Fantastic opportunity for your business – support young people back to work.
Here we hear from CAVS on their input into the Government’s new kick starter scheme, could you company benefit?
“25 hours of work per week will be paid for by the government to those companies who can provide high quality 6 month job placements for young people. This is a fantastic opportunity for employers who can create new opportunities within their business through the Kick-Start scheme.
CAVS, a not-for-profit charity and Council for Voluntary Services is joining the national effort to assist young people aged 16-24 into employment by supporting this initiative, with the ambition of being able to place 30 young people.
Employers from all industries and across the private and third sector are being encouraged to support this initiative and in the first instance by sending CAVS your expression of interest email.
CAVS assists many young people through our Family Mentoring Scheme and understand how important employment is to them in such difficult times. In registering your interest, you will be on the way to helping young people with potential to develop vital skills and experience, enabling them to move into sustained employment when the Kickstart funding ends.
Please send your expression of interest to: office@CAVSorg.uk by 27th October.
If you have any questions, please view the following link: https://kickstartrepresentative.com/how-the-kickstart-scheme-works/
or alternatively, ask the question when returning your expression of interest. Thank you.
We are always looking for ways to raise the profile of the services we offer so if you can assist in any way please do get in touch. We believe in supporting one another in these tough times.”
So do we CAV and we look forward to hearing which Essex business women get involved in this iniativive.
If you’ve an innovative idea on how we can help those that have been made redundant or are struggling to find employment please do get in touch. We have ways you can access our networking and business growth events for free or just a small donation and lots of other ways to upskills and stay positive which is so important.
It’s not just business owners that love us…
How awesome is it that international speakers and business experts offer to speak at our events!
These are some of the best speakers globally for business and personal and professional development. We recently had a call from Colin McLean a specialist in presentation skills. He won’t tell us which TV celebs he’s worked with!
Colin has hosted the business masterclass at a BWN event 5 times over the last 11 years! AND is coming back to the Insiders this October to deliver something very exclusive! You can’t get this unless you pay to work with Colin!
All of our webinars for the Insiders are accessible forever to our mastermind group so grab a coffee because there is some awesome ideas in there for you to grow your business, increase sales and profit, communicate powerfully even how to deliver a winning 60 seconds.
Here Colin has kindly delivered a copy of his new article on
After you get up in the morning, how long is it before you look at a screen?
There’s no right or wrong answer but the question serves to emphasise that, like it or not, our lives are dominated by screen time of one sort or another. Our phone, our tablet, our TV, our laptop or monitor; in our car, in city centres, at the surgery, the bus stop .. the list is endless.
Nothing new there, you say. Well, no. Except for so much of our time we have been the active ones, our screens have, by and large, been passive. We have absorbed information, entertainment, instruction, messages from our screens. That, of course, continues.
What has changed is that now our screens are active participants too. Forced into the world of Online Comms – whether that be on Zoom, BlueJeans, Skype or a dozen other similar platforms – we are needing to acknowledge different rules.
Ok, it’s the camera that’s active, I accept, but on many devices the camera is as good as unseen.
Even perched atop your monitor it’s all but invisible.
So here’s my point: these days you’re not just ‘watching TV’ you are on it. You are, thanks to so much ‘zooming’, a large part of everyone else’s screen-time. You’re on show and so is everything about your home or office set up.
We need to think about our screens as no longer opaque; the screen lets us look out, but crucially others look in.
In this changed world we need to rethink our role. And I believe we need to set ourselves a few standards and stick to them.
For a start, let’s ensure that what others see is, as far as any of it is in our control, what we’d like them to see. At least let it complement us and our message, not(unintentionally) sabotage it. There’s often a lot we can do to improve things,visually for starters, that are painlessly simple.
Other crucial matters – audio for example – might require more thought.
Let us review our individual set up to make it easy and welcoming on the incoming eye. But let us go further. Let us resolve to be sensitive during our online meetings, to remember the power of focus, of eye contact and of smiles and nods. Non-verbal communication hasn’t gone away; in many ways it’s all we’ve got, particularly as attendees.
Let us resolve, too, to leave checking our emails, or the dozen other diversions that crave our attention. Our focus, for the duration, must be on each other, and nowhere else.
Ask any speaker (from the world BC*) and they will confirm that the principal gain, and the rocket fuel that keeps them going, is the energy shared and returned by their audience. That ‘virtuous circle’ of shared energy can be a real high. Replicating that online is unquestionably harder, but there are ways and there still can be rich rewards.
But let us start by turning up to our own TV show with some pride and purpose.
*Before Covid”
Thanks for sharing Colin. You can catch Colin’s new webinar on the Insiders this October. To join us click here.
More event details here
The Screen Bites back – Life in the Zoom era
Colin McLean of Presentation Works
(www.presw.com)
Why I’ve networked with the BWN for 10 years…
Sarah Travers from Ajax Wealth Management was the second person to buy a 2021 Golden Ticket for our networking and business growth events. As we sent the invoice we noticed that Sarah has been networking with us since 2010!
We asked Sarah why she networked with us so much and this is the reply Sarah sent us.
“I have had the pleasure of being involved with the Business Woman’s Network for 10 years. Wow! That time has flown by and I have enjoyed every minute of it. Read on to find out why I still network with the BWN after all these years.
