Business Advice & Support

Today is not about business, but about remembering and being thankful to all those nations that fought for freedom from tyranny - thank you, to all service personnel, past and present, for all that you've done for us.

The success of your business comes from planning and effective management, not luck - if you need support with your planning, we can help

At this time of year, lots of businesses start to think about setting their budgets for the next financial year.

I thought I would share 5 tips that may make that budget setting process a bit more useful (and possibly interesting 😏 ) for you this year...

1. Don't just use arbitrary targets like I want to grow sales by 10% - think about what you need to do to make that happen

2. Focus on efficiencies - people, pricing, process

3. Take yourself away from your normal environment to plan through this - sitting at your desk where you do your other work can easily lead to distraction or association of it being "another task"

4. Share it with some that will hold you accountable to the targets you have set

5. Review and adjust if needed - too often budgets are just done once a year with no real gauge for what good and bad looks like. A year is a long time in your business, so direction will change or new opportunities will arise. Understand what effect that has.

#2024

Wow, just wow

A day with no work emails 🙏 but there was golf 🏌 and a lovely dinner 🍽 and yes, I opened a nice bottle of Pino Grigio🥂

The team have done so well chasing through the self-assessment return workload and are on timetable, so they're all having an extra three days of paid holiday leave as a gift from the firm

A quick thank you to all our clients, friends and supporters, and we wish you all a wonderful Christmas, and a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year

Whilst BA&S focuses on the strategy and business planning, do avoid "shooting yourself in the foot" by playing games with the taxman - if you need reliable accountants that will protect you from your poor decisions, contact RiverView Portfolio Ltd

We can all be guilty of not switching off from work whilst on holiday, and this always reminds us of a story we got told by a former HMRC inspector’s holiday…

On holiday by the sea side, the former tax inspector had an eye for personalised number plates. One spotted his eye as it went along a marina pulling a reasonably sized boat. Mr Inspector thought, it can’t be cheap to have a boat on the marina there and on return to work the following Monday had a quick check of the number plate through the access to the DVLA records and then onto the owners tax record. At this point, Mr Inspector thought that the income being declared seemed much lower than what he expected of someone with a boat in the marina – rightly or wrongly at this point an enquiry/tax check was notified to the taxpayer.

On inspection of the records, all looked to be in order with tax returns matching the records provided until an eager eyed junior inspector noted that the records provided didn’t add up – not the amount hitting the bank account but the amount the numbers on the records provided. Upon further investigation it was found that a higher figure was being paid into one account and the adjusted lower figure transferred into the bank account provided – the lower figure being what was declared on the return and at a guess the difference being what funded the boat and marina charges.

Needless to say, HMRC recovered the unpaid tax, along with penalties and interest – we don’t know if that was paid by way of the boat or not .

Having your records in order, accurate and not fraudulently produced – will protect you against this risk.

Concerned? – get in touch – it isn’t too late to right your wrongs.

📞01249 816810
📧[email protected]
💻www.riverviewportfolio.co.uk

If you know, you know

If you don't know, ask me ...

The basis of decisive decision making, which is the foundation to developing your business planning

Excellent article, what's your thoughts

Do sweat the small stuff when it comes to inclusion Many employees feel that their leaders’ everyday actions don’t match their words. So what can be done to build trust?

Are you a duck or an eagle

Longish story, but I hope you'll see that it's worth reading

Harvey was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey.

He handed a laminated card and said: “Hello. I’m Wally, your driver. While I’m loading your bags in the trunk, I’d like you to read my mission statement.”

Taken aback, Harvey read the card. It said: Wally’s Mission Statement: To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment. This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!

As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, “Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.” Harvey said jokingly, “No, I’d prefer a soft drink.” Wally smiled and said, “No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice.” Amazed, Harvey said, “I’ll take a Diet Coke.”

Handing him his drink, Wally said, “If you’d like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.” As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card, “These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you’d like to listen to the radio.”

And as if that weren’t enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him. Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he’d be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, he would be quiet and leave him with his own thoughts.

“Tell me, Wally,” Harvey asked the driver, “have you always served customers like this?”

Wally smiled into the rear view mirror. “No, not always. In fact, it’s only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard this personal growth say that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day,
you’ll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, “Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don’t be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.”

“Well, that hit me right between the eyes,” said Wally. “The guru was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.”

“I take it that has paid off for you,” Harvey said.

“It sure has,” Wally replied. “My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I’ll probably quadruple it. Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice: He decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles.

If you want to move your business from SURVIVE to THRIVE, contact us and we’ll help you develop the strategies and mindset to soar like an eagle

A lesson learned from Covid and all those that lost their jobs, or were not protected by their employer is that there is only one person that you should depend on - you

We've helped so many people, of all ages and backgrounds, start their own own business and it's never too late. If you need support - follow our page where we'll be sharing business advice, or for our active support, contact us on [email protected]

Definitely worth your time, attention and concentration

Business Leadership Lessons for Difficult Times

Today, more than ever, you need your network to help you through difficult times. When your business faces challenges, it is your network of friends and associates that can help you get through. It starts with our own actions.

