When you consider everything that goes into running a small business, this should come as no surprise. There are just too many factors that can sink your business before you even realize something wrong is happening.

It soon becomes quite obvious that you need to do everything in your power to safeguard your small business from failure.

But, how do you do this, exactly?

Surround yourself with the Right People (and Keep them)

It may sound a bit idealistic to some, but it is a simple fact that your business can only be as good as your employees. No matter how you cut it, your people will be responsible for the biggest portion of your success and you will do well to surround yourself with the best people you can find.

When you hire the right people, you can count on them to provide the most responsible approach to work, maximum productivity and an endless stream of ideas on how to improve your business.

Unfortunately for many SME owners, retaining employees has become one of the most difficult tasks when running a business. Employee loyalties are waning, the gig economy is taking a hold, and it is safe to say that very few people know how to keep their best employees.

Treat them well, provide them with benefits and allow them to advance their careers and improve their skills. This is the best place to start.

Use Software

The majority of small businesses use some sort of software in their day-to-day operations, but it is safe to say that business software is generally underutilized among SMEs. This is especially true since the proliferation of Software-as-a-Service solutions.

Namely, with these SaaS solutions, small companies can now get access to software that used to be unattainable for them due to exorbitant prices. This new way of procuring software has made such software far more affordable and it enables SMEs to, for example, use business analytics software that used to be reserved only for the largest companies.

There are innumerable ways in which the smart use of software will safeguard an SME from failure. It will provide a much more fact-based decision-making process, it will streamline many operations and it will increase productivity manifold.

Don’t Neglect Cybersecurity

There used to be a time when small companies didn’t have to worry about cybersecurity as they were not attractive targets. However, as even the tiniest companies started operating with sensitive customer data and storing it, they also started becoming more and more alluring to attackers. This is probably best seen in the rise of ransomware, which is a very cost-effective way of making a living and it pays to attack small businesses too.

As an SME owner, you need to make sure that you pay attention to cybersecurity. This will entail installing all of the latest cybersecurity measures, especially if your customers/clients leave sensitive personal information with you. You will also need to educate and train your employees, as well as promote a culture of cybersecurity. It will also be a good idea to update your cybersecurity policies and to make sure your third-party vendors are secure.

The reason why you will want to go through all this trouble is that data breaches can be fantastically expensive, especially when you factor in the recovery period during which your company might have to be shut down. Keep in mind, these recovery periods can last up to a few weeks or even months. Can you afford to shut down for that long?

We didn’t think so.

Be Careful with Your Money

Perhaps the easiest and the fastest way for your small business to fail is to lose track of your money. Perhaps your revenue is being eaten up by something like shipping and it takes you a few months to notice. Perhaps you have been paying your taxes the wrong way and you soon find out you owe a substantial amount in back taxes. Perhaps you decide to buy out a competitor and take out a really bad loan. Perhaps your employee turnover or legal fees are making you haemorrhage money.

There are innumerable ways in which an SME owner can lose track of where their money is going and how liquid their company is. When something like this happens, you start getting into damage control mode and, for a very long time, you are always a few steps behind, sticking your fingers in a leaking ditch, trying to stave off or prevent a catastrophe.

Always make sure you have your finances in order and if you are not sure you can do it yourself, hire an accountancy agency to handle this for you. You may not have planned to do so, but you simply need to.

Rethink Your Marketing

It is difficult for a small business to become relevant and stay competitive. The competition is almost always very strong and there are never enough customers to go around. One traditional way to go about this is to do some marketing, but unfortunately, many SME owners do their marketing the wrong way.

There are two main schools of thought and action when bad marketing is in question.

The first one is the traditionalist school of bad marketing where nothing that was invented after 1950 is a good idea. The proponents of it refuse to acknowledge customers that might find them online and they sink huge amounts of money in local media, even if it does nothing for them.

The second school of bad marketing is the ‘join the hype’ one, where every marketing buzzword gets them excited and throwing money at it. They rarely track actual results and spend time and money on (mostly online) tactics that need far more expertise and context to work.

Marketing is about making money. It is about finding ways to attract new customers that will spend money with you. It doesn’t matter if you use VR marketing or if you paint the side of a cow.

If it works, it can help you avoid failure that is inevitable once the customers run out.

John is one of the directors at RE:SURE a remote CCTV and security company with bases in Dublin and Belfast. The company provide live monitoring and live audio for CCTV security systems.

