Lucy Andrews, Author at Get Ahead VA

We all feel energised as the days get longer and the sun comes out. And if you’ve ever thought about working for yourself, why not use this positivity to make it happen?

In this blog, we look at the benefits of working for yourself and what support there is to help you.

Why should you choose working for yourself?

There are loads of great reasons to set up on your own. We meet a lot of business owners and we’ve learned that each one has a specific reason that made them decide to run their own business.

Flexibility

Many business owners found that being tied down to a nine-to-five schedule just didn’t work for them. Some wanted to enjoy more time with their children (they grow up so quick!), while others had caring responsibilities for family members. Others wanted to have time for hobbies and interests – there’s more to life than work!

Values

Another big group of self-employed people are those who have a clear set of values that they didn’t feel the corporate world embodied. They love their sector, but they recognised independence would offer them more of a chance to share their skills in the way that felt right to them.

Challenge

Other people simply love a challenge! Working for yourself is full of challenges, but the knowledge that you are behind every one of your business’s achievements is exceptionally satisfying. If you’re stuck in a rut and not taking your best self to work every day, it could be time to do it differently.

Working for yourself – what do you need?

Budget

Start by working out your budget. Obviously, you will need to consider business costs – remember that even home-based businesses will need a website and hosting. You also need to work out personal expenses. Look at your monthly outgoings like mortgage repayments and car finance, and work out what you need to earn to cover them.

Business plan

Your business plan maps out what you offer and how you will grow. It’s an important document – you will need to show it to the bank if you apply for a business loan. And if you want to connect with investors or form a partnership, the other people involved will want to see it.

Registration for self-assessment

You need to register for self-assessment so you pay the right tax on the amount your business has earned.

Record keeping

Businesses need to record their income and outgoings, as well as customer and client information, and details of products and services. You might think you’ll remember but trust us, you won’t (sorry!). You will also need to provide financial records to HMRC so these need to be accurate and accessible.

Support for new businesses

Fortunately, there is loads of support out there. From online guides to writing business plans to plain English guides to registering your business, any new entrepreneur can find what they need to get started on the UK government website.

Fill your skills gaps with outsourcing

If you love the idea of starting your own business but you’re worried about financial records, tax and invoicing, you’re not alone. In our experience of supporting business owners, we’ve seen that finance is the number one area of difficulty. Not feeling confident about finance means maths (yikes!), getting to grips with invoicing software, praying you’re doing your tax return properly and having to admit you’re not actually Alan Sugar.

But it doesn’t have to be scary. The good news is that you can outsource almost anything you don’t know how to do yourself. Finance, tax and admin are some of Get Ahead’s most popular services, with our admin assistants, accountants and bookkeepers all on hand to provide what you need quickly and accurately.

Get Ahead also supports businesses with writing business plans, as well as creating websites and managing social media – all great ways to get your business out there.

If it’s time you started working for yourself, remember that Get Ahead are here to help. All our services are fully flexible and we don’t tie you into long contracts. Whether you need just a few hours’ support to get you started, or monthly help with invoice reconciliation, our virtual experts are ready to meet your needs. Check out our site to find out more, or follow us on social media.

Self-care isn’t selfish – 4 self-care tips for business owners

While we all know that self-care isn’t selfish, it can be very difficult to put the maxim into practice. While we know we should take care of ourselves, we don’t prioritise ourselves as often as we should, even when our lives and work start to suffer. Whether we’re busy with other responsibilities or just feel guilty about it, many of us feel we don’t have time for self-care.

Fortunately, help is at hand! For this blog, we caught up with Virtual Assistant Rachel who has some great ideas for freeing up time and being good to ourselves.

Over to Rachel…

Why is self-care for business owners important?

Rachel: When you work on your own, as many business owners do, it’s very easy to slip into bad habits of eating badly and not taking breaks, stopping you from being your best self. In turn, this can reduce your productivity and adversely impact your business. However, when we look after ourselves, we look after our businesses too. When we see how much our businesses benefit after we’ve had break, and how much better we feel for making healthy choices, we always wonder why we aren’t kinder to ourselves!

In my experience as a VA, one of the biggest ways that I’ve helped business owners is to allow them to take time out for themselves. When you manage your time well, and outsource the tasks that make you feel stressed, you’ll work more effectively. In turn, this can help you to reach your business goals and reap the rewards of your hard work.

