STANTA Community Update
`Read the STANTA blog here: smallbizguru.wordpress.com
In this issue all the latest events, dates and details:
- Legal and financial surgeries
- What help would you like?
- Networking opportunities
- Training
- The STANTA Community – how do I become a member?
NEWS
Are you keeping your books up-to-date? watch out for the tax man:
Inland Revenue has announced that they will be starting a new programme of inspections not as part of their normal random selection of businesses for full tax audit but just to check if they are meeting the requirement to keep books. If not, an immediate fine may be applied. So if you are not fulfilling this requirement, get started now - it is easy money for the tax man - a few minutes visit delivering a significant fine.
If you need help with bookkeeping, then why not attend STANTA's free bookkeeping course on 27th September at 9.00 a.m. for half a day? Contact Ginny on 01727 837760 or e-mail advice@stanta.co.uk
- And are you trading legally?
HMRC launches 'web robot' to search out tax cheats
Meanwhile, HMRC is to launch a new wave of tax evasion campaigns using "cutting edge" measures to identify people and businesses who are not paying the right tax. The new measures include "web robot" software that will trawl the Internet for information on those who are trading without telling HMRC. So far, some £600 million has been raised through campaigns inviting people to disclose unpaid tax voluntarily or risk greater fines if they are caught out later. Industries to be targeted in forthcoming campaigns include private tutors and coaches and those trading through e-marketplaces.
Improve your search engine presence:
If you have not visited St Albans District Business Directory, here's the link
Improve your web presence - Click here and make sure you are listed FREE on The St Albans District Business Directory.
Workspace:
There is currently one unit of 342 sq ft available at Stanta Business Centre (suitable for 3-6 people). Click on the premises tag for price details.
Don't forget to visit the St Albans shopping website: www.shopstalbans.co.uk. This initiative from St Albans Chamber of Commerce will help both shoppers and retailers. Help us make the site a success by logging on yourself and telling all your friends and contacts about the site.
Useful Sites:
Tax payment a problem? Call HMRC's business payment support line for advice: 0845 302 1435.
Finance: look at the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme on Business Link: www.businesslink.gov.uk
Looking at supplying the public sector? Click on Supply2.gov.uk.
Need Specialist Help with Legal or Financial Issues?
Surgeries are free to Community members. See below to find out how to join. Here are the key dates:
- Our next Free Legal Surgery is Wed 21st September and there will also be an October surgery. The surgery is one-to-one and is held at STANTA Business Centre provided for STANTA Community members by S A Law. Please contact us if you would like to book a slot of up to 1 hour. (Surgeries are usually held on the second Wednesday morning of each month and are booked up quickly).
- Our next Free Finance Surgery will be set based on demand. Contact us if you are interested. It will be at STANTA Business Centre, provided for us by Lloyds TSB Bank. You can talk personally on a one-to-one basis to a banker about any area of business finance.
- St Albans Credit Union – the Credit Union can provide small (up to £5,000) personal loans to STANTA clients for their business and are happy to talk to STANTA Community members at STANTA Business Centre about how to go about securing a loan from any source, and all issues around business and personal finance. By appointment.
For any of the above, call Ginny at STANTA on 01727 837760 or e-mail advice@stanta.co.uk
What Business Help would you like?
If you have not already done so, let us know by completing the online questionnaire (our thanks to those of you who have). It will only take a few minutes and we are using this to look at how we might change our services to better meet your needs.
Want to get better-connected ?
Then STANTA can help with contacts with many local networking groups, and especially the St Albans Chamber of Commerce and St Albans Business Womens' group (which is administered by STANTA’s Ginny Cooper). Events coming up:.
- Herts Business Alliance Business Breakfast: Thursday 15th September 7.30am-9.30am at Watford Football Club with David Clarke, Captain of the England Blind Football Team & Senior Partner at Clydesdale Bank.
- St Albans District Chamber and Angels Den: Tuesday 20th September at 6.30pm at St Albans Town Hall "Angels Den Business Funding Event". Details of all forthcoming events and to book on to any of their events, log on to the Chamber website: http://www.stalbans-chamber.co.uk/.
- Thursday 22nd September: St Albans Business Women's Group (SABWG) Lunch and speaker John Taylor "The Philosophy of Success" at The White Hart Hotel, Holywell Hill, St Albans. The next event thereafter is a wine-tasting at Grove House on 20th October at 6.30 p.m. For details about future events or how to join this networking group with a small annual membership cost, e-mail Ginny on: ginny@stanta.co.uk or call 01727 837760.
- St Albans Networking Cooperative is on Monday 19th September - there will be a speaker, and it is FREE. The October event is on Monday 17th. To find out more see the St Albans networking co-operative under groups on Linked-in or e-mail sabra@cercocommunications.com.
- St Albans District Chamber Networking Breakfast Wed 19th October at the Quality Inn St Albans (7.30 to 9.30 a.m.) with speaker Quintin McKellar, the new Vice Chancellor of the University of Hertfordshire. For booking details see above.
Other Events:
Federation of Small Business meet on the first Thursday of each month at the County Constitutional.