The post 5 Ways to Safeguard Your Small Business from Failure appeared first on Starting a Business in Ireland | Help for Ireland's Entrepreneurs | Start Up Your Own Business.

1. Be organised, be ready and don’t be late

Under self-assessment there is a common date for the payment of tax and filing of tax returns – the 31^st of October each year. With all the demands of starting a new business, this date can often sneak up on you. It is absolutely vital that you are ready for this date each year and have everything you need optimally organised to make the process as easy, quick and pain-free as possible. You can file your return in advance of this date once you are ready. Do not leave it until the last minute to file your return. Not only are there fees for missing the deadline, if you rush there is more chance that you make a mistake or leave something out, which can also result in a financial penalty or even a potential tax audit.

2. The Start Your Own Business Relief

There are a number of tax reliefs, deductions and exemptions in place that contribute towards the creation of jobs. The start your own business relief provides tax relief for someone who has been unemployed for at least 12 months before starting a qualifying business, and provides an exemption from income tax up to a maximum of €40,000 per annum for a period of two years.

3. Keep receipts and records of all your relevant expenses

Once an expense is directly related to the running of your business, you can make a claim for it in your sole trader tax return. However, you must be able to prove that you have made the expense by keeping all relevant receipts and a record of them, for six years. “Allowable expenses” for the day-to-day running of your business include items such as: the purchase of goods for resale, rent, rates, repairs, lighting, heating, the running costs of vehicles or machinery used in the business, accountancy fees, interest paid on any monies borrowed to finance your business, lease payments on vehicles or machinery used in the business, equipment, motoring expenses and commuting expenses. Things like mobile phones and cars can be a tricky area as many sole traders use them for their own personal use as well. Only the usage that is directly related to the running of the business can be claimed.

4. Don’t overlook your pre-trading expenses

Because you’ve only recently launched your business, you may be eligible to claim a tax deduction for some qualifying pre-trading expenses in respect of the business in the three years before the commencement. For tax purposes, these expenses are treated as if they had been incurred at the time that the trade started. These may include business-related costs like: leasing costs, legal fees, the cost of preparing business plans and feasibility studies, accountancy fees, advertising costs and rent paid for the premises from which your business operates.

5. Broaden your understanding of allowances

While the reliefs available to you when doing your income tax return are enough to keep you busy, there are other assets for which you may be entitled to claim a tax deduction for. If you look hard enough, they can make a big difference when getting your new business off the ground. Things that can easily be overlooked include things like intellectual properties your company may have acquired such as trade names, brands, know-how copyright and even good will, assets the cost of which qualify for tax relief; research and development costs; and even tax treatment on any losses you incur.

About the Author

Selfemployed.ie have over 25 years experience helping people through their self-assessment and income tax returns. So, if you are self-employed, involved in a start-up, working on a contract basis, or earning any other second income and need any help with any aspect of filing your income tax return, you can get professional, experienced income tax service starting from just €150 (+VAT). Get in touch with the experts today to get started.

The post 5 Essential Tax Return Tips for Every Irish Start-Up appeared first on Starting a Business in Ireland | Help for Ireland's Entrepreneurs | Start Up Your Own Business.

More than 75% of businesses believe that digital marketing is either effective or very effective at attracting new customers.

If you are planning to start a new business or if you have recently launched your startup website, you need to get serious about marketing because it helps you gain customers and eventually helps generating revenue.

The following is a list of some of the best marketing tips for small businesses and startups.

1. Clearly define marketing goals and objectives

Define marketing goals and objectives. This is the first step towards a successful marketing campaign.

The goals and objectives should be clear, documented, and must be communicated to every single employee in your organization.

Vague and fluffy goals that do not make much of a sense should be avoided. For instance, an increase in sales or increase in business growth are poor marketing objectives that are hard to measure and harder to achieve.

Marketing goals should be quantified so that they can be measured easily.

The overall marketing objectives should be divided into smaller goals and monthly plans. This will make sure that your business moves towards the annual objective.

2. Know your customers

Do you know your business’s primary customers?

How well you know your customers.

The more information you get about your customers, the better it is because it will help you target the exact and most appropriate type of customers.

1. What are the interests of your customers?
2. What type of food they like?
3. Which social networks they use?
4. What is the average monthly income?
5. What is the biggest challenge they face in their lives?