What are your top self-care tips for business owners?

Make time

Rachel: The first one is to make more time for yourself. Only when you’ve got time to think can you evaluate how you’re using what time you have. Time is one of the few things you can never get back…but you can maximise the way you use it.

There are a number of ways to create time in your day! Recognise when you’re no longer being productive. Be honest – if you’re closing a spreadsheet to check your social media, you’re no longer working effectively. Instead of scrolling TikTok, why not use your break to do a YouTube yoga session or walk round the block?

Even if you’re a workaholic, you still need to take breaks. Outsourcing is your friend – check out the Get Ahead quiz to see what jobs are robbing you of your time and getting in the way of self-care. These are the jobs you could delegate to someone else, giving you some free time for yourself. It’s a worthwhile investment, believe me – everyone is more productive after a break.

Fit in regular self-care

Rachel: Once you know you can find more hours in your week, decide how you will use them and stick to it. Choose a time from your new, calmer diary and enrol on an adult learning course or make a regular date with a friend to exercise together. If your colleagues and family get to know your new timetable, they’re less likely to interrupt it. You might find it easier to stick to a new self-care regime if you have a class or a friend relying on you; going it alone is pure self-discipline.

Don’t stress about setbacks

Rachel: Don’t stop caring for yourself just because illness or a tight deadline got in the way of your regular timetable. If you’re having an exceptional week, there are still quick exercises you can do to restore yourself. You could take a moment of mindfulness at your desk, focusing on each of the five senses in turn to ground you in the present moment instead of worrying about the next step. Take a moment of fresh air or try a relaxing breathing exercise – find what works for you and add it to your toolkit.

See the wider benefits

Rachel: When you’re feeling more in control of your time, you’ll start to feel like you can control other areas of your life too. I’m sure you know that when we’re stressed, we often eat badly and have difficulty sleeping. We snap at our families and don’t always make the right decisions. But when we reduce that stress through better time management, we can change all of those negatives into positives. The result is a healthy, happy, productive time both at work and in our personal lives.

Virtual PA services – self-care isn’t selfish

If Rachel’s wise words have got you thinking about how you could improve your self-care, Get Ahead would love to hear from you. In addition to virtual PA services to free up your time, our experienced team can also provide support with marketing, HR, recruitment, finance and more. Follow us on LinkedIn to learn more about us or contact your local regional director to get started.

When you outsource website development, it’s a great opportunity to tap into expertise and improve customer experience (CX). In this blog, we look at three ways you can use your website and other tech to take your CX to the next level.

1. Use analytics software to track customer activity

Reporting tools like Google Analytics and social media analytics can give you fantastic insights about your customers. Used correctly, analytics software can help you identify who is visiting your website or social media pages, how old they are and where they live. The software can also show you how they found your website. Did they look on Google, for example, or did they click on a link they saw on social media? What web pages were they interested in? What element of your content marketing appealed most to your customers?

You can use this information to strengthen your customer experience strategy. If you notice that most of your customers are coming to your website via social media channels, you might decide to focus your energy on great Instagram posts rather than SEO. Or if you see that your videos get more views than your blogs, consider sharing future information in video format.

2. Embrace automation

It can be very easy to hide behind “tradition” and “we’ve always done it this way.” But automation can give us some great tools to improve CX. For example, creating an app to help your customers access your products or services might give them a smoother experience. An app allows them to use your services without having to make a phone call or visit your premises. It will probably speed up your processes, reduce staff costs and minimise the risk of human error.

Booking software has revolutionised the way customers plan nights out! You can link to platforms like Eventbrite and OpenTable so your guests can make bookings quickly and smoothly from their phones.

Whatever service you offer, consider offering automation to help your customers access it. If you’re stuck, give Get Ahead a shout! Our resourceful web development experts have a wide variety of experience and might know the perfect platform for your business.

3. Use automation alongside human interactions

While automated services and AI do bring many advantages, it’s important work how much human interaction to balance it with. There is no formula for this – it depends on your business and your customers. For example, customers might not feel the need of an in-person interaction with a utility company, but might feel more welcome in a restaurant if staff take them to the table. Think about your customers and what a good experience looks like to them. If you need help pinning this down, our business development experts can help. Check out our page on customer segmentation analysis for more information.

