The Hub Musselburgh Edition 1

Headline:

Angela Giglio helps local kids use the summer to get ahead.

To advertise please call 0131 603 4522 www.thehub-community.com

July / August 2012

Musselburghthe centre of your community

Musselburgh

www.thehub-community.com For advertising and features call - 0131 603 4522 [email protected]


Welcome to the second edition of the Musselburgh Business Directory, which you may have notices has changed its name to: the hub musselburghThe new name reflects our desire to make The Hub a truly community based magazine whether you are in business and want to promote what you do, you’re a club or association with an event to advertise or you are one of our Local Heroes.

This issue of The Hub sees the first of our features covering local business people and heroes. Read about the work Angela Giglio is doing educating our children. There’s also a business person’s (slightly sideways) view of the Olympic Torch procession as well as the usual adverts and features from around the area.

If you do see an advert and you decide to get in touch with an advertiser it would be great if you could mention where you first saw their number.

We still want to develop The Hub further and we need your help to do it.

The Hub is all about being part of the community and we want to showcase your work. If you are a keen amateur photographer and want to showcase your work on our front cover then please get in touch.

We’ll feature a different photograph on the front cover of every edition and feature your work inside the magazine, too. The only thing we ask is that the picture is taken locally and relates to the season, time of year or a particular event.

Finally, if you want to promote an event for your club or association do get in touch with Shona and she’ll make sure we know when and where you want people to be.

Finally, finally, the next stage for us is the launch of our website a bit later in the summer. We’re looking for ideas, contributors and advertisers now so, once again, get in touch.

Happy reading

Welcome to the Hub




Business Blog by Richard Lambert

Being in business is not easy but it is sometimes very funny. Each edition we’re going to publish hints and tips for you if you are in business. If you have any advice for your fellow business people we’d love to hear from you. Just send in your ideas and we’ll do the rest… and, to say ‘thanks’ if we use the stuff you send us, you can have your next advert for free.

People Buy People First

It’s an old saying in sales that people buy people first.

It’s almost true, too. Almost, but not quite. What it should actually say is this:

People buy on emotion and justify with logic. That emotion is often whether they like the person and the logic is often affordability.

But it’s much too long-winded and so we always say people buy people first.

The thing is it works in reverse, too. People decide not to buy on emotion just as quickly.

Take my wife... please. (Okay, okay; it’s an old joke, but I thought it was worth repeating). Take my wife. She was in a car showroom looking at new cars. She was ready to be sold to and she liked the look of the car she was viewing. Bear in mind that she’d been shopping and that she was with her mum.

The only thing the sales guy had to do was ask her if she wanted a test drive and fetch the keys. Instead what he did was look her up and down and say ‘you’ll never get your messages in the back of that, love.’

Personally, I think it was the ‘love’ on the end of the sentence that really did for him.

My wife (who was ready to buy and wanted that Honda) marched out of the showroom and into the garage next door and bought a different car… not particularly because she wanted one, but mostly to naff off the salesman in the first garage.

All of this goes to show a couple of things:

1.Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned

2.First impressions count in sales

3.It’s easy to muck it up if you’re not ultra-careful

Personally, I could see what the bloke was trying to say. He was making a light-hearted joke, notwithstanding the fact that it was a bonehead thing to say, at the same time as trying not to be too pushy.


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Business Blog by Richard Lambert

But then, I’m not my wife and neither is he. I think I know what the guy would say if he reads this article. He would say something like, ‘well, it was just a joke and it wouldnae upset me.’

That’s just the point, though. The least important person

in the sales process is the sales person. It doesn’t matter whether the comment would upset him, just as it doesn’t matter if he doesn’t like pushy sales people or whether he thinks the car is a bit pricey.

It only matters what the

customer thinks and if the customer wants to be sold to then that’s what you have to do.

However, take some time to gauge the customer before you make a comment like he did. I think he was fairly lucky to escape with just a lost sale…




Local Hero

A qualified and experienced teacher, opened the Kip McGrath Education Centre in March 2010 with one aim in mind: to help every child be the very best they can be at school.

