Category Archives: Start-up

Franchising, redundancy money and elephant traps

Posted on October 20, 2011 by Jon Stow

The offerings If we have endured the shock of redundancy there is often a feeling that we must move on as soon as we can. Many older people in that position, by which I mean thirty-five upwards, may well have … Continue reading →

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Getting over telephone blues

Posted on August 16, 2011 by Jon Stow

You might have gathered from an earlier post that I had personal experience of running into trouble with an alleged rolling contract with the telecoms provider. I have now been advised that I have won my appeal to the OFTEL … Continue reading →

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Don’t follow your dream? You can if you plan it.

Posted on June 23, 2011 by Jon Stow

  I am all in favour of dreams. I have them myself. The trouble is that as a tax and business adviser, I have come across a lot of shattered dreams.   Life by the sea I was reminded of … Continue reading →

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Let another brain take the strain

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Jon Stow

Are you good at everything? I’m not. I doubt many people are. Do you like having to do everything in running your business: both the creative and the mundane? Of course what is mundane to some is interesting grist to … Continue reading →

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The fear of the unknown

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Jon Stow

The premise of this blog is my story of starting my own business by accident, because I became unemployed and couldn’t find another job. I had no choice. Of course prior to my involuntary arrival in what was a freelance … Continue reading →

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Snake oil and the knitted woollen cat

Posted on April 28, 2011 by Jon Stow

I know many who invested their time and money and none who had the success that was held out as a near certainty if we worked hard. Continue reading →

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Panorama of sad tales

Posted on April 5, 2011 by Jon Stow

The programme did well to highlight the difficulties, including the direct discrimination based on age, the greater difficulty in getting a job after having been out of work for a month or so. The longer someone is jobless, the more difficult it is even to get an interview. Continue reading →

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Booing from the sidelines

Posted on April 4, 2011 by Jon Stow

However, success in business is about belief. It is about market sentiment. The more positive people feel about the business environment and the economy in general, the better it actually is. Continue reading →

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Ageism, realism and working life in the twenty-first century

Posted on March 31, 2011 by Jon Stow

Since I started my businesses I have ploughed the furrow which many others have to do or will in the future. Realistically, the bureaucratic burdens on employers and their prejudices over age will need them to be more interested in taking people on short-term ad hoc contracts where there is no long term commitment on either side. The current employment laws both on the HR side and in relation to tax do not match up. Continue reading →

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The Appointed Time

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Jon Stow

I have just had a poor experience because the owner mixed up my appointment for another date in the future. Continue reading →

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