Working at home is something that a lot of us do these days. The culture that used to be in our offices has changed in the last decade and many companies want their employees to be able to work from home in a flexible environment. Working from home is also particularly useful for Mums who often really need that flexibility.

As well as this, you might have decided to break away from your corporate life all together and as a result you may now work for yourself from the comfort of your sofa. 

Working at home can be the most amazing thing in the world, but it can also be a huge challenge. You might not have access to the resources you used to such as a specialist IR35 accountant or a suite of IT technicians, and you will largely need to fend for yourself. To keep yourself on track as well as success working from home we have some helpful tips for you today… 

 

1. Get started early

The best thing to do when working from home is the start the day as early as you can. Remember the time you used to spend on the commute for the morning and take this time instead to make a cup of coffee, some toast, and sit down to start the day. The earlier you get going the better it will be. 

 

2. Get ready for the day 

If you struggle to be motivated to work in your pjs, don’t wear them! Get ready for the day in a nice dress and your favourite hairstyle. You don’t need to put makeup on but make yourself feel as if you are heading to the office and it will change the way you think about the day. 

 

3. Structure your day 

It is so easy to be distracted at home. You might notice a dirty dish here, some dust there, and next thing you know you have spent most of the morning doing nothing. Write yourself a to do list and stick to it. Check emails once in the morning and once in the afternoon, and set tasks for yourself. 

 

4. Choose a dedicated work space

Although now and again working in bed is amazing, it can also make you feel way too relaxed. Be sure to choose a workspace you can work in effectively and this will allow you to get into the zone. 

 

5. Don’t stay at home

If you find being at home too hard, go somewhere else! Head to the library, a local cafe, or even to the park and work there instead. 

 

6. Avoid social media 

Social media is like a procrastination machine. Don’t open social media at all when you are working at home, even at lunch time, because it is too easy to get carried away! 

 

7. Commit to more

Commit to do more work than you would in the office. Being at home allows you to save the morning commute and this extra time is time for you to get more done. 

 

8. Work on your own time 

If you know that you work best first thing in the morning and last thing at night, make these your hours. Don’t try to force regular office hours because often these won’t work for you. 

 

Running a modern brand is something that comes with no small amount of hard work and stress. One of the biggest considerations you are going to need to make as a business owner these days is to look at what you can do to make your company more competitive. There is a lot of competition out there, no matter what industry you choose to work in, and you need to make sure you stand out. 

Understanding what it takes to stand out in a crowded market is the key to becoming more of a success in the modern business world. There are a lot of things you can do to make sure you achieve this, and it is so important to ensure that you are working on making the company more competitive. These are 4 top tips that you are going to need to use to help you with this. 

Assess Your Pricing Strategy

Pricing plays a big role in determining how competitive your business is able to be. This is something you need to think about moving forward because there are a lot of things that play a role in helping you come up with the perfect pricing strategy. You need to look at what the market is like for the products or services you provide, and this means looking at what you can do to improve this. Come up with a strong pricing strategy and you will help to make your business more competitive. 

 

Use Business Consultants

It is also important to make sure you understand what it takes to make your business operate better if you want to be more competitive. Invariably, there are going to be things that you yourself will overlook, and this is something you need to make sure you get right as much as possible. Use business consultants who can help you with things such as organisational development to help improve your business and help your company stand out as much as possible. 

 

Know Thy Enemy!

Another way of helping you to become more competitive is to know and understand your enemy, in this case, your competition! You have to look at the way your rivals are doing business, as well as what they do well, and what they do badly. Use this information to help you stand out and become more of a success. By doing things better than your rivals, you help to enhance the competitive nature of the brand.

 

Talent Acquisition for Competitive Edge

To elevate your business in today’s competitive landscape, one of the top tips is to focus on strategic talent acquisition, particularly in Executive Recruitment. This approach involves more than just filling positions; it’s about identifying and attracting leaders who can bring fresh perspectives, innovative strategies, and proven expertise to your business. By investing in executive recruitment, you’re not only strengthening your team but also equipping your business with the leadership necessary to navigate market challenges, seize growth opportunities, and outpace competitors.

