Starting a Business No 7 - Financial Strategy - No 1 Budget Forecasting

A budget forecast has several purposes. It can be used, for example, to obtain the following:

• an estimate or preview of the likely profit (loss) from one of your projects, eg a gig;
• an estimate of the yearly profit (loss) from your trading enterprise, eg as a retail outlet.

Thus budgetary control is an important aspect of running your business. Prior to the beginning of given period, eg a year, you  make estimates of items of income flows and expenditure flows within shorter regular periods, eg months. 

For the year the difference between income and expendityure is your profit.

You will need to portray the year as a table of 14 columns. The first column shows the names of  incomes and then expenditures, ie in successive rows. The next 12 columns are for the months with another column showing in successive amounts of the income and costs for  type of income and expenditure. The final column shows totals for each row. The last row at the foot of the table shows the totals for the columns.

A comparison of the sum of the totals of the final column and the sum of the totals of the bottom row should be the same. If not you will need to do some checking! The final correct result is your estimated profit (or loss).

For a shopkeeper the income flow will usually comprise sales (turnover), The expenditure will usually include: a) purchases of stock, b) wages and national insurance, c) heating and lighting; d) rent, and e) local taxes.

How to Choose a Career or Job - Ideas No 2 - Work "Contexts" and "Styles"

After sorting out your life-record in line with the kinds of items in the Ideas No 1 it is time:

A] To think through the kind of situation(s) in which you might like to work, such as:

1. Do you like or want to work outdoors?         Yes / No / Maybe.    Farming / Transportation / Outdoor leisure / Gardener /....
2. Do you like or want to work indoors?            Yes / No / Maybe.    Factory / Office  / Shop / School / Leisure centre /....
3. Do you like or want to work with animals?    Yes / No / Maybe.    Farming / Veterinary clinic / Zoo / Animal rescue /...... 
4. Do you like or want to want with people?     Yes / No / Maybe.   Care home / Nursing home / Hospital / College /.... 
5. Do you like or want to work with children?   Yes / No / Maybe.    School / Play centre / Nursery / Holiday park /.....
6. etc.....

B] To think through the kinds of knwledge and skills you have or could develop:

1. Do you have or want to develop writing skills?   Yes / No / Maybe.    Author / Playright / Language teacher /....
2. Do you have or want to develop caring skills?     Yes / No / Maybe.     Carer / Nurse / Nanny /....
3. Do you have or want to develop animal skills?     Yes/ No / Maybe      Stable hand / Groom / Jockey / Animal welfare worker/...
4. Do you have or want to develop teaching skills?   Yes / No / Maybe   Teacher / Animal trainer / Childminder / Coach / Mentor/..
5. etc......

Starting a Business No 7 - Financial Strategy - No 1 Types of Accounts

Job Club members who start a business must have some idea about accounts. Members who work in a business usually find it useful to have some knowledge of accounts. From a businesss  start-up member's perspective money is the root of all business so you will have to have money for your business activities. It is useful to divide money into the following basic accounts:

1. Capital accounts - expenditure on and receipts from assets which will subsist for some time and occupied or operated by the business, eg buildings, vehicles, machinery, tools;
2. Revenue accounts - expenditure on consumables, and receipts taken from customers for sales or the provision of services;
3. Value added tax accounts - mandatory accounts required when registered for VAT; and,
4. Income taxation accounts - mandatory accounts to arrive at profit for income tax purposes; and
5. Capital taxation accounts - mandatory accounts and/or calculations to arrive at assessments for capital tax purposes.

Two of the other types of accounts you may decide to use for evaluation are:

1. Management accounts - optional accounts used in various ways to evaluate the quality of operations; and/or,
2. Project accounts - optional accounts used to evaluate a particular project(s).

The last two may be important if the business is growing: but the first bunch will begin to swing into action from scratch or within about a year. As indicated, taxation accounts are essential.

Personal Time Management No 6B - Complete To-Do List

Since posting Personal Time Management No 6A I have been given a very useful tip. It is a Complete To-do List.