These are just a few basic questions. You should find answers to these and several other questions. This will help you and your marketing team understand your business’s customers.

If this information is hard to get, conduct surveys. Conducting surveys can be expensive so be prepared to spend money on market research.

Pro tip: Run a survey on Facebook backed by a lucky draw or give away. No one will bother participating in your survey if there is no output. Monetise the survey or link it to something expensive that your target market is interested in.

3. Use social media to reach your target market

One in every three people in the world uses social network regularly. And the number is expected to increase by 2020.

This is one reason why social media marketing should be your business’s top marketing channel.

Create a Facebook page for your business, create a Twitter account, and try to be active on as many social networks as possible. Not everyone uses Facebook so sticking to a single social network is not really a good idea.

Use multiple social accounts.

Engage with your customers on social media. Read comments. See what type of posts they like. Get involved.

Statistics show that 71% of customers who have a good experience with a business on a social network are likely to recommend the business to their friends. Try to provide your followers with an exceptional social media experience. Keep response time under an hour. Respond to all messages, comments, mentions, likes, and shares.

If you do not have the resources to stay active on a social media, remove your account. Only use social networks if you can stay active there. If you can actively participate on one social network, stick to it and do not use other social networks.

4. Build a strong relationship with customers

Customer relationship goes a long way. The best business approach is one that puts the customer at the center of the business.

Building lasting relationship with customers is something that is not easy. It needs time, patience, and a customer-focused marketing strategy.

Here are a few tips to build strong relationships with your customers.

• Listen to them. Take feedback seriously. One nice way to get feedback from your customers is to send them a short survey via email once a month.
• Send emails regularly. The emails should be non-promotional and content-rich.
• Segment your subscribers and customers based on their interests, demographics, buying patterns, and other variables. This will help you send them customized content and offers. Treating subscribers individually always makes them happy.
• Initiate a customer loyalty program to reward your existing customers. Not having a customer loyalty program means you are leaving a lot of food on the table.

5. Measure marketing ROI

As much as 60% of small businesses are unable to track ROI of their social media marketing. Measuring ROI of your marketing activities is a massive marketing challenge that must be addressed.

Why?

Because marketers that calculate marketing ROI are 1.6 times more likely to receive higher marketing budgets.

As a business, you need to see results. If you spent €10K on marketing, you should know what is the return on this investment? If you have no clue and your marketing team is blank, you will most likely see a reduced marketing budget.

The starting point, therefore, is to select metrics and creating KPIs.

How will you measure performance?

This is the question that should be answered.

You can measure marketing ROI by tracking sales, conversions, leads, traffic, customer engagement, etc. There are several metrics to choose from.

To choose the most appropriate metric, go back and look at your marketing objective. If it is related to sales, choose sales as metric. If it is related to brand awareness, choose customer engagement and/or conversion rate.

Fine enough.

But the real challenge is tracking and measuring it.

Sales, conversions, revenue, and leads are some of the metrics that can be measured easily as long as you are using the right tools.

Customer engagement is, however, hard to measure.

For business startups, the best metrics are conversion rate and sales. These can be measured easily by Google Analytics.

Conclusion

These five marketing tips will give your startup a jumpstart. Time to put your new business on track right from day one.

Rebecca writes for Accountant Online; her latest post asks if you have what is needed to start a business. You can read more of her thoughts on small businesses on the blog.

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It is hard to believe that the Startup Awards are now in their 6th year – how time flies when you are having fun!

The Startup life can be a hard one so sometimes it is good to look back and take stock of the successes (as opposed to mulling over the inevitable failures). The Startup Awards like this site (Startups.ie) were born out of a passion for supporting and promoting entrepreneurship in Ireland. I launched Startups.ie 12 years ago (again hard to believe!!) when I first left the security of a well paid job to venture out into the unknown and set up my first Startup.

Ireland in 2005 was a very different place – the Celtic Tiger was roaring and there was little interest in Startups – why would you start a business when you could just buy an investment property and flip it at a hefty premium? – the country was obsessed with property at the time and it was very difficult for small business people to secure leases and if they did the rents were crazy.

I started looking online for advice on Starting a business in Ireland and was quickly confused by a wide and varied selection of resources often offering conflicting advice or pushing some specific agenda – it was out of this frustration that Startups.ie was born. The site started out as a simple blog on wordpress – I live in Meath and we had no access to broadband so most of the early blogs were written in the lobby of a local hotel – remarkably we still have no proper broadband where I live in Meath but that is another story.