 

Give Customers a Reason to Use Your Business

If you want to improve your small business and work on being more competitive, then one of the best ways of doing this is to give customers a reason to use your business. There are so many benefits to doing this, and you have got to make sure you get this right moving forward. Attract more people to your brand, and you help to improve how competitive you are. 

Making the company more competitive is one of the best things you can do because this is what brings you repeat business, and increases your chances of success. You have to make sure you think carefully about what it takes to be more competitive in the business world and focus on this to help the company grow. 

With so many people quitting the traditional nine to five to work for themselves, has there ever been a better time to go for it yourself? Working for yourself means that you can choose your own hours, work flexibly around childcare and any other commitments and you can juggle your priorities on a day to day basis to best suit both your work and family life. It is easy to see the appeal, and with more and more people running their own business, there is also lots of support and advice available along with a thriving small business network to connect with. If you are considering taking the leap yourself, but are just not sure quite where to start, then here are our 8 steps to starting your own business. 

 

Formulate your idea

The very first thing that you are going to need to do is formulate your idea. 

Whilst you might have thought up something completely original, or spotted a gap in the market, it need not be as challenging as this. There are plenty of businesses that you can run that do not need you to be completely original in your idea. For example, you could freelance in the field that you are currently in, you could retrain for another profession or you could set up an online business. You might want to take a look at Working Mothers: The Jobs You Can Do From Home for further inspiration around this. 

When you are trying to decide on what to do, think about what you love doing, where your skills and experience lie, what is practical for you to do and bear in mind the startup costs. 

 

Develop your concept

Once you have settled on your business idea, you need to work on developing the concept.

Here you will need to start working on the specifics of the product or service that you plan to offer and fully think through the logistics of how you will run your business. 

You need to think up a name for your new enterprise and at this point we would recommend that you check to see whether that name is available as a web domain. If it isn’t then now is the time to think again as a little further down the line you will want to get a website set up.

You can then start to work on your business branding, which should really help you to focus your ideas. The branding should include the logos, signs and design, along with your business’ values and mission statement. Your branding is the image and voice of your business so this is a key stage to concentrate on. 

 

Present your idea to friends and family

You should now have a well-developed concept that you can present to friends and family. This is an opportunity to gain some initial feedback and thoughts. 

You know those people in your life whose opinions you value and trust, and those are the people that you should be seeking guidance from at this point. They will help to shape your idea and they should be able to offer up some constructive criticism. This is a chance to pitch your business to people that know and love you, helping you to refine it and build your own confidence in talking about it. The next pitch is going to be to potential customers and, if needed, your bank for finance, so this is a great opportunity to practice whilst getting feedback. 

This is also a worthwhile endeavour as a way to give a heads up to friends and family that this is the route that you are going down. They will be able to appreciate why you then might go off their radar for a while as you get everything started up and some of them might be able to pitch in and help you to get up and running. 

 

Carry out market research

Before you go any further, it is a good idea to carry out market research. You need to ensure that there is room in the market for your new business and to sense check your product, services, prices and business branding. 

There are several ways that you can go about this, and remember that you have already started to do this by talking to friends and family about it. 

You could take to social media and ask for input there, either directly or by way of a survey. You could use forums to gain some feedback. You could hold customer focus groups, targeting those people that you feel are your potential customers. You could ask if you could ask a few questions at any groups that you already attend, such as your fitness class, playgroup or craft group. 

The idea here is to get some initial impressions from people on what you are looking to do and you can then factor any feedback into shaping your business. 

 

Arrange your funding and equipment

Now is the time to start making things happen. You are clear on how you want your business to look and have the endorsement of potential customers, so your next step is to arrange any funding that you need and get equipment and stock in place .

It is worth completing a full business plan, whether you need to get funding or not, as this will help you to think through the figures that you need to aim for and work out how you will achieve them. 

