Tag: business owner

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The Club Tropicana business model 

Apologies, I’ve forgotten where I first heard this description, but according to Wham, at Club Tropicana drinks are free! 

And many businesses appear to be adopting the same model. We often do it ourselves. 

We give away free books, free webinars, free speaking gigs, newsletters like this, blog posts, free discovery calls, etc. Because we don’t value our time enough.  

So this week I’d like you to work out the time and cost of everything that you give away for free. And then compare it to the number of new clients that you have acquired in the last 12 months. What is your cost of acquisition per client? Or per £1 of turnover? 

Most of this fails to convert, not because it isn’t useful, but because we’re targeting the wrong people (if they’re relying on your free stuff they’re probably ‘tyre-kickers’ and not likely to pay for your prime products/services) or because we’re too British about money and sales to give a clear ‘call to action’  

So here is our big, fat CALL TO ACTION 

Accountants and bookkeepers: go to our website and choose one of our courses or book some coaching (individual is the best value but we have group coaching for those on a budget) 

Business owners: stop wishing for a better business and book yourself a Clarity Business Advice session where we can pull up your numbers, identify where you can improve profitability etc, and send you away with an action plan (and maybe book some coaching too) 

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I’m not a disrupter! 

I don’t ‘move fast and break things’. 

And I don’t believe that many of my successful entrepreneur friends are either. 

Agile business development is not about revolution and guillotines. It’s about agility and being open to change and innovation.  

I’m acknowledged as an ‘early adopter’ by the founders of Xero who led large scale cloud adoption in the UK. And I’m an award winning author and speaker on subjects of running a modern business and delivering advisory services for practice and client success. 

I believe in building a business on solid foundations supplemented by innovation. Our team never do anything just because ‘we’ve always done it that way’. Instead we systemise, automate, and delegate and then put a friendly, human front end onto the latest technology. 

I’m far from traditional but I’m not a rebel either. 

Where do you sit on the innovation spectrum? 

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Tax Tip – Directors responsibilities 

It seems really simple, you pay a very small fee and set up your own company on Companies House but did you know that you have many legal responsibilities as a director? The sort that mean you might personally be fined or go to jail? Here are some of them. 

Whilst it might feel good to be the director of your own company you have several responsibilities as directors under the Companies Act 2006: 

  • To act within their powers (in the articles of association etc) 
  • To promote the success of the company for the benefit of its members as a whole i.e. not benefitting one member above the company e.g. by allowing one director/shareholder to take out more dividends/loans that the company can afford 
  • To exercise independent judgement – you can take advice but must decide for yourself 
  • To exercise reasonable care, skill and diligence eg using a chartered accountant or professional bookkeeper if you don’t have those skills in house 
  • To avoid conflict of interest  
  • Not to accept benefits from third parties 
  • To declare interests in transactions 

Being a director doesn’t come with a compulsory training (although I do offer a course) so please make sure that you don’t fall foul of the law. 

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Are you goal oriented or process oriented? ​​

Do you get excited by the end goal or do you take the time to enjoy the journey.

Although I like to have a Big Hairy Audacious Goal, I actually get most pleasure from the things I learn on the journey. 

This was brought home to me as I tend to relax by watching something easy on TV just before bed (currently on season 4 of Stargate SG1 if you’re interested) and I’ve recently taken up crochet again to keep my hands occupied while my brain is gently slowing down. 

I’ve chosen a simple pattern for a cardigan as my goal. I haven’t crocheted regularly for decades so a few days later I was about 20 rows in before realising that my tensions were all wrong and the garment would end up at least 20% too big for me. That’s assuming that it will ever be good enough for me to wear anyway. 

As with business problems I went back to my primary motivation to decide what to do. My true purpose was to occupy my hands and the time already spent was a ‘sunk cost’ irrespective of my next action.   The solution was obviously to start again and reuse the wool with nothing lost except time. 

But that time wasn’t wasted! I had learned things from the first attempt that will make the second turn better. I have remembered how to crochet, I will watch the tension more closely and measure earlier and, if all else fails, I will have a third attempt with a smaller needle or rework the pattern to aim for a smaller size. 

Business is the same. It may seem a little more important with more at stake but there’s often a simple way to rescue an apparent disaster (just ask some of my coaching clients how much better they feel after we’ve worked through a gnarly problem together) and lots of learning to be had along the way, 

What’s the biggest problem in your business at the moment? 

