PRIME business club

Gill from Wigan asks:

Are there any tax incentives to run a business from home?

Emma Jones, Business woman, author and editor, replies: 

Hi Gill

 There are many incentives to run a business from home! If you’re already doing so, you’ll be feeling the benefits of low overheads and no commute. But yes, on top of that and in answer to your question, there are some tax benefits too. The biggest one is related to the expenses you can claim when running your business from home. The simplest way to carry out the calculation is to add up the annual costs (as applicable) of:

• Gas / electric / solid fuel
• Council Tax
• Contents / buildings insurance
• Water rates

Next, simply count up the number of principal rooms in the house (kitchen, reception rooms, bedrooms, bathroom etc). If there are seven, and one is used for half business, half personal (eg spare bedroom / office) then half of one seventh of these expenses are allowed and can be claimed against your tax bill. You can also claim for the business element of telephone bills and business travel.

Other planning you can do, is issue a number of shares to your spouse or partner so they are able to receive part of a dividend paid for the year, and you can claim their personal allowance.  Also, did you know that paying your children to work in the business is a way to reduce tax? As long as your children are over 13 and perform appropriate tasks within the business for a sensible salary, there is nothing to stop you paying them for work done to reduce your business tax liability.

We have many features on this topic at www.enterprisenation.com so I hope you’ll visit to take a look. It would be well worth your time - and will cut your tax bill!

 Emma Jones is founder of Enterprise Nation the home business website, and author of Spare Room Start Up - how to start a business from home.

John Lamb, editor of Ability magazine, replies:

 I have a home office and there are no tax incentives to encourage people to work from home; rather the opposite. Local authorities don’t want people carrying out businesses from residential properties that might disturb the neighbours or cost them lucrative business rates. However, you can claim a proportion of your home heating, lighting, maintenance and rent or mortgage against business expenses (your accountant will work that out for you).

John Lamb is the editor of Ability magazine, a campaigning publication for people who have difficulty using IT.

There are no special tax incentives of running a business from home. However, expenses incurred wholly and exclusively for the purposes of the business should be deductible in calculating the taxable profits of the business - either as revenue expenses (for example, heating, telephone, lighting) or under the capital allowances system (for example, in respect of computers, furniture and other qualifying plant and equipment). In many instances, the “wholly and exclusively” rule may not be satisfied and the local inspector may agree to an apportionment on a just and reasonable basis for the purposes of determining the amount of tax relief available.

One trap to be careful of is the restriction which could apply to the principal private residence exemption. The exemption is available under the capital gains tax regime in respect of gains arising from the disposal of a principal private residence - the gain normally is free of tax. However, if any part of the house is used exclusively for business purposes, then the capital gains tax exemption may be limited. So ensure that no space is used exclusively for the purposes of the business, and substantive private use is made of the space from which the business is run.

 Vishvas Kanji is a Tax Consultant for Mishcon de Reya Solicitors. You can find out more about his services here.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and are not held by PRIME unless specifically stated. The material is for general information only and does not constitute legal, accounting, tax or other personalised advice. You should not rely on this information to make (or refrain from making) any decisions. It is not a substitute for independent, professional advice for your own particular situation.

About Ask the Experts

PRIME has assembled a team of business experts who have generously volunteered to answer your questions for free. You can read more about them here, or Ask your own question.

Elizabeth from Doncaster asks:

I would love to start up my own little business in Horticulture /gardening. Where can I get the best possible training?

Dick Stroud, Author, managing director, lecturer, repies:

It is not clear if the training you require is about horticulture/gardening or how to establish a small business. I will give you some advice about the latter.

 Firstly, there seems to be a great deal of advice available on the Web. From a few minutes searching I found a site that was packed with information called start a gardening business.

There looks to be an excellent book called : ‘Starting Your Own Gardening Business: An Insider Guide to setting yourself up as a professional gardener.’ This is available from Amazon for under £4.00.

I would suggest that you look at the resources available from your local Business Link. You can find these by going to www.businesslink.gov.uk and putting in your postcode. The national Business Link site contains lots of advice guides about all types of start-up business issues. Look at them here.

