocket science… but they do work. SMART goals are an excellent filter to maximise planning outcomes. With the SMART acronym comes five simple parameters; that any goal (if you truly want to achieve it) must be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound. When thinking about goals vs SMART goals, consider the difference between “I want a healthier...
January 22, 2020Understanding Your Balance Sheet
Now we have explored what you need to read your profit and loss understanding your balance sheet is the next step.To understand the financial position of a business at a specific point of time, look at the balance sheet. Together with the Profit and Loss Statement, and possibly other reports such as the Cash-flow, these reports provide a complete understanding of the financial position and business performance. So what’s involved? – The balance sheet has three sections: a...
January 16, 2020Understanding Your Profit and Loss Statement
One of the most frequent questions we get asked is how do you go about understanding your profit and loss statement.Your profit and loss statement (P&L) helps you understand your business performance and profitability over time and its main purpose is to list income and expenditure.Whereas a balance sheet is a snapshot in time, the P&L shows transactions over a specific period of time. This can be a month, quarter, financial year or any other period, and it can be a stand-alone report or a compa...
January 15, 2020Marketing can be everyone’s responsibility
Marketing can be everyone’s responsibility – You don’t need to be in the sales team to make sales. And you don’t need to be in the marketing team to promote your business to new customers.Marketing isn’t just about Facebook ads, email marketing and other marketing campaigns. Winning a new customer can be the result of a number of different interactions, none of which fit the ‘direct sales’ approach that drives a lot of marketing.A client win can come from:A conversation at an indus...
January 14, 2020Planning for seasonal dips in income
Seasonal dips in income can be highly challenging when you’re a small business. But there are proactive ways to predict, plan for and overcome these dips in revenue. The key to dealing with seasonal dips is to know when they’re most likely to occur, and to have measures in place to spread your income and revenue pipeline over the course of the year....
January 6, 2020What’s in the forecast?
When we set out on a fishing trip or hike, we always check the weather forecast. It’s no different in business. The forecast tells us if there’s bad weather (poor cashflow) in store based on the direction we’re heading....
December 9, 2019Why does your business exist?
Your purpose is roughly three to seven words explaining why does your business exist for your customers. Your purpose should be about THEM, not you. It is a small statement, with immense power.EXAMPLES:Tesla: To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.Walt Disney: To make people happy.TED: Spread ideas.These may be big company examples, but a clear purpose statement is just as important for small and medium sized business.A defined purpose statement is the antido...
November 4, 2019An interview with Chaser – transforming the late payment landscape for small business
We were fortunate to be able to catch up with the founder and CEO of Chaser – David Tuck last week and we spent some time discussing the blight of many small businesses late-payments and the effect it has on them and the wider business community. It’s a common problem among small business owners, so much in fact that Xero in association with PayPal produced a report on the State of Late Payments which contained some interesting statistics including that 48% of invoices is...
October 24, 2019The count down to #Xerocon 2019 has begun
Many will know that a generalisation of anyone who works in an accountancy practice is that we are a bit grey, you know boring, nothing interesting to say other than quote tax legislation to you at parties….. Well think again!We are now hip, down with the kids, we don’t wear suits (much) anymore, we use social media and blogs and seriously, we even have our own conference – Xerocon (think Glastonbury but for accountants) and yes we even had a zip wire at last year’s confer...
October 17, 2019Launched: Valued – The Podcast is now LIVE!!
With International Podcast Day on Monday 30th September 2019, it got us thinking about something that we discussed after attending Xerocon back in November 2018; Let’s get a podcast up and running. Sounds simple enough, right?...
October 4, 2019How do you know your break-even point?
How do you know your break–even point? All business owners need to be aware of their break-even point — that is, the number of units they need to sell in order to cover their operating costs. Once you’ve reached your break–even point, it’s time to celebrate: your business is no longer in the red, and you are officially earning a profit.This article will show you how to calculate...
July 8, 2019Get Paid First
Why your salary should be your business’s first monthly expense? It’s the line item most often left out of a small company’s budget: the business owner’s salary.Let’s face it: you can always spend cash on your business. From office expenses to employee salaries to rent, every month a portion of your revenue is accounted for.But paying yourself first is a must. You need to earn a living – and paying yourself can actually help your business succeed.Here’s why you should make you...
April 15, 2019Why your business needs to put people first as the UK exits the EU?
The news this week has been dominated by Brexit yet again and whilst we watch politicians from both sides of the debate clash over the terms of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, the fact remains that in law the United Kingdom will be leaving the European Union on the 29th March 2019 unless we can negotiate an extension [by three months to 30 June] following today’s vote in the House of Commons.This issue has divided the country, divided regions, towns, communities and even divided famili...
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