Unfortunately due to my vista, it didn’t quite work out so easily, but after some reading I figured out what was happening and finally managed to get it all working.

Wow, I was impressed to start with, quick to connect and fairly quick connections too, pages opening up almost immediately. If you had been around on Sunday afternoon in my house, you would understand why I was eager to use it and test it out. My router had blown itself up and left me totally internetless, and I was suffering from withdrawal symptons several hours later, so when I got the 3 dongle working, it was like having that first drink or that first mouth of chocolate.

But I have since been left frustrated further, after my brief glimpse at how good it was, it now refuses to open pages and the bandwidth can’t even get my emails or open a simple IE window. Signal is good and connection immediately but I sit and get constant page won’t load messages, having tried at various times of the day too. So I will try it out again this weekend from various different places and see if its just a small area thats affected …. watch this space for further news!!

Commuter land has found a new craze, knocking down houses and building them again! The idea is to knock down a house built between the 20’s and 60’s when houses were built with large rooms and possessed large gardens, and then rebuild it as your dream home. Check out your local council web site and see the planning permissions for re-build, and your local property press with houses advertising, potential to extend subject to planning permission suggesting that this trend will continue for a while yet, despite the credit crunch that’s hitting lower end houses. So who is doing this then? Well the present trend for new dolls house developers as they are known would appear to be middle to upper management/directors/professionals, mainly in their 40’s, who have large equity in their existing properties.

For information on getting a mortgage/loan to do this visit this page then come chat.

Joe Girard is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the “World’s Greatest Salesman”. In his best year, he sold an astonishing 1,425 cars, an average of over 28 a week.

How did he do it?

He had a number of ways to bring in business, but one of his most effective was something called “birddogging”.

These “bird dogs” were “people who knew people” – anything from barbers and union reps to bankers, doctors and ministers - that he’d reward for sending him business.

I’ve been using the same principle to help grow my finance business.

I have a few people that send me prospects and, in return, I pay them a generous percentage of the commission I earn.

The amounts can vary greatly – it depends on the type of finance and the amounts involved – but my associates can receive anything from £80 to £1,600 per client.

Looking at those numbers, I’m sure you can understand why they’re happy to keep an eye out for people who might benefit from my services!

My ideal prospects are:

- Business owners looking to raise finance

- Business owners looking to reduce the cost of their existing financing

- Business owners wanting to buy new offices or a new factory

- Property developers

- Anyone wishing to lease anything, literally

If you’re around people like that, then you could make a very nice second income for passing people my way.

I’m not asking you to sell my services, just for you to join the dots between someone who needs advice about financing and someone who’s happy to provide that advice (me).

If you’d like to know more, give me a call on 01257 474 626 and we’ll talk about the details.

PS. Don’t worry, we will not abuse your information and give to anyone else as we hate spam too.

For example, look at this comparison of service charges:

      With factoring, you’re probably paying between 1.25 and 2.5% of your total sales ledger.

With the new alternative, you only pay 1% of your average outstanding balance.

Sound interesting? Let me tell you more.

The new alternative is called “Wageroller” and it pays your company’s wages for two months, freeing up cash you can use in your business.

Here’s why Wageroller is so good:

- No need for directors’ guarantees or personal security

- No need to submit a business plan

- Get the money fast, usually in just 7 days

- Only pay interest on your average monthly balance (if no outstanding balance, no fee)

- No hidden costs

- Only 3% above base rate (better than an overdraft and most loans)

- It can be managed online just like an online overdraft

- If your sales are seasonal, you can use it to smooth out your cashflow during the year (e.g. two of my Wageroller clients are premiership football clubs)

I think most businesses can save money if they switch from factoring to Wageroller. If you’d like to find out how much you could save, give me a call on 01257 474 626 and I’ll be happy to tell you more about it and go through your numbers with you.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Gill Millington

So, to help you get the most from your sales messages - whether it’s your ads, your sales letters, your website or your emails - I asked one of my marketing advisors to boil this complex subject down to a few basic rules than any business owner could use to increase the response rate of their promotional materials.

Here’s what he wrote:

“When someone responds to your ad or your sales letter, they’re not buying the product, they’re buying the description of the product contained in the words on the page.

Therefore, it’s not the more desirable or superior product that sells, it’s the more desirable words.

So, how do you make your sales message more appealing?

Effective sales copy - whether it’s an advert, letter or web page - tends to have certain elements and each of these elements serves a purpose and should appear in a logical order.

And one of the key mistakes I see from businesses is that they cripple their response rates by leaving out essential parts of the sales message.    