 

Get your administration organised

This can often be a stumbling block as it can appear to be quite a daunting task. Do not let this stop you as there is plenty of support available out there, from free business advice at your bank to accounting software to take the hassle out of the bookkeeping. 

You will need to ensure that you are registered self employed for taxation and regulation purposes, and this is very easy to do if you follow the guidelines provided. 

 

Create your work environment

You are now registered as self employed so you are in business. One of the first things that you are going to need to do is create your new work environment.

For many of us, this is often in our home at this early stage. If this is the case, do try to make a designated work area, separate from your home and family life. Ideally you will have a room or outbuilding, but if this cannot be done, a corner or a desk can often work as well. 

It helps to do this because you will feel more professional than if you are just working from your sofa, and if you have a desk or storage area you can leave things there ready to pick up the following day. You can put everything that you need there, which should help you to be more productive each day. 

If you are going to need separate premises, you need to strike a balance between the perfect location and the perfect rental costs. 

 

Attract those customers

Marketing a brand new business effectively is absolutely key. You might have the best name, idea, product and office, but if nobody knows about you it is all irrelevant. This is the time to start making a name for yourself and building a reputation. 

Get a website up and running straight away and start using a social media channel or two, as they are free to use and often effective at helping you to spread the word.

You could then offer incentives for those early customers to encourage them to help you to spread the word. Word of mouth is a brilliant form of recommendation and should help you to build the foundations of your reputation. 

Running a business from home is one thing, but when you’re running it as a mother, it’s ten times harder. Children are unpredictable, so you can have all the best intentions in the world to stick to your deadlines, but the kids won’t listen. They demand of you all the time, and it’s up to you to ensure that you balance both the business and the family. While you can balance your family and ensure that they are well-fed and looked after, you need to ensure that your business has the same attention.

Several things will contribute as to whether you retire happily, or you close your business early. The key is to work out what will boost your success in running a home business. Let’s take a look.

1. A Clean Office. While it’s not always easy to keep the kids out, you need a clean office where everything is in its place. This will keep you focused, and the better your focus, the better you can work! Bring in a cleaner if necessary – it can make all the difference to your business!
2. Help With Your Finances. You are already balancing a lot, so you need to bring in outside help when it comes to your business finances. Sometimes the very best software accountants, MNE Accounting are the better option than trying to do it yourself. Funds are the one thing that you don’t want to get wrong with your business, so don’t let them become unbalanced.
3. Adult Conversation. You need to be able to interact with others, even when you run a business from home. So, make it profitable by interacting on social media. You can create a conversation with your customers and those interested in what you are offering, and you can do it from the comfort of the chair in your home office. It would help if you had social interaction to feel relevant, too, so spend time on your content.
4. Excellent Communication. As a home-based business, you need to be able to keep in direct communication with your clients. You also need to be able to answer your calls at any time that they need you – especially when you are just starting out. Be available to those who are going to be paying you, and you’ll never have to worry about whether you are taken seriously!
5. A Great Marketing Strategy. Even as a business at home, you need to pay for an excellent marketing strategy. Without one, you’re not going to get to the people who really need to see what you are offering. Don’t be afraid to spend more of your budget here; it’s going to bring you profit in the long-run. You cannot make money if people don’t know who you are.

 These are not the only things that you can do for your at-home business, but you’ve got to start somewhere. Being successful means different things to different people, so work out what it means to you and carve out the path to success.

This is a collaborative post.

There are so many of you working Mums out there stiving to run your own business and wanting it to succeed in every way, so you have something to pass down to your children. This means that you are always on the lookout for ways to improve the workplace and make it more efficient. This is not only, so the company will work better, but it is so that you can rest assured when you have that precious time off to spend with your little ones. 

Here are some ideas on how you improve your business: 

 

Improve productivity

Engage your staff more, and work together to streamline processes to improve productivity. In a small business, you are like a family and communication can go a long way. Be a leader they can respect. Ask them for ways to enhance the business. Ensure they are enveloped into the heart of the business. A little can go a long way.