I am sure you will also find there will be courses run at your local colleges about starting a business. The man who does my gardening has more work that he can handle so there is undoubtedly a demand for gardening services!

Good luck.

Dick Stroud founded and expanded his own marketing consultancy company 20plus30, focusing on 50-Plus consumers. His latest book is The 50-Plus Market.  

Robert Ashton, author, speaker and small business owner, replies:

Contact your local agricultural college and ask their advice. Also consider working part time for someone already in the business you’re planning and then learning from them.

Robert Ashton is a popular business speaker and runs ‘Business Boot Camps’ for entrepreneurs seeking growth. 

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and are not held by PRIME unless specifically stated. The material is for general information only and does not constitute legal, accounting, tax or other personalised advice. You should not rely on this information to make (or refrain from making) any decisions. It is not a substitute for independent, professional advice for your own particular situation.

About Ask the Experts

PRIME has assembled a team of business experts who have generously volunteered to answer your questions for free. You can read more about them here, or Ask your own question.

Expect the fear of a pandemic and measures taken to combat it to have an impact well in advance of the disease itself, if or when it arrives.

Most of the advice so far seems to be aimed at large businesses, but many of the principles still apply. Have everyone’s mobile phone numbers to hand, backup computer and web data properly in case services go down. Observe enhanced hygiene practices. Think through the implications of things like restrictions on travel, the closure of venues and the unavailability of key services and staff.

Time for preparation not panic (PDF) - thorough discussion of possible impact from insurance broking giant and risk management specialist Willis.

Gartner business continuity blog Frequent updates but from a very American perspective

Basic facts about influenza pandemics - PDF briefing from European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC)

Personal protective measures - PDF briefing from ECDC goes into more detail than most

Latest on outbreak from European Centre for Disease Control

WORKING 5 TO 9 TAKES OFF IN THE UK
More than five million people are working from home after finishing their day job, according to new research published this week.

The survey, commissioned by the world’s biggest office products company Staples, and carried out by Enterprise Nation, the UK’s largest website for home based business, confirms that the ‘5 to 9′ trend is spreading across the country.

Of those 5-9ers questioned, 50% said their business was growing and over 60% expected to be going full time within the next 12 months.

Enterprise Nation Founder Emma Jones said: “We were amazed by what we found. Although we knew there had been a tremendous growth in home business, we had no idea that much of this was coming from the 5 - 9 trend.

“What’s particularly significant is that the current economic climate is the impetus behind this trend. For some people it’s about increasing their income to cope with a partner’s redundancy while others felt uncertain about their future career prospects and wanted to make sure they were better placed if they lost their job.”

There’s also the added attraction that building a business at night and weekends from a spare room is low risk and low cost, allowing people to increase sales, confidence and cashflow, whilst holding onto a salary.

“In a recession people often set up their own business as a way of taking control of their own life again. But the current downturn is so severe that people are being more cautious, hanging onto their full time jobs and testing the water first before making a decision. This clearly makes good business sense.”

The survey also highlighted that 72% have considered giving up their day jobs to spend more time on their home business. When asked what would make them leave their job, 42% said it was the only way they could grow their business while 32% said it would be when they could afford to.

Staples commissioned the research after noticing a shift in shopping patterns with more people visiting their stores after 5pm.

Yetunde Ige, Staples Head of Marketing said: “Clearly this trend is something that we’re interested in as our stores are open late. As a result we are looking to launch a 5-9ers club, which will reward people shopping after 5pm and hopefully be a real benefit to those trying to start a business in their free time.”

Trendwatching.com - one of the world’s leading trend firms - has picked up on this phenomenon. Its monthly report confirms: “A recession induced need for cash and an ever-growing infrastructure enabling individuals to act as part-time entrepreneurs, are fuelling concepts that help ordinary consumers make money as well as just spending it.”

A free copy of ‘Working 5 to 9 - how to start a business in your spare time’ is available at www.enterprisenation.com

Press release courtesy of Enterprise Nation.

