Making friends at work is vital. It not only provides you with a support system for when things get tough, but also a group of cheerleaders for when things go your way. The importance of these confidants around us can easily be taken for granted. However, as full-time workers spend more of their waking hours at work than at home, it means that most of their time is spent with their colleagues instead of their family and friends.
These relationships, however, can also easily become damaged, and even the happiest of …

From time to time, the challenges of balancing home and a busy work life can start to have an impact on your overall health and wellbeing. This presents a problem, not just for you and your team, but for the productivity of your business.
Making sure you’re able to find the right balance between competing demands of home and work, and supporting your team to do the same, can often be tricky to achieve. Below are some suggestions to help you and your team achieve a better work-life balance and help …

It’s easy to stay with the same provider, but having the best broadband can be critical if you work from home. You might be running an online store and depend on a good connection to receive orders and communicate with your customers, or you could be a freelance designer looking for great upload and download speeds for sending design work to clients. You might be looking to move to superfast broadband, or you might have problems with broadband and be looking for a solution. Whatever your reason, it is worth …

However good you are at your job; chances are at some point or another you’ll make a mistake. It’s just human nature – after all, nobody’s perfect. But when you do slip up, you may have to deal with criticism from your employer, clients, co-workers or even your friends and family.
Everyone will face criticism at some point. The important thing is how you react to it and whether you can use it to learn and improve yourself, both at work and in your personal life.
If you react negatively, it could …

Women face more obstacles when starting a business, meaning they need more support in order to succeed, reveals new research from ESCP Europe.
Females and males experience the support provided by the ecosystem for their start-up activities very differently. Women in contrast to men tend to majorly rely more on social support, which interestingly applies to start-ups in both highly supportive as well as non-supportive environments.
Professor of Management Christian Linder and his co-author Sonja Sperber from the ISM International School of Management in Frankfurt (Germany) explain
“We found that when starting up …

By Creative Allies Director & Award-Winning Business Woman Pavan-Riyat Ward.
Pavan Riyat-Ward, Director of creative-freelance network Creative Allies, is celebrating the rise of professional mums turning to freelance careers across the UK and has compiled her top tips to setting up solo.
Do all the sensible stuff first.
Have some savings in the bank. It will take you a few months to get paid. Ensure you set your payment terms with your clients – 30 days is standard but be prepared for this to be 60/90 days on occasion – that’s why having a …

Guest post by Craig Sams, Gusto
A changing market
When I started out in the organic products business there were hardly any organic products! Now it is possible to get every food imaginable in organic format, and in ever increasing quantities. When we first had organic brown rice the world beat a path to our door. Now it’s a commodity and you can get many different kinds; short grain, long grain, basmati, red, black – all organic. So, to succeed in the organic market now you have to innovate. Launching a …

Did you know that HMRC offers lots of help with your business?
HMRC’s YouTube channel has videos for quick guidance such as ‘Expenses if you’re self-employed‘.
You may also find ‘Do I need to register my business for VAT’ useful.
Our online guide, ‘Starting your own business‘, is easy to navigate. It has sections looking at the records you need to keep, sending your tax return, paying HMRC and more. Keep it as a favourite in your browser so that you can dip in and out when you need help.
You can also catch …

The process of globalization is growing ever faster, connecting every part of the world and creating numerous opportunities for people from all over. The record volume of remittances in 2018 and the prognosis of it growing to $550 billion in 2019 proves this. However, the costs of transferring money abroad remain a huge barrier that prevents not only individuals from benefitting from global opportunities but also entire economies. Technology helps change this situation revolutionizing the money transfer industry.
Global Impact of Remittances: Why These Costs Matter
Remittances are expensive. That fact remains …

PR can be a powerful way to raise your profile, tell your story and get your message out there. Natalie Trice, PR Director at Natalie Trice Consultancy and our publicity guru, shares how you can up your game this September so you make an impact and shine.
Shoes have been polished, lunches packed and your little darlings are back at school, which means you can start to focus on your business again.
PR is something that often gets pushed to the bottom of the to do list, but because it can really …