 

Marketing

Do you have a marketing strategy? With a small business getting online, a website, and social media outlets are the best way to advertise. You need to be able to create great content with glossy images which really show off the produces. Find out about your customers by viewing their profiles. Ensure you upload every day two to three pieces a day at crucial times, usually, wake up time, lunchtime, home time. A good marketing strategy will help generate leads and draw attention to your business.

 

Learn from your mistakes

It is natural for a person in business to make mistakes, so you need to use them as a learning curve. Every single time something goes wrong, improve the process. Turn the negative into a positive. If a customer has complained, keep their details and ensure they know the complaintcomplaint is being dealt with. Tell them what you have done to improve the business on the back of the feedback they offered. This will actually mean the customer has a better view of you and the company, Think positive, every complaint is a chance to shine.

 

Work from home

To save time, it may be an idea to work from home more often. With modern technology, you call to communicate with your staff like you are there, and with this technology www.xibis.com you will be able to see what’s going on for safety too. Cutting out that commute time every so often can allow you a few extra hours to work on that important document, and can reduce distractions while the kids are at school.

 

Do not overload the business

The temptation is when growing your business to agree to everything. However, this is not a great business model as it means you may overload yourself and your employees and do mediocre work which will damage your business in the long run. Quality over quantity will be how you grow the business. You do not want a bad name in the local community. Give realistic timescales as honestly is the best policy and does not set up expectations.

Up Skill

Learning new skills can help you take your business to the next level. There are a huge number of both paid for and free courses you could consider. Just make sure they are relevant to your business.

How To Get Started As A Mumpreneur

Being a mother can often feel like a juggling act; particularly if you have children of different ages.  From co-ordinating football practice and ballet lessons to getting baby packed for an hour outside of the home, motherhood can leave little time for anything else – particularly a job!  More and more mums are choosing the freedom and flexible hours of running their own business and we’re here to share our tips on how to get started.

 

You be you

The first step in starting a business is to figure out what kind of business would suit you.  Think about all of the things that you do during the day and make a list of those that you enjoy the most.  It could be that you’re a whizz at organising or a dab hand with a spreadsheet, in which case, list these as your skills.

 

The invention

We just talked about the parts of your day that you love – what about the ones that you don’t?  Maybe you get frustrated with a certain thing, such as an overly fiddly baby bottle.  If you have a problem with this, there’s a good chance that others do too.  By identifying a pain point, you may just be in a position to come up with a new idea to put out into the market.

 

Two’s company

If you’re looking to market a new product, we know that this can take a lot of time and money.  Try getting in touch with a brand within that industry to see if they would be interested in partnering up with you.  Leading banner company, Ultimate Banners – creators of the pull up banner dimensions guide, recommends partnering with a local brand where possible to make communication easier.

 

Meet your new team

Take advantage of the freelance market – when starting out in business, there are rarely enough hours in the day.  Sites such as People Per Hour and Fiver are a really good way of getting a little help at a relatively low cost.

 

Put yourself up for hire

Try freelancing for yourself – if you’re not quite ready to launch into a full scale business, freelancing can be a really good way of easing yourself into it.  Make a list of your skills and then browse through freelancer sites to find your niche.

 

The social network

The best way of finding out about new business opportunities is to network – and you don’t even have to leave home to do it.  There are plenty of business related social media sites out there like LinkedIn which will help you make new contacts.

 

Branching out

For those looking to throw themselves into the deep end, buying a franchise is a great way of starting out.  As you’re, essentially, buying into a company which is already successful, it’s relatively risk-free and, you’ll receive loads of support.

 

Best of both worlds

Become an affiliate – If the idea of launching into a franchise is a bit daunting, try becoming an affiliate for an online brand.  Although this may involve a small financial investment, it allows you the freedom of fitting in your business around your other responsibilities.

 

What’s in-store?

Starting an e-commerce store is really easy and inexpensive and can be quite lucrative.  You can set up your own store on Shopify or, sell through Amazon.  Don’t have anything to sell?  No problem – sites like Jungle Scout can help you to source products to sell in your store.