Sue Jones from Leeds asks:

I am unemployed and receiving jobseekers allowance. I have so far spent approximately £3000 on my new business. I cannot go any further because I need funding to run my business for the first couple of months. How can I get a loan or help with funding with a not too good credit record? I have a business bank account set up ready and waiting.

Nicola Dickins, MD, trainer and consultant, relies:

The Government have launched a new website: www.realhelpnow.gov.uk/ where you can download the help available for businesses in your area. Take a look at the Real Help for Women section, on page 25. It details new incentives for women on jobseekers allowance who have set up their own business, and includes funding for the first few months.

Also have a look at www.capitalforenterprise.gov.uk/portfolio.html as you may be able to apply for equity against a loan from the Aspire Fund.

Have a look at www.businesslink.gov.uk/realhelp there is an Enterprise Finance Guarantee that can help you obtain a loan.

Nicola Dickins is the founder and Managing Director of Make it Happen Consultancy Ltd.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and are not held by PRIME unless specifically stated. The material is for general information only and does not constitute legal, accounting, tax or other personalised advice. You should not rely on this information to make (or refrain from making) any decisions. It is not a substitute for independent, professional advice for your own particular situation.

About Ask the Experts

PRIME has assembled a team of business experts who have generously volunteered to answer your questions for free. You can read more about them here, or Ask your own question.

Rob Goddenough from Crawley asks:

I am a gutter cleaner. What is the best form of marketing with a low budget? I have thought about leaflet distribution and local newspaper advertising. Are these the best methods to use?

 
Robert Tull, Chartered Marketer and Business Link expert replies:

There is an old saying that half of advertising money is wasted. The problem is identifying which half.

Most small businesses do not identify a separate marketing budget in their business plan, but it’s very useful to do so. As soon as you get a new business phone number, you will be contacted by numerous newspaper, magazines or directories trying to sell you into their next ad feature. Surprise surprise, you will be told that it’s ideal for your business, but hurry as space is scarce and the decision must be made now for that special deal.

It’s very easy to say yes to a persuasive salesperson and if you say yes too many times you will have spent your yearly budget in the first few months of your year.

So plan out a Marketing budget over a 12-month period as you need regular marketing of some kind every month, and it makes it easier to have a reason to say No to the next good offer on the phone.

Try different things until you find the ones that work best for you. Whatever media you use, you should try and monitor what works, so make a point of asking your customers or enquirers where they saw your name /advert /and why they contacted you.

The best marketing of all is word-of-mouth recommendation. Get into the habit (it’s not easy for some people) of asking your customers to recommend you to their friends and family.

If you are in a business-to-business service industry, leave leaflets or business cards with your existing customers. You never know when new possible customersmight need some emergency help.

So leaflets are a good idea. Putting them through letterboxes is also good as you are in control of which areas you are targeting. Some newsagents will allow them into their delivered papers at a small cost (cheaper than having inserts added by the publisher at source). The same newsagent also may also have a notice board for you to pin a leaflet or business card to at a small weekly rate.

Also consider joining a networking club or attending a business breakfast meeting - and give leaflets or business cards to all attendees. Many will allow you to talk about your business and promote your services, for a small fee, so practice a short speech in front of a mirror, so you gain confidence in delivering a 60-second advert for your business.

Contact other service industries in your local area and create a small circle of useful contacts who will promote your service to their customers. In return you will do likewise, so pick ones ou would be happy to recommend. Many homeowners are looking for reliable tradespeople to use when the unexpected happens.

Find out how much it costs to join The Chamber of Commerce in your area, or the Federation of Small Business. These are both ways of widening your contacts and finding out about events attend to promote your business. It will cost to join so weigh up the benefits before deciding whether joining is worth it.

Have a look at the Business Link website for more hints and tips for all areas of your business. Consider going on any free workshops that may be available in your area, to gain new skills and ideas - and make business contacts.

Finally visit your local bookshop or library and have a browse through the latest books on marketing and advertising. You will almost certainly find some simple tips and new ideas that are worth trying.