It works like this - every time you identify a task that will need to be done in the future add it to the end of your  "Complete To-do List". Thereafter, a task will be deleted from the list when it is achieved or when you decide that it need not be done afterall.

Henceforth, almost every to-do on your daily to-do list shoild come from your complete to-do list! Although I have not yet done so, you might like to add:

1. a date for its completion;
2. where no date is needed, relative priority note may be denoted by "U" for urgent, or "I" for intermediate urgency (Non-urgent tasks need not be denoted until they become U or I);
3. a note of an estimation of how long a task may take in hours or days. 

Training No 1 - Fund Finding for the Future Update No 1 - 18 January 2012

Although there are and will be problems it seems that full time students are assured of being able to obtain loans to fund their time at Universtity.  Some on the more expensive courses are, it seems, subsidised by those on the cheaper to run courses!  Likewise many of those in employment will obtain support from their employers - in the form of time off to attend courses; a books allowance, travel expenses, etc. Even the tax authorities have been known to chip in with income tax relief , eg for training expenses for certain types of courses and a scheme which I call "buy-a-bicycle". 

But, what of the general unemployed..? Are they able to obtain long-term loans, tax reliefs or other kinds of official support? Yes, I know that "benefits" could be used by the unemployed to "invest" in training  in their future but is it a realistic notion?

I suggest an official scheme of a)  training loans; and/or b) training vouchers. Firstly; they should be aimed at helping the needful unemployed to seek basic knowledge and skills in:

1. reading competency;
2. writing competency;
3. first aid;
4. health and safety;
5. risk assessment; and,
6. time management.

(Of course many students and those in employment may lack some of the last four items but I guess they are not the priority!) 

Level 2 training needs will be dealt with in a later post on this site.

Update 18 January 2012
A Twitter follower had a note that part-time students can get loans but ther only item I have found is that they may be eligible for "tuition fee loans". Is there any way of going the whole hog by offering loans for books, equipment and any protective clothing needed for the part-time courser? Also, what loan  is the non-higher education unemployed person going to be eligible for their future personal development?
  http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/UniversityAndHigherEducation/StudentFinance/DG_194804

Personal Time Management No 8 - Three Picked Time-saving Tips

On a normal day it is likely that your metabolism slows down by about 11 am - So:

• Tip No 1 - at the beginning of the week have one picked big job and four picked small jobs planned for each day. All these picked jobs for a day are to be completed by 11am. (Of course you may have more than 25 jobs to do in every week.)  Endeavour to complete the five big jobs by Wednesday. 

On some days you will find it difficult to think how to put jobs in priority- So

• Tip No 2 - at the beginning of the week against each job on the list in Tip No 1, put "Do-fast", "Do-next", or "Do-fit-in".  The Do-fast are priority one; the Do-next are priority  two; and the Do-fit-in are priority three.

Have a period of smart-time every day:

1. when you will only take calls in an emergency (life and death) or from your boss, spouse/partner, and children;
2. when your colleagues know not to disturb you;
3. your PC, smart phone, etc are off-line; and,
4. your telephone is closed.

[Note: your spouse/partner and children will know for what reason they can call you!]

• Tip No 3 - use the smart-time to complete outstanding Do-Fast jobs, to think about and work on policy and/or important operational tasks.

Books for Job Clubs No 4 - How's your dissertation going? (Book Review)

Book for a job club??? Maybe not: but the skills required to write a disseration are not too far away for the skills required for a) deciding on a career, b)  finding the right employer,  c) writing a targeted CV and covering letter,  d )  getting an interview,  and, e)  handling an interview.

"How's your dissertation going?" by Liz Hampson was published in 1994 by Unit for  Innovation in Higher Education, Lanchester University.

It is written from interviws with undergraduate and postgraduate students - it is quote-ridden in a pleasant manner so as to draw out themes - such as on Selecting a topic (topic = career); How do you choose a supervisor (supervisor = employer),  Who else might help? (eg other students = job club peers(?)), Is it worth it in the end? (degree = job).