 

Do your homework

Whatever kind of business you decide to get into, find the time to research it properly and to draw up a plan to include how much time and money you’ll need to invest – and what kind of return you can expect.

Going into business for yourself can be great fun as well as making you a little cash and allowing you to spend precious time with your family.  If embarking on any kind of partnership or affiliation, make sure that you read all the rules and regulations first to avoid any nasty surprises.

By Ben of Ultimate Banners. Visit his website here https://ultimatebanners.co/pull-up-banners/

This is a paid guest post.

When you are setting up a business,  there are a lot of things that you need to take care of at the very start. For that reason, it can be a challenge to ensure that you are going to be able to do it fast, but sometimes that is exactly what you need to do. If you are in this position of needing – or at least wanting – to set up a business very fast, then you will need to think carefully about how to go about it. The truth is that there are some things you can do to make a super fast setup a little easier, and they are going to be worth looking at. In this post, we will take a look at some of the things to focus on to ensure that you can start up your business as fast as you need to.

 

Begin With A Temporary Office

Who says you have to get your final, permanent office set up straight away? As long as you have somewhere to work from, you can start with your business, so that is something that you will want to think about at the start. Having a temporary office at first might be a good way to ensure that you can simply get the ball rolling, and that is going to be important when the main thing you are after here is speed. You could use portable buildings to set up a quick office, or just work from your home – or even an outhouse in your garden. However you do it, this is bound to help you get set up that much faster.

 

Register Early

Because you need to be registered as a business before you can technically do anything, you need to make sure that you do that as early as possible. In order to do that, just make sure that you decide on a name quickly and that you know what kind of business structurebusiness structure you are going to be happy with. That way, you can make sure that you register early on, and then it should be a simple matter to get the ball rolling with whatever else you want to do. That doesn’t mean rushing it – you should put aside an entire day for this, to make sure that you can do it right. But you should do it soon, so that you can do whatever else you might be planning to do too.

 

Hire Someone

Chances are, you are going to need a little help if you hope to get your business up and running as soon as possible. For that reason, you will want to think about hiring someone early on, so that you have someone who can work with you. That person should be the kind of individual that you are going to work with well, and who you trust, most of all, to help you out. Find that person straight away, and you will find it much easier to set up your business super fast.

I received payment for publishing this post.

When you first begin your venture into the world of business, you basically create something very tiny in the hope that it becomes absolutely huge one day. That’s the goal, isn’t it? To be able to invent an amazing product or service, and turn it into a gargantuan empire? To make it happen, you need to follow a bunch of steps. It’s a gradual process, unfortunately (or fortunately, if you view it that way). Sure, you might skyrocket straight away, but the chances of that happening are very slim – you’re not in an underdog movie, after all – this is real life; it takes a lot of hard work and even more setbacks!

Pretty much every single business on the planet needs to start out as a very small venture. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a newbie, or whether you’re an experienced business person, you need to work with what you have in pretty much every aspect. You cannot expect to be this massive, high-flying firm right from the off – you’re going to be small and modest. In order to get to where you want to be, you need to climb the ladder and build up fairly slowly. 

After a year or two (maybe more) of steady progression, you’ll start to realise that you need to build on what you have. Now, you could stay where you are, but why wouldn’t you want to upgrade your business and make even more money? Why wouldn’t you want to open yourself up to even more great opportunities? If you’re starting to feel as though it’s time to build, then you might need to take that step, and permanently become a greater entity. 

What should you do when expanding your businessexpanding your business, though? How should you conduct yourself? What specific steps should you take? Well, the philosophy of your business shouldn’t really change. You have a mantra, and you should stick to what brought you the success. The business will change, however, and you’ll need to shift a few things around. You’ll also need to treat your business a little differently as it will now be something on a much grander scale. If you’re at this stage right now, then you probably have a few ideas up your sleeve, but here are a few things that you should probably do when looking to expand your business:    

 

Make Sure You’re Ready

This kind of goes without saying, but you need to make sure that you’re actually good to go. We talked about the fact that you’ll soon realise that you need to build upon what you have, but everything needs to be in place for such a move. It’s very easy to jump the gun and make a big mistake. The idea of expanding is so that you can then meet the needs of the new and greater demand. If you don’t have much of an increase in terms of the demand you receive, then you’re going to be committing to something and getting a lot less in return.

