Whilst as a shopper we are met with an ever expanding array of choices about where and how we shop – at local stores, independent shops, high street chains, online, for example – small and independent business owners face continual challenges to keep up with the bigger companies who have seemingly unlimited marketing budgets. As a result, our high streets are ever changing – businesses coming in, businesses going out, new promise in, empty premises and out they go – and so the cycle continues. It can be tough to stand out, create interest, maintain loyalty, and stay the course.

Independent businesses on our high streets face reduced footfall if larger stores on the edge of towns and shopping malls lure customers out, and never ending price wars to stay attractive and compete with the comparison websites.

At the same time, the small business owner can face increased operating costs. The ‘the living wage’, whilst being a step in the right direction for employees, can cause an extra headache for independent business owners with tight budgets and cashflow restrictions.

Added to this, many of our high streets are sadly losing their charm and individuality, as independent shops close and another branch of yet another chain moves in.

What can be done?

Aggressive pricing strategies, spending more on marketing, drastic cost cutting are measures that might well sink the average small business, and so are not the ideal solutions.

There is a (more holistic) way!

Thanks to a worldwide shopping community network, small and medium sized businesses can attract new customers, retain existing customers and, not only that, earn passive income when their customers do business with some of their competitors. Yes, you read that last part correctly! In turn, the independent business owner can reduce marketing and operating costs, help increase sales, create another stream of income, and benefit from businesses working together and B2B (business to business) discounts. Result = Win Win = higher profits, happy customers, greater loyalty, community co-operation, and peace of mind.

What is this shopping community?

The innovative global and multi-sector shopping community, the myWorld Benefit Programme offers unique benefits of Cashback and Shopping Points currently to 15 million shoppers in 50 countries worldwide. In turn over 150,000 myWorld Partners who offer those benefits attract more customers and achieve greater customer loyalty.

Many large and well known high street names already offer customer benefits in the UK, which lends credibility to the myWorld organisation. Though it’s not just for the corporate giants.

Imagine that you are owner of a cafe, a gift shop, or a salon for example. You know you’ve got something good to offer, though need to get your message out there and keep customers coming back. How about offering a loyalty card? Not just another loyalty card! Your customer says “Yes please”, you register them to your business, register their purchase, and myWorld takes care of ensuring your customer receives their Cashback and Shopping Points.

What makes this so innovative?

After your customer has left your premises happy with the service they’ve received, they then walk further up the high street and shop at A N Other Boutique, who are also myWorld Partners. Your customer buys a new item of clothing and because they are registered with you, you (or your business) will receive your own reward from the purchase they make! Of course, the customer is also receiving their own Cashback and Shopping Points on the purchase. The same follows when your customer does their weekly shop at a supermarket, if the supermarket is a Partner, you will receive up to 1% of their spend! And when your customer books their annual holiday through another Partner, guess what? You’ll receive a reward from those purchases too!

Coming to a high street near you!

Whereas previous business models have encouraged cut throat competition, the beauty of the myWorld Partner Programme is that it supports co-operation between independent SME’s. You don’t have to be a shop or cafe owner to benefit, you can have a hairdressing salon, dental surgery, beauty salon, a garden centre, farm shop, be an accountancy firm or solicitors office, for example, to benefit.

Whatever business you have, if you have customers, want to retain them, attract new customers, earn passive income on your customers everyday shopping, then becoming a myWorld Partner might just be the solution you’re looking for. You’d be able to communicate and get to know your customers better and assess how satisfied they really are, reward your loyal customers effectively, attract new customers and compete with bigger businesses and online shops, and base your business decisions on facts.

If you’d like to know more, please get contact with me at  shoppingwithsavvy[at]gmail.com

Lesley Hallows

Do some good!

The Child and Family Foundation (CFF) supporting children, adolescents & families in need worldwide – “Education. Opportunities. Future.” and the Greenfinity Foundation (GFF) supporting measures for effective climate protection, for preserving natural habitats & reducing greenhouse gases, are two projects close to the heart of the myWorld organisation.

The post Challenges for small business owners appeared first on Wellbeing Magazine.

Hosted by MTD specialist, Victoria Pearson, the one and a half hour session, which has been organised by Perrys Chartered Accountants, will provide information and advice to businesses that will be required to follow the rules for MTD for Income Tax from April 2023, as well as small businesses that haven’t yet transferred to the Making Tax Digital system, but will need to by April 2022.