Two successful years later results and recommendations are quickly helping the centre to support an ever growing number of children in Maths, English and Modern

“ We all know our school days help to shape the people we are. ”

Languages. It was Angela’s passion for education that made her an easy choice for our first ‘Local Hero’.

“We all know that our school days help to shape the people we are,” says Angela. “Our experience of learning stays with us forever.” Angela is a champion of life-long learning. She believes that presented with the correct approach everyone can learn successfully, regardless of age. Angela believes, no matter what we chose to do in life, we should all leave school with a decent understanding of English, maths and at least one

foreign language.

“Being able to read gives us access not just to information but to literature, culture and enjoyment. It opens up new horizons, allowing us to explore talents and achieve our deepest aspirations in later life.”

As an experienced teacher and former Head of Department, Angela realised that far too many children were being left behind at school; often making them unhappy. Angela is a mum herself and understands just how painful it is for parents to see their child struggle at school. Giving parents hope and peace of mind is high on the Kip agenda.

“I wanted to reverse that trend of being unhappy at school”, she explains, “So I decided to open up my

Local Hero, Angela Giglio helps local kids use the summer to get ahead.


Local Hero

Centre to help as many children as possible build a brighter future.”

At this point a light comes into Angela’s eyes as she begins to explain more about the Centre and how they help children.

“The resources we have are second to none and get tremendous results for our students”, she says. “We have invested heavily in the best technology and resources to provide a purpose-built facility where learning is effective, fun and motivational.”

“I wanted to reverse that trend of being unhappy at school”

But it’s when Angela starts on her favourite subject – her students – that things really liven up.

“When I see the smiles on the children’s faces as

To nominate your local hero to appear in the next edition please call or email your details to:

0131 603 4522 [email protected]

they tell me that they’ve moved up a group at school or that their teacher has noticed a big improvement, it makes every penny of our re-investment worthwhile! Our Kip students are wonderful and we are so proud of all their achievements!”

Kip McGrath is located next to Luca’s on the High Street and offer free assessments as well as Summer School to keep brains active over the holidays.




Q: I read a story about a woman who had not checked the VAT number of one of her foreign customers. When she informed HMRC that the customer’s VAT number was invalid, they raised an assessment against her and charged her penalties. How do I avoid this happening to me?

A: It is important that you check the VAT number of your EU-based customers, as fraudsters are creating false or hijacking VAT numbers. Furthermore, HMRC may issue you with an assessment and misdeclaration penalties if you have incorrectly zero-rated a sale; which is what happened with the case you mentioned.

You can check VAT numbers by calling the HMRC helpline on 0845 010 9000.

Alternatively, there is an EU VAT number checker online. However, this database is only updated every month. Plus, the results simply tell you whether the VAT number is valid- it does not necessarily tell you who the VAT number belongs to.

Calling HMRC is preferable, because they can check the number given agrees to the business name and their data should be more current.

Dealing with foreign sales and purchases can be a complex area and I would encourage you to seek the advice of your local TaxAssist Accountant.

Q: I am a contractor and have been concern about the IR35 regulations for as long as I can remember. I recently took HMRC’s so-

called Business Entity Tests and came out ‘low-risk’. Is this the end of the story?

A: No, I’m afraid not. If you read the small print of the Business Entity Tests, HMRC state that the result of the tests are not binding.

Firstly, the tests are only designed to gauge the risk that HMRC might check whether IR35 applies to you. The tests look at how your business works overall; they do not check each individual engagement/ contract you have.

Furthermore, clearly the tests cannot cover every scenario and each case would need to be considered on its own facts.

If you are concerned that IR35 may apply to you, please speak with your local TaxAssist Accountant.

Tax Advice - Questions & Answerswith Alasdair McLean, your local tax and accountancy specialist.


Q: I’ve paid an employee statutory sick pay as he’s been off for two weeks and it looks like it’s going to last a bit longer. However now he wants to take some of it as annual leave, because he’s struggling to make ends meet on just his sick pay. Do I have to agree this as I have already run payroll, paid him and printed his payslip?

