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Can I employ people for my home business?

When starting your own business from home and you begin to make employment decisions, make sure that:

• If they work at your home (as opposed to elsewhere) you find out whether you need to pay business rates (see above section)
• You carry out health and safety risk assessments
• You carry out all that’s required of you as an employer, e.g. meet employment law requirements, have the right contracts, carry out health and safety risk assessments, make sure that you have buildings insurance and the correct accounting software etc.

Boost sales to existing customers

It sounds simple, but often it gets overlooked. Why not try to sell more to your existing customers? It could be a much quicker, easier and cheaper way to boost your revenue, because it takes far more time and money to attract new customers. You could try giving existing customers slightly discounted bundled items or money-off offers. Maybe you could introduce a customer loyalty scheme. 

• Read more: How to boost repeat purchases

Finally, take the opportunity to stop wasting time and money on things that really aren’t worth it. Better to use the time on actual sales and customers, or on sales and customers that bring higher margins. Also try to find ways to make your processes more efficient.

Bounce Back Loans

If you’re self-employed you may also be eligible for the Bounce Back Loan scheme. Specifically aimed at small-sized businesses, the scheme was launched as an alternative solution to the main Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILs).

• Apply for a loan from £2,000 and up to 25% of your turnover (maximum of £50,000).
• The government will guarantee 100% of the finance to the lender. 
• You won’t pay any interest in the first 12 months, this will be covered instead by the government. 
• You also don’t need to make any repayments for 12 months
• Interest is capped at 2.5%.
• The loan term is six years, but you can make early repayments without being penalised.

The scheme is open to all sole traders and partnerships who were trading on 1 March 2020. Accredited lenders are listed on the British Business Bank website.

The first place to go is to your own bank (provided they are part of the scheme) and complete a short online form. On this form, you’ll need to self-certify that you’re circumstances match the eligibility criteria listed here on GOV.UK.

Update:

• The loan length has been extended from 6 years to 10 years, enabling businesses to reduce their repayment liabilities. 
• Businesses can also choose to just pay the interest for up to six months. Businesses suffering serious financial issues may be able to get repayments temporarily suspended too. 
• The application deadline closes on 31 March 2021. 

Business analytics software

Consider a business intelligence solution such as business analytics software, which looks at historical data to predict business trends. It can help turn numbers into business actions, without you having to take a course in data crunching or hiring an expert. When shopping around for software, ensure it offers an easy-to-view, interactive dashboard where you can quickly manipulate data view, can integrate with your social platforms and can highlight data patterns clearly.

Business plan writing tips

Writing a business plan can take some time and some areas of the plan will be easier to tackle than others. 

• Make initial notes every time you think of something and don’t worry if you can’t cover all points at the start.
• When you are ready to start to write the plan, make sure you use sections and these are in a logical order.
• It is important that your plan is simple, accurate and easy to follow if you are going to ask others to look at it.
• Try to avoid jargon or terms that only people in your type of industry will understand.