Many of the skills needed by a student who wants to achieve a successful dissertation are, it is worth repeating, not unlike those displayed by a jobseeker who wants to achieve a successful job hunt.  [I recall having a discussion about methodology used by detectives, property valuers and biology reserachers - we agreed (a Home Office researcher, a property valuer and a biology teacher) that the skill-sets required were similar in their fundamentals.]

SWANLEY AND NORTHERN PARISHES JOB CLUB No 2 - PROGESS SINCE STARTING

This post outlines the kind of development strategy for what have become  "drop-in" job clubs at Hextable and Swanley. Members and volunteers intereact in four ways:

1. regular weekly meetings with fixed times and places;
2. occasional meetings at the library and Information Centre for advisory sessions on CV or covering letters etc;
3. emails and telephone (rarely) where a member gives contact details and communication consent;
4. social media, ie by Facebook, Twitter, and blogging eg Jaefoo-Blog 

Generally the thinking behind each approach is as follows:

• Meeting: The essence of our meetings is a)  members in small group discussion, and/or b) one-to-one "advice " sessions member/volunteer. A topic is sometimes introduced as a structured discussion.
• One-to-One sessions: These meetings  are for advice on CV and other aspects of job search or for business-building.
• E-mails and Telephone:  Media used for distributing vacancy notifications and other relatively urgent communications (a member registers consent for this approach).
• Social Media Marketing:  A relatively new approach for the following: a) to promote the Job Clubs or aspects of our work to members, volunteers, local Facebookers' Walls and more widely; b) to obtain and promote vacancy information;  c) to identify "good job club practice", eg by being a follower on Twitter; d) to give diary events information and e) to promote the locality (it may lead to jobs). 

Systems" Development:   From the beginning of December 2010 to the end of January 2011 "systems" development was heavy.  In this period much advice and help was given by Jane Gould of GB Job Clubs and the Leaders of the Job Clubs at Edenbridge, Sevenoaks and Strood.

Openings:

• Hextable Job Club:     Eventually we opened the Hextable Job Club on Wednesday 9th February at the Heritage Centre, College Road Hextable by kind permission of Hextable Parish Council. Open at 1.30pm to 3pm
• Swanley Job Club:    Nearly a month later we opened at the Swanley Job Club at the Library and Information Centre, London Road, Swanley Town Centre. Open 3pm to 5pm.

Format:  The two Job Clubs are of a "drop-in" format and are in effect one club for members but there are few "dual" members. If appropriate, arranged meetings take place outside "hours", eg to advise on an urgent job application draft CV.


Promotion Strategy 
Posters and flyers -  Information has been distributed by hand or by email - several organisations kindly display them. 
Word of Mouth  -  Introductions about the Job Clubs have been given to a)  three audiences in Swanley; b) a business- to-business show in Sevenoaks and  c)  participants at two training course in Swanley and  c) to numerous representatives of local authorities, government agencies and private sector companies and individuals.
Social Media Marketing (SMM) Having attended a course at the Stag Plaza, SMM has become part of the means of contacting and keeping in touch with members; developing on-line information posts  and generally seeking job opportunities, etc. Examples are:

 Entries for both job clubs have been published on the Directory of Job Clubs; See http://www.gbjobclubs.org/?page_id=30


 Fairly frequent Facebook messages are a) posted on the Hextable Job Club and Swanley Job Club wall; b) a few are sent to Doug Bug of West Kent Housing Association - he has many friends;


 An short article on job clubs was published by HortWeek;


 A blog has been created at http://jaef-jaefoo-blog.blogspot.com/2011/02/swanley-and-northern-parishes-job-club.html


 Blog and forum on Saga Zone;


Support:  We have been given support, advice and offers of help from many employment, business and other specialists in the community: Examples : a) Next Step sees members from time to time;  b)  Business Link courses have been attended by members - one member has attended three and now has a formal mentor relationship through Business Link to help develop his business,  c)  help with talks and discussions have been offered and taken on one occasion.


