Essential Business tips and resources are free to download and use in your business or with your business clients. Browse the list below and download or subscribe to any of the items listed. We hope you find them useful and check back often as we are constantly adding to this page. Important: These resources are for personal use only and are copyright protected. If you would like to use any of them professionally with your client groups, please get in touch on 0191 461 8022.
Needing a gentle nudge in the right direction?
When you run a business, there’s so much you have to learn and so much you have to do. However, the day-to-day pressure can sometimes get in the way of you taking the time to build your own business skills or attend to the boring but important housekeeping tasks. Our Essential Business NUDGES are designed to give you a weekly reminder that there are other things to do. The PDFs are for you to download and keep and are designed to keep you on track and moving forward. Find out more »
Don’t be giving it away
New business owners (and even experienced business owners!) can sometimes make the mistake of discounting their products and services instead of adding value to what they are offering. If you discount what you sell, do you know how many more items you need to sell, or hours you need to work, just to make the same amount of money? Use our discount calculator to find out. It may make you think twice about using the ‘D’ word. Download our Discount Calculator »
20 Essential Business Start-up Tips
Starting a business can feel like standing at the start of a maze. You’re not sure where you’re going to turn next, which direction you should be going, or if you’ll ever find your way out again! These 20 quick audio tips might help. Taken from our Essential Start-up Guide, Julie Stanford, founder and director of Essential Business, encourages you to think about various important aspects of business before you take the plunge.
Start-up costs calculator
When you’re starting a business the costs can mount up alarmingly and you need to keep very tight control of your money. This handy calculator will help you make sure that you know exactly how much things are likely to cost – and that you don’t run out of money before the sales income start to materialise.
The Excel® spreadsheet contains five sheets in which you are prompted to think about and include all your various costs. These costs are then carried forward to the final sheet, which gives you the total start-up costs figure and asks you to think about how you can fund all the costs you have included. Download our Start-up Costs Calculator »
Exactly how much do you need?
You need money to survive. You need to be paying the mortgage or rent and putting food on the table. So how much money are you looking for from your new business? Download our Personal Survival Budget to work out the minimum amount you need to be able to draw out of the business (as net salary if you are a limited company, or as drawings if you are a sole trader) just to maintain your current standard of living. You’ll also need to put aside tax and National Insurance if you are a sole trader. Your survival income is the least your business has to earn for you to carry on as before.
Not sure if business is right for you?
If you are thinking of starting a business but are not sure if it’s the right decision just now, Before You Begin could help you gather your thoughts and make the decision. This 80-page ebook, with its ten worksheets that you can complete and save, gets you to think about whether you are the right sort of person to go it alone, what you’ll be selling, who your customers will be, and so on. We even include ten example completed worksheets just in case you need that extra bit of inspiration. Find out more »