Robert Tull leads the team of Enterprise Awareness Managers at Business Link in the East of England,

Nicola Dickins, MD, trainer and consultant, replies:

Contact your local free paper (editorial dept) and tell them you’re a local business and you would like to write an article about your business. They are really interested in local business success stories at the moment. You may want to do a competition where you offer the winner free gutter cleaning.

John Lamb, editor of Ability magazine, replies:

John Lamb is the editor of Ability magazine, a campaigning publication for people who have difficulty using IT.

About Ask the Experts

PRIME has assembled a team of business experts who have generously volunteered to answer your questions for free. You can read more about them here, or Ask your own question.

PRIME has updated its popular free
“Working for YOURSELF guide, which explains sales, marketing and preparing a business plan in a practical way for people setting up their first business.

You can download it as a PDF immediately here, while we are getting this new paper version printed.

We do still have some paper copies of the previous edition, so if you like email us your details and we’ll post you a free copy. The main differences between the new and old versions are changed contact details - the basic text remains the same.

The guide concentrates on the subjects many people tell us they are least confident with - sales, marketing and putting a viable plan together. It doesn’t cover everything, but at only 40 pages long it’s quick to read and inspiring.

Contents
1. Customers and selling to them
2. Negotiating
3. Marketing
4. Setting prices
5. Business model, business plan
6. Checking with reality
7. Sources of support
Business glossary

If you are downloading the PDF to print out on your own printer, the square format should come out OK on standard A4 paper as it’s the same width.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) now has the power to raid ordinary homes without warning - if you are conducting a business somewhere on the premises. Running a home business is of course not itself illegal. The idea is to allow tax inspectors to check up on what you are doing and have a look at the records you are meant to be keeping.

These new powers were first mooted over a year ago, and came into force on the 1st of April 2009. The new rules give the tax inspectors from the Revenue side of HMRC similar powers to those Customs & Excise have long had against smugglers and VAT evaders. Basically they can enter your home without notice if they suspect you of wrongdoing.

According to Sue Holmes, head of national tax investigations at accountancy firm Smith & Williamson, “The many thousands of business people and sole traders who claim expenses for ‘use of home as an office’ should recognise that from next month, HMRC has the right to enter their home without prior warning to inspect business records.”

This article in the Sunday Times describes the changes - and the new scale of penalties, in more detail.

So what records should you keep?

Here’s HMRC’s own guidance on the records needed by the self-employed.

And here’s its basic guide to tax and self-employment.

Also useful if slightly out of date is The No-Nonsense Guide to Government Rules and Regulations for Setting up Your Business which you can download free from Business Link.

If this is all sounding a bit complicated this brilliantly simple sheet of paper from InBiz shows you how to calculate what you probably most need to know - how much tax you will have to pay for the year.

David Cadwallader from Suffolk asks:

I am thinking of a walking and activity holiday business mainly in France. How do I arrange insurance to protect myself and the business if things go wrong, e.g falls, third party claims, accidents etc?

Robert Ashton, author, speaker and small business owner, replies:

The short answer is to find an insurance broker and ask them to get quotes. The longer and probably more satisfactory answer is to look at websites for travel trade associations and find a specialist broker who deals in your kind of business. You might also find that joining a trade association gets you a discount on the insurance.

 Robert Ashton is a popular business speaker and runs ‘Business Boot Camps’ for entrepreneurs seeking growth. He has written eight books including the best selling  The Entrepreneur’s Book of Checklists.  

Nicola Dickins, MD, trainer and consultant, relies:

Have a look at Hiscox, their business insurance services are really comprehensive. You can contact them for a quote on 0845 213 8900. Sounds like a great business.

Nicola Dickins is the founder and Managing Director of Make it Happen Consultancy Ltd.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and are not held by PRIME unless specifically stated. The material is for general information only and does not constitute legal, accounting, tax or other personalised advice. You should not rely on this information to make (or refrain from making) any decisions. It is not a substitute for independent, professional advice for your own particular situation.

About Ask the Experts

PRIME has assembled a team of business experts who have generously volunteered to answer your questions for free. You can read more about them here, or Ask your own question.

