Category: Small business

Car insurance, house insurance, travel insurance – even pet insurance we are all pretty familiar with. In general, insurance is fairly straightforward – you drive a car, you need insurance. You go on holiday, you need insurance. But when it comes to setting up and running your business, the type of insurance you need can be much more confusing.

Firstly, there isn’t really any mandatory insurance – unless you employ people or drive company vehicles. As most business insurance is optional, cost can be a major factor. You might think some risks are worth taking and that not buying insurance can save you money.

We spoke to Simon Drysdale, director at Hallsdale Insurance Brokers about the key types of business insurance and why they might be worth investing in:

“If you are a business owner, an independent professional or self-employed, purchasing the right insurance is an important means of managing the risks of your business and protecting it for the future.

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The term ‘hot desking’ has been around for years and we are all familiar with the idea of a temporary or shared desk. For some workers it is their normal way of life. But have you heard of greendesking?

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It seems as though not a day goes by at the moment without cyber security hitting the headlines. Companies and organisations large and small, including British Airways and the NHS, are being continuously targeted by hackers, with some success. You might think that as a small business you are safe – that you are under the radar. But you are just as much at risk and the impact of an attack could be paralysing for your business.

You may presume that having anti-virus software installed on your machines is enough – especially if you use software from well-known suppliers such as McAfee or Norton. But experts generally agree that with the increasing sophistication of hackers that is no longer enough to keep your business safe. So how can you protect yourself?

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Here at Get Ahead VA our team includes experts in a wide variety of fields, including using Google drive. From accounting to admin, Hootsuite to holiday cover, email marketing to virtual PA services, our VAs can add value to many aspects of your business. In our Expert Showcase series our team deliver some of this expertise to you, with a series of ‘How to’ guides to help you get the best bang for your buck in your business.

In this guide one of our virtual assistants Rachel talks about storing and sharing files effectively online with Google Drive.

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Here at Get Ahead VA our team includes experts in a wide variety of fields.  From Accounting to Admin, Hootsuite to Holiday cover, Email Marketing to Excel, our VAs can add value to many aspects of your business.  In our Expert Showcase series our team deliver some of this expertise to you, with a series of ‘How to’ guides to help you get the best bang for your buck in your business.

In this guide one of our virtual assistants Melanie talks about how you can organise, plan and track almost anything using an online tool called Airtable. (more…)

The media appears to be full of headlines talking about the gig economy at the moment.  The topic even featured in election campaigning last week, with political parties talking about zero-hours contracts and other employment related issues.  But what exactly is the gig economy and does it matter?

The gig economy is a way of working that is based on people having temporary jobs or doing separate pieces of work, each paid separately, rather than working for an employer. Source: Cambridge Dictionary

The gig economy is another form of freelancing or self-employment.  The gig economy phrase was coined to highlight the fact that people get paid for each ‘gig’ they complete.  This is in contrast to a standard employment contract – whether permanent or temporary, which would usually be based on a number of hours worked.  Famous examples of the gig economy include food deliveries for companies such as Deliveroo, taxi drivers for companies such as Uber, couriers and even independent contractors such as plumbers, in the recent employment case affecting Pimlico Plumbers.

Flexibility or exploitation?

On the one hand, the gig economy like other forms of freelancing and self-employment usually offers greater flexibility.  People can choose to work as and when they have time available, rather than being tied to a regular hours arrangement.  However it does mean that gig workers are not classed as employees, so they have no rights when it comes to things like holiday pay, sick pay or maternity pay.

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We all have a vision in our heads of an angel – the being that came to bring messages of good news and great joy in the nativity story – or the little girl dressed in white with her fluffy halo on her head in the school play.  But how does that work in a business context?   What is a business angel?

“An angel investor is a high net worth individual who makes use of their personal disposable finance and makes their own decision about making the investment.” UK Business Angels Association

A business angel is someone (or a group of people) who decides to invest their money in other businesses.  It is described as equity finance, as the angel would usually take shares in your company in return for the finance they are providing.  In contrast to other forms of lending, angels will usually wish to volunteer their expertise as well as their money, helping you to achieve your objectives and them to achieve a return on their investment.  One of the most famous groups of angel investors is of course the BBC Show Dragon’s Den.

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