Contact Patricia Rowe on 07739 807755. E-mail: pmrowe@virginmedia.com
Don’t forget, seminars can also be networking opportunities - see Seminars section below.
- For details of other networking groups across the district, visit our website www.stanta.co.uk and click on the networking page.
Let's Talk Starting in Business
FREE business start-up and planning workshop run by STANTA in conjunction with Barclays and the National Federation of Enterprise Agencies. This is suitable for anyone who is thinking of, or has just started running their own business. These run from 9.15 am to 3.30 pm and cover the following topics:
- Sole trader vs limited company
- How to write a good business plan
- Sourcing finance
- Managing cash flow
- Taxation and VAT
- Marketing
The next Let's Talk training seminar is on Friday 30th September at Barclays Corporate, 22-24 Upper Marlborough Road, St Albans, Herts AL1 3AL Time – 9.15am for 9.30am start (concludes 3.30pm)..Contact Ginny at STANTA on 01727 837760 or e-mail advice@stanta.co.uk to book a place.
FREE Bookkeeping Course Tuesday 27th September at 9 am to 12.00 at Stanta Business Centre. Contact as above.
A wide range of FREE training courses for small businesses are available through Business Link - all details on www.bookevents.org or call 0845 601 1000. Course titles include:
Delivering Excellent Customer Service
Appraisal Skills
Presenting for Impact
Employee Engagement
Teams & how to build them
Positive communication works
Closing the Sale
PR for Virgins
An introduction to email Marketing
Internet marketing - free/low cost ways to attract more customers
How to turn your website into a customer magnet
An introduction to online selling
An introduction to pay-per-click advertising
How to make search engines love you
Employment law update
An introduction to equality and diversity
How to pitch for Finance
Understanding Finance for Business
Tendering for private sector contracts
Computer Friendly will be running low cost courses in the Autumn in St Albans & Harpenden: :
Microsoft Word
Digital Photography
Introduction to Computers
Introduction to the Internet/E mail
Family History Course
Excel
Contact them by email: courses@computerfriendlystalbans.org.uk or log on to their website: www.computerfriendlystalbans.org.uk for a full list of venues and prices.
Planning Your Financial Future - Making business ownership work (Free!)
Tuesday 18th October at Stanta Business Centre (9.30am to 12 noon).
Worried about the year end return, or handling payroll, or self-assessment? Tax doesn’t need to be taxing! And to prove it HMRC run a number of free workshops to help you get it right:
Newly Self-employed Venue Fri 9th Sept Luton Fri 23rd Sept Hemel Wed 28th Sept Stevenage Tues 11th Oct Bedford Wed 12th Oct Potters Bar Mon 17th Oct Stevenage Fri 21st Oct Luton Fri 28th Oct Milton Keynes Becoming an Employer Mon 19th Sept Watford Tues 25th Oct Hemel How VAT works Mon 26th Sept Luton Tues 27th Sept Watford Tues 18th Oct Potters Bar Business Expenses & capital allowances for the Self Employed Mon 5th Sept Stevenage Fri 23rd Sept Hemel Wed 28th Sept Bedford Wed 5th Oct Luton Tues 11th Oct Bedford Fri 28th Oct Milton Keynes
Self Assessment Online Wed 7th Sept Hemel Thurs 29th Sept Watford
Wed 19th Oct Bedford Becoming an Employer Mon 19th Sept Watford Tues 25th Oct Hemel
Call 0845 603 2691 to check dates and availability and book.
There are also workshops on International Trade, The Construction Industry Scheme, Calculating National Insurance for Directors, Paying Expenses and Benefits, Statutory Sick Pay and Statutory Payments.
How you can join the STANTA Community
Clients who bring STANTA a Business Link voucher automatically become a member of the Community for 12 months which entitles you to use the free advice service as you need it and to the other benefits of community membership.
These vouchers help fund our free service and are currently only available for businesses in their first three years of trading. As STANTA no longer receives income from any external source for any other support given, there does need to be a basic charge for others wishing to start or continue to use our advice and other services.
In order to ensure that in particular our one-to-one advice service can be available as required and not rationed, we intend to keep this to a single payment of £100 per annum for membership of the STANTA Community. And we are adding as many new benefits as we can for our members as you can see in this newsletter - free legal and financial surgeries, discounted training opportunities and low cost seminars. We will try to add other services: your feedback from our research (see “What Business Help would you like?” above) will help us decide what we offer in the future.
Stanta is an acronym for St Albans Enterprise Agency Ltd (Reg No 1789726), Stanta Services Ltd (Reg No 2202645) and St Albans Property Services Ltd (Reg No 4952442 - VAT No 842690024). All three companies are registered at Companies House Cardiff. Stanta, Suite 19 Stanta Business Centre, 3 Soothouse Spring, St Albans, Herts, AL3 6PF. Tel: 01727 837760. Registered Office: Gloucester House, 72 London Road, St Albans, Hertfordshire AL1 1NS.
This email is sent in good faith, by Stanta. We have contacted you either because you are or were a client or because your details are in a database built from data in the public domain. Stanta are committed to the professional use of all direct marketing media; you can ask to correct information on your profile or request that your details be removed. If you would prefer not to receive these e-mails in future please accept our apologies and click here to unsubscribe.