Jessica from Beccles asks:

Where do I find a free list of what I can legally claim as expenses? I am especially interested in what I can carry over to future years when I will be making profits to claim them against. Somebody recently told me I can ‘loan’ myself a start up loan which can be carried forward, for instance.

Tax Consultant Vishvas Kanji replies:

If you are self-employed, all expenses you incur wholly and exclusively for the purposes of the business can be set-off against the income of the business for the purposes of calculating your taxable income arising from that business. Furthermore, generally the nature of the expense has to be “revenue” in nature and not “capital” in nature.

The distinction between the two in most cases is quite straightforward, but it can get complicated at the margins. An item of revenue expense is likely to recur and not result in an enduring benefit (for example, rent, electricity etc). Capital expenditure does not normally recur with the same regularity and provides a benefit which lasts for more than one year (normally quite a few years) (for example, the costs of buying a computer or furniture or equipment). Surplus of such expenses over income can be carried forward and set-off against the income of the following year.

Certain types of capital expenditure would qualify for capital allowances - in effect allowing you to set-off a percentage of the expenditure against your income for tax purposes. The extent of the deduction would depend on the nature of the expense and indeed the size of your business. Typically, an expense incurred in the purchase of plant and equipment qualifies for capital allowances (plant and equipment would include computers and furniture). Sometimes the whole of such expense can be set-off against your taxable income (in the same way as revenue expenditure). More usually, only a percentage can be so set-off each year (so the deduction is spread over a period of time). For example, if you spend £100 on a desk, and the expense, say, qualifies in your case for capital allowances at 25%, you would get a deduction of £25 for the year of purchase, leaving you with a tax written down value of £75. In the following year you will get an allowance of 25% of the tax written down value (i.e £75) … and so on indefinitely. Then if and when you replace the capital asset and you sell the old capital asset, the sale proceeds are treated as income, to the extent that they exceed the written down value of the asset in your books at that time.
A simplified set of rules applies to small businesses.
You cannot get any tax relief for any loan you make to yourself for the purposes of your business. If however, you were to borrow the money, the interest costs could be a deductible expense of the business (provided the relevant conditions were satisfied).

Vishvas Kanji is a Tax Consultant for Mishcon de Reya Solicitors. You can find out more about his services here.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and are not held by PRIME unless specifically stated. The material is for general information only and does not constitute legal, accounting, tax or other personalised advice. You should not rely on this information to make (or refrain from making) any decisions. It is not a substitute for independent, professional advice for your own particular situation.

About Ask the Experts

PRIME has assembled a team of business experts who have generously volunteered to answer your questions for free. You can read more about them here, or Ask your own question.

Dave Parry from Hertfordshire asks:

Having Started a Business on the net, what is the best way to be seen? I would like to do this without spending money if possible, at least until the site starts to bring money in.

We have several answers to this question.

Emma Jones, Business woman, author and editor, replies: 

Thanks for the question. You haven’t mentioned the kind of business you run but there are certainly some things you can do to get noticed, regardless of the business you’re in.

Write articles - and syndicate them to sites that attract your customers. Articles will raise your profile as an expert in your field. For the host site it’s good, free content and for you it’s free promotion. Everyone wins!

Post in forums - make yourself known in the forums where your customers hang out. If you build a reputation as the person who offers helpful advice, people will immediately think of you when they’re ready to buy. There’s an accountant who responds freely to finance/accounting questions in our forum; his business has increased 40% in the past 6 months on the back of this.

Link to complimentary sites and have them link to you - inbound and outbound links will improve your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) ie make it easier for people to find you when typing in terms in search engines. The more links, the higher you will appear in the search rankings.

Submit your site to search engines - another piece of SEO advice would be to submit your site to the major search engines, which you can do by clicking:

Submit your site to Google

Submit your site to Yahoo 

Submit your site to MSN 

Social networking - make the most of social networking sites to raise your profile. Key social sites/tools include Facebook, Linked In and Twitter. Used in the right way, these sites can quickly spread your name about the web.

The ideas offered here will cost nothing but your time. Test what works for you and find out the one that delivers the most valuable return on your time!

