Having multiple trusts with each below the IHT limit of £325,000 has been a popular trust planning strategy for some time. While there are no tax savings to be had initially, the effect is that you can reduce the tax charge every ten years when tax is due and also reduce the exit charge. Continue reading Do discretionary trusts have a role to play in tax mitigation? →

Running your own netball centre is an exciting prospect. You may be setting up new teams within your district or feel you deserve better facilities than those presently on offer. You have a few choices when it comes to financing your new venture. You can buy outright, lease the ground or look into running a franchise.

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The most important thing is to get the location right so that players can easily access the site. Then you can decide whether you want to buy the land or rent it. Owning outright is the best option if you can afford it because you’ll have more choice in terms of what to build. You also won’t face the prospect of your landlord giving you notice to quit.

Shop around for finance

It should be possible to borrow the money from a private investor or bank loan, but shop around for the best deal and talk to several different financial institutions. Rather than building new, you may find there are existing sports centres for sale that just need a little work instead of starting from scratch. This could be something your local authority could help you explore.

You may want to rent part of an existing sports complex or find a property owner with a spare plot of land who is willing to lease it to you. Make sure a proper contract is drawn up so you know who pays for the upkeep.

Start a franchise

There is a third option of running a franchise, which could be a quicker way to set up netball sessions and leagues in your area. The advantage is that you will have the franchisor’s proven business formula and marketing skills to fall back on, but you may have to pay a management fee, which could put it out of reach financially.

Once you have opened your netball centre and attracted players, you will need to make sure that enough of them return every time so you can set up a team and keep a decent cash flow. There are many netball drills you can incorporate into training to improve players’ skills in all areas. You can find examples at http://www.sportplan.net/drills/Netball/drills.jsp.

You could also perform an online search for other netball business owners to find out their financing experiences and long-term forecasts.

A growing company does not allow its employees to just sit and be given their job and work all day without assessing their outputs. They do not allow the regular employees to trust all the thinking to be done by the team managers and the back office, they require employees to put input and to prove what they have done and accomplished so far with presentations. Continue reading 4 Impacts That A Presentation Folder Make →

With so much competition in today’s marketplace, winning customer loyalty is increasingly difficult. To keep up with customers’ heightened demands, entrepreneurs need to keep sharpening their initiatives just to stay afloat.

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With so many people turning to social media to post reviews or comments at the speed of light, gaining customer satisfaction is crucial; in fact, it is so important that up to 95% of companies say it is their top strategic priority.

Eight ideas to help you succeed:

1. Your team is central to your company’s success; therefore, make sure that you employee top-notch candidates. All employees should share the company’s vision and its expectations, as every member of the team is part of the customer experience.

2. Provide continued mentoring and coaching for your team, Training does not end; instead, staff need to be continually updated and upskilled to ensure that their skills match and exceed those of your competitors.

3. Listen to your customers and interact with them regularly. With technology driving so much of today’s world, the art of real interaction is often glossed over. Not everyone shares the same view. Talking to customers is still the best way to identify their needs and respond accordingly.

4. Sell your unique qualities. Customer loyalty is built on idiosyncrasies – what is it that sets you apart from other companies? What is your USP?

5. Word of mouth spreads. Use recommendations or testimonials to boost your reputation.

6. Keep your customers at the heart of your business. Membership management systems can assist with the admin tasks; however, you should choose wisely to make sure the system can expand to include more sophisticated features as the business grows. Companies such as http://www.ofec.co.uk/membership-management-system-portfolio.aspx specialise in such systems and offer a wide variety of packages.

7. Incentives give reasons for customers to return time and again.

8. Keep your customers involved. Announcing new products or events can build excitement and expectations, keeping customers coming back for more.

Obtaining advice

Luckily, finding advice is easy; for example, School for Startups helps would-be entrepreneurs in the initial stages and the government publishes up-to-date advice and publications.