You can also improve customer experience by aligning automation with human interactions. For example, a common customer frustration is putting details into an automated platform or app at the beginning of a transaction and then having to repeat those details to the employee they then speak to. You can avoid this by giving your team access to the information the customers have already inputted. This will speed up the process, keep everyone informed and the interactions positive.

Outsource website development with Get Ahead

If you think your customers deserve a better experience, our experienced web developers can help. They’ll review your website, ask pertinent questions and suggest ways to adapt it and improve CX at the same time. Explore our website services pages to find out more, or contact your local regional director.

When you outsource business development, it’s a good idea to bring customer experience (CX) into the mix too. If you’re already familiar with the term then you’re on track for successful business development. But if it’s new to you, or it’s not something you’d considered before, now is the time for you to find out more about it so you can take your business to the next level.

In this blog, regional director Sarah Yandell explains customer experience and shares her knowledge of the 80/20 rule too.

What is customer experience?

Sarah: Customer experience, sometimes abbreviated to CX, is the whole experience that a customer has of your business. Customer service is part of it, but CX is broader. For example, standards like answering a phone call in five rings or sending communications promptly are good customer service. But customer experience covers things like how easy it was to find the phone number, and whether good FAQs removed the need for the call completely.

The choices you make about your CX should reflect your customer base. For example, if you hear from most of your customers via social media, prompt replies to direct messages are more important for CX than manning the office phoneline.

Why does customer experience matter?

Sarah: CX is an important part of business development. In order to grow your business, you need to ensure that every one of your customers has the best experience possible. This is because your customers are your greatest asset. They are the ones who will buy your products and services; they’re also the people who will recommend you to their wider network. If a customer has a good experience, they are more likely to buy from you again.

I’ve run a number of businesses over the years, including heading up the Suffolk and Essex office for Get Ahead. One of the most valuable ideas I’ve picked up is the 80/20 rule, which we can apply in a variety of different situations.

In the case of customer experience, we need to remember that 80% of our business comes from 20% of our customers. It’s important to look after all of our customers, but place our biggest focus on the top 20%. This is because the top 20% are the ones who will help our businesses to grow.

Who makes up the top 20% of customers?

Sarah: Who these customers are depends on your business. A good CRM (customer relationship management) system will usually show you who your best customers are and how much they spend with you. However, it’s important to remember that CRM is only an enabler. Your CRM system will show you who your best customers are but it’s up to you to use that information in the correct way. This will help you make any customer interaction as personal as it needs to be.

For example, if you offer business coaching, your CRM might show you that your top 20% are employed by big organisations. Their individual coaching sessions might grow into all-day workshops for whole teams, bringing you more work. In this example, you would tailor your customer experience to meet the needs of people in the corporate world.

Or you might run a café at a leisure centre, and note that your top 20% are parents bringing their children to after-school clubs. While a leisure centre setting suggests you’d be making money from bottled water and bananas, this is not the reality. Instead, comfy seats, good coffee and staff who like a chat will create the right experience for your best customers.

What does CX mean for business development?

Sarah: Once you’ve identified your 20%, you can use your knowledge of them to improve CX and develop your business. You might like to think about what customers expect from your website and how they like to communicate with you. Think about what their overall goals are and how you can help them achieve them. This information will help you come up with the business development strategy that most likely to work.

For example, networking is an important part of my own business development. I’ve seen that this is where I meet clients who end up using services from Get Ahead in a regular, ongoing way. I believe it’s because they get to meet me face to face – an important customer experience that helps us both build trust and establish a strong working relationship.

Outsource business development to Get Ahead

If reading Sarah’s insights have got you thinking about how you could improve customer experience and develop your business, Get Ahead can help. Our experienced business development managers will delve deep into your operation, finding out what makes it tick so they can find the best way to move it forward. They might also make suggestions for how you can strengthen your CX, boosting your business at the same time.

The first budget of the new Labour government has been much anticipated, and Wednesday’s announcement had everyone glued to the news. Families, workers, savers and borrowers were all wondering what the budget meant for them. And entrepreneurs and CEOs were wondering, “what does the budget mean for businesses?”

In this blog, we look at what additional payments and reductions businesses need to cover, and how Get Ahead can help.