Making Tax Digital was launched by HMRC in 2015 to streamline the tax system and make it more efficient for businesses and individuals. From 6 April 2023, self-employed businesses and landlords with an annual business or property income of more than £10,000 will be required to submit their income tax information using the new system.

Victoria Pearson, partner and MTD specialist at Perrys Chartered Accountants, said:

“We are urging businesses to start preparing well in advance of the deadline so that they have plenty of time to understand the requirements and aren’t left struggling to solve issues at the last minute. Our free MTD seminar will explain to them what they need to do and how they can start making changes now.”

Business owners and company representatives can register for the seminar for free by emailing their details to bacon@perry-company.co.uk.

The post Businesses to benefit from “Making Tax Digital” webinar appeared first on Wellbeing Magazine.

This morning I am feeling sad, my heart is heavy and tears are very near the surface for me. I am tired and feel depleted, this is quite unlike me.

There are many challenges that we are going through at the moment and those running small businesses, like ours have another challenge. People who run small businesses are rarely motivated by profit. Starting up your own business usually takes a huge amount of time and commitment, many many hours of unpaid work, investment of time, energy and resources driven by the passion to create something useful and hopefully viable. We take a leap of faith and put our heart and soul into it and we also often create jobs for other people who depend on our success for their livelihood.

From new beginnings

I remember when Mark and I first set up The Link Centre. We had no money behind us, we started with a small homemade advert posted on notice boards around Lewes in Sussex. We hired a room from a local business and had 7 people on our first two-day course and slowly slowly grew from there.

As with most other small businesses we were passionate about what we did. The Link Centre is so much more than a business to us. We created it and have nurtured it, loved it, developed it, we have travelled with it, made decisions about it, struggled with it and in the odd moment have hated it. It is central to our lives and we care deeply about our business, our work, our colleagues and our students. We have an emotional attachment to it and it is part of us.

It has not always been easy, we have completed mountains of paperwork, fought battles for the good of our students, made mistakes along the way, been lied to by people we trusted, made difficult decisions and had to confront others unethical behaviour.

We have also had many many triumphs – growing numbers every year, becoming a UKATA Registered Training Centre, working collaboratively with other training centres, launching new courses, gaining accreditation for our Diploma in Counselling, seeing the moments of connections and realisation on students faces, hearing feedback from placements and supervisors about the quality of our students and, possibly the best of all, being with the students as they qualify and move on to set up thriving businesses for themselves.

And how we have grown

Over the last 17 years we have impacted thousands of peoples lives in a positive way. That was my goal. In my teens and twenties I felt like there was so much destruction in the world and I really wanted to do something that made a positive contribution. Mark and I have achieved that.

As a Counsellor and Psychotherapist, I have worked with a wide range of individual clients, couples, and groups to enhance the quality of their lives. As an Internationally Qualified Trainer and Supervisor I have trained and supervised hundreds of counsellors and psychotherapists, supporting many through training, qualification, accreditation and going on to set up successful practices and to support others in their lives.

Over the last 17 years we have built up a very successful small business with various courses, accreditations with a good reputation both locally and within the counselling and psychotherapy field. We offer short workshops for personal and professional development, part time courses to Qualify as an Accredited Counsellor, Courses to Qualify as a UKCP Psychotherapist with national and international recognition, a Diploma in Supervision course, Cert. in Working with Couples, Cert, in Working with Therapy groups and many other workshops. I am proud of The Link Centre.

To the present day challenges

There are many threats to small businesses but coronavirus was not one we saw coming. We are lucky to be in a situation where we can move some of our courses online. We are an established business with a good reputation and still we, like others, are impacted. We pay a range of staff and this is not just our livelihood but theirs too. We don’t know how long this situation will go on for, we don’t know what the full impact of this will be on our business. It is painful to see something we have worked so hard for and nourished too, be impacted in a negative way. We will survive this and we will bounce back but others won’t. For some people life will not be the same after this. Many people are much worse off than us, many businesses will fail, many people will lose their income completely.

Support

From one business owner to others out there I want you to know that we know something of what you are going through, the heartbreak of seeing years and years of hard work being destroyed by this current situation. I am sad for us all and I want you to know that I am with you. Mark and I will do what we can to support small businesses as best we can now, and in the future.

Take care and know you are not alone. 

Words: Leilani Mitchell MNCS (Acc).

The post New challenges for small businesses due to the Coronavirus crisis appeared first on Wellbeing Magazine.