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Can anyone give me some ideas for marketing my business. I have been self employed for a few years part time, but I now want to double my workload as I have more time on my hands. I really want to do the work in my own office rather than cimmiting to weekly visits to clients. If anyone has any tried and tested methods which they have been successful with, I would very much appreciate your advice.<BR>
Hi<BR><BR>Have you thought about doing a LearniDirect on line course (www.learndirect.co.uk)?<BR><BR>You can do a course online in loads of business subjects including marketing, would even count as CPD!<BR><BR>Neil
claudialowe
04-07-05, 00:00
Dont know where you live, but what about advertising in local parish/village magazines - it can be a very effective low cost way or marketing - i used it quite successfully when setting up my business - psychologically people seem to think that local advertisers are more trustworthy than people in yellow pages - bizarre but true - also adverts for a whole year (10/12 issues normally) not very much say 50 quid depending on where you are.<BR><BR>Another idea what about your local chamber of commerce?<BR><BR>Hope this helps.<BR>Claudia<BR>
Two great ideas I hadn't thought of. Many thanks to you both.<BR>
Hi<BR><BR>As return favour....<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif" border="0"><BR><BR>Im thinking of starting some self employed services, just for some extra money to begin with, and was wondering about the 'logistics' of being self employed. I.e. do you do the work at clients premises or do they give you all their invoices, bank statements etc and you do it from there? Or, do you use software and have a seperate compnay for each client?<BR><BR>Any advice is much appreciated.<BR><BR>Neil
Hi Neil,<BR>Glad to be of assistance. I only work part time at the moment, and nearly all of my work is at the clients' premises. This was initially their choice, but in fact it has many advantages for me - storage space, being in regular contact with the client, understanding their business. Visiting clients on a regular basis can, however, be restricting. I have to be careful not to overcommit my time, and make sure one booking doesn't run late, which results in the next client being let down. I have one or two clients for whom I work remotely, and this works quite well as long as the physical volume of paperwork is small. I tend not to keep very much in my own office - I input the data, then send all the documents back to the client. I am currently trying to target clients for "remote" working. I expect this to be more time consuming, and may also have to consider renting some office space, but I hope to be able to find a good balance. <BR>Good luck
Neil, <BR>Sorry, I forgot to mention software. If I work remotely, I try to have the same software as the client. I can then sent them the updated data for their records. This also helps if you usally work on site for a client - I often have something to work on when I need to be at home, so it's useful to be able to bring their data home. Just make sure that your client does not do any data input while you are working on his data in your own office.
Hi Mary<BR><BR>Thanks for that.<BR><BR>At present I work full-time and may pursue self-employment as an additonal income. I have one friend who has his own busines who is eager for me to do his accounts for him, this plus another client (I know someone else who has his own business too). This would be suffcient for now as I want to saty working in industry for the time being while I take CIMA, but when I complete CIMA, who knows...<BR><BR>May I aks what software package you use?<BR><BR>Neil
Neil<BR>Sounds like you have a good plan. I stopped studying after AAT but if your employer is supporting your through CIMA I would agree that you are better off staying there for a while. Most of my clients use Sage, either Line 50 of Instant. Take a look at both if you can - and decide what best suits the needs of your friends' businesses. Sage is widely recognised by accountants, so if you are submiiting the data to an accountant for statutory accounts it really helps to have compatible software. Take a look at www.sage.co. uk (or it might be .com) for prices, then talk to your prospective clients to work out what is best for you both to work with. If you are not familiar with Sage, take a look at your local college. It shouldn't be too difficult to find a computerised bookkeepeing course that uses Sage, or you could try one of the government run open learning/drop-in centres, which should allow you to have a look at the software without spending a lot of money.<BR>May I ask what area you are in? As you know from the start of this thread, I am trying to expand my business. After ten days of intensive marketing I am beginning to worry that I am attracting more work than I can cope with!<BR>Regards,<BR>Sheelagh
Hi<BR><BR>Sounds like you're on the up!<BR><BR>Im in Gloucestershire, the friend I mentioned above is a mangement consultant base in Cirencester. Another friend who is potentially a client is a corpoarate finance adviser in cheltenham.<BR><BR>I used Sage in my previous job (changed about a month ago). From what I remember Line 50 might be a bit pricy for me at the mo, so I'll have a look at Instant.<BR><BR>What area are you in, if I may ask?<BR><BR>Neil
Hi Neil,<BR>I was looking at Sage prices today. I have been quoted £750 plus VAT for Line 50 Financial Controller (gasp), plus almost half as much again for the tech support. If you join the Sage Accountants Club, which costs £350 plus VAT per annum, you get Instant, Payroll and Financial Controller and the tech support for no extra. I might go for this as I am expanding.<BR>I have also found out about remote access today. This is all a bit confusing for a non-techy like me, but it might help you. Even if you have not got the software yourself, it is possible, to set up a link via the internet to your client's PC. You can then use their software and data from your own PC. This obviously depends on the agreement of your client. If your client is likely yo want to use the Sage at the same time as you, he can purchase a 2nd user licence from sage which costs about £130.<BR><BR>I hope all this helps. Glos is not a million miles away.Would you like me to keep a note of your email incase I have any work you can help me out with? Send me a message to sheelaghbaker@ntlworld.com ig you would like to keep in touch.<BR>
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