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Tax Tip – Using your home for business 

If you work from home because you have no other premises, then you can claim £6pw tax free use of home allowance as a contribution to your bills.  

If you use a substantial part of your home for business, then it may be beneficial for the director to rent part of their home to the business. (As this is a commercial letting it is not applicable for the rent a room allowance) 

You should have a rental licence between the director and the company showing the agreed rent and the hours available. The rent may be set at the level of the costs. This rent will reduce corporation tax for the business. The director will then show the rental income and costs on their income tax return. If the rent = costs, there will be no tax to pay. If income exceeds costs, then the director will pay income tax on the profit but there is no national insurance. 

Costs that can be included are: 

  • Rent 
  • Ground rent 
  • Council tax 
  • Service charges 
  • Maintenance 
  • Utilities 
  • Security 
  • Cleaning 

There may also be some relief for mortgage interest (but not repayments so do ensure that you split the monthly charge) 

The costs should be apportioned across the available space by floor area or number of rooms (excluding kitchens and bathrooms). You can choose the most beneficial method, but you cannot keep changing it. In practice it is often simplest to allocate the household costs by the number of rooms. 

If the room is used full time for business, then when you come to sell your home, you may have to pay capital gains tax on this portion of the property. In practice you will probably only use the room part time. If your spare room doubles as your office 5 days per week then 5/7 of the costs can be claimed to offset the rent from the business. 

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World Entrepreneurs’ Day

I’m writing this on World Entrepreneurs’ Day and, although you’ll be reading it a little later, it’s definitely something worth celebrating.  

So put something fizzy in the fridge because we’re about to play the Entrepreneurs’ Drinking Game. 

As you may know I currently run three businesses* (with two successful exits behind me). In order to make constant progress it’s essential to focus on the future and what’s next. How else can you move forwards? This comes at the cost of reflections and we rarely pause to appreciate how far we’ve come.  

This is why I encourage entrepreneurs to enter awards. Even if preparing a draft application it forces you to review how far you’ve come. This gives you a different perspective on your journey.  

So open your laptop now for a quick check in and compare where you are now with your business 12 months or 5 years ago. Take the time to enjoy your wins, appreciate what you’ve already achieved, and maybe spot more opportunities for growth (we are entrepreneurs after all 😉) 

  • How is your turnover looking? 
  • How is your profitability (despite rising costs) 
  • Do you have a good team around you? 
  • How is your general business network? 
  • How much of your day to day work is automated? (Did I just catch you thinking about what still needs to be automated? Remember to look back on what you have already done!) 
  • How have your working hours changed? 
  • How is your work-life balance generally? 

Take a sip for everything that has moved forward in your business.  

Share your successes with me. I always like to hear when (and how) others are doing well. And, if your business hasn’t moved forward the way you hoped, just reply to this email with HELP NEEDED and I’ll show you how we can make progress together. 

Here’s to celebrating your journey. 

*Details of my current businesses if you’re curious: 

  1. Minerva Accountants provide the usual accountancy services plus Clarity business advice sessions
  2. Hudson Business Advice is a consultancy offering speaking, writing, and coaching services to help accountants and small business owners to run a better business 
  3. Minerva Technology is a small fintech which is more of side hustle as it has a single app in development (at the moment) 
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Why we love Xero  

At Minerva Accounts most of our clients are on Xero.

I chose this back in 2012 after an abortive attempt to move to the cloud with another software provider. Back then Sage and Quickbooks were still providing great desktop software but hadn’t really made any viable inroads into cloud software. At that time Xero stood head and shoulders above their competitors (in my opinion)

Roll forward to 2025 and the gap has now closed. I still think Xero is the best all rounder for small businesses under £10million turnover but I’m not in a hurry to migrate business owners who are happy with a different product. We’re accountants who act in the best interests of our clients; not software resellers.

The advantage of focusing on one software is that we can all learn it inside out and even make it sing and dance (that may be an exaggeration but do try typing a sales invoice with the description ‘I want a Unicorn!’ if you want t smile) If clients are better served by another software, due to either functionality or their personal preference, we refer them to another accountant. We NEVER force businesses to move to Xero just for our convenience.

