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SEPTEMBER 2013 PRO INSTALLER
PRO BUSINESS
www.proinstaller.co.uk
HOW TO INCREASE
BACKOFFICE PRODUCTIVITY
Whether you run your
business from your
kitchen table or a rented unit, you’re probably
not getting as much
done as you’d like to.
There just seems to be
too much stuff and not
enough time, so you
find yourself working
longer hours just to
keep up.
There are some simple
things you can do right now
to maximise your office
time. You don’t need to
work longer hours, you just
need to use your time and
space more effectively:
‘You don’t
need to work
longer hours’
1 - IF YOU WORK
FROM HOME, SET UP A
SPECIFIC OFFICE SPACE
Designate a room or an
area off-limits to everything
except office work. Make
sure both you and your
family clearly understand
that when you are using
this space, you are seriously working and not to be
disturbed. If you work in
an office, close your door.
If you don’t have a door,
put up a prominent “do not
disturb” sign.
2 - CREATE SPECIFIC
OFFICE HOURS
Set up a solid block of
time - 30, 60 or 90 minutes.
This uninterrupted stretch
will help you to concentrate
and focus your attention.
Close your door, let the
voicemail pick up and give
yourself the time you need
to think and concentrate as
you tackle your jobs and
projects.
3 - CAPITALISE ON
YOUR BEST ‘MENTAL
WORK’ TIME
We all have a particular
time of day when we feel
mentally sharper, better able
to deal with tricky problems
that need serious thought.
Figure out when that time is
for you, and make that your
uninterrupted office time.
You may have to coordinate
with family or colleagues,
but make the effort - you
will find that when you do
your problem solving during your peak mental times
it takes half the time for
twice the results.
Accounting Red Tape Cut For
Smallest UK Companies
Measures to reduce burdensome accounting red
tape for micro-businesses have been confirmed by
Business Minister Jo Swinson. In the government
response to the consultation on how best to
implement the EU’s Micros Directive, the UK’s 1.5
million micro-entities will now become exempt
from certain financial reporting requirements.
They are currently subject to the same financial reporting rules as
other small companies.
However, responses to
the consultation, which
ran earlier this year,
showed that this was
an unfair burden for
micro-entities relative
to their size.
As a result of the changes,
micro-entities will be able to
prepare and publish much
reduced financial statements.
They will now be able
to draw up an abridged
balance sheet and profit and
loss account. They will also
continue to be exempt from
the requirement to file the
profit and loss account with
Companies House.
Business Minister Jo
Swinson said: “Thriving
micro-businesses are a vital
ingredient for a stronger
economy. However, because of their size they
don’t always have dedicated
finance teams behind them.
We therefore need to make
sure that they can focus on
growing their business, rather than completing unneces-
sarily detailed paperwork.
“The measures announced
are just one of the ways
we’re cutting bureaucracy,
letting micro-businesses get
on with running their enterprises and creating jobs.”
The changes will apply
to financial years ending
on, or after, 30 September
2013 and related accounts
filed on, or after, the date
on which the changes come
into force.
4 - SET BOUNDARIES
WITH FAMILY, FRIENDS
AND COLLEAGUES
Avoid impromptu meetings,
don’t let people ‘just drop
by’, and remember that there
is no such thing as ‘this will
only take a minute’. Interruptions derail your train
of thought, make you shift
gears, and waste your energy. Studies show that people
who are interrupted in the
middle of a tough mental
task take almost 20 minutes
to get back on track and
pick up at the point where
they were interrupted! You’ll
have to be firm with repeat
offenders - just say plainly
that you are in the middle of
a very important task, and
you are not available at this
time. You can make yourself
available later if needed.
5 - LEARN TO SAY NO
In keeping with the
previous tip, you have to
be tough. Schedule your
telephone calls, learn once
and for all that the answering machine is your
friend, texts do not require
immediate replies, and stop
checking your email every
five minutes. People will get
used to your new mode of
availability pretty quickly if
you stay firm and consistent.
They will value you, your
work, and the time you do
make available to them far
more highly.
6 - USE REMOTE
CONTROL SOFTWARE TO
ACCESS YOUR OFFICE
PC FROM THE FIELD
We do a lot of paperwork in the field. Most of
us bring all that back to
the office at the end of
the day and transfer the
information into our office
computer systems, adding
significantly to our paperwork time and delaying
things like bids and change
orders. If you could access
and control your home
computer directly from
the field via your laptop
or smartphone, you could
input all the information
once instead of twice and
less time actually in the
office.
Create your working
space, enforce your working boundaries, and focus
your working energies that’s really all you need
to make your office time
highly productive, effective
and sane.
APPRENTICESHIPS
WIN OVER
DEGREES
More successful A-level students are now
opting for apprenticeships over university
degrees as the next
step in their careers
but one campaigner
says we must radically
increase the number of
apprenticeships for all
academic levels.
“It is great that the
apprenticeship is once
again being recognised as
a valuable way of training
the next generation of
our workforce,” said Will
Davies, co-founder of aspect.co.uk and a long-term
campaigner for apprenticeship reform.
“Although the increase
in higher apprenticeships
indicates that we are taking
on-the-job learning more
seriously, we have to increase the quality of training available to candidates
of all academic levels,” said
Mr Davies, whose property
maintenance and refurbishment company train
tradesmen via traditional
apprenticeships.
According to the National Apprenticeship Service
(NAS) there will be 20,000
‘higher’ apprenticeships
available to young workers
in the UK this year.
According to the Department for Business,
Innovation and Skills (BIS)
there were 520,600 overall
apprenticeship starts in the
year 2012/12 which was
63,400 more than the previous year.
“We must improve the
quality and quantity of apprenticeships if we are going to make inroads into the
one million youngsters who
are currently without work
or training in the UK at the
moment,” said Will Davies,
who recently made a submission to the Parliamentary
Inquiry into ‘Construction
and Youth Employment’.
“It is essential that employers are granted the
power to design apprenticeships for young people.
Employers know the skills
they require and therefore
they know the skills that are
employable,” he said.
www.aspect.co.uk