Pretty quickly people started engaging with Startups.ie – offering to provide content, asking questions and looking for advice. I think that the key to our success has always been authenticity – this is and always will be a resource by entrepreneurial minded people for entrepreneurial minded people. I have always tried to keep the goal of providing useful information and inspiration as our true north. Over the years Startups.ie has provided me with countless connections, many of who are now friends and/or business partners, lots of media exposure in press, media and television and it created the platform to launch the Startup Awards.

The Startup Awards were born out of the simple realisation (from working with Startups all over the country and from my own hard earned experience) that starting a business is incredibly tough and often very lonely. In 2011 there were award ceremonies in place recognising companies that were successful and celebrating big business achievements – while these events are fantastic and play a vital role in celebrating business success I felt that the Startups that I was talking to deserved recognition too. People who take a chance in the hope of a better future deserve to be recognised as it is these people who create the jobs of the future. The odds are stacked highly against Startups and many fail and fail again but it is through this difficult process that the winners are born – this bravery needs to be recognised and supported.

The first Startup Awards took place on a wet and windy evening in the Burlington hotel in Dublin, it was a black tie affair (we scrapped this pretty quickly) – a number of Dragon’s from Dragons Den showed up to support companies that they were involved with and the overall winner was the Handmade Soap Company (who have since gone on to do fantastic things). From the moment the night kicked off I knew that we had created something pretty special, the atmosphere in the room was amazing as Startups from all over the country got a chance to network with each other, share war stories, swap business cards and most importantly let their hair down for a well earned night off.

The 2017 Startup Awards will take place in the Mansion House in Dublin on the 18th of May, we are currently in the process of judging the hundreds of amazing startups that have entered once again this year. The judging process gives me great hope in the future of Ireland as we get to see first hand the ingenuity and talent that this country produces.

The Startup Awards would not be possible without the support of our amazing sponsors – Bank Of Ireland have been the headline sponsors for the past 3 years and have been instrumental in bring the awards to where they are today – our other sponsors are Enterprise Ireland, TaxAssist Accountants, McCann Fitzgerald, The IEDR (Domain Registry), BlueFace & The Irish Independent – Thank you all for making the awards so special.

Thanks also to all the Startups who entered this year – we look forward to another super night out – You are all amazing – keep going…..

Stephen Dillon

Founder

www.Startups.ie & www.Startupawards.ie

“Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.” – Goethe

The post The Startup Awards – Our journey so far… appeared first on Starting a Business in Ireland | Help for Ireland's Entrepreneurs | Start Up Your Own Business.

From car rental businesses to hotels and restaurants, there are hundreds of thousands of travel businesses. If that doesn’t make you realise how big your market it is, Europe alone accumulated 37,000 million euros in the tour and activity sector in 2015.

The good news is that it’s become ever-easier to market to your customers online through social media. There are many ways of reaching your customers through marketing, but social media leaves an imprint on the consumers’ minds like nothing else.

Create an Experience

When using social media for your travel business, you should keep in mind that the consumer is always looking for an experience. Whether they say that directly to you or not, businesses need to keep in mind that creating a need for their customers, is what leads to creating more business and loyal customers.

The best way to grab the attention of future travellers is to post regularly about past customer’s experiences using your business to travel. If you do not have any previous customers, aim to create content that makes the consumer want to experience your business.

Pictures of beautiful scenery, events, delectable food, or additional outside experiences that your business offers are what consumers are most interested in.

Look to Friends and Family on Social Networks

Customers are more in tune with traveling than they were just a few years ago. The use of search engines, blogs, and social media has increased the want and need to travel.

Social media influences many to choose different travel destinations and agendas than they would normally pick, like a pilgrimage. According to Tnooz.com, a travel website, 52% of Facebook users said that their friends’ photos inspired them when making a choice for holiday plans.

Not only are these users inspired by social media, but they are posting about their own vacations on their own profiles. Information collected on social media users says that 76% of travellers post photos of their vacations on social networks.

This means that more people are willingly sharing their experiences with hotels, businesses, and restaurants that they come across while traveling. If you can get your customers to share their experiences freely you are moving in the right direction.

Of course, not all customers will be willing to give their recommendation for free on social media, but word-of-mouth advertising from family and friends has proven to work best and become trusted more often than any other form of marketing.