I share the Leadership Lessons that I have learned in my blog: https://bit.ly/3pIZmdF

How has your network helped you and your business through difficult times?

Have you developed your plan

The power to improve our businesses rests entirely with us, so we need to be the best version of ourselves - developing the right habits is part of that process

As we said all along ….

HMRC has closed the specialist Family Investment Company Unit after finding no evidence of a correlation between the use of family investment companies (FIC) and non-compliant behaviour

Developing a strategy plan that addresses legacy and inheritance, we often use the FIC route but we’ve been advising clients not to finalise their plans whilst HMRC were reviewing – now we can “press the pedal to the metal”.

HMRC has concluded its two-year review of family investment companies and has wound up the unit after finding ‘no evidence to suggest those using family investment companies were more inclined towards avoidance’. HMRC are now looking at family investment companies as ‘business as usual rather than having a dedicated team.

Family investment companies are often used by hedge fund managers, business owners, and recipients of large inheritances and are popular amongst ultra-high net worth and families.

This is because they allow for greater control over assets and investment strategy than by outsourcing the role to private banks and investment managers. Family investment companies can also help families pass on assets and facilitate succession planning.

Now is the time to get on with your strategy planning, and letting us help you – contact us on [email protected]

9 steps to strategy planning

1. Clear, long-term objectives: Prepare a strategic plan that is long-term and realistic. What type of products/services would you like to build? Who will be your customers? What markets would you like to serve, and what activities would you like to carry on to get to your desired future state?

2. Opportunity: Carefully analyze what opportunity exists in the future and how it might evolve over time. Gather more data and facts associated with it before finalizing any decisions. Clearly diagnose the risks and challenges anticipated in pursuing this opportunity and come up with the mitigation plan to address them.

3. Innovation: Ensure that the products/services you plan to build are unique, with clear differentiation -- and that they are aligned with your business. Think back to when Apple launched the iPod, a truly innovative product. The company has since been well-known for its brand and quality. Along with its computers, people buy Apple's other products too, like the iPhone, iPad, etc., even though they might be more expensive than the alternatives.

4. Competition: Ensure that your strategy remains competitive. Choose a market that is either not served or underserved with little or no competition, and be the first one there. This way, you capture the market share, build your brand and position your company well in that marketplace, making it harder for any new entrants.

5. Economies of scale: Lower the cost of your goods/services while remaining innovative. Offer unique features and high-quality customer service. For example, Walmart always tries to sell its products at a much lower price, increasing its sales through a large customer base and generating higher profits.

6. Time to market: Carefully evaluate the options of "build versus buy" for the products/services that you plan to offer your customers. Sometimes, it might be cheaper to buy part of the products or solutions that are already available or outsource to a third-party vendor to save some cost of producing your goods/services and getting them out in the market.

7. Tests: Periodically review and update your strategy to ensure that it's valid at all times and meets your company’s objectives and market needs. Test it out in small phases. It's better to fail fast when it is less expensive and recover from mistakes.

8. Risks and failures: Factor risks into your plan and allow your organization to accept failures. Use unique insights gained from successes and failures to learn from your past experience and improve your future.

9. Stakeholders: Once your plan is finalized, share it with employees in your organization to provide them with guidance and reasoning on the initiatives that will be carried out within the company. Explain how it relates to them and to the firm. Additionally, prepare a separate plan to share with your external stakeholders, like investors, partners, suppliers, industry analysts and your customers. Let them know what you are doing, why you are doing it and how it affects the company’s forecast in generating revenues and impacting shareholders' value.

Want your company to be successful and perform better than your competitors? Develop and execute a solid, competitive strategy to make profits that generate above-average returns.

(c) Forbes

[email protected]

Do you ever wonder why some companies are successful and perform better than others? Or why some are hard to beat and others are not? Well, if a company wants to stay competitive in the industry, it must create and execute a strategy that is good and sound.

A strategy is a long-term plan that you create for your company to reach the desired, future state you envision. A strategy includes your company's goals and objectives, the type of products/services that you plan to build, the customers who you want to sell to and the markets that you serve to make profits.

A strategy is solid when all the assumptions you make at the time of its creation have been validated and tested for accuracy, and the decisions you've made can be presented with clear facts and evidence. It is important to ensure that your strategy aligns with your company’s objectives, the type of business that your organization does and is known to do and the environment in which you plan to thrive.

A good strategy will help you make good investment decisions, like how and where you would like to spend money. It also helps to provide guidance on project prioritization and other activities within your organization. Allocate and optimize resources, and make profits that generate above-average returns.

(c) Forbes

Contact me at [email protected]

Great success comes from small beginnings - are you ready to THRIVE

We help clients develop their strategy plans, and work with them to make those plans a reality - from small beginnings great business grows - take the first step, contact [email protected] and ask about our strategic support

Goals should be more than just dreams

We work with our clients to help them take their business from SURVIVE to THRIVE, and then develop a timeframe for their journey – this is the development of a strategy, and then the supporting business plans with their milestones.

Contact me on [email protected] if you or someone you know wants to move their business from SURVIVE to THRIVE

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