PRIME business club

Date: Friday 21 Nov 2008

Time: 10.00am to 1.00pm

Venue: The Workstation, Paternoster Row Sheffield, S1 2BX

Status: PRIME event

This free event explores the issues surrounding starting up in business, and is especially aimed at those over 50.

Topics covered include:

Is self-employment right for you?
Finding the right business idea
What sources of help are available.

To book your free place please call PRIME on 0800 783 1904, or email prime@ace.org.uk

Travel directions and map (PDF)

Date: Wednesday 19 Nov 2008

Time: 4.00pm to 6.30pm

Venue: Meet at The Workstation, Paternoster Row Sheffield, S1 2BX, followed by short walk to The Cube 189 Shoreham Street, Sheffield, S1 4QU

Status: PRIME event

Business Club aimed especially at those over 50.

To book your free place please call PRIME on 0800 783 1904, or email prime@ace.org.uk

Travel directions and map (PDF)

If you are over 50 then you are closer to retirement than most of the population. Even if you have a good 15 or 20 years of work left in you, it is likely that eventually you will want to stop. So what then will happen to the business you have built up - and can it help pay for the next stage of your life?

More than half of the respondents to a recent PRIME mini poll expect to sell their business as a going concern when they are ready to exit the business. A further 16 per cent of the olderpreneurs expect to keep it going by giving it to family or a friend.

Do you expect to eventually sell your business?

• 1. Yes - sell as a going concern 56% (49 votes)
• 2. No - will give away to family / friend retaining stake 15% (13 votes)
• 3. No - will give away to family / friend completely 1% (1 vote)
• 4. No - it will close but with sale of major assets 1% (1 vote)
• 5. No - it will close with sale of some minor assets 3% (3 votes)
• 6. No - it will close with nothing much to sell 22% (19 votes)
• 7. Other 2 2% (2 votes)

Source: visitors to www.primebusinessclub.com

The poll was run on PRIME’s other web site, www.primebusinessclub.com, which provides support for those starting or running a business after the age of 50.

A key finding was that about a quarter of the respondents expect their business to close when they leave. And the great majority of these don’t expect to be able to make much from selling the assets.

So there is a clear split between those expecting to get extra money from the business when they exit and those who don’t. This may be realistic - some businesses are worth something without the founder while for others the founder IS the business. The type of business is critical.

And so is its size. There is a well developed market for selling businesses over a certain size. Papers, notably Daltons Weekly carry classified listing of businesses for sale, and specialist business transfer agents will help with a sale in return for a fee. But once you get below a value of about £250,000 for the business the market gets less interested, and the costs involved in selling start eating into the proceeds.

PRIME is very interested in this process and whether there is anything we can realistically do to help the owners of smaller owner-run and self-employed businesses. Part of PRIME’s charitable mission is “the prevention of poverty in retirement”. Maximising the chances of business owners realising at least some of the value of their businesses when they pack it in would certainly help.

We hope to produce some kind of report or practical guide.

UPDATE: October 2008. We have secured funding to produce a guide, which we hope to do by the end of March 2009. The emphasis will be on producing a practical guide we can distribute free to older business owners. The money comes from the Pensions Education Fund, part of the DWP that we have worked with before. One of the objectives the fund shares with PRIME (and the charity Age Concern that PRIME is linked to) is the desire to improve the way people plan their finances in the run up to retirement. This can sometimes nip problems of later pensioner poverty in the bud.

Though our focus will be on producing a useful guide about what older business owners can do now under existing arrangements, we will take the opportunity to research wider issues as much as we can. Is there any kind of market failure when it comes to realising the assets of smaller businesses? Or is it just inevitable that below a certain size it is hard for market mechanisms to work?  Is it done better anywhere abroad, and if so are their any lessons we could learn? Are there other organisations working on the problem?

If you have got any ideas please contact me through the form below, or email prime@ace.org.uk

Ian Stobie.

Over half a million women could benefit from changes to the pension bill currently going through Parliament. They will be able to buy back up to 12 years of contributions to fill in gaps in their National Insurance record, enabling them to then qualify to receive the full state pension. Currently only around a third of women reaching state pension age qualify for the whole amount.

Though women only need to have 39 years of contributions at the moment, compared to 44 years for men, the breaks from work many women take to raise children or care for another family member means a pensions shortfall is much more common among women - 90 per cent of men get the full whack.

The proposed changes will affect both men and women who reach state pension age between 5 April 2008 and 5 April 2015, enabling them to plug much bigger gaps in their National Insurance record. The reason for doing this is that the cost of buying the extra entitlement is usually much less than you’d get back from the state over the full length of your retirement.