Increase your customer satisfaction and loyalty by implementing some or all of these ideas and by seeking advice where necessary. Good luck.

Cutting your energy bills doesn’t necessarily mean spending thousands on a complete overhaul. Here are five top tips on how to reduce your home energy bills without breaking the bank.

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Lock Up

It’s common sense to keep doors and windows closed in cold weather to stop warm air escaping, but you can make an even bigger difference by locking windows and doors. The security systems within the locking mechanism are strong enough to prevent forced entry, but also reduce any escaping air.

Use the Sun

More and more people are investing in solar panels to harvest the sun’s natural energy, and have even provided some with grants to encourage people to use them. While solar panels are fantastic piece of technology, their price and size makes them unobtainable for many.

You can still use the sun’s natural energy without solar panels. In the depths of winter, the sun is still emitting energy even through the clouds and there are often bright and sunny days. Even if you can’t feel its warmth, you can harvest it by keeping curtains open and letting the light stream in. Increase the effect by installing new, aluminium radiators like those from http://apolloradiators.co.uk/View/3/52/129/category/modena/modena-horizontal- and your rooms will be toastier than ever!

Chimney Fix

If you live in a traditional house with a chimney, you may enjoy the odd roaring fire. Given the price and inconvenience of buying coal and wood, however, the likelihood is that your main source of heating is the boiler. The problem with open fires is that the chimney is open to the elements, and you can often feel draughts.

Luckily, you can use ‘chimney balloons’ to fill up the space in the chimney, blocking cold air and stopping hot air from escaping. The balloons have a mechanism that makes them deflate if you light a fire having forgotten they’re there.

Wrap it Up

This is an old student trick that really works. By placing transparent plastic wrap onto your windows and glass doors, you can save up to fourteen per cent on your heating bill.

The wrap must be heated using a hairdryer in order to stick to the glass. Once it has cooled it will stay in place, providing more insulation from the elements for next to nothing!

Uganda, the country Winston Churchill called the ‘Pearl of Africa’, is an increasingly popular travel destination. With its vast lakes, majestic green valleys and picturesque mountain landscapes, the landlocked country is a place many travellers will hold dear to their hearts after their visit; however, a trip to Uganda does take a serious amount of preparation.

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Immerse yourself

To visit a country such as Uganda, it is necessary to first enrich yourself in its culture: to inhale its history, its people and its way of life to ensure a memory that will never be forgotten. People are often misled by a great misunderstanding of the African country, believing it to be a nation of thugs, despots and homophobes. As the Voice of America illustrates, Uganda is as peaceful and tolerant a country as any other in the established corners of the world.

Read the media outlets

Any country’s press is a great reflection of its people. All media intrinsically abides by the social consciousness of the people it represents; therefore, educate yourself on the regional and national newspapers of Uganda, such as New Vision – Uganda’s biggest daily newspaper. Again, many travellers have a bleak image of African press organisations but the vast majority of media outlets throughout Africa feature the quality reporting that you can find in many established western countries.

Utilise the internet

The internet is essentially an encyclopaedia of human existence and our place within the world, so use it to your advantage. The world wide web can be used to plan almost every aspect of your trip to the country, from spending days scaling the nation’s mountains to partaking in one of the world-renowned Uganda gorilla trekking expeditions – the possibilities are endless. It is vital to ensure you know exactly what you wish to do before setting foot outside your home. To research activities available in Uganda, it is always best to visit specialist travel websites such as http://www.steppestravel.co.uk/uganda.

By thoroughly planning what is likely to be a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Uganda, you can rest assured that you won’t be disappointed. Gorge yourself with as much information as you can take in during your planning stages to enrich your experience, enabling you to enjoy the wonders that the country of Uganda has to offer.

Car keys, your mobile phone, your passport… what do all of these things have in common? If you’re like me, then you have probably lost some of these things at some point. In fact, the average person loses nine items per day and spends a lot of timerunning around and looking for them. Continue reading What Are The Most Common Possessions To Lose? →