What does the budget mean for businesses?

The rise in employers’ National Insurance contributions (NICs) was not unexpected, but it has still raised the costs of taking on employees.

In addition, the increase to interest rates means that business loan repayments will increase – another cost to business owners.

It’s easy to see that, with these cost increases, business owners will be looking to make any savings they can.

One way that small businesses can save is by taking advantage of the increased employment allowance, whereby they don’t have to pay NI on the first £10,500.

Another way to save is to consider outsourcing instead of employing. Whether you’re new to outsourcing or you’ve used the model for years, Get Ahead is here to help.

How Get Ahead supports businesses impacted by the 2024 budget

Get Ahead is an established outsourcing agency. We work on a regional basis: business owners approach our regional directors in search of practical, back-office support. The regional director then connects the business owner with one of our virtual experts who delivers the required work.

There are a number of reasons why our business model gives businesses better value for money than conventional employment:

No NICs, sick pay, annual leave or pension contributions

All our virtual experts are self-employed. This means that our clients only pay for our experts’ work and don’t have any other financial responsibilities towards them.

Remote working

Our virtual experts work from home, meaning you don’t have to provide office facilities or tech hardware. This could save you renting office space, freeing up more of your profits to grow your business.

Only pay for hours worked

When you employ someone, you continue to pay them even when they’re on a tea break, watering the plants or signing team birthday cards. But with our outsourcing model, you only pay for the work they do for your business. We are also completely flexible – there’s no need to commit to paying for the same number of hours every month.

Your virtual team

Get Ahead’s virtual experts can work seamlessly with your other employees, or even form your entire team. Use outsourced work to plug skills gaps or provide support for project work. Alternatively, let us hand pick a group of people with the specific skills you need to take your business forward in a cost-effective way.

We believe you’ll see considerable savings when you outsource, enabling you to meet the new increased payments while still growing your business.

Find out more about the financial advantages of outsourcing here.

HR outsourcing and accounts outsourcing solutions for UK businesses

Unlike typical virtual assistant agencies, we offer a wide range of back-office services, including finance and HR outsourcing. Our finance experts can review your systems and might find other savings, like unused subscriptions and unpaid invoices. This could mean freeing up funds to cover the increased business costs, without having to let any of your current team go.

Our HR experts can help you stay compliant with the new rules, ensuring that you’re making the correct contributions and doing right by your employees. And if you find yourself in the unfortunate position of having to reduce the number of people you employ, our HR experts can help you manage the situation so it’s legal, fair and handled appropriately.

Get in touch to find out more

If our blog has got you thinking about ways to save money after the 2024 budget, we’d love to hear from you. We offer a range of outsourced back-office support, including administration, bookkeeping, marketing, social media, finance, HR and more. Visit our service pages here, or get in touch with your local regional director for a friendly, no-obligation chat.

How to keep your business running when you go on holiday

How to keep your business running when you go on holiday might feel like an impossible question. Your business is your baby, and no one but you knows how hard you’ve worked to get where you are today. But it’s also important to take a break. Even if you don’t plan on going abroad, it’s a good idea to have Plan B ready to go – you never know when you’re going to fall ill or face a family emergency.

In this blog, we talk to regional director Hazel about how to find the right team so that your business can survive without you.

Why should my business be able to survive without me?

Hazel: It’s important that you see your business surviving without you as a positive idea. If you can take time away without your business going under, it means you’re doing everything right! When your business survives without you, it doesn’t mean that what you bring to the business doesn’t matter. Instead, it means that you’re a good leader and a good manager who has prioritised putting the right team in place to improve business resilience.

Your business should be able to survive without you so you can take a break. We all need to take breaks,whether it’s five minutes to look out of the window or a fortnight in the Mediterranean. Breaks make us more productive when we return to work. They also help us retain our sense of proportion and give us a chance to explore what else we have to offer. These are both important protections against burnout.

I can’t bring myself to trust my staff – what should I do?

Hazel: If you have a team but you don’t feel confident leaving your business with them, it might be time to rethink the way you manage them and consider alternatives. My own background is in HR, and I’m a firm believer in clear job descriptions and company policies so that every member of staff knows what’s expected of them. Similarly, strong performance management means that you can help your staff develop into people you’d be proud to leave your business with.