Social Media Giveaways and Customer Loyalty Programs

If you are looking to increase your reach on social networks, try the “LIKE, COMMENT, SHARE” tactic. Post a giveaway on Facebook or Twitter stating that each person who likes, comments, and shares/retweets your post will be entered to win something from your business.

Be it a stay at your hotel or a discounted tour around town, you will reach far more people through this approach than your regular day-to-day posts. This is a great way to improve your reach and increase your social media following without having to pay for it.

Social Media Paid Advertisements

Your most important friend on social media is paid advertisement. This is the best way to reach your traveling customers as 85% of travellers use their phones abroad. Paid advertisement will help you locate customers near and far that fit your customer segment. If you are unsure what you are looking for in terms of selecting a demographic (age, location, etc.) then start simple with a Facebook paid advertisement.

Facebook paid advertisements offer you many options in terms of price, location, reach, and look of the ad. However, the most important thing Facebook offers businesses is insights. Insights will give you a look into what your customer really looks like. How old are they? What time of the day are they most active on the site? What posts do better or worse than your average? These can be determined through looking at insights.

Instagram is another popular paid advertising platform. With a simple picture and short blurb about the post, you can pay a small amount of money to post your ad to the world around you. This will expand your reach, but it can give you a view into who is wanting to see of your ads so you know better next time.

Let the Social Media Elite Visit or Use Your Business

Although this is similar to paid advertisement, many travel businesses have been using the tactic of allowing popular social media individuals to visit their business or try something from their business for free.

In return, these individuals create a post tagging your travel business with a small verse below about how great your business is. Hotels do this frequently, but it is not just for them. Air travel companies, restaurants, tour guides, theme parks, and more have all used this tactic to attract more visitors.

Getting to Know Your Business Through Social Media

In today’s market, almost every business is trying to have a localised feel. Each time a traveller makes plans for traveling, they are expecting a new and unique experience that cannot be found anywhere else. The easiest way to establish your brand and the culture of your business is to post regularly on social media with the personality you want to portray. If you are laid-back all-inclusive hotel, you most likely want to portray your business as a place to come relax and be waited on hand and foot. If you are a tour guide who takes expert-level hikers to Mount Everest, you want to portray that you can be trusted and are capable of making such a difficult journey.

These can be easily portrayed through social media posts that describe you or your business. Keep in mind the tone of voice and verbiage used throughout your posts and make sure that they are consistent so you do not confuse your consumer, but intrigue them each time they come back to read about your business.

Social Media Does It All

The best thing to keep in mind when starting social media for your travel business is to be yourself and show your customers what you think is best about your business. Post items that are exciting and original, and the travellers will come in numbers to visit.

Rebecca writes for Sunway Holidays one of Ireland oldest and most popular tour companies. They offer sun holidays all over Europe and exciting adventures destinations worldwide.

The post Using Social Media – New Travel Business Example appeared first on Starting a Business in Ireland | Help for Ireland's Entrepreneurs | Start Up Your Own Business.

Name it!

One thing that often gets lost in the beginning of a business is the thoughts towards a name or a logo for the business. The most important element of the personality of your business of product comes out of the logo. This is the coal face of your business and will give your business it’s much hoped for lasting impression.

Now, I know it’s our job to help with the logo and we can do that. However, coming up with a name can be a very subjective process. A name represents the company, explains its personality, its brand, it can lend credibility or fun to the business and picking the right name is crucial. There’s notone beter than the business owner to come up with it but its not always that easy for them. I remember in the past some clients ridiculing business names out there and erring on the side of caution and sticking with a defined combination of company owner’s names or a name that spells out exactly the prduct. This can indeed work but its one thing to be serious and reliable and a totally other thing to be memorable. If there was one company I could point at its Google. It’s possibly one of the most memorable and alternative names and yet, one of the most successful global brands. By all means be safe and serious but give thought to giving your company more than your own name. And giving it a sparkling personality! Either way come to us with your thoughts and we can work together to get the right name for your business.