Emma Jones is Founder of Enterprise Nation and author of Spare Room Start Up - how to start a business from home.

 Dick Stroud, author, managing director, and lecturer replies:

Dave, I am afraid that this is something of a chicken and egg situation. Maybe the only way you will make money is to be seen and that could mean making an investment.

 To a great extent the approach you take will depend on your type of business. Here is a list of the basic things you must do and some others you might want to consider. I have to warn you that some of these ideas will require you acquiring some knowledge about the technicalities of how the Web works. You don’t have to be a ‘techy’ but it will require you understanding some of the Web fundamentals.

 Must dos

 1. Ensure all of the basics have been done to make your web site visible to Google. The starting place is the help section of Google

2. For a very small investment (a few pounds) you can experiment with Google Adwords. The tools in this section will enable you to understand the types of phrases that people are searching on when trying to locate the products or service you are selling.

3. Start contributing to blogs and forums where people who might purchase your products or services will also visit. Make sure you leave your web address with the message.

 Could do

1. Start a blog that relates to your business. This is an excellent way of increasing your Google footprint and its is free!

2. Start collecting e-mail addresses from the people that visit your web site and then publish an e-mail newsletter. This is great way of getting people to “refer a friend” and to increase the number of people who will visit the site.

Best regards,

Dick Stroud

Dick Stroud is Managing Director of marketing consultancy company 20plus30. His latest book is The 50-Plus Market.

  John Lamb, editor of Ability magazine, replies:

There are many free ways of letting people know you are there. The first is search engine optimisation (SEO): ensuring your site can be seen by search engines such as Google, and that it appears as far up search lists as possible.

To improve your chances of being picked up in searches, it is important to think about the key words and description of your site, that you submit to Google and other search engines.

The keywords should not only be as relevant as possible, but they should also appear as often as possible in the text that appears on your pages. Use a bit of lateral thinking here since you can include the names of other organisations, places and people.

Your designer should pay attention to how the site is set out; to enable search engines to easily identify relevant pages. The crawlers that flag up pages for searching inspect less than a fifth of the web.

The rest is a matter of marketing. I recently introduced a new web site for my magazine Ability, which is about IT for disabled people. My first step was to email everyone in my address books and social networks including Linked In, Facebook etc. I plan to do more of this by joining forums which I can use to tell people about what I am doing.

Visit sites that should list your publication, and ask the web masters to include you. If you have a ‘useful links’ page on your website, you can offer them something in exchange.

Finally, Google analytics is a free service that lets you know how traffic to your site got there and where the visitors come from. Each morning I excitedly open up the report on yesterday’s activity to see how many visitors I got.

Happy hunting.

John Lamb is the editor of Ability magazine, a campaigning publication for people who have difficulty using IT.

Robert Ashton, author and small-business owner, replies:

Network, network network. Join online business communities such as Ecademy, set up a Facebook page if you’re not there already and then set up a Facebook group for your ‘customers’. Blog lots and with everything you do, include a hyperlink back to a relevant page on your website. Also set up ‘Google Alerts’ for key phrases linked to your area of business and post comments where you can on the pages this alerts you to. Success in business is always about activity. In this case it’s about online activity. Good luck!

 Robert Ashton is a popular business speaker and runs ‘Business Boot Camps’ for entrepreneurs seeking growth. He has written eight books including the best selling  The Entrepreneur’s Book of Checklists.  

Will Kintish, Business networker, speaker and trainer, replies:

 Dave,

Go to events and become visible. Look at Business Scene for lots of networking events.

Will Kintish

 Will Kintish is the founder and Managing Director of Kintish; which delivers business and networking training. 

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and are not held by PRIME unless specifically stated. The material is for general information only and does not constitute legal, accounting, tax or other personalised advice. You should not rely on this information to make (or refrain from making) any decisions. It is not a substitute for independent, professional advice for your own particular situation.

Got a question of your own?

Ask here.

About Ask the Experts

PRIME has assembled a team of business experts who have generously volunteered to answer your questions for free. You can read more about them here, or Ask your own question.