If possible, start as you mean to go on, using strategic recruitment planning to ensure that you recruit people with the right skills and personalities. This will mean that the people you recruit will also be the people you trust. Savvy business owners align their recruitment processes with their business plan and appoint the right people to deliver their goals. However, it’s important to remember that skills can be learned but personalities don’t change – pick a team whom you can trust and who trust you too.

Remember that trust is two-way. Try to develop a culture of trust by modelling reliability for your team and avoiding micromanagement.

And if trust is a serious issue for you, coaching might help. We have business coaches both on the Get Ahead team and in our wider network – please let us know if you’d like an introduction.

I work alone – who will take up the slack if I’m away?

Hazel: There’s no need for your business to grind to a halt just because you’re on holiday. I always suggest outsourcing or white labelling. An outsourcing agency like Get Ahead will be able to cover your back-office work, and maybe even some of your core business. (Have a look at all our services here to see what we offer)

Alternatively, you could use your network to find someone in your sector who could provide a similar service to your clients while you’re away. With any luck, they’ll return the favour when it’s their turn for a holiday!

Even if you are the only one who can do the actual work, there’s no reason why you can’t outsource email management, phone answering or social media management so you don’t come home to countless messages.

Get Ahead helps to keep your business running when you go on holiday

If you think you could benefit from back-office support, outsourced HR services or white label services, we’d love to hear from you. Our regional directors will take the time to learn about you and your business so they can match you with the best business experts for your needs. We always take personalities into account as well as skills, making the best match we can. Explore our site to find out more, or contact your local regional director here.

Social media for small businesses can be a challenge. Along with selling your products and services, keeping up with the invoicing, answering calls and emails and staying on top of your files, you’re also trying to find time to market your business on social media. It’s a big ask.

Fortunately, there are several options available to help you post regularly on social media and still keep on top of your core business. In this blog, we’ll take a look at AI and how to use ChatGPT to generate content for your social channels.

How to use AI to generate social media content

ChatGPT is an artificially intelligent platform that uses existing internet posts to answer questions and create content. This means it can give you ideas for social media posts and even write them for you.

ChatGPT is free and you can use it by visiting the ChatGPT website and creating a login. Once in, it gives you the option to “message ChatGPT.” This is where you type in your request for information, whether you just want ideas or a whole social media post. So you might start by typing, “suggestions for social media posts for an outsourcing agency.”

Then see what you get! And if you see an idea that appeals to you, ask ChatGPT to write you a full social media post about it.

Some social media scheduling tools (e.g. Hootsuite) have artificially intelligent content generators too, aligned to calendars of awareness days. Simply click on the prompt and allow it to write your content!

Whether you used ChatGPT or the AI in a scheduling platform, you should now have a useable social media post. But before you copy and paste it into your social media platform, read it thoroughly and make sure it really is what you want to share with your followers. If it isn’t, you don’t have to ditch it completely – just make a few changes instead.

How to edit ChatGPT and AI generated content

Before you post, check the AI generated content. Ask yourself…

Is it really saying anything?

A danger with ChatGPT is that it sometimes generates posts that are all style and no substance. Check whether the content it has created for you is actually useful to your followers. If not, be prepared to add to the post yourself.

Does it make the right point?

ChatGPT takes its information from existing internet posts. This means that if you have a different point of view, or a new angle to share, ChatGPT won’t be able to incorporate it. Remember to check that ChatGPT has taken the same line you would. If you believe rising prices in your industry are a good thing and your followers need to know about them, make sure that’s the point that ChatGPT has made for you. And if isn’t, change it.

Does it have the right tone?

Check the post for tone too. ChatGPT reads like…ChatGPT. It’s bland, it’s not quite human and all its emotion (the bit that makes the post engaging) is second-hand. Fortunately, you have the power to remove the cliches, tell your followers how you actually feel and maybe swap some of the wording about. Trust your judgement. If you think the post sounds cheesy, it sounds cheesy. Tweak it until it reads smoothly and sounds like you. After all, you’re the person your followers want to engage with!

A good thing about AI is that it won’t be offended if you change what it has written! Remember that it’s a good servant but a bad master – ultimately, you are the one who has control over your social media channels.

