Starting Out
Choosing a structure is mostly a decision about who is liable
Two quite different questions hide inside the choice of legal form, and only one of them is about tax.
· 3 min read
Hannah Whitfield
Senior writer, Biz Wealth Focus
Hannah covers starting out, pricing, cash flow and the questions readers actually send in and prefers a plain explanation to a clever one.
14 articles
Pricing
Raising prices on people who already pay you is a different problem
A new price tested on strangers costs you a lost quote if it is wrong; the same rise applied to an…
· 3 min read
Cash Flow
A profitable business can still run out of money
Profit and cash are two different measurements taken at two different moments, and the gap between them is…
· 4 min read
Cash Flow
A deposit changes who is carrying the project
Money taken before work begins does more than improve the bank balance — it moves commitment, filters…
· 4 min read
Cash Flow
A quiet month was visible three months earlier
Gaps in income are almost always preceded by gaps in the pipeline, and the delay between the two is what…
· 3 min read
Clients
Ending a client relationship is a business decision, not a failure
The arithmetic on a client who costs more than they pay is usually clear, and the reluctance to act on it…
· 3 min read
The Admin
What records you keep, and why the reason matters more than the list
Record-keeping obligations differ by country but they exist to answer the same three questions, and…
· 4 min read
The Admin
An invoice has one job and most of it is being easy to pay
The document that asks for money is usually treated as a formality, and small details in it decide how…
· 4 min read
The Admin
Taking on your first help changes what you are responsible for
Engaging somebody to work with you introduces a set of obligations that depend on how the relationship is…
· 4 min read
Starting Out
Buying a very small business means buying a set of assumptions
Taking over something that already trades removes the hardest part of starting and replaces it with a…
· 3 min read
Starting Out
Two people starting one business need to write down the awkward things
Partnerships between people who trust each other fail on the questions nobody wanted to raise at the…
· 3 min read
Starting Out
Turning something you enjoy into something you sell changes the thing
A hobby that becomes a business acquires deadlines, customers and a great deal of repetition, and the…
· 3 min read
Cash Flow
The costs that keep arriving when the work stops
Every business has a level of spending that continues whether or not anybody is buying, and the size of it…
· 3 min read
Clients
Taking time off when the business is one person
A holiday from a business of one is a scheduling problem, a cash problem and a client problem at the same…
· 3 min read