Dear Members,

I know that 2021 has been another difficult year for business owners in the UK, and with Omicron on the rise, it is likely going to be another stressful time in 2022.

I wish you all the very best for 2022, and I hope that these variants prove to be a storm in a teacup, and things get back to some sort of normality, very soon!

Posted by The Staff at the NSBO Office:

Join Us FREE, Click the Link Below!
NSBO, Charter House, 33 Fore Street, Cullompton, EX15 1JS, Devon
https://www.nsbo.org.uk/join-free.html

Posted by The Staff at the NSBO Office:

Join Us FREE, Click the Link Below!
NSBO, Charter House, 33 Fore Street, Cullompton, EX15 1JS, Devon
https://www.nsbo.org.uk/join-free.html

Posted by The Staff at the NSBO Office:

Join Us FREE, Click the Link Below!
NSBO, Charter House, 33 Fore Street, Cullompton, EX15 1JS, Devon
https://www.nsbo.org.uk/join-free.html

Four female founders from our 10,000 Small Businesses UK programme discuss what it’s like to run a business, how they maintain work-life balance, and their advice to others considering starting their own business. Goldman Sachs

Posted by The Staff at the NSBO Office:

NSBO, Charter House, 33 Fore Street, Cullompton, EX15 1JS, Devon
https://www.nsbo.org.uk

1) Jeff Bezos - Amazon - 0:00
2) Steve Jobs - Apple - 0:12
3) Pierre Omidyar - eBay - 0:33
4) Michael Dell - Dell - 0:59
5) Sergey Brin - Google 1:16
6) Biz Stone - Twitter 1:35
7) Gary Vaynerchuk - Wine Library 1:50
8) Daniel Ek - Spotify - 1:58
9) Kevin Rose - Digg, Tiiny - 2:29
10) James Altucher - 'Choose Yourself' - 2:55
11) Robert Greene - 'Mastery' - 3:21
12) Guy Kawasaki - Apple - 3:35
13) Steve Wozniak - Apple - 4:06
14) Mark Cuban - Broadcast - 4:26
15) Sam Altman - Loopt - 5:01
16) Tony Fadell - Nest - 5:12
17) Danae Ringelmann -Indiegogo - 5:26
18) Simon Sinek - 'Start With Why' - 5:46
19) Seth Godin - Marketing guru - 6:25
20) Evan Williams - Blogger, Twitter, Medium - 6:52
21) Reid Hoffman - LinkedIn - 7:13
22) Jack Dorsey - Twitter, Square - 7:45
23) Kevin Systrom - Instagram - 8:08
24) Drew Houston - DropBox - 8:34
25) Brian Chesky - Airbnb - 8:53
26) Peter Thiel - PayPal - 9:04
27) Elon Musk - Tesla, SpaceX - 9:14
28) Alan Schaaf - Imgur - 9:36
29) Chris Sacca - Baller Investor - 9:56
30) Paul Graham - Y Combinator - 10:18
31) Dennis Crowley - foursquare - 10:40
32) Eric Ries - The Lean Startup - 11:11
33) Leah Busque - TaskRabbit - 11:25
34) Anthony Casalena - Squarespace - 11:44
35) Alexis Ohanian - Reddit, Hipmunk - 12:03
36) Jason Fried, Basecamp - 12:21
37) Palmer Luckey - Oculus Rift - 12:42
38) Kamal Ravikant - AngelList - 12:52
39) Ben Silbermann - Pinterest - 13:19
40) Tony Hsieh - Zappos - 13:43
41) Andrew Mason - Groupon - 14:14
42) Richard Branson - Virgin - 14:39
43) Andrew Ljung - Soundcloud - 15:08
44) Justin Kan - Justin.tv - 15:30
45) Jessica Livingston - Y Combinator - 15:59
46) Mark Zuckerberg - Facebook - 16:14
47)  Marc Andreessen - Andreessen Horowitz - 16:15
48) Dustin Moskovitz - Facebook - 17:22
49) Tim Ferriss - 4 Hour Work Week - 17:47
50) Emmett Shear - Twitch - 18:24

Posted by The Staff at the NSBO Office:

NSBO, Charter House, 33 Fore Street, Cullompton, EX15 1JS, Devon
https://www.nsbo.org.uk

I'm going to give you some of the best startup business ideas for 2021 and more importantly how to find small business ideas that work for you.
Having a business should be fun and exciting right? That's why want to show you some simple strategies for finding business ideas that you'll love. In this video, I'm also going to show you how to get clients before you've even started your business so that you can tell if your startup business idea is going to be a success or not. ... and finally, I'm going to tell you the best UK business ideas for 2021 by looking at recent trends. Ross Welch

Posted by The Staff at the NSBO Office:

NSBO, Charter House, 33 Fore Street, Cullompton, EX15 1JS, Devon
https://www.nsbo.org.uk

Posted by The Staff at the NSBO Office:

NSBO, Charter House, 33 Fore Street, Cullompton, EX15 1JS, Devon
https://www.nsbo.org.uk

Posted by the NSBO office
https://www.nsbo.org.uk

Ever feel like your boss just doesn't understand you? That's because they don't—and that's especially true when it comes to flexible working.
Future Forum, a research group backed by Slack, runs its quarterly “Pulse” survey of 10,000 knowledge workers alongside focus groups with their bosses across six countries, including the US and UK. For the latest iteration, the Pulse study focused on the lockdown-imposed home-working experiment and the slow return to the office—and it'll come as no surprise to find out that management are rather more keen to see staff at their desks than leave them working from home.
The study showed that executives are more than twice as likely to want to get back to the office full time—every single working day, just like in the “before times”—than their employees, with 44 percent of executives longing for their commutes and fluorescent lighting versus 17 percent of their staff. Some bosses are willing to offer a bit of flexibility, with two-thirds of execs saying they want to work in the office most of the time or all of the time.
But staff—or, as the survey identifies them, “non-executive” knowledge workers—don't agree. More than three-quarters (76 percent) said they want flexibility in whether they work from home or the office, and even more, 93 percent, want flexibility in when they work.

