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Top 5 tips for keeping on top of your Bookkeeping

We all start out in business for different reasons, we might have been yearning to be our own boss for years, but not had enough experience in our chosen field or had family commitments that were too great, or like me you might have been made redundant and thought 'I can do this on my own'. Whatever the reason you started, the one thing most small business owners have in common is that they start a business because they are passionate about their skills, so it could be that you can design bespok...

Make Your Life Easier!

Wow, back to school already, where is time going?How did you do this year? Do you know yet? Have you completed your end of year accounts or are all your receipts/invoices and bits of paper still in a box under your desk staring at you....

What information should be on a Sales Invoice?

I see lots of different sales invoices in my office, some have invoices numbers, some don't; some have a date on, others don't; some have VAT on but no VAT number on them; no wonder people get confused, so what should you include on your Sales Invoices.According to HMRC you should have the following: You must clearly display the word 'Invoice' on the document. You must also include: a unique identification number - (Invoice Number)your company name, address and contact informationthe company nam...

What are you resisting?

A few weeks ago at the beginning of February and every month for that matter, it can be very stressful with work and so I decided to make time for myself on my birthday – I had planned this along with my amazing mentor a couple of weeks before when I explained that I never found time for ME.  She encouraged me to think of the things I enjoyed doing and what I needed to do in order to decrease the feeling of not being in control and not being good enough.  I knew that I needed more ex...

Learning to Love Your Numbers

Is Bookkeeping an 11 letter word?        Or do you Love your numbers?Do you shudder when someone mentions the word or do you scroll past every advert or post on social media and ignore it, do you know why you do this?  Is it because : Bookkeeping is frightening or scary to you?  Those brown envelopes make you shudder when they land on your doorstep?  You worry that you’re doing it wrong?  You’re too scared to look at the numbers because you’re scared...

When should I send my Sales Invoices out?

I always used to send my Sales Invoices out at the end of the month, when I had done all the work that needed to be done. However, I found that it didn't really work all that well for cashflow purposes and so I decided I would stagger sending out my invoices and when they became due for payment. Some go out on the 1st of the month, some on the 5th of the month and some on the 15th of the month and as a service provider it works quite well for me. All of my sales invoices are due for payment wit...

The Art of Anti-Procrastination!

That is, how to master the urge to procrastinate that blogging provokes in me.  I've not written a blog for a while and to be honest it has been nagging me ... Why don't I find the time to do it? Why don't I want to do it? When a friend told me about her 'Café Friday' project and said that she was going to commit time each week to writing her book, and that she was going to take her small laptop and sit in a cafe and have coffee and cake at the same time, as motivation, it sounded like a r...

Why I do what I do!

I was born over 50 years ago now, but I can still remember the feelings I had when Dad wasn't home, because he was out working. I would go to bed, with a promise that Dad would come and kiss me good night, but I had usually fallen asleep. I don't blame my Dad for what he did, he did it to give us a better life, because he loved us and as a subcontractor back in the 60's you could work for a week and be out of a job and then onto the next one, he never knew where the work was going to be. My Dad ...

VAT numbers - do you know where to find yours?

I recently rang a company for a VAT number because it wasn't on their Sales Invoice and they were a new company to my client, I was transferred to the accounts department and they couldn't find the VAT number and said that they would get back to me as soon as they could and I am still waiting for them to get back to me - just over a week now, so I will have to chase them up again - not a good vibe. Now call me a sceptic, there could be a genuine reason why that VAT number is not on the invoice,...

Being a sole trader can be a lonely place...........

I've been in business for over 7 years now and have only just found the support and collaboration of other businesses that I am truly benefitting from. When you first start out on the magical journey of being a sole trader your enthusiasm is your main driver, but what happens when you have got part way through the year and you find that you're not earning as much as you were when you were employed, you're still not 100% sure that you are doing the right things in the right space at the right tim...

Fight Club

I don't know about you but that is a very scary thought. How many young adults and teenagers do you know?I became involved with the Laura Crane Youth Cancer Trust back in 2010 going along to their fundraising events, especially the Wine Tastings at Hoults Wine Merchants, an event not to be missed. However, in 2013 when I was made redundant i decided that I would give 1 day a week to the Trust in their offices helping with admin and basically anything they needed. I became quite a dab hand a...