To avoid this, here are 5 things you should look to cover: 

• This is what I’ve got
• This is what it can do for you
• This is why you should get it from me
• This is why you should believe me
• This is how you can get it

It’s not cast in stone - other copywriters have different steps - but it’s a great place to start. 

If you look at your own ads or your website homepage, does it have those elements? And does it have them in this order?

- Can the reader quickly see what the offer is? 

- Does it explain why he or she should buy from you instead of your competitors?

- Is there evidence that backs up the claims you make about your product or service?

- Is it obvious to the reader what he or she should do next?

If the answer to any of these questions is “no”, you’re probably letting a lot of money slip through your hands.  

Steve Gibson”

This 5-step approach is a good reflection of Steve’s no-nonsense, down-to-earth writing style.

He recently wrote a sales letter for my business that outperformed my expectations.

However, his speciality as a copywriter is taking an ad or website and making a few simple changes that bump up response by 20% or more.

If you’ve got an ad or website that’s producing results, but you’d like it to do even better, feel free to email him at steve@stevegibsonconsulting.co.uk. If you mention my name, he’ll be happy to review it for you free of charge.

Best regards 

Gill Millington

Director

New Branch

When you go into business, one of your aims is to grow and be a success and getting the right finance in place is all part of that. The first step then is preparing a business plan that the bank will like and get all the relevant information from. Your business plan should map out the direction you intend heading in and how you are going to make it happen.

Most plans should include a summary of your business and have a cv included in it that explains your experience in that particular field. So point one then is a summary of your qualifications and experience. Point two, competition, who they are, what they are doing and how you will fit into this market and make more money than them, or how you will be different from them. Point three is the old marketing plan, and don’t worry it’s not a dirty word, there is lots of information stored on this thing called the internet, which helps you to write a corker of one. You need to list achievable targets, pie in the sky will be seen through and the lenders will stop reading it at this point, and point four, the financials.

Ok so what in particular do they want to read about money wise. Well if you are a start up it’s a good idea to make your cashflow forecast for a minimum of three years as this shows your commitment to the business and gives them confidence that you believe in yourself. You also need to show that the loan you are seeking, can be repaid and when it can be repaid by. After all, when you lend money to people, you do so on the understanding of when and how you are getting it back. The lender will also like to know about already existing outlays finance wise, ie do you have any other loans personal or otherwise, how much for and how long is left to pay on them. It’s a mistake to think you don’t have to disclose this information, hide something from them and again lenders will switch off from your plan.

You also need to show them how the money will be used and what difference it will make to your company. And don’t forget, the lenders/banks, like to see some commitment from you. After all, if you don’t believe in your business why should they? You need to show that not only do you put time and effort in to it, but also your own money. You will score big brownie points if you can do this.

Now the bit that worries some, the disclosure of personal credit history. If you have no issues with it, brilliant, enjoy, but if you have some blots on your record, tell them before they find out. Explain to them what happened and why it happened, better this way than them feeling you are hiding something from them.

So then in summary, keep it simple, don’t go overboard on the presentation, and most importantly of all, be honest and be realistic.

Finance Questions and Answers

How can I get my business off the ground with low financial input?

Answer:

Well it depends on what your business actually is. You need to set up accounts with your suppliers if that is applicable so you are given two months (at a push) grace to pay for them. If you have no suppliers then your costs are not as high. One of the best and most instant ways of funding a new start up is credit cards. Take yourself a new one out that gives you 0% interest and make sure you pay back each month more than the minimum amount.

How can I grow my business using financial input from investors without giving too much of the company away?

Answer:

The problem is not in giving bits of the company away, it’s in finding an investor who believes in you. It’s not as easy as it sounds. Don’t believe all the media hype about investing angels. They are ruthless businessmen who want to rape you. The worst a bank will do is molest you.

How can I pay as little as possible to number 11?

Answer:

Quite simple. Go read IR 20: Residents and non residents.

What’s the best chance of securing a company car on a newly formed Ltd company where both directors have seen better days in credit history terms?

Answer:

Simple answer.

Go take a vehicle out over 3 years until your credit history has fallen out of the woodwork. Companies will be happy to deal with you as long as you are honest. After one year you have repaired your history, so go transfer your vehicle to a company that is 2% cheaper. ie on a 15K vehicle you could save £25 per month

I was invited to join a new one the other day and I did and found myself promoted within hours to the ranks of the Mods! There might not be hundreds who have joined it yet, but those of us there are having a very relaxed informal but informative time, so come join in and see.

There are lots of various forums out there though and if you seek further information, whether its general or more specific good advise can be found, from seo, IT, marketing to just general business chat.

See you there then …