Colour my logo

Colour is exceptionally important and a blend of colours can explain so much about your brand personality. Consider blues and darker tones for more serious, corporate reliable businesses. Green is often considered calming and reflecting nature. Purple is an outstanding colour celebrating individuality. Red, obviously for a passionate type but in a logo, it can be representative of sustainability or alternatively danger. Yellow is often seen as a fun colour giving thoughts of summer days and bright futures. However, colours can change personality when combined and can indeed set the tone and direction for your stationery, your website and your brand. My advice would be to start with what you like. After all you will be looking at it most of the time. After that, speak with your designer and work together on whether you can get a proof of a selection of colour options or combinations so that you can pick one that work for you. When it comes down to it, you will know what you like and I always encourage the client to go with their initial gut feeling.

Fonts – which is which?

There are several types and designs of fonts. Firstly the main 2 styles would be Serif and Sans Serif. A Serif is like Times Roman and has the small chiseled edges or ticks. Generally Serif Fonts can be representative of being reliable & dependable. If you are considering a Serif Font, your business may be of a more corporate nature. Having said that, Serifs have moved forward in recent years and there are others available that have less of a traditional feel to them. Sans Serif Fonts are like Ariel that are clean at the edge and don’t have the chiseled ticks. These are seen as being fun yet clean. Some say they are easy to read. Online, though a Serif often works better for reading. Most businesses I know use both. Maybe a Serif for headings and a Sans Serif for body text in brochures, flyers or information leaflets. Again, your designer will be able to pull some recommendations together for you. If you in doubt, you can always go to https://fonts.google.com/ and search what they have to offer. They are some of the best.

Of course, we can’t ignore Scripts. Scripts can be seen as being old fashioned, traditional or if used correctly give a feeling of a funky personality and approachability. For example my own logo at www.designerg.ie where I chose cool greens and a clean, black background to reflect my own design business and personality.

What’s extremely popular right now is the hand-drawn style font. I have written about this on my blog https://www.designerg.ie/the-hand-drawn-fonts-phenomenon/. It explains how this style of font is working well in terms of fostering a hip and relevant look and feel to various elements within design.

Whatever combination you decide to go with give yourself a break and go with what you want. Get the options you need from your designer. A good designer will get a feel for the business from your briefing meeting and be able to provide you with enough options to get you going. If there is one thing I know from experience is that once the logo is designed, my clients are usually thrilled. It’s the minute the business feels real and you can start working on getting your business or service out there. Good luck with whatever you decide!

This article was kindly written by Sinead at www.DesignerG.ie

The post Logo Design – What suits my business? appeared first on Starting a Business in Ireland | Help for Ireland's Entrepreneurs | Start Up Your Own Business.

Your content and your delivery. Each one determines just how well your audience receives your new idea.

Part 1

Your Content: Pitch Decks

Online software presentation companies like Prezi, Emaze and Canva have now over 100 million users of pitch deck templates from all corners of the globe. From 2009, as Prezi set out to take on Microsoft’s PowerPoint, the world of pitching and presenting changed drastically.

By 2017, investors and audiences now expect that you have a well designed deck that clearly tells them the WHAT, WHY, WHO and HOW of your business.

Key things to remember with deck slides:

• Develop Your Story – Before you throw yourself into some colourful creatives, break down exactly what you want to say and how it should start, flow and end. 

• Define It–  Decide what’s most important to your startup that you really want investors and backers to take away with them. Make it memorable by weaving through interesting stories and facts that drive home the unique selling points of your product. You are playing to the head and the heart of your audience.

• Design– Image and Text. Balance between strong images that convey your product or service and compelling words that add value to your brand. 

               Text – Don’t use heavy text that reads like paragraphs – If your audience has to read a long worded explanation of your business, chances are they have lost interest by the second slide. This shouldn’t be work for them, you are supposed to do the work for them by explaining your business in an easy and simple manner.

               – Powerful images that convey your message – Humans are visual. We are drawn to images that help us see something more clearly. Investors are the same. Use illustrations that help them see the bigger picture with your product and lets them visualise a scenario that they can relate to. Do not, however, rely on just beautiful images that have no relevance to your brand, it will distract their attention away from your product.

Getting Started

Opening Slide – This is your hook. You have a very short amount of time to reel them in, so you need to use this to entice your audience and point your pitch in the direction you want it to go. 

Problem

A popular way to kick off is to create a problem slide, as you immediately get straight to the point of your business and show that you have created something that solves a common issue or problem. You are trying to engage your audience here to give them something that they can relate to.

Question

Another opening method is to simply put a one-line question on a slide. If your question is interesting enough, your audience will mentally answer it and you have their attention before you even speak.

