Category Archives: Business planning

Working from home constructively

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Jon Stow

I have been in business working from home for more than a decade. Of course working from home doesn’t mean working at home all the time. I do a lot of work at home, but I visit clients all over … Continue reading →

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Curbing our aggression?

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Jon Stow

Perceptions My very nice Twitter friend, Elaine Clark, commented the other day: “Why is it that women are aggressive and men assertive – well that is what blokes always tell me!” I do not have that opinion (and I think … Continue reading →

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Small business, Windows 8 and me

Posted on March 16, 2013 by Jon Stow

Having revived my old XP desktop with Windows 8 I ought to report that I have updated my five-year-old Dell Vostro 1000 laptop from Windows Vista to Windows 8. The laptop was getting rather slow. Actually Vista made it rather … Continue reading →

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Drilling down the detail of our purchases

Posted on March 11, 2013 by Jon Stow

  Feelings When we are selling our services, many of our prospects will buy the feeling and the comfort of having someone else take care of things. That is usually my initial approach, and most people do not care about … Continue reading →

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Why we need the assurance of business insurance

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Jon Stow

It seems obvious that we should insure our houses and our house contents. We have to insure our cars by law. Strangely many people do not believe in insurance for their businesses. Of course it is true that many contractors … Continue reading →

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Minding your own business content

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Jon Stow

As our small businesses are so personal to us it makes sense to keep control of what we put out in the big wide world. You may have seen recently that Posterous is being closed down by Twitter, who acquired … Continue reading →

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Communicating with your employees and colleagues

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Jon Stow

The team All successful small businesses need to have their owners, management and employees work as a team. That means quite a degree of commitment from everyone and that has to be based on mutual respect. When I was a … Continue reading →

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A successful small business owner learns by experience

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Jon Stow

  Confession I used to work for a large firm of accountants once. They actually called themselves “Accountants and Business Advisers”. The firm held itself out as specialist accountants for small businesses and “SMEs” (Small and Medium Enterprises”). Quite honestly. … Continue reading →

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Taking responsibility for our work

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Jon Stow

A couple of weeks ago my Dad had to go to the local hospital for some tests; three of them in total. I took him in, and understood that it would all take around three hours. Dad assured me that … Continue reading →

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Penny-pinching in small businesses can be very expensive

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Jon Stow

Do you try to do everything in your business or do you confine yourself to the sharp end – your expertise? Most of my work is to do with tax; that is advising people on it or writing about it. … Continue reading →

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