Take a look at the new Xero Simple for MTD which is just £7 per month. You get a lot of the functionality of big Xero but for a fraction of the price.

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How can I find clients?

Many a business starts up with a great idea believing that, as in the Field of Dreams film, if they build it, he will come. Then the harsh reality comes that the founder is also responsible for sales and marketing (as well as finance!)

Here are my thoughts on sources of leads in order of the quality of clients the seem to generate

  1. Referrals – looks at your existing clients and have a process for requesting referrals. A referral usually means that you are pre-qualified with a personal recommendation. Obviously a startup doesn’t have any existing clients so this isn’t usually possible.
  2. Networking – building personal relationships with referrers, or ensuring that your existing networks (friends, family, school gates, gym, etc) all know what you do means that introductions will come with a personal approval even if they don’t quite understand your business. Networking takes 6-12 months to become fruitful but you might get lucky as I’ve been approached by a new client the first time I went to one group.
  3. Social media – this is getting harder since covid when everybody took to the airwaves but we used to generate 1/3 of our business this way. Don’t just post good quality content but turn up and interact with people. Treat it as online networking and take time to build relationships rather than advertise.
  4. Mailshots – With paper post becoming rarer it is easier to stand out this way. If you are selling to other businesses then you can obtain a list from Companies House. Make sure that you send something that makes you stand out.
  5. E-mailshots – generate your own lists rather than buying them in as there are some really poor quality lists for sale. It’s a crowded space and harder to stand out.
  6. Facebook and google ads – these are better for those selling to consumers rather than businesses but worth a try. They generate rather a lot of spam but it’s worth doing through a social media business that understands the systems.

How else have you had success generating business clients?

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Meeting contacts for contracts

Love it, or hate it, networking can be good for your business but it isn’t an instant sales opportunity. 

Networking is about spending time together to get to know each other, like each other, and eventually to trust each other enough to take the relationship further.  

Sound a bit like dating? 

You need to be prepared to take your time. Marriages are rarely based on love at first sight and neither are good quality clients. Waving a condom around as you greet your blind date is unlikely to get you the outcome that you want and business networking rarely generates instant sales. 

There are two main types of networking group.  

The closed groups where visitors are welcome but membership is selective. In these groups it is easier to build trust as you get to see the same people on a regular basis. Regular visitors ensure that the group doesn’t become stale as one member might invite a colleague who can benefit from an introduction to somebody else in the group. Done right the members of the group begin to share access to each other’s contacts as appropriate. We belong to the We Mean Biz network in the SouthWest. We also like to introduce our clients to each other for mutual benefit. 

There are also open groups where the attendee list can be much more varied but the visitors often come and go before anybody can get to know them. These are a bit more like speed dating. To get the best out of these groups it is important that you follow up any suitable leads with a one to one meeting over coffee (or tea!). This can be a bit like kissing a lot of frogs to find your prince or it can lead to some great business connections. 

I would usually recommend a mixture of both so perhaps join one closed group and then visit some other local groups each month. 

If you’d like more information about We Mean Biz then drop me a line or check out their website We Mean Biz – Business Networking Where You Come First – We Mean Biz 

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The importance of delegation 

Some people find it easier to delegate than others. I’m one of the former, perhaps because I find it easier to find people who are better than me? 😉 But it is also important to be able to stand back and let them get on with things while ignoring the temptation to micromanage.

I’ve written and spoken elsewhere about HOW to delegate so I’ll address WHY it is important for you to delegate.

  • Moving away from hands on work allows you to remove yourself from the business in order to focus on strategy and business improvements. You can’t see the view from the bridge if you’re busy shovelling coal in the engine room.
  • It empowers your employees and enables them to step up (using you’re your training, procedures, and checklists) and maybe even step beyond your current standards
  • It allows your team to develop more skills themselves and even to add new skills to the team
  • It improves team productivity and efficiency. Get the right pegs in the right holes instead of trying to do everything yourself, irrespective of whether it’s in your area of expertise or not
  • Spreading the workload allows you to reduce your personal stress and avoid burnout

So, sit back, relax, and delegate.

A couple of extra bits that caught my eye:

New supercomputer in Bristol UK’s most powerful supercomputer Isambard-AI comes online – BBC News

ICAEW Q2 Business Confidence Monitor (regional updates will follow) UK Business Confidence Monitor: National | ICAEW