None of the changes apply to you if you reached pension age (60 for women, 65 for a man) before April 2008. And complicating the calculation of whether you would really be better off is Pension Credit, a separate system that kicks in for those on low incomes.

More on this story from the BBC

The Pensions Service - official information from the government

Pensions Advisory Service - independent non-profit source of information.

Over half a million women could benefit from changes to the pension bill currently going through Parliament. They will be able to buy back up to 12 years of contributions to fill in gaps in their National Insurance record, enabling them to then qualify to receive the full state pension. Currently only around a third of women reaching state pension age qualify for the whole amount.

Though women only need to have 39 years of contributions at the moment, compared to 44 years for men, the breaks from work many women take to raise children or care for another family member means a pensions shortfall is much more common among women - 90 per cent of men get the full whack.

The proposed changes will affect both men and women who reach state pension age between 5 April 2008 and 5 April 2015, enabling them to plug much bigger gaps in their National Insurance record. The reason for doing this is that the cost of buying the extra entitlement is usually much less than you’d get back from the state over the full length of your retirement.

None of the changes apply to you if you reached pension age (60 for women, 65 for a man) before April 2008. And complicating the calculation of whether you would really be better off is Pension Credit, a separate system that kicks in for those on low incomes.

More on this story from the BBC

The Pensions Service - official information from the government

Pensions Advisory Service - independent non-profit source of information.

This video on the BBC web site is about people over 50 in the South West setting up their own businesses. It was shown on Spotlight, the BBC’s regional news programme for the South West of England, on the 23rd of October 2008.

The clip shows interviews with Jean Singleton and Carol Glover who set up Jeneca Beads, and also an interview with me, Peter Bennie of PRIME. We were filmed as part of the coverage of the well-attended HMRC business advice day held in Torquay the same day  Jean and Carol were filmed back at their base, after having earlier spoken at a PRIME seminar at the same event.

PRIME regularly attends the HMRC events with a stand, as they are a cost effective way of making contact with people around the UK. We have another one coming up soon in Belfast, where we’ll also be running our own programme of workshops late into the evening, after the HMRC exhibition has finished.

Entries are now being sought for next year’s awards for women-owned businesses in the North West of England. There are six categories (including the ageist Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award - must be under 30 years of age).

The prizes are £2,000 per category, with £1,000 to the runner up, and a top prize of £5,000 for the overall winner. Plus of course the value of the publicity winning may bring. The closing date is the 31st of November 2008.

You can download the entry form (a PDF) here.

The categories you might be eligible for are:

• Business Start-up of the Year
• Social Enterprise of the Year
• Growth Business of the Year
• Business and Professional Services Sector
• Overall North West Business of the Year

The North West region includes Manchester, Liverpool, Cheshire, Lancashire and the Lake District. The awards are sponsored by the development agency for the region, the NWDA.

The next step in the drastic simplification of government-funded business support in the UK was today announced by Peter Mandelson, who is Secretary of State for Business. The aim is not to reduce total spending on government assistance to business, but to slash the number of different programmes so they are easier for people to find.

The intention now is to make Business Link the single point of contact for most government-funded support programmes for business. The process won’t be completed till March 2009 at the earliest, but Mandelson announced 30 programmes that should be available by then from Business Link - and five that should be available immediately.

“Publicly funded business support - advice, loans and grants, can help individuals realise their entrepreneurial potential, businesses start and succeed, and communities prosper and flourish”, Mandelson said. The problem has been people haven’t been able to find it. A plethora of over 3,000 different schemes around the country has meant that tracking down what is on offer is a major task.

There are more details of the simplified Business Link offering in this new “Solutions for business” leaflet.

However, if you look at the details, all is not what it seems. The promisingly named “Intensive start-up support”, available from December 2008, will only be available to you if you belong to one of the groups that the local Regional Development Agency has decided to assist. So it is not yet clear who will be eligible.

Similarly it is not yet clear how “Small loans for business” - up to £50,000 scheduled to be available from January 2009, will be rationed. The announcement says they will be targeted at “entrepreneurs who might otherwise struggle to raise finance from mainstream lenders” - but this could be almost anyone in the current economic climate.

The intention behind this whole simplification effort may be admirable, but has not been achieved - and probably never can be. Even after March 2009 many other government agencies will still be in the business support game, so all taxpayer-funded programmes will not be centralised under Business Link’s new “Solutions for business - supported by government” brand.

For a start Jobcentre Plus is rolling out its “Flexible New Deal” at the moment, which will offer a variety of schemes for people currently claiming benefits seeking to enter employment and self-employment - in other words setting up their own businesses.

And many local authorities have their own business creation schemes, some of them funded by Local Enterise Growth Initiative money from central government. HMRC, Defra, and the Ministry of Justice are among central government departments that will continue to run their own schemes to achieve their own objectives. So Business Link is never going to have a monopoly on business support.