Make sure you have a loyal customer base or clientele – you’re going to need that relationship with them if you’re to continue bringing in consistent revenue. Your finances overall should be in good stead, too, so make sure everything is healthy on that front. You don’t want to commit to something when your numbers are looking a little uncertain. Another important point is that you’ll need to make sure your team are ready for such a move. They might not be. Checking with them is super important – they’re going to be the ones in the engine room, after all. Your own well-being and readiness are key, too.  

 

Look At Your Business Plan

When you first began, you obviously created a great business plan. You used to it get started properly, and you probably followed along with it all the way until the point of this expansion. If everything is literally going as planned, then you can just continue to follow along with the projection that you created for yourself. The chances are, however, that you’re probably going to need to amend your plan a little. You can never really predict exactly what’s going to happen in the future, so the plan will need to be altered accordingly to suit the new situation.

 

Upgrade Your Workplace

When you grow as a business, the majority of the aspects rise alongside it. Because of this growth, you’re going to need to make sure you can house yourselves in a larger and more appropriate office, warehouse, or factory. Where you’re currently situated probably won’t do – you’ll have to move or build. If you do move, you’ll have to find the most suitable place for everything and everyone. You’ll also have to get the formalities sorted out, and get the legal stuff over the line. You can find commercial conveyancing solicitors online for that kind of thing.

 

Hire More

As you’re starting to become a larger and more significant group, you’re going to need to bring in more bodies. The current group you have right now might be able to handle the workload and the expectations for a little while, but that will only get you so far. You’ll need to recruit. The chances are that you have a much larger budget to play around with, so you should have no issue in sorting out the wages. You might even be able to work with a recruitment agency – they’ll be able to find the best people for you.

 

Add Extra Products Or Services

This growth might give you the opportunity to try new things. You’re obviously going to want to work on what got you to this position, but there’s nothing wrong with evolving a little and dabbling with something different. Just make sure it’s not something completely different – you don’t want to alienate your loyal customer base. 

 

Create An App Or New Website

You might already have a website to accompany your business – if you don’t, then you should probably create one pretty soon. The website you have right now is probably something very basic. It answers all questions and is easily navigable, but it’s nothing special. Perhaps now’s the time to work on it, however. Speak with a web designer and see if you can create something greater and more attractive. Think also about creating a mobile application that can supplement everything – people love apps these days. 

This is a sponsored post

This posts contain affiliate links. 

One of the things that often scares mums who want to start their own business is the numbers. So many women’s experience with maths in school was a negative one that the idea of dealing with accounts can be terrifying. That’s why accounting software for your micro business exists, it removes the maths element, you just type in the numbers and it does the rest.

How Software Can Help in Your Business

There are lots of different types of software you can use in your micro business that can save you time, money and grief. If you are worried about keeping on top of your invoices, software like that made by Chaserhq.com can help. It allows you to automate invoice reminders which in turns helps keep your cash flowing. It can save you both time and a lot of stress. If your business is using leases you can even get help with your lease accounting compliance to make sure everything is done correctly.

Using a Spreadsheet for your Accounts

If you’re just starting out and trying to keep costs down, the idea of paying for software might be off putting. Many micro businesses try to use spreadsheets to keep track of their accounts. If you’re great with excel, that can work. You’ll need to set up formulas in your spreadsheet to keep track of your numbers so that, when it’s time to submit your self assessment tax return, you have all the information you need.

The downside of using a spreadsheet is that it can’t create reports for you. To find out how your businesses is doing you’ll have to manually extract the relevant figures to create your own report. Each month you’ll also need to tally your recorded transaction against your bank account. As spreadsheets are quite unwieldy you’ll generally need to do this on a PC or laptop as you’re unlikely to be able to see all the details on a mobile device.

