Business Advice & Support

12/09/2024

Life is tough - in the first six months of this year, 6945 high street businesses have closed their doors in their UK, and it's changing the High Streets and not in a positive way for the convenience of us the citizens

16/06/2024

What a nervous Sunday; England have won (under pressure ) 1-0, and now Rory McIlroy two clear in the golf - might be a late night

06/06/2024

Today is not about business, but about remembering and being thankful to all those nations that fought for freedom from tyranny - thank you, to all service personnel, past and present, for all that you've done for us.

17/03/2024

The success of your business comes from planning and effective management, not luck - if you need support with your planning, we can help

At this time of year, lots of businesses start to think about setting their budgets for the next financial year.

I thought I would share 5 tips that may make that budget setting process a bit more useful (and possibly interesting 😏 ) for you this year...

1. Don't just use arbitrary targets like I want to grow sales by 10% - think about what you need to do to make that happen

2. Focus on efficiencies - people, pricing, process

3. Take yourself away from your normal environment to plan through this - sitting at your desk where you do your other work can easily lead to distraction or association of it being "another task"

4. Share it with some that will hold you accountable to the targets you have set

5. Review and adjust if needed - too often budgets are just done once a year with no real gauge for what good and bad looks like. A year is a long time in your business, so direction will change or new opportunities will arise. Understand what effect that has.

#2024

23/12/2023

Wow, just wow

A day with no work emails 🙏 but there was golf 🏌 and a lovely dinner 🍽 and yes, I opened a nice bottle of Pino Grigio🥂

The team have done so well chasing through the self-assessment return workload and are on timetable, so they're all having an extra three days of paid holiday leave as a gift from the firm

A quick thank you to all our clients, friends and supporters, and we wish you all a wonderful Christmas, and a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year

24/04/2023

Whilst BA&S focuses on the strategy and business planning, do avoid "shooting yourself in the foot" by playing games with the taxman - if you need reliable accountants that will protect you from your poor decisions, contact RiverView Portfolio Ltd

We can all be guilty of not switching off from work whilst on holiday, and this always reminds us of a story we got told by a former HMRC inspector’s holiday…

On holiday by the sea side, the former tax inspector had an eye for personalised number plates. One spotted his eye as it went along a marina pulling a reasonably sized boat. Mr Inspector thought, it can’t be cheap to have a boat on the marina there and on return to work the following Monday had a quick check of the number plate through the access to the DVLA records and then onto the owners tax record. At this point, Mr Inspector thought that the income being declared seemed much lower than what he expected of someone with a boat in the marina – rightly or wrongly at this point an enquiry/tax check was notified to the taxpayer.

On inspection of the records, all looked to be in order with tax returns matching the records provided until an eager eyed junior inspector noted that the records provided didn’t add up – not the amount hitting the bank account but the amount the numbers on the records provided. Upon further investigation it was found that a higher figure was being paid into one account and the adjusted lower figure transferred into the bank account provided – the lower figure being what was declared on the return and at a guess the difference being what funded the boat and marina charges.

Needless to say, HMRC recovered the unpaid tax, along with penalties and interest – we don’t know if that was paid by way of the boat or not .

Having your records in order, accurate and not fraudulently produced – will protect you against this risk.

Concerned? – get in touch – it isn’t too late to right your wrongs.

📞01249 816810
📧[email protected]
💻www.riverviewportfolio.co.uk

22/03/2023

If you know, you know

If you don't know, ask me ...

The basis of decisive decision making, which is the foundation to developing your business planning

31/01/2023

Excellent article, what's your thoughts

Many employees feel that their leaders’ everyday actions don’t match their words. So what can be done to build trust?

22/01/2022

Are you a duck or an eagle

Longish story, but I hope you'll see that it's worth reading

Harvey was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey.

He handed a laminated card and said: “Hello. I’m Wally, your driver. While I’m loading your bags in the trunk, I’d like you to read my mission statement.”

Taken aback, Harvey read the card. It said: Wally’s Mission Statement: To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment. This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!

As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, “Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.” Harvey said jokingly, “No, I’d prefer a soft drink.” Wally smiled and said, “No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice.” Amazed, Harvey said, “I’ll take a Diet Coke.”

Handing him his drink, Wally said, “If you’d like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.” As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card, “These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you’d like to listen to the radio.”

And as if that weren’t enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him. Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he’d be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, he would be quiet and leave him with his own thoughts.

“Tell me, Wally,” Harvey asked the driver, “have you always served customers like this?”

Wally smiled into the rear view mirror. “No, not always. In fact, it’s only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard this personal growth say that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day,
you’ll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, “Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don’t be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.”

“Well, that hit me right between the eyes,” said Wally. “The guru was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.”

“I take it that has paid off for you,” Harvey said.

“It sure has,” Wally replied. “My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I’ll probably quadruple it. Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice: He decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles.

If you want to move your business from SURVIVE to THRIVE, contact us and we’ll help you develop the strategies and mindset to soar like an eagle

03/01/2022

A lesson learned from Covid and all those that lost their jobs, or were not protected by their employer is that there is only one person that you should depend on - you

We've helped so many people, of all ages and backgrounds, start their own own business and it's never too late. If you need support - follow our page where we'll be sharing business advice, or for our active support, contact us on [email protected]