Latest News and Info

HMRC

HMRC-What is Self-Assessment?

Thinking of starting your own business or working for yourself? Then you need to consider how HMRC will interact with you. Self-Assessment allows you to tell HMRC what they need to know, it also considers your National Insurance Contributions and provides a means to ensure you are paying the right amount.

We can help you register and explain what’s important and why.

Please call us on 01535 607775.

www.gov.uk/log-in-register-hmrc-online-services 

selling

Good selling skills have never been more important…

The Essentials of Selling

Successful Salespeople are no accident, they deliver results because they possess ability underpinned by a systematic approach which increases their rate of success.
The essentials of Selling encourages the delegate to recognise the potency of this marriage and the impact it has in the market place
This one-day course is a common-sense approach to selling based on good practice and practical experience and is ideal for new or junior salespeople. It explains the importance of presentation, preparation, of being organised and employing a system that works.

Including:
Why Do People Buy?
Planning for Success
Making Quality Appointments
The Structure Of the Sales Visit
Objection Handling
Closing the Sale

Price: £195 +VAT
Course Dates: 19th September and 9th October
9.30 – 4.00 (Lunch Provided)

Please click here for more course details

AES – Creating the Super Salesperson of Tomorrow, Today…….

Planning Meeting

Family Companies and SME’s – Taking Care of your Company’s Future…

Are you looking for the continuing success and growth of your business or a profitable exit strategy? Then this workshop is a “must” for owners and MD’s preparing for the future.

Highly participative and full of information, tips and exercises, we explore who are the essential people, provide you with financial guidance and help you formulate a plan that works for you.

We cover the entire succession planning process, including business owner and stakeholder/family needs. We examine planning for and filling future key roles as well as managing and retaining your key employees.

Read these 5 top tips for business succession planning by Greg Dixon, Gordons LLP

Click here for more information on the course

Course Cost – £195.00 plus Vat

The course runs from 10am-4.30pm with a light lunch provided.

Call Sonia on 01535 607775 and book your place now!

What is a Start-Up Loan?

If you’ve got a great idea and want to start your own business, then a start-up loan might be just what you need.

A start up loan is a personal unsecured loan backed by the government for individuals looking to start a business in the UK. This means you don’t need to arrange guarantors or put forward any assets to support the application. As well as a loan, 1 year of free mentoring is available to help your business succeed.

As a delivery partner of Virgin Start-up Loans we can offer £500 to £25,000 per owner/partner with a maximum of £100,000 per business. A fixed rate of 6% p.a with repayment terms of between 1 to 5 years are available. There are no set up or application fees.

So why wait? start your application now and bring your business to life.

Follow these links for more information:

Virgin Start Up Loans

Virgin Start Up Loan Application 

 

Is your Strategy Brexit Ready? If not we can help!

Change is coming, Opportunities will present themselves for those who are prepared.

We can help you prepare by offering the right ingredients for your Strategic review…

 

A space that inspires…

Our lovingly restored cotton mill harbours ‘Chestnut’ a delightful room which is ideal for board meetings benefiting from plenty of natural light. Fully equipped with screen, laptops and audio, this conveniently located facility is perfect for your important day.

Price £130.00 Including buffet lunch and refreshments

 

Conduct your own review using our tools and techniques…

Attend our half day preparation session where we share our framework for a successful strategic review, how to apply the results and take away the tools and techniques that work.

Price £175.00 Including refreshments

Course dates – 3rd and 17th September, 9.30am-12.30pm

 

Utilise an expert with experience in Strategic Review

Let us facilitate your important day here at AES. Utilise the experience of a professional with significant field experience in Strategic Review and how to make sure you get ‘traction’ in the workplace.

Price £495.00 including lunch and refreshments

 

Call us on 01535 607775 to discuss any of the above or email us

Planning for tomorrow, today

Helping Rural Businesses to get Online

Through the Prince’s Countryside Fund, an organisation in Settle is helping creatives to get their businesses online and increase their financial sustainability.

Good Things Foundation is currently rolling out the next phase of a project with the Prince’s Countryside Fund which is exploring how Digital Enterprise Hubs can both support rural business to engage with digital and train community organisations as Digital Enterprise Champions. In turn, those champions will support more rural businesses with digital skills, increasing the amount of support available for rural businesses in the future.

One of our Digital Enterprise Hubs is Airedale Enterprise Services in Keighley which has been providing business support to individuals in the community for the past 36 years. With just 7 members of staff, Airedale Enterprise Services is a “small organisation with big impact.”

CEO Wendy Spencer has worked for Airedale Enterprise Services 22 years. She’s identified three Digital Enterprise Champions, training them to support other rural businesses with their digital skills.

Bespoke beanie maker Andrea is one of the Digital Enterprise Champions working with Wendy. Andrea moved to the rural area of Settle from South Africa with her teenage son a year ago. Over the past 15 years, Andrea has developed a wide variety of business experience, from running her own successful motorcycle retail company to teaching international business in London. She now runs a number of businesses in and around Settle including making and selling bespoke crocheted beanies and delivering creative drawing courses at the Community Development Hub. Wendy describes Andrea as a “bubbly, approachable person who has a lot of knowledge about the area of Settle and the types of clients that she will be supporting, which made her a great fit for a Digital Enterprise Champion.” 

Andrea tells us: “Settle is a very rural area and has a vibrant creative scene with lots of artists, creatives and handymen. The pace of life is slower here and everything takes longer because it’s not online. As a result, lots of shops in the town have closed down and quickly been replaced by restaurants which breaks my heart.”

Before recruiting her as a Digital Enterprise Champion, Wendy pointed Andrea in the direction of a free Digital Marketing course provided by the Google Digital Garage. Andrea continues: “In 3 hours you can go from learning the basics of getting your business online for free to actually building a website for your business. It’s great for working in a rural setting as people who aren’t online already would be put off by a 40-hour course.”

Andrea is now in the first stages of supporting other businesses based in Settle to do more online. She says: “I’m working with glassmakers, screenprinting clothing businesses and second-hand bookshops. Previously, none of them had an online presence, they would prefer to be making things but putting their businesses online means that they can share their trades more widely with people all over the world.”

https://www.goodthingsfoundation.org/news-and-blogs/case-studies/andrea-helping-rural-businesses-get-online 

employability skills

Why do a third of Start-Up Businesses fail within 1 year?

Good business advice plays a major role in the success of a new business.

Business Planning gets you asking the right questions about your idea.

Our Start-up advice includes the need for and content of the business plan and cash flow forecast, what they should contain, and where the emphasis should be.

We help you consider the aspects of financing your venture. Is funding available? Is a start-up loan appropriate, what is available and how do I apply?

Our business advisers have real experience of business ownership, company direction and senior management roles. We apply a no nonsense, common sense approach which is understandable and most importantly effective.

We tailor support to suit you.

We offer ‘the review’ where we take you through the fundamentals, exploring your idea and the key ingredients needed to make it a success.

Business plan review and mentoring form additional levels of support where needed.

  • What is your Business idea?
  • What are your objectives?
  • Do you have the right skills and expertise to run the business?
  • Who are you targeting?
  • Who are your competitors?
  • Getting the price right!
  • Selling skills!
  • Marketing – what’s your plan?
  • How will you finance the business? Self-finance, Loans, Grants
  • Who will be involved?
  • Success!

With advice from our experts we can guide you through the business planning process allowing you time to concentrate fully on achieving business success!

Take a look at our Business Support Page for more information