Immigrants make better entrepreneurs than native citizens due to a combination of learnt resilience and ‘get-up-and-go’ flair, according to Adrian Furnham, professor of leadership and organisational behaviour at BI Norwegian Business School.
Furnham says immigrants face countless barriers when relocating and have to overcome each hurdle using only their own ability.
The resilience and problem-solving skills they learn are crucial when building and growing businesses.
He explains: “Over the last 20 years, 25% of American venture-backed companies have been created by immigrants. There is a wealth of research which indicates that those who …

Starting a family can sometimes spell disaster for your career, but it needn’t. Of course having little ones running around is going to make an enormous change to your lifestyle, but it doesn’t have to define you. Working parents need to learn to work smarter, not harder. Stress, fatigue and eventually burnout aren’t good for you or your family, so focus on manifesting these healthy habits, to see both your career and your home-life improve.
Get Some Sleep!
This is number one on the list for a good reason, because it tends …

By Jonathan Amponsah CTA FCCA, The Tax Guys
Numbers are the language of business so if you tend to shy away from them it’s time to face your fear and learn to love your accounts.  Here are some tips for understanding your business numbers and using them for your decision making.

Are you profitable?

You can check if your business is profitable by looking at the profit and loss account. scroll down to the bottom figure which will show a profit (positive figure) or a loss (negative figure).
Then look at the top …

The weather is improving, the Government  is pouring £1.2 billion into cycling*, yet new research has revealed that it is still only a slim few who are cycling to work, with many citing nervousness about cycling in traffic as the reason.
A survey of more than 7,600 UK adults published by Decathlon in the Decathlon Activity Index 2018, shows that only 7% of the nation is commuting to work with a bike.
Despite cities including Manchester, Cambridge and London having made drastic changes to accommodate cycling, more than 1 in 4 (26%) …

As much as they’d like to, online businesses can’t read minds. They can’t possibly know what’s going on in a customer’s head when they shop on their site. Of course, every business owner would love to understand things from a customer POV, like how easy or difficult it was to find what they came looking for, whether the site UX was a pleasing experience, whether the photos and descriptions were good enough, and perhaps why a shopping cart was abandoned occurred just before purchase.
Due to the fact that online surveys …

You have showcased an impressive C.V, navigated your way through the interview stages and celebrated receiving a job role.  However, the hard work has only just begun as you approach the task of negotiating a salary.  Discussing money can seem somewhat taboo in the UK as an air of awkwardness will inevitably ensure.  The prospect of a salary negotiation can fill interviewees with dread as the discussion can reflect that of a poker tournament rather than boardroom.  Here, the debt advisory service Scottish Trust Deed present their 5 need to …

By Inna Kaushan, co-founder of Solna
The data of over 3million SMEs up and down the country has been analysed to find out which regions are the highest and lowest risk for freelancers and small businesses when it comes to getting paid on time. 121 areas of the UK were scored and ranked based on how quickly businesses pay their invoices.
According to the Federation of Small Businesses, 58% of their members are owed up to £10,000 in late payments from their clients. 15% are owed between £10,000 and £20,000, and an …

2018 saw that 70% of UK start-ups scaled up to quickly and 29% ran out of cash within their first year.  Late payment of invoices, slow financial turnover and unforeseen outgoings can have a detrimental effect on a business. However, there are many ways in which to uncover monies within a business and locate cash previously not recognised.  Here, the team at F-Initiatives present 5 ways to obtain secret cash in your business.
R&D Tax Relief
Depending on your business’s eligibility, R&D tax relief can award you with tax credits, a reduction …

The average person in the UK checks their phone every 12 minutes, cementing the fact that smartphones are engrained within 21st century culture.  It is not just social media that is at our fingertips as work emails and office-based tools are just a click away.  In the quest to create a relaxed office environment, many are arguing that such a workplace culture paves the way to having no work boundaries at all.  Research from Glassdoor reveals that the average UK employee sacrifices 6.5 days of their holiday entitlement each year …

Businesses of any size will know full well that unscheduled employee absences are just something they’ll have to deal with, but there are ways to manage the situations effectively. Absences can lower morale, create mistakes, increase stress, and reduce productivity. There are definitely certain actions to take that don’t overstep employees’ rights, yet will decrease the inconvenience that sick days can bring.
Offer duvet days
This idea has been trending in recent years, whereby an employer will offer around 4-5 days every year for employees to take when they are either hungover, …