However, it is now a better place to start. You can find Business Link in your area here.

The next step in the drastic simplification of government-funded business support in the UK was today announced by Peter Mandelson, who is Secretary of State for Business. The aim is not to reduce total spending on government assistance to business, but to slash the number of different programmes so they are easier for people to find.

The intention now is to make Business Link the single point of contact for most government-funded support programmes for business. The process won’t be completed till March 2009 at the earliest, but Mandelson announced 30 programmes that should be available by then from Business Link - and five that should be available immediately.

“Publicly funded business support - advice, loans and grants, can help individuals realise their entrepreneurial potential, businesses start and succeed, and communities prosper and flourish”, Mandelson said. The problem has been people haven’t been able to find it. A plethora of over 3,000 different schemes around the country has meant that tracking down what is on offer is a major task.

There are more details of the simplified Business Link offering in this new “Solutions for business” leaflet.

However, if you look at the details, all is not what it seems. The promisingly named “Intensive start-up support”, available from December 2008, will only be available to you if you belong to one of the groups that the local Regional Development Agency has decided to assist. So it is not yet clear who will be eligible.

Similarly it is not yet clear how “Small loans for business” - up to £50,000 scheduled to be available from January 2009, will be rationed. The announcement says they will be targeted at “entrepreneurs who might otherwise struggle to raise finance from mainstream lenders” - but this could be almost anyone in the current economic climate.

The intention behind this whole simplification effort may be admirable, but has not been achieved - and probably never can be. Even after March 2009 many other government agencies will still be in the business support game, so all taxpayer-funded programmes will not be centralised under Business Link’s new “Solutions for business - supported by government” brand.

For a start Jobcentre Plus is rolling out its “Flexible New Deal” at the moment, which will offer a variety of schemes for people currently claiming benefits seeking to enter employment and self-employment - in other words setting up their own businesses.

And many local authorities have their own business creation schemes, some of them funded by Local Enterise Growth Initiative money from central government.  HMRC, Defra, and the Ministry of Justice are among central government departments that will continue to run their own schemes to achieve their own objectives. So Business Link is never going to have a monopoly on business support.

However, they are a good place to start - and hopefully now a better place to start. You can find your nearest Business Link here.

Women’s web site More To Life Than Shoes has relaunched. Though not strictly a business web site - its stated aim is the more general one of “inspiring women to achieve their dreams”, it has lessons for anyone doing a web site aimed at people facing the daunting task of setting out on their own.

www.moretolifethanshoes.com sets itself the task of providing inspiration, support and encouragement. And by and large it succeeds.

Its basic method is to pile on the positive examples. There is interview after interview, story after story, about women doing things for themselves and succeeding. Though the relentless optimism can get a bit wearing, by comparison most sites targeted at small business are lifeless and dull.

Many of the inspirational examples are from the world of business, so this is a good site for confidence building. The expert section also contains much advice of a business nature, so overall this is a good free resource for female business starters.

The lesson for PRIME? You can never have too many case studies.

For what it’s worth the UK has dropped from 9th to 12th in the annual league table of global “competitiveness” produced by the World Economic Forum. This puts it behind the US and several of its European neighbours, notably the Scandinavian countries.

But taking a broader view the UK remains a very good place to do business since there are 134 countries in the survey. Chad comes in last, just behind Zimbabwe.

Top 12 for business

1. United States
2. Switzerland
3. Denmark
4. Sweden
5. Singapore
6. Finland
7. Germany
8. Netherlands
9. Japan
10. Canada
11. Hong Kong SAR
12. United Kingdom

So, with only a little spin, “UK remains in Top 12!”

The report says the UK dropped three spots mainly because of worries about access to capital, as well as concern about the general high level of indebtedness prevailing in the economy. But on its institutions and legal system, infrastructure, technology and may of the other things that affect ease of doing business, the UK is still among the best places in the world to set up shop. The list is based largely on a poll of 12,000 business leaders from all the 134 countries rated.

Date: Thursday 20th November 2008

Time: 1pm to 8pm, with both daytime and evening workshops

Venue: Molineux Conference Centre, Molineux Stadium (Wolves), Waterloo Road, Wolverhampton, West Midlands WV1 4QR

Venue map

Status: PRIME event

Essential Enterprise Day is a free PRIME event for anyone over 50 who is thinking of starting a business or planning to be self-employed. There is an exhibition in the afternoon, while PRIME’s programme of free workshops continues on into the evening.