Diary of Events Outside events at which members and volunteers may learn about employment and also networking has been started, eg a)  on 17 February 2011 we attended the recent HMRC event on taxation and starting a business; b) Kent Vision 2020 was attended.


Information   Prepared and published Notes, Newsletters and other documents for members and others. Much is at Jaefoo Blog.

Starting a Business No 6 - Objectives and Profit...?

Your Business Plan will set out a) a mission statement and b) some objectives you want to achieve; they are likely to be business objectives and personal objectives.

Fundamental to any financial objectives will be your pricing startegy. How you set your prices for goods or services will be another part of the Business Plan (1 of the 4 x P's). At the end of the day, however, you will want to make an overall profit.

Consider what you want "profit" to represent - against some possible financial objectives. A property valuer's approach to profit suggests that net profit must cover the following  business and personal objectives, ie for a business person who rents or is intending to rent a commercial or industrial or property. (The approach will suffice for our purposes to illustrate the relationships between profit and objectives.) :

1. A business and personal objective will be establishing and maintaining good terms with HMRC by paying your taxes etc! Income taxation is payable on net taxable income which the business makes and which HMRC will take from you and/or your business;
2. A business and personal objective will be interest on capital invested. You will probably invest your own or borrowed money in a) property, b) plant and machinery, vehicles or other equipment,  c) furniture and d) other items. You will need to pay any interest on: a) borrowed capital (money); and (in principle) b) on any money you personally invest (from savings). It is useful to see this as being at a commercial rate of interest.
3. You will need to cover the salary or wages you would have earned as a manager of your business or by being employed by a rival (set it at the going rate). If you don't earn that in due course, you may as well give up your business and work for another;
4. Finally, a personal objective will be to recognise the risk inherent in running your own business. You are taking a risk in running your own business so you will want a portion (%) of the profit as a reward for your risk-taking.

Of course, you will not necessarily expect to achieve all of 1 to 4 in the first year: indeed your business may take several years to become established. Once it is established your might check that the business and personal objectives are being achieved - at least in financial terms!

Starting a Business No 5 Promotional Strategy

Your notes for you business plan (see Starting a Business No 3)  will almost certainly include "advertising" or "marketing"; but they are used, perhaps, in a casual sense of "publicity to get business". In this post we shall use the term "promotion" which will include all future activities to create a more embracing concept of what you are about as a business start-up.

Scope  Your promotional strategy will enable your customers' and/or suppliers' tol gain a wider and better understanding of the following:

• your business ethos or mindset;
• your business policies; and,
• more particularly, your products and/or services.

Promotional strategy is likely to cover relevant activities like the following: a) free publicity; b) advertising;  c)  public relations; and; d)  special events.



Free Publicity:  They are purposeful activities which are not charge for and are likely to incude: a) person to person networking;  b) free Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In, etc activities (see Research No2 for social media marketing SMM);  c)  press releases for editorials in newspaper and magasine, trade journals, etc.

Advertising:  Initiated by you but are promotional products and activities which are paid for and executed by third parties - might include:  a) newspaper advertising; b) "knick-knacks", pens, place mats, keyrings etc, bearing information about your products and services

Public relations:  Information you distribute about your business, products and/or services which enhances their standing to your customers, suppliers and others - maybe to counter adverse publicity.

Special Events: Events such as: a) business to business events, b) trade shows; c) exhibitions d) an awards ceremony. The intent is that your business has some objective or purpose, eg a product or service launch, an award to donate, etc.

Starting a Business No 4 - Premises

Your business plan is hardly dry and you are asking about premises. Well...a surprisingly large number of businesses begin at home; they are usually a workshop in the garage or a desk and phone in the spare bedroom.  Yes... it is not immodest to think about premises and to include the topic in the business plan.

