UK Starting Business

Many believe that the quieter business periods brought about by the currently economic problems are an excuse to waste time, ring their hands in despair, blame the Government and then sit quietly playing the latest computer game on their PC.

A ringing phone and communication from a perspective customer becomes an annoyance as they were just about to slay the dragon and kiss the princess on their computer screens.

Not so at my office, we are busier than ever, not with customers but with preparing the groundwork for when business picks up. Accepting the current economic climate and seeing a recession drawing ever closer prevents opportunities to do all the things that in the past which you could not do because you were too busy servicing clients.

Not everything costs a lot of money either. The launching or redesign of a new or existing website, the physical reorganisation of the office or even just throwing out the old box of paper you thought you might use three years ago but are still sitting their.

The motivational aspects of using quiet trading periods for constructive projects are enormous. When we can not to bed happy because we have had good days sales, we can retire instead knowing that we are not wasting time and that the business has moved forward in some way.

One factor about quieter business periods which does waste time and energy is when other companies panic and phone up every person they have access to. Talking phone calls where the person offers you something you have absolutely no interest in is frustrating.

This is particularly so when their suggested product or service involves spending large amounts of money which nobody has in a recession or embarking on discretionary expenditure which everyone is cutting back on.

Memory can not provide an occasion in the last three weeks where the person on the other end of the phone offered a cheaper version of what they were normally selling for.

In essence, caring for a business, one for which the owner has taken risks, made sacrifices and has seen grow from nothing to something does not afford the luxury of wasting time.

Having a mature outlook does entail taking the rough with the smooth and accepting that outside influences can cause slow periods of trade. There are those who will use this as an excuse to waste time and procrastinate and there are those who will plough on and continue to fill their days with measureable accomplishments.

The economy and particularly that which affect small business has become the centre talking point of the American presidential election. The influence of American economic prosperity on UK small business has been witnessed for years.

The FTSE 100 index follows the up and downs of the Dow Jones market like the preverbal sheep and rarely, if even does the influence actually work the other way around.

And so there is the choice between the Republican candidate who believes that by initiating a spending freeze on public finances and tax incentives to larger businesses, the American giants of commercial enterprise will lift the ailing economy and provide prosperity to everyone.

The Democratic ticket on the other hand believes that these larger businesses and their corporate managers who have enjoyed record profits until recently can afford to pay more in tax.

This would enable the newly elected President (if this happens) to provide tax cuts to over 95% of working families.

There is rarely such a clear cut distinction separating two economic policies and the voters in the presidential election, particularly those who own a small business have to decide which of these contrasting policies they believe will work.

The Republican Small Business Policy

An important point that should be borne in mind is that during presidential elections, it is quite possible for candidate to say one thing and whether deliberately or due to unforeseen circumstances, veer from their stated commitments.

For the moment at least, each candidate will be taken at their word.

American big businesses are among the most talented in the world and in pursuit of their own self interest, can create jobs, compete effectively and increase the wealth of the country through innovation and commercial marketing.

It could be argued therefore that the Republican plan provides nourishment to the experts and charges them with doing what they do best.

Those against point to the evidence that smaller businesses enjoy little of the gains bigger corporations make and therefore many in the country and the economy as a whole does not benefit.

The lessons currently being learned from the manner in which big businesses crippled the global markets does not lend itself to a further endorsement of the laissez-faire doctrine.

It may be the self interest that creates an insurmountable conflict whereby large American corporations can not serve both themselves and the wider economy at the same time.

This leaves small businesses to fend for themselves and accept that at any time, the actions of big corporations can render their attempts to trade and be profitable absolutely useless.

The Democratic Policy

Tax breaks for 95% of Americans is the claim, but what will these people do with their allocation of money. Should they decide to save it then the economic kick start the Government would hope for may never materialise.

In fact, saving will provide additional coffers for the big businesses who can then carry on as normal. However in this case, given that small businesses would then have some or increase savings, their levels of anxiety should decrease and their confidence about trading should rise.

Spending some or all of the tax gains would help the entire economy and realise the elusive feel good factors which is current absence from many if not all of the global consumer markets.

Economics aside for a moment, doesn’t this plan seem fairer? More humane? At least if it does not work, then the American people have had a stake in its destination.

In the presidential election, the essence of which party’s antidote will work might be best defined by the fact that the Democrats appear to have had a consistent plan from the start. The Republicans did not even want to talk about the economy and after personal attacks fails, and the Palin affect became a regret, they launched their plans to help small business.

The Democratic plan seems a fairer, more thought out proposal and most of all, it is not Bush Republican.

Small Business owners who were once comforted by a booming housing market now see their biggest asset losing it value on a weekly basis. The extent to which this effects their perception of their commercial operations has in some cases been stark.

The period where house prices were rising at between one to five percent each month and small businesses had an ever growing source of finance through the increasing equity value of their homes is a distant memory.

In addition to providing any needed capital injection, a residential property whose value was steadily increasing by the buoyant housing market delivered the ultimate comfort to businesses; it made them feel good about themselves and the prospects for further overall profit.

Saddled with falling prices and an economy tinkering on recession, the double blow has been a staggering reminder of the long forgotten vulnerabilities faced by when market conditions change rapidly.

With house prices continuing to fall across the UK and the stagnating sales and purchase sectors, a lot of entrepreneurs are feeling claustrophobic; a tightening of options against a backdrop that things will get worse before they start improving.

Costs both across the business and the household are being reduced with redundancies and other cutbacks now commonplace as revenues fall.

On it own, the effects and responses to the housing market declines in recent periods on business start-ups was generally measured. “We have been here before” was the common sentiment and prices are bound to pick up once the Government lowers interest rates.

The virtual collapse of global banking has exacerbated the situation ten-fold, attacking the very business revenues which were the only source after continual solid gains in property prices.

First time buyers are non-existent; they have run so far from property and have distanced from any inclination of rescuing the housing market that it would take a private investigator to find a willing participant.

The result is that any householder thinking of starting a business would firstly, have to wait for the economic situation to return to some degree of normality and secondly, for the housing market to increase once more.

Most commentators forecast that the former will take at least two to three years to come around, after which property can start producing some financial gain and begin restoring the much needed confidence in business, so that owners are will to invest in their futures.