r/smallbusinessuk

Hey folks, I started a business about 2-3 years ago, my mobile number is the number for the business on Website, Google etc.

Now we have a few employees on board and may soon have a receptionist/ admin person available at a desk 24-7.

Ideally then we would have a central number as first point of contact for the company.

What is the cheapest and best way to go about this? Any new number would ideally be a landline number and have the capability to transfer calls to us on mobile.

Alternatively there are calls handling services - might they represent better value/convenience?

Many thanks

I have the opportunity to buy a bridalwear boutique local to me. They are unfortunately needing to close due to ill health, so are willing to sell me the premises, business and stock for remarkably cheap. I am meeting with them this week to view the premises and ask some questions. They have been open for 7 years and target the plus size market so they don't have lots of local competition.

I would absolutely love to go ahead with this, but im aware I need to keep my feet on the ground and be smart. I currently work full time and earn roughly £26k a year so I dont want to give up stable income to chase a dream. Im planning to ask what the current owners pay themselves, as well as their turnover and profit. After that im not too sure what I should be asking about.

Are there any questions I need to be asking before diving into this opportunity? Is there anything I won't be thinking about as I haven't owned my own business before? Any comments and help would be really appreciated.

I am a sole trader (with aims to eventually register as a limited company as I grow), I run by business from home so my address is visible on client and customer receipts and invoices. I also plan to buy a domain and google workspace membership, and when I previously bought a domain and Google workspace membership for a different reason, I started getting lots cold/spam calls and that made me realise that truly all my personal details are on the internet and I’m not sure if I feel comfortable with that.

Would any of those services be useful at this stage? And what are your experiences with these services as business owners.

Additional context: I run my business ‘anonymously’. I work personally with clients and they do not see me or meet me. I operate under an ‘alias’ but my real name is on invoices and things. I added this because of the anonymity/privacy aspect. But I’m growing in following on social media and my worry is that if they search up my address they would find out other personal details through where I live - and If possible simply for anonymity reasons, I would like everything to remain as private as can be.

EDIT: further clarity.

Hoping someone can offer advice.

I’m a start up e-commerce hoping to sell candles, incense etc.

I came across a small MOQ candle manufacture who initially I thought were based in the UK but are actually based in Ireland. Anyway didn’t think it would be a massive issue other than having to pay tax upon importing the candles.

I first contacted them in May and advised that I needed the candles before August preferably. I wanted a unique scent for one of the candles so that delayed the process a bit. At the point no contract was signed but I believed based on the email exchange, we had entered a contract. I paid a 50% deposit to “book the candles in for production”.

August comes and I’m told an end of August production and dispatch is possible provided I approve the artwork within the week. I did so immediately. I still hear nothing after that so I reach out end of August and I’m told 2nd week in September. It wasn’t ideal as I wanted a seasonal launch. I agree and then the start of that week, I contact them again and I’m told it will be end of September.

At this point, I’m upset and request to cancel. I’m told I can’t cancel as the contract states it’s not possible to as they are bespoke candles. Again, there was no physical contract or signatures exchanged etc. On the sales order where I was to pay 50% upfront, there was a link to their T&C’s which didn’t work as the page does not exist on their website. In order to avoid a dispute, I then say if I can get them before the end of September then I’ll accept them and pay the balance.

To cut a long story short, I’ve received the candles however some arrived broken (I received a credit for this), the inside of the candle boxes are all stained because of the candle jars and there’s wax all over the jars.

These were meant to be premium candles charged at a premium price. I’m not sure I can still sell them at the price I want to because of the staining and I will have to spend this week cleaning over 200 candles to make them sellable.

It was a lot of back and forth with the manufacturer and I paid them the balance to be done with them but I am so frustrated. I’m new to business so this has been a really negative experience.

What recourse can I get if any? Do I just take my loss and move on?

I want to preface this by saying I am NOT selling anything nor do I want someone to try and sell me some new AI-powered holiday manager. If you DM me trying to sell something I will block you.

Back to being nice now. Basically, we're still using physical holiday request forms for staff to request days off and an old school calendar in the office to store this information. It works but sometimes I want to get ahead and do rotas at home and can't because the diary is at work. Also rarely a form will get lost which obviously isn't good. We've also just opened second location so I can only imagine it's going to get more complicated.

I was thinking of creating a shared google calendar that employees can add suggest holidays but not actually edit the rota. But this will be a completely new to us so I wanted to see how others did it.

Thanks in advance

Currently in my third year of uni and looking to start my own videography company within the yachting niche. I've worked with clients in other genres but the maritime space is new to me.

I have a part-time job though they want me working less and less hours to cut costs, and with a degree I'm not enjoying, I want to try and set myself up with something before I graduate.

I have 1.5k from my savings and student overdraft and am looking to invest in my business. Primarily for a drone which will set me back over 1k though I'd like to leave myself a buffer.

I've looked at government schemes and the startup scheme has stood out to me, particularly for the fixed 7.5% APR and mentorship. Though I'm not sure if this would be relevant or needed in my circumstances. I'm confident I can perform well in this niche.

