Dates for your Diary

April1st Easter Monday8th RTI officially starts11th International Pet Day12th Pink Link Furness - Abbey House18th The Business Network19th Payment to HMRC19th CIS Submission Due

May4th Star Wars Day6th Bank Holiday Monday16th The Business Network17th Pink Link Ladies Furness19th Payment to HMRC19th CIS Submission Due27th Bank Holiday Monday

Giving you the heads up...

Monthly Newsletter of TI Payroll & Accounting April 2013, Edition 13

TIP the WinkTIP the Wink

Marketing TipNewsletters: How many of you enjoy my newsletters? How many of you send out your own to your clients? Having a newsletter is the single most effective way of creating a relationship between you and your clients.

Follow us on twitter @tr4cyirwin Find us on

Tweeter of the MonthSt. Mary’s Dalton@daltonstmary

Christmas capital of Furness

Dalton in Furness, Cumbria

http://www.daltonstmary.co.uk

As it’s Easter I thought I would look at someoneappropriate for this festive time. I believe our localchurch may be one of the most up to date with itsmodern technology as not only does it have its ownwebsite - it also has its own twitter feed.

This is a great twitter feed to follow, especially around Christmas time as Dalton-in-Furness is theChristmas Capital of Furness with its Christmas TreeFestival and real camels at its light switch-on.

Welcome to April’s Newsletter

I hope you all had a great Easterbreak, the weather may havebeen cold but the Sun shone allweekend. As you will probablyhave heard by now – WE’VEMOVED!!! In fact it has taken usthe entire long weekend. Also, Ican’t quite believe it, but we arecelebrating “Tip the Wink’s” firstbirthday this month. I have reallyenjoyed preparing thesenewsletters and I love lookingback on everything that hashappened over the past year.

For those who knew me this timelast year you will remember that Iwas in the run up to “TheWedding” at this time. Anyonewho is married will know what astressful time it is, however, the

stress of organising our wedding was nothing compared to the stress I’vefelt moving the business this month.

With having such a tight schedule between getting the keys to the newoffices and having to move from our old offices you can imagine I had toring in a few tradesman and office suppliers. While organising everythingfor the new office I was astounded (and frustrated) at how many peopledo not answer their phones. Do these people really have enough work to keep them going that they do not need to answer the phone to new clients?

I think this is a very important lesson to any business, is your phone gettinganswered each and every time it rings? If not you ARE losing customers.When I rang carpet fitters for instance as I had the number for fivecompanies, do you really think I rang the two back that didn’t answer whenI initially dialled? Heck no, I was too busy on to the next job.

You don’t have to be available to answer your own phone if you are busy“working” during the day, there are lots of cost effective answering

Continued overleaf

TI Payroll helps Louise tomake more dough out ofher dog bakery businessLouise Sutherland runs a bakery with a difference. When hercustomers are not out chasing sticks, they enjoy fine food andcompany. Black Dog bakery makes artisan food items fordogs – healthy, wholesome treats that might even make theirowners jealous!

The ‘tail’ of this business began when Louise started makingliver fudge for her own Labrador Dougal. Other dog ownerscaught the scent of these treats and started to ask Louisewhere they could get them from. Louise sniffed a feasiblebusiness venture as a result, and began supplying them on awider scale by starting her own bakery business.

Previously, Louise was a dog photographer. So what were themajor differences between that and her current bakerybusiness? In photography, Louise adapted to her clients’individual needs. But with the dog bakery, she’s found thatmarketing the quality of her products is crucial to success.

Louise adapted to having a retail business by ‘learning thedifference between producing stock to sell and providing aservice’. She found that ‘putting procedures and strategiesinto place correctly’ helped to ensure the success of thebusiness.

Louise does more than just give a dog a bone – she providesculinary treats for her customers’ four-legged friends. She’shappy to make items to order in case of special dietary needs,so every dog can have its day of food heaven (and morebesides). These treats are also multi-purpose – customershave said how great they are for reward-based training – surelya recipe for success!

Louise’s range of products is impressive – from liver fudge tobanana and honey biscuits and peanut butter and bananamuffins – nothing is too much trouble. All this is enough toremind any dog why they’re man’s (or woman’s!) best friend.As an artisan baker for dogs, Louise offers a range of tastytreats to satisfy even the most discerning dog palate. Hercanine customers don’t even need to fetch these treats, as

they’re delivered right to their door. What more could a dogask for? Louise certainly gets many barks of approval from hercanine customers (and their owners) for these tasty treats.