You can register your interest by emailing prime@ace.org.uk

WORKSHOP PROGRAMME

• 1.00 p.m. Arrival/ Registration Refreshments
• 2.00 p.m. Tom Edge – AGE IS NO BARRIER. Top tips for setting up a business when you are over 50. Tom Edge, our ever popular inspirational speaker will present his views on why, when you’re 50 or older, you have a better chance of ‘making it’ in business. Tom draws on his many years of business management, with an action-packed hour of practical tips and advice, interspersed with humorous anecdotes.
• 3.15 p.m. HMRC Presentation
• 3.45 p.m. Tea /Coffee
• 4.00pm Microsoft Marketing “How to market your business”
• 4.30 p.m. Workshops, either a) Tom Edge “How to increase your sales in the slowdown” or b) Martin Sarling “Developing Your Business Idea”
• 5.00 p.m. Buffet, Networking opportunities, Marketing Clinics by Microsoft
• 6.00 p.m. Workshop, Martin Sarling “ Basic Business ICT”
• 6.30 p.m. Tom Edge – Seminar “How to Beat the Recession”
• 7.45 p.m. Questions and Feedback
• 8.00 p.m. Close

FREE prize draw for people who attend PRIME’s daytime workshops

Ten lucky attendees of the afternoon workshop sessions will receive a FREE copy of the award winning Essential Business Guide , worth £24.95. The guide has assembled the combined knowledge of 32 highly-experienced business experts, and is the perfect reference guide for you if you’re just starting out, or if you’ve been in business for many years.

Date: Wednesday 19th November 2008

Time: FREE Exhibition with workshops 9.00am to 3.45pm, followed by buffet and networking for registered PRIME attendees at 5pm, then presentation 6.30pm to 7.30pm

Venue: Ramada Belfast, 117 Milltown Road, Shaw’s Bridge, Belfast, BT8 7XP

Status: PRIME event after HMRC event

PRIME is attending HMRC’s Business Advice Open Day, and is running its own event at the same venue in the evening. You can attend PRIME’s daytime workshop sessions, the evening presentation, or both. All are free. During the day you also have a whole programme other sessions run by other exhibitors to choose from.

PRIME’s programme is aimed at anyone over 50 who is thinking of starting a business or planning to be self-employed. You will need to book in advance for both the afternoon workshops and the evening presentation to be sure of a place. But you can drop-in to the exhibition.

Booking form here

PRIME’s daytime sessions, all 45 minutes long, will include:
• 09.30-10.15am – Essential selling skills for your new business
• 10.30-11.15am - Buying a franchise when you’re over 50
• 11.30-12.15pm - Web site marketing – harnessing the power of the Internet
• 12.45-13.30pm – Motivating yourself to become self-employed
• 13.45-14.30pm - Putting your creativity to work
• 14.45-15.30pm – How to double your profits within 12 months

These are then followed by:
• 17.00–18.00pm - Refreshments: buffet and networking break
• 18.00-19.30pm - Evening presentation with Tom Edge: Age is no barrier
  – top tips for setting up a business when you’re over 50

FREE business guide for people who attend PRIME’s daytime workshops

Every afternoon workshop attendee* will receive a FREE copy of the award winning Essential Business Guide , worth £24.95. The guide has assembled the combined knowledge of 32 highly-experienced business experts, and is the perfect reference guide for you if you’re just starting out, or if you’ve been in business for many years. *max one per delegate.

EVENING PRESENTATION – BOOKING ESSENTIAL

AGE IS NO BARRIER - Top tips for setting up a business when you are over 50, starting with a free buffet and networking session from 5.00 to 6.00, Tom Edge, our ever popular inspirational speaker will present his views on why, when you’re 50 or older, you have a better chance of making it in business. Tom draws on his many years of business management, with an action-packed 90 minutes of practical tips and advice, interspersed with humorous anecdotes.

The HMRC exhibition during the day is also worth attending as you will be able to get advice, support and information from local experts in self-employment and business start-up. In addition to PRIME’s afternoon workshops, other exhibitors will be running sessions on topics like the basics of self-employment and the ins-and-outs of tax.

The Open Day programme is the biggest government business support road show, designed to provide free information and support to businesses, through a series of exhibitions across the country.

It is organised by HM Revenue and Customs, who invite local organisations and representatives of national bodies such as PRIME that can provide support and advice to local businesses. The organisations chosen all operate on an “other than for profit” i.e. non-commercial basis.

At this free event you will have access to a full team of experts who provide advice and technical support on a range of subjects, covering every stage of your business from start-up, through growth and expansion to pension arrangements when you retire. Free seminars cover topics such as meeting government regulations, funding, marketing and enhancing your business through new technology.

Click on the link below to find out more and to book your place.

Website Link: www.businessadviceday.gov.uk

PRIME will be there with a stand and with a programme of free seminars - including one where successful older entrepreneurs tell their stories.