News

March 22, 2013

Also in the news this week – 22 March 2013

Calculating the cost of starting up

According to research by O2 Business, small British businesses say the working capital needed in their first year was £17,095. And 60% said that if they had their time again, they could launch for the same or less. Almost half of the small businesses surveyed (48%) said they prefer to rent or lease goods because they felt it was the smartest way to reduce their upfront costs. Over a third said it allowed them to stay up-to-date with technology and 36% said renting gave them better control of their cash flow. The most popular items to rent or lease were a phone line, office space, photocopiers and franking machines, water-coolers, cars and vans, smartphones, coffee machines and IT equipment.

A date for your diary – World Backup Day

It may be slightly tongue in cheek, but World Backup Day – on 31 March, the day before April Fool's Day – is nevertheless a timely reminder to all of us that forget to back-up our files on a regular basis. It is the brainchild of an American biology student, Ismail Jadun. A recent study by research firm Gartner found that the average storage per household will grow to 3.3 terabytes in 2016.

Business owners alienated by political parties

Many small business owners don't believe that the UK's main political parties understand their needs, according to new research by YouGov carried out for FreeAgent. In a poll of more than 500 people who run small businesses with five or less employees, 42% said that no one UK political party best understands the needs of the small business sector. It found that 25% said that the Conservative party understood small business needs, compared to 9% for UKIP and 9% for Labour. Just 3% of respondents said that the Lib Dems were most supportive of the small business sector.

Hours wasted every week in pointless meetings

Office workers waste more than a year of their lives attending unnecessary meetings, according to a new survey by Officebroker. It found that workers estimate around one quarter of all the time spent in meetings could be saved. With the average office worker attending 16 hours of meetings each week that means around four hours are wasted in meetings. Over a career, the average worker sits through around 9,000 hours of needless meetings. For workers in the public sector, the time spent in meetings was even higher.

Market research opportunity for start-ups

Marketest is holding its third business start-up competition, aimed at anyone over 18 years old with a new business idea. The winner will receive a tailor-made market research report to help inform their business plan, worth £1,000. All participants get money off marketing research. Entrants can find out more on the Marketest website. The closing date is 12 May 2013.

Millions "too shy" to ask for pay rise

Millions of workers believe they have missed out on pay rises or promotions because they are too shy, according to a study into how a lack of confidence affects us on a daily basis conducted by Stagecoach Theatre Arts School.

In the workplace, 41% of people struggle to do presentations or head up meetings, while another 40% are too shy to talk in meetings at all. And 34% of people say they aren't confident enough to ask their boss for a pay rise, with another 29% feeling too timid to go for a promotion.