Hard hitting fact or figure

Great ways to pique curiosity is to throw a ‘bold’ number or percentage out there that has great impact on the audience or investor. It can be something that is relevant to your market or industry or just a general figure that is not very well known. You are educating your audience now and giving them something new that they were not aware of before now.

Story Slides:

Now that your audience is listening, the platform is yours to tell your story and share your vision with them. Bring them in to how you created your product, how it is going to directly benefit customers and how it will change the industry you are targeting. You can also show them what you have learned along the way and how your product will keep improving with the right investment behind it.

Marketing Slides:

No great pitch deck is complete without showing how you are going to get to your customers or clients. It is often left out and yet it is an essential part of any new business plan or idea. Failing to show your route to market means that you might not have properly thought through all aspects of your business to be successful.

Money Slides: 

Always, always, always include how your business is going to make money. This is where investors decide just how credible you are and how serious you are about turning your idea into a profitable and viable business. Rarely can a new idea be sustainable without paying customers to build and grow it into a success. A graph or chart that explains how you will scale up your revenue streams over a reasonable time should always be included.

Wrapping It Up:

‘The last thing you say is the first thing they will remember’. This is your final chance to leave your audience with a positive impression of your business and something memorable to take away. The most important part of your idea should be placed here. Going back to your opening slide can be effective as it ties up the whole point of why you created your product in the first place.

This post was kindly provided by www.Vidpitch.com – if you need help with your pitch get in touch with the guys on hello@vidpitch.com

The post Deck and Deliver The two key ingredients to a successful pitch – Your Decks and Your Delivery appeared first on Starting a Business in Ireland | Help for Ireland's Entrepreneurs | Start Up Your Own Business.

One area where people are traditionally slow to make the move is with their accountant as they feel it can be very time consuming and lead to a lot of headaches. Getting the right accountant for your business is of paramount importance and if you are not satisfied with your current accountant you need to make the move!

Below we look at some of the reasons businesses give for not making the move and why they should not hold you back:

There is loads of paperwork to complete –

The switching process is actually very simple. Once you find a new accountant more suited to your needs they will send a letter to your old accountant informing them that you have decided to switch and requesting the latest financial information relating to your business. The old accountant will then give their clearance to the new accountant to take over along with the information they requested and the switch is complete. You may wish to contact your old accountant yourself out of courtesy but it is not a necessity.

I need to wait until my last set of accounts are finished –

The process of switching accountant can take place at any stage during the year. The old accountant will need payment for any work done to date but a new accountant can pick up straight from where the old accountant left off with the minimum of fuss

My old accountant will not release my books and records if I switch –

Accountants are bound by ethical guidelines and are required to release any property belonging to you should you request it. This should not be an issue but your new accountant will assist should any issues arise.

Revenue keep an eye on people who switch accountants –

Switching accountant will not trigger any suspicions amongst Revenue as it is seen as a normal part of business life whereby people will choose to switch service providers from time to time, they will not see it as an attempt to conceal anything.

A new accountant will not understand my business like my old accountant does –

A good accountant will be able to get to grips with your business in a very short period of time and it has the added benefit of having a fresh set of eyes look over your business. This can often result in new ideas being suggested which can grow your business and put more money back in your pocket.

This blog was written by www.Taxassist.ie – if you would like to find out more please email info@Taxassist.ie

The post Making the Move – What you need to know about changing your accountant appeared first on Starting a Business in Ireland | Help for Ireland's Entrepreneurs | Start Up Your Own Business.

For many it is a very attractive option which allows them more control over their career and offers opportunities that may not present themselves in the traditional employer/employee scenario.

Becoming a self-employed contractor is not without its pitfalls and below we consider the top 5 things that should be considered before making such a decision:

1. Job Security/Job Flexibility

As an employee your rights are protected by a raft of employment law swhich ensures that your employer is obliged to comply with. As a self-employed contractor you forfeit these rights and protections. It is also important to note that when work dries up contractors will be first to lose out on work as opposed to employees who are guaranteed certain protections by law. You are not entitled to any redundancy payments as a contractor.

While being self-employed, however, you are your own boss. You get to control the hours that you work, where you work and you get to be solely in control of how your career progresses. The better you perform your tasks the more likely you are to profit from managing your workload efficiently.

2. Contractor Rate/Salary

Contractors tend to get increased rates for performing the same job that employees would do. This is due to the fact that the employer does not have to account for holiday pay, sick leave, employers PRSI.