Louise wants one day to run a café, which she says ‘will bringsthe Black Dog Bakery to life’. Dogs could bring their owners(!)to enjoy the treats and socialise with like-minded people. Ifnothing else, it will certainly sets tails wagging!

One of the most rewarding parts of her business is to see thepleasure that owners get from giving their dogs these treats.It also gives Louise the chance to donate some of her profitsto animal charities.

In these financially ‘ruff’ times, is the economic outlook enoughto make her howl with frustration? No, Louise advises peoplenot to listen to the media doom and gloom. She reckons thatthe mindset of the small business is central to whether itsucceeds or not.

When Louise gets some spare time, she enjoys walking andplaying with her dog, and travelling.

TI Payroll’s support meant that starting a business was not adog’s life for Louise. She particularly appreciated Tracy’spragmatic approach to testing whether the business could beviable. Louise valued how Tracy was able to bring an expert,outside perspective on her initial ideas.

The help that TI Payroll gave Louise really put the icing on thecake for her. Tracy’s advice and support meant that Louisedidn’t feel like a ‘lone wolf’. Above all, Louise found that Tracywas ‘a pleasure to work with’. If you are starting a smallbusiness, or need help with accounting or payroll, don’t feel‘hounded’. Talk to Tracy for some professional friendly advice.

Business of the Month

services/virtual assistants that not only take messages for youbut also gives the impression that your business is larger thanjust you. This can only be a good thing surely ….

Well, all the stress has been worth it as TI Payroll andAccounting is now established in it’s new home. We are nowat 73 Buccleuch Street, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria LA141QQ (right opposite Santa Marina for fans of takeaway) and wehave a new number 01229 813388. So please can you changeour details on your systems and phones.

Thanks as always to Lorraine at Powder and Paint for my photothis month, she has been great for the past year coming up withideas for my newsletter photos, let’s hope there are many moreto come and you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoypreparing them.

Have a great month.

Tracy x

Our client base is mainly small and medium sized businesses

and as a Human Resources Consultant, one of things that

makes me weep at times is the inadequacy of or complete

absence of Contracts of Employment.

An Employer must issue a Statutory Written Statement of

Terms within 2 months’ of an Employee starting work with

them.

The contents must include names of the Employer and

Employee and their respective addresses, normal place of

work or locations for the Employee, date employment started

and date of continuous employment, job title and a brief job

description, pay and payment method and frequency of the

payment, hours of work, holiday entitlement, sick leave and

sickness payment, pension and pension scheme

arrangements, entitlement to notice period from both

Employer and Employee, if the contract is negotiated through

a collective agreement, type of contract, what the company’s

grievance procedure is - and who to go to if the Employee

has a grievance.

A Contract of Employment does not need to be in writing,

however, as a business owner, your priority is to protect the

business and to be fair and reasonable in your work

practices with your employees.

Although you cannot put everything in writing, as a rule if it

isn’t written down and issued to your employees, it could be

a costly oversight or a potential business failure by becoming

regarded as 'custom and practice' - which then automatically

becomes an element of a contract of employment.

The Contract of Employment is more than the Written

Statement of Terms, as it gives you, the Business Owner, the

facility to state clearly elements of your business that need

protection under the employment legislation.

Some of the areas that you should think of covering in your

Contracts of Employment over and above the Statutory

Written Terms are probationary period, review of

performance, data protection, anti competition, conflict of

interest, intellectual property rights, anti bribery and

disciplinary and grievance procedure.

A final thought for you, are you in breach of the law in anyway? Well, if you are, then ultimately it will affect yourbottom line....

Bina BriggsPlain Talking HR Limited

t. 01582 488410 m. 07739 549234

e. bina@plaintalkinghr.com w.www.plaintalkinghr.com

t. http://twitter.com/PlainTalkingHR

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Why Do Employers Need to Issue

Contracts of Employment?

Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t,

you’re right!

Henry Ford

Business Quote

“”

I found them pleasant, professional and ready to help and explain any queries I had.

George ParkPark UPVC Windows Limited

If you would like to receive this newsletter posted direct to you on a monthly basis please visit

www.subscribe.tipayroll.co.uk and fill in the online form,

or ring Tracy on01229 490343

payroll administration

bookkeeping services

construction industry

scheme

self employed limited

companies

tax returns

SAGE training

bespoke social media

training

secretarial services

TI Payroll and Accounting

73 Buccleuch Street

Barrow-in-Furness

Cumbria

LA14 1QQ

tel. 01229 813388

email. tracy@tipayroll.co.uk

web. www.tipayroll.co.uk

“”