Scams are big business. The combined turnover for some firms closed down recently for conducting fake-charity publishing scams came to over £50 million. The Office of Fair Trading has now published new advice for businesses to help them avoid losing money to criminals.

“When targeting businesses, the scammers are using increasingly sophisticated techniques”, according to Mike Lambourne, head of the OFT’s Scambusters Team. A new trend is the recording and editing of phone calls, which are then used when hounding the victims for payment.

The OFT advises “never agree to anything in a rush, and remember that it is possible to enter into a legally binding contract over the phone.”

Top business scams

There is detailed information on how the main types of scam work on the OFT site. Here are links to the most common.

• The business directory scam
• Office supply scam
• Domain name scam
• Charitable publication scam
• The fake invoice scam
• Bogus government agency scam
• Premium rate scam

Meanwhile the next episode of BBC 3’s The Real Hustle transmits tonight, the 26 Feb 2009, at 9:45pm. This series shows how easy it is to be taken in by accomplished con artists, and is well worth watching to make you more scam-aware.

Here are the top 20 scams revealed by the programme, as voted for by fans.

PRIME has assembled a team of business experts who have generously volunteered to answer your questions for free. You can read more about them here, or Ask your own question.

To kick the ball off we’ve asked a question of our own.

I find it difficult to read some of the small text that appears on my computer screen. How can I adjust it to make the screen more readable?

John Lamb, editor of Ability magazine, replies:

Unfortunately there is no single button you can press that will instantly increase the size of all the text and images on your computer screen. Instead, you will have to make a series of adjustments for each program you use: your browser, word processing, operating system and so on.

Web pages are the biggest culprits for using small print. It is relatively easy however to correct this in Internet Explorer 7 by going to the page menu and selecting the zoom feature.

Some web developers try to fix the size of their text but you can circumvent this by going to the tools menu and clicking internet options. On the first page is an accessibility button which leads you to a list of options. Select the ignore font size option.

For desktop programs decreasing the resolution of the screen has the effect of making text and images on screen larger, if rather fuzzy. Access this feature by bringing up the control panel (in Windows XP) clicking on display and pressing the settings tab. There is a slider here which you can use to reduce the resolution.

You can increase the text size on Windows and many Microsoft programs by going to display in the control panel and selecting the appearance tab which has an option to change the font size.

However, while the menus, commands and so on most programs can be increased in this way some cannot. The entries in my Outlook Express address book remain stubbornly small and some users may be puzzled by the fact that increasing the size of icons is a separate operation, which involves pressing the advanced settings button in the appearance tab.

You will also need to make adjustments to applications programs too. For example, in Word 2002 there is a zoom function in the view menu. There is a similar feature in Excel.

Microsoft also provides a magnifying accessory which makes items on screen larger than is possible using individual adjustments to text and images. You can find Windows Magnifier in the accessibility folder in the accessories section of the all programs menu. The software magnifies the screen and displays it in a panel at the top of the page.

However, Windows Magnifier is limited and more user friendly programs such as Lunar, Zoomtext and SuperNova are available which magnify the entire screen rather than just a portion of it.

John Lamb is the editor of Ability magazine, a campaigning publication for people who have difficulty using IT.

Changing text size on this web site

If you have a wheel mouse, you should be able to resize text by scrolling the wheel of the mouse while holding down the Ctrl key.

If that doesn’t work try the menu system of your browser. Exactly what you have to do depends on the browser.

• Internet Explorer: View menu > Text size
• Firefox: View menu > Text size
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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and are not held by PRIME unless specifically stated. The material is for general information only and does not constitute legal, accounting, tax or other personalised advice. You should not rely on this information to make (or refrain from making) any decisions. It is not a substitute for independent, professional advice for your own particular situation.

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It’s now possible for anyone to freely access a huge resource library created for small businesses and startups by a consortium of UK universities. You can go straight to the search and browse page of the collection, called VentureNavigator, without having to register or login.