You ask   "What are my options?" At this stage I give a short list of ideas to mull over and include some pointers to consider. A few of the possibilities are:

1. Working from Home:   Might suit the likes of one of the following: a)  a small workshop in the garden shed / garage for developing an invention to pre-production phase;  b)  a small repair shop for say, sharpening blade, saws and the like;  c)  an office in the spare room may be sufficient  for on-line business or a tele-sales type operation. (See my http://jaefoo-blogcounciltax.blogspot.com/ for three posts on the issue of working at home and council tax and business rates.)
2. On-the Road:  If you are a) a gardener or event type business, eg gigs, you may need a mobile van, lorry, or caravan etc for the transport of equipment and perhaps, personnel; b) travelling to sell goods you will want not only transport but also a place for the storage of goods - here a self-storage facility will be handy - before you are big enough to need to rent / buy your own warehouse!
3. Franchise Business:  If you take on a franchise requiring premises, some franchisors will assist you with a)  a "specification" for your accommodation and facilities you should best try to find, ie an existing property;  b)  alternatively, the premises must be built from scratch - again the fracnhisor would probably have experience for the development.
4. Serviced Accommodation:   A start-up business may require a presentable office for a kind of "probationary" or "trial" period, say 3, 6 or 12 months, before taking the plunge on a longer-term basis with rented or bought accommodation.   The great advantage here is that the "marketing mix" of the promoters of serviced accommodation is laced with the ethos of flexibility. You will find several possibilities available. Just a (very) few examples:  a) a conference/ presentation  room or meeting room for the one-off event; b) an office(s) for one, two, three... persons on terms and conditions for a definite period or for an indefinite say, monthly term but terminable when you want; c) offices, packing accommodation with storage space. 

Starting a Business No3 - Business Plan Preparation

As soon as I hear the words meaning: "I want to start a business", my reply usually goes something like: "Business plan..? Do you have one?" If not we might talk through a list of topics which might feature in the yet-to-be-prepared business plan. 

One initial question / reaction is "Why bother?"  My reply might be on the lines: "Don't bother.... if you have a brain programmed with Business-Satnav and the pot of gold ready to get well under way!"  If not there are three reasons:

1. If nothing is on paperso far, the preparation of the business plan will pull together ideas, cautions, contacts, timings, dates, prices and costs, etc etc, etc;
2. your first business plan is the initial route map to and indication of a successful (or not) business; and,
3. when you need funds, the funder (a bank, a charitable foundation prospective partner/shareholder) will expect your realistic evaluation of your business future, so that they can assess whether they will get back a loan or get a return on their investment.

The content of the business plan is likely to contain the items shown in the checklist below.  However, if a funder has requested a business plan it may require you to include some mandatory items.

Checklist for a Business Plan
What you include and in what order they appear will be up to you. The following are indicators of likely items. No doubt you will have been thinking about the business for some time, so much of the business plan will be putting on paper (perhaps for the first time) all the things which have been swirling about up top!

4 x Ps

• Prospect - Services and Products: offering is service(s) or a product(s), customer after-service 
• Place or Location:  work from home (urban or rural) or from business premises in town centre or elsewhere;
• Pricing: basis of charging, eg for a service is it an hourly rate, call-out charge, plus consumables and costs, plus overheads, etc;
• Promotion: promotional strategy to include:- advertising, word-of-mouth, free publicity (editorials), special events, public relations (see Starting a Business No 5).

SWOT Analysis
SWOT analysis is a business technique which the new business start-upper (say, as a sole trader) (or  job-seeker) might use to explore the context for a new business (or job or career).  {Note For this post the emphasis is on the business context. - the Swot examples are merely illustrative and may not regflect a true "fit" in the context for a particular business.}

• Strengths: Personal qualifications and experiential knowledge and skills - related to services/products or the industry; government policy or agency practice in supporting industry.
• Weaknesses: State of the economy in the next year or so.
• Opportunities:  Weakness of the £ encouraging exporters; potential use of social media marketing (SMM); availability of loans from charitable foundations for start-ups; trade generation by Olympics 2012; new green technologies.
• Threats:   Competition; adverse changes in the taxation regime appicable to the industry; work-life style balance.

