Features

Making your tax return work for you

As Benjamin Franklin famously said, only two things are certain in life: death and taxes. And, as we approach the end of January, all attention turns to the latter. That’s right – it’s time for self-assessment tax returns to be compiled, reviewed and submitted. 

What to look out for in 2022

2022 is set to be a bit of a rollercoaster as we galvanise the promises made at COP26, navigate long term hybrid working and continue to deal with COVID-19.

How not to start a startup?

“Losers quit when they fail”, as they say, “and winners fail until they succeed.” But why risk success? You know the story. Founders brag about their failures but often aren’t even legally allowed to talk about their successes.

Escaping The Influencer Entrepreneur Culture

The influencer entrepreneur culture is all around us, and it’s exhausting. It expects us to build our businesses and leave a running commentary as we go, creating on-brand content to match each stage in our ‘glamourous’ entrepreneurial journeys. Once we start, it is easy to get into a cycle of chasing likes and prioritising our feed before our wellbeing, and even our businesses.

How to pick the perfect IT solutions partner

Scaling is everything. The majority of businesses have to try and do this without incurring extra costs, and it is how good they are at this process that can define the trajectory of most small to medium sized businesses.

Over 41% of startups don’t have a clear digital marketing strategy

Zorka.Agency marketing team together with SOLYANKA conducted “Startup Marketing Research: challenges and opportunities in digital promotion”.

Five Ways How NFTs are disrupting the startup landscape

The world is going digital and NFTs are a technology which can provide unique, infallible data for this digital world in industries beyond art. You might be wondering how, as a startup founder, you could take advantage of non-fungible tokens (NFTs)?

The single biggest reason for startups failing – by far

I have been founding businesses for over 35 years and over that time I have managed to make almost all the mistakes possible when launching a startup. In the last 10 years I’ve also been involved in mentoring startups in various universities, business schools and incubators. It is clear that founders are still making many obvious mistakes: they continue to do the things they enjoy about a starting a business, rather than the things they need to do to make it successful.

2022 is a year for steady growth, digitisation and sustainability

It’s reasonable to say that many of us anticipated 2021 to be a year of recovery. If 2020 was the year that forced us to reset, 2021 has been the year to start again, re-strategise and grow.

Five Steps to Take Your Small Business International

In this age of globalisation and e-commerce, expanding your business internationally can be an exciting idea. With just a few clicks, small businesses now have access to a vast global market that can be brimming with new opportunities waiting to be discovered. 

HR trends for 2022

2021 was one for the history books. It’s a year that saw entire workforces shift and adapt to remote working models, transform their product offering and make decisions based on simply staying afloat.

Building a work-from-home culture that works

When the opportunity for distraction is rife, startups must empower employees to focus deeply within their home environment.

Why gender lens investing matters, and how to make it work

Gender lens investing has seen impressive growth in recent years, with the Wharton Social Impact Initiative reporting a 58.6% increase in the number of female-led funds – clearing $4.8bn  in capital raised internationally.

How to bring community into your crowdfund

When my co-founders and I decided to seek our next round of investment, we wanted to make sure the funding process brought our community closer to our business, or even, into our business.

What does co-working look like in 2022?

Co-working spaces are an integral part of the startup ecosystem – they offer entrepreneurs equipped and comfortable workspace, in addition to being an affordable solution as compared to traditional offices. Many also choose co-working spaces because of their flexibility and opportunities to network.

The legal world: resistant to change, in need of innovation

The world of law has always seemed impenetrable to the uninitiated. In Charles Dickens’ Bleak House from 1852, characters are entangled in an inheritance dispute spanning several generations.

Women and the metaverse: building a world that represents us

Since the news broke that Meta Platforms Inc (formerly known as Facebook) will be leading the work on the metaverse, I often get asked what will happen if this new virtual realm looks like Meta itself, the tech industry, or even the broader professional world, in terms of female representation.

How do you become an extraordinary leader?

When I first took on the role of Chairman and CEO of Barry-Wehmiller in 1975, the definition of good business management looked very different. Then, as it largely is now, the focus was on managing people, with very little attention paid to leadership.

Five habits to boost your employee’s wellbeing in 2022

With so much change in the workplace over the last couple of years, many employees may have found themselves falling into negative working patterns. These toxic traits – such as working too many hours or skipping a lunch break – could have a huge impact on wellbeing, job satisfaction and productivity.

How to maximise virtual peer learning for remote employee development

COVID-19 has forced companies to adapt. Transforming in-house workers into remote employees has become a necessity. It’s estimated that 27% of teams will continue remotely after the pandemic, and, in five years, the number of remote workers will double to over 35 million in the US.