It is an interesting report, and worth a read!

 This information was posted by the staff at the NSBO Office
https://www.nsbo.org.uk

If you’re like a lot of managers and leaders out there looking to motivate staff members, the following scenario should sound eerily familiar:

You finally have your dream team in place. You’ve hired selectively, waiting for just the right fit for each role. These are people with stellar backgrounds and proven track records of success. On paper, these individuals are poised to contribute to your culture and help take your department – and your business – to the next level.

how to motivate employees

If you’re like a lot of managers and leaders out there looking to motivate staff members, the following scenario should sound eerily familiar:

You finally have your dream team in place. You’ve hired selectively, waiting for just the right fit for each role. These are people with stellar backgrounds and proven track records of success. On paper, these individuals are poised to contribute to your culture and help take your department – and your business – to the next level.

To their credit, your team started strong. They came out the gate with fresh ideas and energy.

But lately… not so much.

These days your team seems to be fine going through the motions. That star performer who put up those crazy numbers in her first three months? She’s hit a plateau, and lately her work product has the telltales signs of complacency – sloppiness, surface-level analysis, and an overall lack of creativity.

The frustrating thing is you know how great they can be. You’ve seen them at their best, but for the moment, the spark seems to have gone out

The good news? This is an entirely fixable problem.

Before you decide to clean house (a terrible idea!), remember that there are proven ways you can reignite that spark you once saw in your team.

We’ve talked to employee motivation and engagement experts to narrow down the 23 best tips to motivate your people and elevate their performance to optimal levels once again.

1. Recognize a Job Well Done

How will recognition motivate my employees? Managers and HR pros may be on the fence about incorporating recognition programs at their companies, but here’s why it’s a great idea.

Recognition creates an emotional connection between employer and employee – a critical piece of employee engagement – and fulfills employees’ basic needs of esteem and belonging within a group.

Our friends at Bonusly, an employee recognition software, suggest using spot bonuses as they’re a simple and effective way to recognize and reward positive behavior.

If you’re new to spot bonuses, it’s a type of “on the spot” bonus where you provide your employees with a reward to show them an appreciation for their hard work. Rewards can be cash, gift cards, or money toward their Lifestyle Spending Accounts.

Because these are given “on the spot,” it helps employees to easily identify what behavior is appreciated by the organization and motivates them to work harder and to build upon these values.

People often ask, what makes great firms stand out from the crowd; what differentiates them from the competition?

The answer is as simple as it is complex – great customer service.

Now more than ever before ALL businesses need to ensure they have happy, helpful and professional people working with their customers. There is so much competition out there, and people only got back or refer to when they feel they have received a premium service.

To encapsulate how we should and do interact with our customers I have launched a special charter. It’s the 18 points “Golden Rules of Great Customer”.

1. Listen to our customers & clients
It’s our duty to understand what customers need and there’s only one way to achieve that: by listening and understanding. Only then can we ensure they get what they are truly wanting.

2. Build a service-minded culture
The customer is King and always comes first. A businesses number one priority is its customers.

3. Be helpful, even if there’s no immediate profit
Remember, we exist in long-term client relations. The more helpful you are, the more you will be remembered, referred to and ultimately customers will come back to.

4. Know how to apologise
We’re all human. If you make a mistake be the first to put your hand up and apologise.

5. Don’t make promises you can’t keep
Broken promises break relations. It is way better to under-promise and over-deliver than the other way round! Remember this one!!

6. Take that extra step
Also known as the ‘extra mile’. Clients appreciate it when you do.
It doesn’t go unnoticed – I promise!

7. Identify and anticipate needs
Have you really thought of everything? Use your knowledge of financial markets and products to meet all future needs.

8. Answer your phone
The rule of thumb is three rings. Nobody likes being left waiting.
Similarly, always return a missed call at the very earliest opportunity.

9. Remember, speed stuns
The quicker you work for a customer the more they’ll appreciate your service.

10. Show your appreciation
Our clients are our life-blood. It never hurts to let them know they are.

11. Deal with complaints
Immediately, openly and with good grace. Solving a problem or complaint makes you trustworthy!

12. Fix your mistakes
The quicker you rectify a mistake the less impact it has.

13. Put yourself in your clients’ shoes
If I was sat opposite me, what would I want? How would I be thinking?

14. Never argue with a customer
Confrontation kills custom. If you don’t agree with them, think around what they’re saying – find a new angle.

15. Be flexible
In a customer service environment, nothing is too much effort. Customers will value your flexibility hugely.

16. Throw in something extra
Clients appreciate advisers who go above and beyond the call of duty.

17. Be patient
After all, it is a virtue.

18. Build a relationship
It’s the only way to ensure you’ve got your clients’ mid to long term investment interests fully and properly covered.

Some may be obvious, some not so but in the cut and thrust of our daily business life, it can be all too easy to let the pressure and workload overtake the responsibilities we have to our clients.

The 18 point Golden Rules of Great Customer Service Charter is here to remind us that our clients are our business. They’re based on building excellent relationships with clients through effective communication.

After all, like any business, we are judged on how we act and what we do.

Remember to be grateful when working with your clients. They have trusted you with a hugely important area of their lives.

This information was found on:
https://mikecoady.com/blog/18-golden-rules-great-customer-service/