Research No3 - Employer's/ Supplier's Status - Some Looks....?

A prospective employer is a "legal person" with a status having characteristics, powers, duties etc which are prescribed or embedded in law.  In many instances you will take status for granted or perhaps not think about it.  For instance, you may be applying for interview to a "individual", "an estate agent", "a hotel","a company", "a charity", "the council", etc.

This post is a brief look at status in the sense of legal persona. You employer is likely to be one of the following:

• a "sole trader", that is an individual who runs his or her own business;
• a "partnership", for example, group of individuals who run a businesss together;
• a "company", that is an organisation owned by the shareholders and run by appointed directors; 
• a "trust", being an entity set up and run by "trustees"in accord with its governing documents, eg a statute (National Trust) or trust deed.

Different prospective employers will, of course be run in accord with their status; the status determines such matters as: 

1. the aims and objectives underpinning the legal person;
2. the owner of the organisation and the extent of the owner's rights and obligations;
3. the "destination" of the assets of the organisation if it is "folded up" or "dies"; 
4. whether it is a "not-for-profit" enterprise or not; 
5. the kinds of and limitations on the organisation's activities;
6. the nature and extent of the formal statutory duties and obligations of an organisation's directors/trustees, officers, and so on, including you if appointed; 
7. the impact of different types of legislation on day to day operations, that is in terms of exemptions, reliefs and concessions, eg a registered charity is not usually required to pay income taxation or capital gains taxation;
8. the range, nature and severity of the different taxes, if any, which will be imposed;

Intellectual Property Rights No 4 - "Textbook" for Inventors etc....?

This morning I found the third edition of the report by the Commission on Intellectual Property Rights. It is entitled "Integrating Intellectual Property Rights and Development Policy" (see link below).
Although rather dated (2003) it gives an overview of IPR in the context of the development of poorer nations within the world economy. I have not attempted to read it but a few glances at the Contents (for about 191 pages of content) suggest that any jobseeker who desires to know the field will find the an interesting starting point.

I am curious of the content which delves into:
Health, including medicine;

Agriculture;

Traditional knowledge;

Internet;

Patent reform;

International aspects; etc.

Reminding myself of the problems that Alfred must have had 1200 years or so ago in developing steps towards nationhood - education, defence, "town", planning, "civil service"..., I must now scan the last eight years to learn of the impact (or not) of the Report and of any progress!

http://www.iprcommission.org/papers/pdfs/final_report/CIPRfullfinal.pdf

Research No 2 - How to research an Employer, etc using Social Media Marketing?

At the end of a job interview the interviewer almost always asks the likes of: "Have you any questions for me?"

It may be a good idea to have several questions up your sleeve: as opposed to none! Of course you will not be expected to ask more than one or two: the important point is that you will be able to show an interest in the organisation/ position/ department etc. Also, you have the opportunity to surprise or interest the interviewer with a genuine query - that's great.

Researching an employer will probably give many questions - which you might be able to bring into the interview as it progresses - leading to a good interview. So, how to research the employer...? (Similar approaches may be used to look at a supplier or a business which is for sale.)

The starting point is the recruitment literature. It should be sufficiently detailed to attract you to apply for the job being offered! Otherwise you will need to go to other sources.

Social Media Marketing: Today the seemingly progressive employer is into social media marketing so during the interview you will be able to demonstrate (if appropriate) your highly developed SMM knowledge and skills (for business) by referring to the content of :

• the latest tweets that have been issued by the employer - avoid looking at Twitter during the interview(!);
• the latest posts on the organisation's website;
• the most recent Google Alerts about the industry received on your smartphone;
• profiles of directors, managers and others you may have sussed on company's wall on Facebook or within LinkedIn;
• hashtags you use to research products and services in the industry;
• job specifications for positions for the developing SMM employment sector, particularly in the company's industry;
• comments you have made on various blogs associated with the organisation or industry;
• with caution, the Retweets or Likes you have about posts and profiles of the individuals and organisations you follow on Twitter or claim as a Friend on Facebook (respectively); and,
• your blog on Google+ (Sorry, but that might be taken by the interviewer/reader as one-up-manship or one-up-womanship.)