A: No, you are under no obligation to do what he’s asked. Employees have a right to request annual leave but you do not have to agree to the request. If an employee becomes sick during a period of annual leave, they have the right to have it converted to sickness rather than holiday; but not vice versa.

You might want to agree a request for leave for a period of time in the future though. This would solve your employee’s cash flow problems and mean that

you aren’t faced with a large amount of leave to fit in when he returns.

If you would like to discuss this further, please feel free to contact your local TaxAssist Accountant.

Q: I have my own business and the car I use for business trips is held outside of the business. What am I allowed to claim as a mileage allowance and what are the VAT implications?

A: HMRC sets ‘allowable’ Mileage Allowance Payments (MAPs). Currently, for cars and vans the MAPs are:

• 45p per mile for the first 10,000 miles in a tax year

• 25p per mile for mileage in excess of 10,000 miles in a tax year

• 5p per mile for any passengers

You must keep records of all business mileage and VAT receipts for your fuel costs. Any mileage claimed in excess of the HMRC rate will be classified as a benefit and must be included on a P11D form.The MAPs are intended to cover all the running costs of the vehicle. As a result, only some of it is VATable and this is calculated based on the Advisory Fuel Rate for your vehicle, which can be found on HMRC’s website.

The structure of your motor expenses can lead to a number of difference tax consequences, so you should be advised to seek professional advice from your local TaxAssist Accountant if you are doing significant mileage.

Disclaimer – advice shared in this column is intended to inform rather than advise and is based on legislation and practice at the time. Taxpayer’s circumstances do vary and if you feel that the information provided is beneficial it is important that you contact us before implementation. If you take, or do not take action as a result of reading this column, before receiving our written endorsement, we will accept no responsibility for any financial loss incurred.






Seeing the Olympic FlameThe Olympic Flame passed through town recently and I made the effort to go and see it.To be honest, I wasn’t fussed and almost couldn’t really be bothered. But I’m very, very glad I did. After all the Olympics will never be in the UK again in my lifetime and this was a one off chance to witness something that is a pretty rare occurrence.

Of course it was great to see the flame pass through the town, although it went by pretty quickly. It was good to cheer on the flame carrier, to see the procession, admire all the liveried up vehicles and wonder why the police escort runners were scanning the crowd so closely. But that wasn’t the main reason I was so happy that I made the effort.

No, it was the fact that I felt part of something that was bringing people together. I know it sounds corny but I really did think about what the flame meant, both as a symbol of the Olympics but also in terms of making people (well, me at least) think about what it represented. The runner I saw, and I don’t even know

her name, looked so proud to be carrying the flame, so happy in what she was doing it literally brought a lump to my throat… and I’m not even like that.

There was a spin off, too, that I hadn’t really thought about. As the crowd dispersed they went into the shops, cafes and other businesses around town and they must have seen an upturn in business on the torch day.

I’ve always been a bit anti getting involved in these things but I’m going to change my view point. In future, if there are ‘events’

happening in town I’m going to make the effort to attend. Right now I don’t think I do enough of that sort of thing – but the Olympic Flame has changed all that for. And to think… I wasn’t going to bother.

If you have any events you’d like us to promote, let us know when they are. You might also like to send us a bit more detailed information, especially if your event is, say, supporting a charity or is a regular, community gathering and we’ll try our best to spotlight it for you.




Colin Beattie MSP Midlothian North and Musselburgh

Surgeries

Musselburgh Musselburgh First Monday of the Month Second Tuesday of Every Other Month 6:00pm 10:00am Brunton Hall Tesco Musselburgh Ladywell Way Olive Bank Road Musselburgh Musselburgh EH21 6AA EH21 7BL Dalkeith Loanhead Last Monday of the Month Second Tuesday of Every Other Month 9:30am 10:00am Dalkeith Library ASDA Straiton 2 White Hart Street A701 Dalkeith Loanhead EH22 1AE EH20 9AY

For information on local surgeries please contact 0131 348 6374 or 0131 454 0204.




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The Hub Musselburgh Edition 1