Accounting Software for your Micro Business

If that all sounds a bit much then you may want to consider accounting software for your micro business. For small businesses and freelancers I recommend Sage’s “Accounting Start” package. I always imagined that accounting software would be way beyond the price range of my micro business but the package is just £10 a month. That £10 can easily save me much more than £10 worth of my time every month.

The Accounting Start package allows you to do so much more than you can with a spreadsheet. It creates reports at the touch of a button so all the numbers you need to complete your self assessment are there waiting for you. The reports allow you to check how your businesses doing, compared to previous time periods. 

You can also manage your invoicing by using accounting software for your micro business. You can create sales invoices through the software and also track money that’s owed to you. By connecting the software to your bank account, you can tie up payments to the correct invoice, saving you time balancing the books each month. 

Access your Accounts Anytime, Anywhere

For me, the greatest benefit of using accounting software for your micro business is the ability to work on your mobile device. I rarely use my laptop and do most of my work on my iPad, so being able to view my accounts there is a must. With accounting software that I can access through my phone, I can also compete quick tasks while waiting for the kids to finish a class or while they have a play at the park.

If you’re considering using accounting software for your micro business but aren’t ready to commit, Sage offer a 30 day free trial. This gives you a chance to check out the software and see if it works for you and your business. That can be really important if you worry about dealing with numbers as it gives you an opportunity to have a play around and check you’re comfortable with it.

If you’re considering starting to use an accounting software for your micro business or are still at the stage of making an initial decision about how you will record your numbers, I suggest you check out the Accounting Start package from Sage. While spending money on something might seem a bit scary, it will free up your time to focus on the tasks that bring cash into your business.

Working from home presents many advantages. For a start, busy mums can make sure they remain available for their family. After all, many parents struggle with the prospect of going back to work after a baby. Organising childcare services can be difficult and expensive. It’s no wonder that more and more mums choose to build their business presence directly from home, where they can more effectively juggle between their household and business responsibilities. Additionally, a home-based business lets you establish a flexible schedule that suits your day, so that you can include school runs without worrying about what the boss will say about it. 

However, your home office, for all its advantages, has one crucial inconvenient: it is inside your home. As a result, you probably have to think twice before sharing your contact details with your clients. The last thing you want is someone to ring your doorbell in the middle of your day off to ask you about your services. On the other hand, your clients are more likely to take you seriously if you publish your contact information. How can you give your business a professional look and feel without revealing your home address? 

 

You need a company address

If you set up your activities as a company, you will need to share your business address with your Company House. Indeed, the company register publishes, among other information, the postal address of each business. If you are unsure of how this works, take a look at the confirmation statement explained here, which is the verification the Company house sends every year about your data. If you are active as a solo entrepreneur running an LTD, for instance, it is your legal obligation to provide an address for your company. However, if you are a freelancer – and therefore only fills self-assessment tax returns rather than corporate taxes –, providing a public address to your clients is not mandatory. Nevertheless, it can improve your profile. 

 

Can I display an address that isn’t mine?

When you are in the process of creating your company, you might wonder whether the address you provide has to be yours. Ultimately, for home-based businesses, it’s a good idea to consider a registered office which can act as a storefront for your venture. Typically, registered offices also appear in the Company House register, as long as they provide a forward mail service which ensures you get all confidential and business-related documents. You can also use the address on your website to boost your presence.  

 

Where can I invite clients for a meeting?

Admittedly, a storefront address can be helpful to maintain your professional profile; however, it can become an issue if you need to plan meetings with your clients. Registered offices only give you access to a professional letterbox. If you need to hire a conference room, you need to have a look for shared offices, which offer a variety of services, such as meeting rooms to coworking space whenever you need it. You can typically rent out the space you need by the hour or the month, depending on your requirements. 

In conclusion, working at home doesn’t mean that you can’t build a professional business with dedicated office addresses and workspace. Mumtrepreneurs don’t need to expose confidential information to gain professional credibility. Your address can remain private while you build your business presence.

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