Caution: All the above suggests that you may need to be cautious. This will be particularly so if you sense that the interviewer, perhaps and older person, is not yet into these new fangled thingymijigs. For instance he or she may be an "arch enemy" of one of those you claim to be Follower of or as a Friend.



Finally, the interviewer may listen to you and subsequent to the interview:

• climb on to your Facebook wall;
• seek your Profile on LinkedIn;
• hunt down your wilder comments (to blogs); and/ or
• visit your personal blog or website to read your posts.

This post has tried to cover the jargon and elements of SMM - the next post will seek other sources.

Research No 1 - Why research / evaluate an Employer / a Supplier / a Business for Sale

This post is the first of a short series which looks at researching for particular purposes or circumstances. Thus,the circumstances for evaluation are: i) a job-seeker evaluating a prospective employer; b) a start-up business reviewing a supplier of goods and services; and c) possibly, a start-up business initiating due diligence of a business which is up for sale. All three are is likely to find that it takes time.

Taking time to research properly may well pay-off (in time and cost) for the job-seeker in terms of the likes of:

• aborted or fruitless CVs (and covering letters) or job applications;



• failure to get interviews;



• unpreparedness and hence inadequate interviews.

For the supplier-seeker inadequate research may mean critical losses (of time, costs and customers) due to the likes of one or more of:

• failures of supplies to arrive on time;



• poor quality products or services which need to be returned; and,



• poor after care and support.

The buyer of a business will need to ensure adequate research so as to avoid aborted costs, lost time, and possible problems such as:

• hidden problems, eg unpaid accounts,wages, and/or taxes;



• problems with the management, eg production of goods, delivery of services;



• personnel problem, eg staff leaving;



• outstanding liabilities or claims against the business;



• non-compliance with statutory requirements, eg taxation returns.

Some lines of enquiry and sources of information for each of these will be the same but the approaches are certainly very different.

Intellectual Property Rights No 3 - Value to Business and the Economy

Once again the IPO and government has drawn attention to the very high value of intellectual property rights (IPR). A figure of £65 billion a year is given as the annual increment of value in protected rights generated by businesses and other organisations. They include copyrights, and design rights, including rights in intangible digital assets -software.

It still remains the case, however, that many businesses do not protect the potentially valuable assets of this nature.


Details of recent reports on IPR may be found at http://www.ipo.gov.uk/

Personal Time Management 6A - Managing a To-Do List

Managing a to-do list requires practice. If you regularly use to-do lists you may pick up a few tips from this post but you will probably save time by skipping or speed-reading it. Non-useres or casual users should get something from the points given below.

To-do Lists: The following eight points are in effect habits for managing you daily to-do lists:

1. Begin the list for a particular future day as soon as a "happening" is known and "diaried";
2. Think about and finalise the next day's to-do list in the evening before and check it after a night's sleep;
3. Keep the number of to-do's on the day reasonably do-able in the day (See 1);
4. Note the to-do's as must-do's/ should-do's/ possible-do's, ie have an A-list/ B-list/ C-list;
5. Divide any large to-do into a number of smaller ones;
6. Spread very large to-do's over several days/months... etc;
7. Build into every daily to-do list a bit of slack;
8. Cluster like activities, eg correspondence/ filing/ telephoning.

Storage of Lists: Keep a loose-leaf folder for all future days' daily to-do lists (See 1).

Filing: For the correspondence each day collect the file into any files used but otherwise collect and put in order any papers to be filed later (as a to-do), ie do filing at say, the end of the week (See 8).