Support
One of the most important aspects for me is that the business women (and men) who regularly attend the BWN are incredibly supportive of each other. Whether that is helping with ideas, connecting with others, or simply just being a sounding board, the members are genuinely interested in each other’s businesses and want to help them thrive. Who wouldn’t want to meet people like that?
Mandie Holgate, who founded the BWN, also cannot do more to promote and support the BWN members. She has a passion for helping businesses to succeed and her energy and enthusiasm brings a real buzz to the meetings.
Education
As I am constantly telling my children, we never stop learning and the BWN meetings have excellent guest speakers covering a variety of subjects aimed to support people in business. I cannot think of a meeting where I have not learned something and always feel it is time well spent.
The confidential Insider group on Facebook is also a great place to ask questions, find resources, learn and grow without any selling at other members.
Fun and Friendship
Over the years I have got to know many lovely people that I have met through the BWN and consider them to be friends as well as business associates. Although the meetings are for serious business, they also have a generous helping of fun; one of the most memorable for me being a visit from Mary Poppins (aka Nicola Goodchild) who had us all feeling like slightly naughty, giggly children. Laughter really is the best medicine, even for serious business owners!
Networking That Works
When I first started networking, I would dip in and out, attend a meeting here and there then get too busy to attend. That doesn’t work. I am now a Golden Ticket holder for the Colchester events and make sure I attend every month. It takes time to build relationships and trust, that can only be achieved by being consistent, being yourself and being reliable.
Golden Ticket holders can also write for the BWN blog and attend other BWN meetings for a minimal fee. With the meetings being held virtually at present location is not important and I am getting to meet even more fantastic business owners.
If you haven’t tried networking, or have tried in the past but didn’t get anything from it, I wholeheartedly recommend you give the BWN a go, I’m sure you won’t regret it.
Sarah Travers, Independent Financial Adviser, Ajax Wealth Management
To learn more about our Golden Ticket click here
To join us on the confidential mastermind group click here.
Our events are virtual and are the 1st Wed, 2nd Thurs, 3rd Fri and 4th Thurs of every month. We also have exclusive events for our mastermind group – The Insiders that you can watch again whenever you like from top international speakers and business experts.
And Sarah’s investment with us this year has been £190!
The Paper Tax Self-Assessment Tax Return – What you need to know.
Here our Insiders Affiliate Simple Tax share essential advice…
The paper return deadline is this month, 31st October, therefore we thought it would be useful to invite Mike Parkes from GoSimpleTax to explain how best to prepare for the Self-Assessment tax return submission and file with confidence.
New comers to submitting Self-Assessment tax returns, should know it pays to know that there are three ways of filing. Firstly, you can submit via the HMRC site and receive instant acknowledgement post-submission. You can also use commercial software to do this for you. Or, you can send a paper tax return to HMRC in the post.
Whichever method you choose, it’s important to understand your exact responsibility. For those who are self-employed sole traders or Landlords letting out UK property, paper submissions can be complicated as they involve additional forms and documentation.
1. Be conscious of the deadline
Should you choose to file a paper tax return, don’t forget to file before the 31st October deadline. We would recommend sending your paper submission prior to the October deadline, either through recorded delivery or with some proof of posting in order to prove your compliancy.
If you miss the deadline for submitting your paper return, don’t be tempted to file it late – you have until 31st January to complete one online. Just don’t submit both. You will be charged penalties from the 1st February for any late submissions.
2. Organise supplementary pages
Remember, it isn’t enough to submit the main SA100 tax return. You need to bundle it together with the rest of your documentation that references your property or self-employment income.
For any income as a landlord, all that’s required is to file an additional form (SA105) and submit it alongside your regular Self-Assessment tax return.
However, with self-employment, the additional sections required of you could be either the SA103S or the SA103F. The difference between the two is that the former is for those who had an annual turnover below the VAT threshold for the tax year (£85,000 as of 2019/20), and the latter is for those who earn above the VAT threshold.
3. Be open to online and prepare for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
While you may have historically always submitted your tax return by paper, the vast majority of tax returns are now submitted online. Improvements in technology and the extra three months to file are the main incentives to submit an online tax return.
Having an online account with HMRC allows you to not only extend your filing deadline but also check your details at any time to see how much tax is due and act accordingly.
If you’re happy to tweak the way in which you keep your records and adopt digital record-keeping, this will help minimise admin further, as well as enable you to submit your tax returns and automatically calculate your tax.
Going forward as of April 2023 you will have to file your self-assessment digitally to HMRC providing updates every quarter via your digital platform.
Preparation is key, adopt the right approach now it could save both time and money, make the move to digital ahead of the deadline for MTD for Income Tax.
About GoSimpleTax
GoSimpleTax software submits directly to HMRC and is the solution for self-employed sole traders and anyone with income outside of PAYE to log all their income and expenses. The software will provide you with hints and tips that could save you money on allowances and expenses you may have missed.
Insider members receive a 10% discount off GoSimpleTax, simply register to trial the software and your discount code will be emailed to you. Not joined the Insiders yet? Join here.
Trial the software today for free – add up to five income and expense transactions per month and see your tax liability in real time at no cost to you. Pay only when you are ready to submit or use other key features such as receipt uploading.