Any experiences from you guys?

Hello everyone, I am currently looking for a NFC menu but every single offer I get I feel I am getting scammed. Is there any real provider out there? I am based in the Gloucester area.

Hey all, new joiner here. Ive been playing about in my free time developing android apps. Ive been wanting to get a small portfolio before launching.

I feel that time is getting close and wanted to protect my family assets through a LTD. What are your thoughts of the company address, if I shoild use my family home or spend money from a hobby business to have a virtual office address?

Thanks in advance

Hi, I am going through meta business portfolio verification, they are asking for a way to verify that my phone number and business name appears on the same page (invoice, utility bill) I dont want to buy landline since it does not support otp and SMS which I need.. how can I do this.. Can I buy regular esim online and make billing address to my company address so it appears on the same document? Any insight would be appreciated.

Hello, I am currently researching the best business suite package for a company of 5 people. We are currently using google but have apps like Zoom, Slack and even Sage that we would ideally love to come under the same suite package. However we are also looking at what is environmentally and ethically the best too.

I’ve been looking at Zoho or Infomaniak as alternatives but I am finding it quite hard to compare directly against Google as all their language is in tech jargon. Any suggestions, recommendations, or even experiences good or bad would be appreciated.

Thanks!

I’ve run my business - small scale construction, 8 to 10 staff - for decades, after joining the family business at 17.

I enjoy it (most of the time), I’m ok at it, and I feel totally up to it at 56, both mentally and physically. However I’d like to go on to 70 , and I see people saying that working to 70 just isn’t doable. Is the gap between 56 and 70 really that dramatic?

My 19yo son is involved, and is great, but he wants to pursue a different career and so will probably leave in a year or two. Running the business is very much in my hands.

I’ve set my financial plans to that date, 14 years hence, and I’d like to see it through. Retirement, particularly enforced retirement, doesn’t hold any allure for me.

Any advice or experience welcome.

so i am running a small service business and I’ve recently sat down and worked out what I’m actually earning per hour once I include all the stuff that doesn’t go on the invoice like emails, calls, admin, revisions, chasing payments etc.

It’s honestly quite depressing like when I first started, I deliberately kept my prices fairly low because I needed to get some clients and build up a reputation. That worked, and I’ve now got a decent amount of repeat work, the problem is that I’m pretty sure I’ve never properly increased my prices since then.

I’m worried that if I suddenly increase them by a decent amount, I’ll annoy my existing clients or lose some of them but carrying on at the current rate doesn’t really make sense either.
For anyone who has been in this position, how did you handle increasing your prices with existing customers?

Did you increase gradually, do it all at once or just accept your date that you might lose some clients?

Evening guys.

We are trying to open a business bank account since the day we incorporated our business on Companies House, which comes to 2 years ago nearly.

Firstly, we got rejected with no reason given. We said it might be due to the overdraft we used at the time, so we said, let's clear that out and we'll try again in 3-4 months. Tried. Nothing.

Mettle, Anna Money, Revolut, Tide, HSBC, LLoyds, Starling and Monzo.

Nothing bad on the credit files.

They all say the same thing : We are truly sorry, but after careful consideration we decided not to proceed with opening an account at this time.

It's a bloody cleaning company. Domestic and Commercial. Nothing special.

Has anyone encountered anything like this? Could this be a filter out for foreign names?(We're not British yet but have Settled Status)

Have a website about 85-90% finished, business bank account, companies house registered, Professional Indemnity Insurance, Business and client t&c, privacy policy. Am I missing anything else?

Just for context I'm currently a customer for banking with the NatWest, 1 personal account and 2 limited company bank accounts.

Now for my first business is trades based so my options for customers for payments are.. payment over the phone, I've got a terminal so tap and pay/ card in and enter pin..

My second business is an online business with business educational access products which runs purely on stripe..

so it was ridiculously easy to register for stripe I thought well I'd rather business 1 have the same features just with the NatWest rather than stripe so it ties together..way easier for customers to pay by secure link for my trades business. So called NatWest and asked if I could have the 3D secure link package added on as I'm an existing customer and already have a separate account for taking payments.

Got sent a bleeding questionnaire.. with the exact same questions as when I opened the account to get the terminal set up.. phoned the NatWest up and asked why I need to fill the same form out when stripe takes literally minutes.. why is it so difficult

Hi all

I’m a credit controller and have built a small SaaS for automation, recording and basically keeping on top of things and audit trails. With AI of course!

You get my drift.

I haven’t shared as it’s against the rules.

What I’m looking for is a marketing plan! I have started a small google ads test, but that’s only one channel. I am registering with QuickBooks market place & will register with xero once I have 10 users connected to xero.

I do freelance credit control and have built a software to compliment it. Done all my security and compliance stuff, so the software is secure. I’ve put the wheels in motion now for iso 27001 & Google CASA security check, so I work by those standards.

Should I find a professional to build me a marketing plan?

Thanks