Seven Bookkeeping Mistakes Made by Sole Traders

Seven Bookkeeping Mistakes Made by Sole Traders

Bookkeeping Mistakes Made by Sole Traders and Small Businesses   According to the smallbusiness.co.uk, six in ten small businesses fail within the first five years of opening their doors. Two key factors for this are poor financial management and lack of proper bookkeeping. The following seven bookkeeping mistakes are among the most common errors that cause small businesses to fail due to poor financial management. A few of them may surprise you   1. Combining Business and Personal Finances One of the golden rules of small business finance is to never combine business…Read more
Virtual Assistant Data Protection Procedures

Virtual Assistant Data Protection Procedures

Virtuoso-PA | Virtual Assistant Data Protection Procedures   With the imminent arrival of the GDPR data protection is in the news and on social media daily. Any personal data held by a business which could be used to identify an individual, needs to come under the data protection umbrella.  As an example; your client list & CRM will contain contact details, addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses. Everyone in business, no matter the size, holds this type of information. To comply with the Data Protection Act even before GDPR comes into effect you must…Read more
How Virtual Support helps my local clients’

How Virtual Support helps my local clients’

Local Virtual Support August is the month for family holidays, relaxing and forgetting your business. Your children are off school, the sun is shining and you are in desperate need of a holiday. It's time to forget work and let loose. Sounds great doesn't it? But, when you're a Sole Trader how does your business survive? Time off from your business doesn't work, without Virtual Support. Holidays aren't great when you're a Sole Trader While you're away sunning yourself on a beach and enjoying down-time. Your Sole Trader business is suffering at home.…Read more
St Thomas Festival, Exeter

St Thomas Festival, Exeter

St Thomas Festival, Exeter is almost here! The St Thomas Festival, Exeter is a celebration of our diverse, creative community. We hold our event annually in the west side of Exeter in St Thomas. This year our festival weekend is being held on 2nd and 3rd September. History of the St Thomas Festival, Exeter We’ve been holding the St Thomas Festival, since September 2013 and thankfully it’s been growing every year since. Our festival began initially as a way to build social cohesion. Our founders wanted to bring together the diverse residents of…Read more
Virtual Assistant offering Bookkeeping Services?

Virtual Assistant offering Bookkeeping Services?

Money Laundering Photo courtesy of TaxRebate.org.uk There are regulations you need to know if you're a Virtual Assistant offering Bookkeeping Services   If you’re a Virtual Assistant offering a bookkeeping services without a correct HMRC MLR license, do you realise that you are making your Clients’ insurance null and void? Yes that’s right. You are not only compromising yourself, with the prospect of hefty fines from HMRC. You are also putting your clients business in jeopardy. If you are not a member of a recognised professional body, you are required by law to…Read more
What does it take to be a Freelance Virtual Assistant

What does it take to be a Freelance Virtual Assistant

Being a Freelance Virtual Assistant Is Not for Everyone As wonderful as being a freelance virtual assistant is and may appear to others, it really isn't for everyone. There are those who are really cut out for freelance work and all that it entails. While others simply are not suited to the freelance lifestyle. When I tell people that I am a virtual assistant, I estimate that 75% say “Oh, I’d love to do that. How do I go about setting up my own VA business?” I’m always happy to give those who…Read more
Why and how to have a Friday routine

Why and how to have a Friday routine

Setting up a Friday routine will allow you to forget work at 5 pm on the Friday and start the following new week at 9 am on Monday, knowing what work you have to do and when. You’ll be able to really enjoy your weekend and have peaceful sleep on your days off work; not waking in the early hours by the dreaded mind midges which gnaw away at the ‘did I do’… areas of our brain. How I set up my Friday routine Fridays tend to be less busy for me –…Read more
Correct Petty Cash Procedures

Correct Petty Cash Procedures

How to use petty cash correctly When business owners have to purchase small items for their business, such as stamps or to reimburse a member of staff for small purchases or travel costs. The chances are they will use petty cash. The word petty means (minor or small). It's used world wide by most small business on a weekly basis, but, is it used correctly? I've worked for a fare few businesses over the years' where they have no clue how to use correct procedures. Even when it is a key element of…Read more
How to stay Focused to Improve Productivity

How to stay Focused to Improve Productivity

Staying focused on one thing for a certain period of time allows you to do a better quality of work, more work gets done quicker, and your creative ideas flow easier. Remaining focused on one task at a time is less stressful on your mind. Being less stressed allows you be happier. We think technology has streamlined many tasks, but instead, we are given more tools that give us more and more to do with less time to do it. Making us stressed and overwhelmed. The phrase “time management” has become taboo, since it…Read more
Setting Rates as a Freelancer

Setting Rates as a Freelancer

One thing that freelancers struggle with is setting rates for their skills or services. The fact is, that setting rates too low, means you'll struggle to survive. If you set them too high, you won't get much work. You have to learn how to set competitive rates for your clients, and cover your own living expenses and financial goals at the same time. The first step to setting rates is to determine how much money you need to earn in one year. Add up everything that you need to pay for the month,…Read more