If you are on a salary as an employee you will normally be assigned a payment date each month and you are pretty much guaranteed that the money will be in your bank account on that date. As a self-employed contractor you are treated the same as any other supplier and getting paid on time can prove to be an issue which can lead to cash flow problems for the contractor.

3. Travel

The world of contracting opens up a huge number of possibilities as regards getting to see the world. Countries with skill shortages in certain professions can offer very generous rewards on short/medium term contracts which can be attractive depending on your personal circumstances.

On the flip side, if work is scarce in your particular field close to home you may be forced to travel further away from home than you would like especially if you have a young family, etc.

4. Social Welfare

As an employee your employer will deduct and pay over your PRSI contributions on your behalf. These contributions, usually under Class A, entitle you to a whole raft of benefits under the social welfare system should you require them.

As a self-employed contractor you will pay your own PRSI under Class S. While still entitled to certain benefits, this type of contribution does not provide the same level of benefits should you need them e.g. jobseekers benefit, disability benefit, etc.

5. Tax/Administration

As an employee, your tax is withheld at source by your employer and is paid across to Revenue on your behalf. Your obligations as regards filing tax returns and other administrative burdens are minimal and you don’t have the worry of additional costs for preparing annual accounts, etc.

As a self-employed contractor you are obliged to register for Income Tax at the very least and potentially VAT, payroll taxes, Relevant Contracts Tax, etc. All of these tax returns have to be prepared on a periodic basis with fines and penalties being applied should you miss a deadline or file an incorrect return. If you decide to trade through a Limited Company you will also have an annual return to make to the Companies Registration Office and will have to comply with extensive company legislation.

The Revenue Commissioners have become very active in investigating the area of contractors, as historically due to lack of knowledge and poor advice many contractors were found to not have their tax affairs in order.

The area of tax and accounting should not provide a burden for you, however, once you have an accountant on your side who knows the industry and can guide you past the many hurdles that you may face as a contractor.

By Alison McGinley

Contact www.Taxassist.ie for further information..

The post 5 Issues To Consider When Becoming A Contractor.. appeared first on Starting a Business in Ireland | Help for Ireland's Entrepreneurs | Start Up Your Own Business.

What a relevant quotation to use in business. It has never been as easy to make a living from what you are passionate about. But the thought of starting can seem a thousand miles away.

Not everyone can make a living from what they enjoy, but they can be definitely try to. It is advisable to use a stepped approach to a starting a new business. Once your bills and other financial commitments are covered each month by your day job you can now explore your passion.

Here are some ways you can explore before you commit to jumping in to a new business full time.

Start small.

Starting out you don’t have to have a 100% finished business, all you have to do is make a start. There are a number of ways to test your products/goods or service. Friends, family and work colleges are usually a business’s first customers, other popular options are Local farmers markets these are a great way to test your goods. See http://www.bordbia.ie/consumer/aboutfood/farmersmarkets/Pages/default.aspx to see where you local Farmers Market is located.

Concentrate on one thing at a time.

So you start off sell/making/providing a good or service on a part time basis, it is important to concentrate on just one thing at a time and not to get ahead of yourself. Doing too much too quick can have an over bearing effect on you. Better to do one thing well than doing ten things bad. Once you have developed one thing well you can try the next thing.

Make your product /service better than anything else out there.

Chances are if you have an idea; there is someone already in that market, one way to differentiate yourself is to have a better quality good or service. By concentrating on quality you are also establishing your target market. EG. What is the difference between a restaurant and a take away? Both have the same goal to sell food, Quality of service may be the key differential.

Be willing to learn

Develop a learning mindset, if you work as an nurse and you want to bake cakes, learn all you can about the business, if you’re a electrician and you want to become a message therapist, do the courses. Educate yourself and apply what you learn. Don’t be put in a career box. If you have a real interest in something you owe it to yourself to try.

Once you have explored how viable your business can be, you can decide whether to commit to it full time or continue on a part time basis.

Take that first step, and see how far the journey takes you, the knowledge you get from the experience and the people you will meet along the way will make it worth your while.

I hope you find some benefit from this post, please get in touch if you have any questions at  www.mbaccountants.ie

Martin

The post How to move your business from Zero to One appeared first on Starting a Business in Ireland | Help for Ireland's Entrepreneurs | Start Up Your Own Business.