Outsourced social media for small businesses

Whatever your experience of social media and/or AI, Get Ahead are here to help. Our experienced social media managers can provide as much or as little support as you need. From helping you with ChatGPT basics to setting up your social media platforms, writing content to in-depth analytics, our team can support you to grow your business through social media.

Here are some of our top resources about social media – check them out!

Social media for small businesses – long-term solutions – Get Ahead VA

Ten realistic social media ideas for small businesses – Get Ahead VA

How do I create a social media strategy and why does it matter? – Get Ahead VA

Social media is a great free marketing tool for small businesses. It’s quicker and easier to update than your website, and a brilliant way to interact with your clients and customers.

But social media evolves all the time. What was working for you when you first started might not be as effective now. Maybe a new platform has come along and it’s time for you to get involved. Or maybe you need a new process to help you post consistently without your core business losing out.

As it’s springtime, we asked our social media manager Natasha to share her top tips for spring cleaning your social media! Read on to find out more.

1. Spring clean your social media accounts

Most businesses use more than one social media platform. However, platforms come and go – for example, Twitter (now X) used to be a busy business hub but now since the platform’s re-branding it’s largely used for political commentary. Businesses change too – maybe Facebook worked well for you when you first started, but now you’re gaining more interaction on LinkedIn. The important thing is to evaluate which platform your own clients and customers use, and make sure that’s the platform where you post most often.

If you have accounts that are getting considerably less traction than others, let them go altogether and enjoy the time and money you save!

2. Spring clean your bios

When did you last update your social media bios? Take a moment to reread them and consider whether they still reflect you and your business. If your business has grown or changed direction, make sure your bio reflects that.

3. Spring clean your social media tools

Take some time (or ask someone like me!) to research social media tools that could be making your life easier. From new scheduling apps to advanced analytics tools, you might find some new tech to help you get more out of social media.

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the number of options available, but don’t worry – Get Ahead can help. As one of their social media managers, I am often asked to help a business owner choose what tools to invest in. I talk to them about whether they want their posts scheduled in advance or a better understanding of the data, or something else. Then I share my experience to help them make the best choice. Contact Get Ahead to find out more about how we can help.

4. Spring clean your social media management

Many business owners post on social media in an unplanned way, as and when something social-media-worthy crops up. While this can be delightfully fresh and spontaneous, it can also lead to inconsistent sharing and long gaps between posts.

Take some time to think about your social media management and work out what you need to make it better. Consider setting up a folder where your team can add photos and stories – this will mean you always have content to draw upon, as well as showcasing different colleagues and different points of view. Making social media a regular agenda item at your team meeting might be another way to gather content ideas and share success.

5. Spring clean your work diary

If you’re struggling to post regularly, consider blocking off time in your work diary to create and schedule social media posts.

It’s also a good idea to weigh up whether posting on social media is the best use of your own time. Would you have more time, more headspace and more effective social media if you got someone like me to do it instead? If you think it would, talk to Get Ahead today – the solution you’re looking for might be more cost-effective than you think.

Outsource social media

We hope Natasha’s ideas will help you structure your social media and get more from Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok and other channels. And if you think you could benefit from support from Natasha or one of our other social media managers, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us to find out more.

PS – if you’re looking for inspiration for different social media posts, check out our top ten ideas here!

How do you say thank you to staff at Christmas? And with all the restaurants taking Christmas bookings since the summer, what do you do if you’ve left it too late to fix a party?

If you’re stuck for ways to show your team some appreciation this Christmas, or you need some last-minute ideas, help is at hand. We caught up with business development manager Melanie who shared her top ideas for team bonding, seeing your staff as real people and generally having fun at Christmastime.

Why does employee appreciation matter?

Melanie: Showing your employees that you care goes a very long way. It’s a great way to build staff loyalty which can increase productivity and staff retention. What you do doesn’t have to be expensive as long as your team can see that you’re sincere.

In my work as a business development manager, I’ve seen how breaking down barriers and meeting staff on a non-work level can really help a business. When there’s a staff party – even something as simple as playing board games together – job titles disappear and you’re all just people together. This is how to really start getting to know your team, understanding what pressures they’re under outside of work, and learning what’s really important to them too.

Once you’re on the road to getting to know your staff on a more personal level, you’ll probably find management easier. Flexing round someone who is balancing paid work with being a carer, for example, is much more likely to bring out their best side. You can keep all their drive and talent within your own organisation, while supporting them in their personal life too.