The content includes:

1. Accounting
2. Advisors
3. Angel Investors
4. Brand
5. Business Model
6. Business Plan
7. Communication
8. Compensation
9. Competition
10. Customers
11. Distribution
12. Entrepreneurship
13. Equity
14. Finance
15. Fundraising
16. Human Resources
17. Innovation
18. Intellectual Property
19. Leadership
20. Legal
21. Management
22. Marketing
23. Markets
24. Networking
25. Operations
26. Partnerships
27. Pricing
28. Production
29. Regulatory
30. Revenue
31. Risk
32. Sales
33. Strategy
34. Team
35. Valuations
36. Venture Capital

VentureNavigator is funded by the UK government and was developed by a consortium that includes the universities of Essex, Cambridge, Leeds, Liverpool, Glasgow, Warwick and the Open University. Library House, a research company founded by Doug Richard of Dragon’s Den fame is also involved.

As well as using the resources you can also sign up for free assessments and feedback - though you do have to register for these.

Are some of your customers stars, bringing in money, skills and enhancing the reputation to your business? And are others quite frankly duds, bringing you hassle and actually losing you money on each sale?

Simply asking these questions can lead you into making some useful changes to the way you do business - so you do more work for the customers who are better for you.

But sometimes it isn’t obvious who the heroes and villains are. So here’s a 10-step technique  that will help you identify them.

Calculating what a given client is worth to you

1. This works most simply in businesses where you have a few clients, but if you’ve got a lot divide them up into meaningful segments that you can find or estimate figures for - e.g. those who buy food and those who don’t, the Monday crowd versus the Saturday crowd or whatever. It’s also more accurate if you do it for a longer time period, so quarterly is better than monthly, but don’t worry if your records don’t go that far back.

2. Next you need to know your own hourly staff costs. In an established business this would be the salaries plus all the costs of making someone productive - office space, equipment and so on. However in a start-up where there’s just you and you are not paying yourself much yet it may be hard to come up with a plausible figure. For this exercise a rough approximation will do. So you could just say £10 or whatever you think is reasonable. We are going to apply the same figure to all clients so it still makes for a fair comparison.

3. Now for each client or segment you are interested in tot up the total hours you spent on them last quarter, and multiply it by your hourly staff time figure. Add in any other significant hard costs like travel or material spent on that client. That will give you the cost of that client.

4. Now check what they brought in last quarter. You can keep things fairly simple. If you invoice in bigger chunks divide it up to give you a quarterly figure. And for segments tot up the quarterly income for the group - gross, without deducting any costs.

5. Subtract the cost of the client you worked out at step 3 from what they brought in. The result is a fair approximation to their relative monetary value to you.

6. Next the important bit - the fiddle factors. We all know some clients are reliable and easy to deal with, while others are a pain. So think of a fair monetary value in pounds per quarter for the joy (add) or pain (subtract), and apply this hassle factor to the value score.

7. We also need to recognise that some clients are valuable for strategic reasons - perhaps referring business to us, allowing us to build up valuable expertise or taking us in the direction we want the business to go. So we need another fiddle factor to recognise this strategic value. Again add an appropriate positive amount in pounds to any client taking you in an exceptionally useful direction, subtract money from clients who lock you into dead-end work you’d rather avoid and leave average clients alone. This gives the overall “value” of the client to you.

8. Now repeat from step 3 to 7 for all the clients or segments you wish to compare.

9. You should end up with a set of numbers, with best clients scoring high and your worst low. Note that because of all the approximations and the inclusion of intangible fiddle factors the number doesn’t represent the actual profit from each client. For that you’d need more real data, which you should eventually accumulate.
Nonetheless, this exercise is legitimate and does tell you something important. The high scorers are bringing in the most value to your business in the broadest sense. The low scorers are more of a drain and repay your efforts less. So if you have uncovered any serious duds or brilliant stars you might want to drop the duds and work more with the stars should the opportunity arise.

10. One final step may make identification of heroes and villains easier. Divide the value figure for each client by the number of hours you worked for them, which you’ve already totted up at step 3. This removes the amount of business you are getting from them from the equation, and gives you more of a pure customer-quality score. The high scorers are the ones you probably want more business with.