Diary: My diary acts as an annual to-do listing (See 1) and has a page for a caution list covering next year and subsequent years. Make an entry in the diary as a reminder that to-do's for this year's events to flag-up a warning a month/ week / few days in advance; thus the diary also acts as a caution listing over time. [Tip 1 Regularly look-at or scan your diary a week to a month in advance.]

Telephoning: Have a telephone pad for notes you wish to keep as a record of any conversations. Pad might show: a) person's telephone number, b) date, c) time, d) important points, e) future action and when. [Tip 2]

See PTM 6B for Complete To-do Lists

Time Management 5 - Do you use Clusters to make Time?

Personal time management is "home-based" and mini-scaled when compared to an employer's likely use of systems. Nevertheless the underlying principles are the same or similar.

Here we examine "clusters" for time-saving - it will involve some time in setting up. In some instances the items will be hard copy but do not ignore opportunitis for digital copies. The following are examples:

• Storage Maps: In principle everything has a place for its storage. Untidiness waste times. Not knowing where things are kept wastes time, Not putting things back in their place wastes time. Create a cluster of storage maps of spaces, ie your kitchen, ...bedroom,... garage,.... shed, etc. Show on each map of a space where "things are stored.




• "Tool Boxes": If possible store complementary things together, ie take on board the idea of "tool boxes" or "needle work boxes" for clusters of things. The list could be endless and these are few examples: i) Christmas decorations box; ii) envelope with last year's Christmas cards; iii) garden tools for weeding (in a bag); iv) an address book; v) a birthday book; vi) bulbs, fuses, etc and tools for minor electrical repairs.... etc; v) hanging box for keys.




• "Organisers" or "Folders": Keep originals or copies of personal papers in a filing system. Suit your own life-style from the likes of: i) personal or family history (births, marriages and deaths etc); ii) executor's file (enabling probate and distribution of your estate); iii) files for financial and investment papers; iv) files for insurances; v) files for records of property matters, eg council tax, insurances, names and addresses of contractors, gardeners, etc. (Again the list seems endless!)




• "Libraries": Have organised "libraries" for records, CDs, DVDs, books, magazines and the like.




• "Trays": Organise your current correspondence into trays - yes - "IN", "PENDING" and "OUT". Try not to handle correspondence twice, ie "pending" is neglible; and "out" is to the mail or filing for retained papers.

Personal Time Management 4 - How do you make Lists?

Time management in business or employment may be highly sophisticated but critical path analysis, PERT, and methodology is often based on lists of tasks and/or events. In this post personal time management and the use of lists is explored.

• Time Audits: Looking at your expenditure of time during a normal week - the last 168 hours - may be rewarding. Periods of time of may be divided intothe following: a) Sleep; b) Personal hygiene; c) Meals; d) Domestic - planned "work" and routine "chores"; e) Planned job-seeking; f) Travel; g) Planned leisure h) Time filler-ing - unplanned time usage - TV watching, dozing, etc. The importance of analysing the time audit is in revealing how much time was spent on achieving you objectives or targets for leisure, job-seeking and other planned activities.




• To-do's List: For each day prepare a list of projects, tasks, jobs and other activities which you intend to complete. Large projects may be broken down into smaller tasks and spread over several days or weeks etc.




• Caution List: A digital or hardcopy reminder or warning system in the form of a "diary" with a list of all the important long-term dates, eg renewal of passport, car insurance, MOT, health check-ups, etc. It may span say, 10 years!




• Executor's File: A folder of all important documents your executor will need to obtain probate and administer your estate. It is likely to contain your Will, insurances, evidence of investments and holdings of property, etc.




• List(s) for Event(s): Different events and trips you make will usually require different sets of belongings, documents and pre-events activities etc. Make a list for each kind of event. A holiday in the UK will be similar to one in say, France but will have marked differences, eg the latter requires a passport, euros and EU health card. By way of example - an American family member has a "recreational vehicle" (RV) checklist of about five pages and a pre-travel check which takes about two hours!

Again, your use of lists may not be as comprehensive as suggested here - just use or develop from the above as your life-style requires!