How do you say thank you to staff at Christmas?

Melanie: There are lots of ways to thank your staff!

Say thank you.

It’s simple and it works. Write it in a card or say it out loud, but make a point of it – it goes a long way.

Plan a celebration

Even if you’ve left it too late to book a party, escape room or cocktail class, you can still get together with your staff. If you have a business premises, hold your party there. Prosecco and crisps go a long way, and there’s nothing to stop you laying on more of a spread if your budget will allow. Remember to provide something festive and alcohol-free for any colleagues who aren’t drinking.

You know your team. If you think a structured activity could help break the ice, a quiz or a games night is cheap and easy to organise. And if you’re an outdoorsy lot, go on a walk together – you could even “give something back” and do a litter pick at the same time.

Volunteer together

Christmas is a busy time for loads of charities – why not check out corporate volunteering opportunities near you? Volunteering is a great way to bond as a team and have a laugh, helping your community at the same time.

Support a new cause

Show your support for the causes or events that your employees take part in at Christmas. This can be a great way to show you value what your employees do outside of work, as well as supporting a new charity or organisation. For example, one of our team sings with the Lloyds Choir and we’re all going along to their Christmas carol concert – really looking forward to it!

Say thank you to your staff at Christmas

Whatever you plan for your staff at Christmas, think about who they are and what they’d enjoy. Personalising your thanks makes it much more meaningful. In turn, this can make it go further and help you bring out the best in your employees.

We’ve put together loads of Christmas resources to help business owners during this busy time! If you found this blog useful, check out these ones too:

Take a break from work over Christmas

Connect with your business family

Top tips for using social media over Christmas

Christmas cheats for business owners

It’s nearly time to get your business ready for Christmas. From essential health and safety to sharing the festive spirit, there’s always a lot to do. So here’s a little pre-Christmas present from Get Ahead – our Christmas checklist for business owners.

Health and safety

If you have a business premises like a shop, factory or office, it’s important that it remains safe and secure when you’re closed. Christmas falls on a Monday in 2023, so you might be closed for four days or more.

Remember to turn off the regular lights and turn on the security lights. Set the heating so it kicks in if temperatures drop – you don’t want to come back to frozen or leaking pipes.

Depending on your business and what you offer, you or a team member might be “on call” over the Christmas break. Make sure the right people know who this is. If necessary, include the on-call person’s phone number on your emergency plan, answerphone message or email auto-reply.

Outsource your office cover

Get Ahead has a range of office services to keep your business ticking along when you’re closed. We provide inbox monitoring so the important messages don’t get lost in the sea of junk mail. And our phone answering service means there’s always a professional response to any inquiries that come in over Christmas.

Holiday and Christmas cover from Get Ahead can be set up in as little as one day – please get in touch if you’d benefit from our support!

Add a Christmas message to your website

If you’re closing over Christmas, it’s a good idea to let your community know via a message on your website. This should help you take the break you deserve over Christmas, as well as being good customer service.

Write a Christmas message to your clients and customers

Your business would be nothing without your customers and clients. Take some time this December to thank your business community for their support over the past year, and wish them a very merry Christmas!

Set your email auto-response

If you’re lucky enough to not have to check emails over the Christmas break, remember to set up an auto-reply to let your clients, customers and business family know. Get Ahead are great advocates of taking time off, so if you’re able to take a Christmas break, make it a complete switch-off.

Word your out-of-office carefully. Don’t promise to reply if you don’t intend to. We’ve noticed that the number of Get Ahead clients taking a complete break over Christmas has increased every year. So please don’t feel guilty for taking time off – lots of others are too!

If you do need to leave an emergency phone number (see above), be clear that it’s for emergencies only.

Check the fridge before you lock up the office.

If you’re closing for ten days over Christmas and New Year, please, please take the milk home when you lock up. Throw out anything that’s not going to survive the Christmas shut down and enjoy (literally) a fresh start to the New Year!

Get your business ready for Christmas with support from Get Ahead

If you have outstanding work you need to finish before Christmas, Get Ahead are here to help. We can cover your back-office responsibilities so you can get on with your core business, tying up loose ends before you take a complete break. Explore our site to find out more, or contact your local regional director today.