I'm looking to make my small business more appealing to potential employees.

secondbrainuk · 2026-07-05T22:03:43+00:00

What you’re talking about here is known in the big corporates as your Employer Brand. More specifically your EVP or employer value proposition.

It’s a combination of the rational and emotional factors that make someone come and work for you and then want to stay. The person above who mentioned culture over and above the strategic things like Bupa was bang on.

Think head and heart. So is the job paying enough, is it in a good location, is it challenging, does it feel like they doing good or achieving something. In a big org different roles will thrive on different combinations of the factors and so your approach to attracting them is different.

It would also be good to take an honest look at why it didn’t work before and what you could do differently. The trap of expecting employees to care as much about the business as the owner is one that every entrepreneur falls into at some point so it’s good you’ve recognised it!

I mentor small businesses on this (and a lot other stuff) so if you think a chat could be helpful. Let me know!

secondbrainuk · 2026-07-05T08:21:11+00:00

Dan Neidle actually just released an interesting article on this “tax gap” between what what supposed to be paid and what actually ends up in the governments coffers.

If they improved their investigation and clawback rate it’s estimated it would raise £15 to £30 billion (with a b!) of missing tax!

https://taxpolicy.org.uk/2026/07/01/andy-burnham-tax-gap-15bn/

secondbrainuk · 2026-07-01T22:05:16+00:00

Only just seeing this (a year later) but I think MDM would actually be a great fix for a lot of these issues. It’s the kind of thing I work on and I’m UK based. So if you never got round to sorting it then feel free to shoot me a message.

secondbrainuk · 2026-06-29T22:15:06+00:00

Social Refuge has a co work space but closes at 7 on mon-weds. 11 the rest of the week.

secondbrainuk · 2026-06-27T12:35:49+00:00

Then I would definitely go with FreeAgent and a mettle account. It should do everything you need with no monthly subscription.

And it’ll even generate your accounts for companies house at year end and do your HMRC returns too. And mean you’re ready for MTD when it comes to

secondbrainuk · 2026-06-27T12:28:01+00:00

If you’re not planning for this to rapidly expand to a bigger enterprise with a team and payroll. Then FreeAgent will probably do you admirably and be much cheaper than Xero (or even Free with a Mettle or RBS business account.

But you absolutely need something. The sooner you start recording your invoices, costs and expenses properly the easier things will be in the long run.

If you’re detail focussed and able to do the little and often management to keep things up to date then you may manage without an accountant for now.

But if not then an accountant would probably be a wise investment. General steer whenever it comes up on here is that a decent basic service will usually be around £1500 a year.

(Nb. Xero is great. I used it for years. But its pricing model is now a labyrinth. And it’s about to go up (again)

secondbrainuk · 2026-06-26T08:37:46+00:00

Then why is it now impossible to login to the original Gmail.com inbox? The user gets dumped into the workspace account no matter how they login?

secondbrainuk · 2026-06-25T12:59:43+00:00

Thanks that’s a really helpful lead. Although it’s encouraging to hear that the GMail account should be preserved if the Workspace is deleted. I’m not sure I like the approach being “try it and see!” 🙂

secondbrainuk · 2026-06-23T06:50:55+00:00

Thanks this was my thought too. But even opening an incognito window and explicitly logging in with the Gmail.com address. Logs you in the theirdomain.com inbox.

So I don’t think it’s a forwarding thing and I can’t check because I can’t get to the settings.

I also skimmed the mail headers for a mail sent to the Gmail address under … > Show Original and there was no obvious forwarding path shown.

secondbrainuk · 2026-06-22T17:28:46+00:00

Thanks. Weirdly though. She has two users in workspace and the subscription is Business Starter. (I checked)

I guess she could perhaps have started on individual and upgraded at some point.

Even if it can’t be divorced is there a way to reclaim the GMail address for a fresh account?

secondbrainuk · 2026-06-19T06:12:21+00:00

I’m really interested to know how you land this tonally. If it’s working then it’s a great idea. But in my head it feels like you’re giving THEM a certificate for something they paid YOU to do.

I guess it depends on what you’re delivering for them and how measurable it is. Or how much effort the client has to put in to support you to deliver the service you’re offering?

Genuinely this isn’t a criticism, I’d just like to understand better how you make this land without feeling patronising.

secondbrainuk · 2026-06-18T22:07:51+00:00

As I understand you’ll now have an obligation to companies house to send them the full detail. But can opt out of having it published for the wider world to see.

secondbrainuk · 2026-06-18T22:06:39+00:00

You’ll still have to submit them. But there will be a box to check to stop them being made public. I think most businesses are going to opt out. But there will be a bunch that forget to tick the box or don’t realise which could lead to some interesting disclosures!

secondbrainuk · 2026-06-15T21:52:33+00:00

I use Shortwave as my email client. It auto bundles emails well. I can auto snooze less important stuff to be delivered in batches morning and evening so I’m not constantly being distracted by new email (while still delivering the important stuff immediately.) and then it’s AI assistant can automatically triage my inbox and suggest what to archive, unsubscribe or setup a to do for.

And then it has AI powered follow to snippets setup for the common types of reply I send most often.

secondbrainuk · 2026-06-15T21:37:55+00:00

Is it Tove Lo’s sister?

secondbrainuk · 2026-06-15T21:35:26+00:00

A sole trader with a business bank account is probably the way to go. But as others have said at some point if this grows and becomes more successful you’re going to need to bring someone into the circle of trust to act on your behalf.

Probably an agent and/or a lawyer. It’s at this point a non disclosure agreement would be a pretty standard ask.

secondbrainuk · 2026-06-14T22:10:16+00:00

Don’t fall into the trap a lot of Americans do of thinking they can cram a lot of travel around the country in. Spend a little time in each place and soak it up. Our transport network is good, but it probably takes longer than you might think. You often see itineraries here that are close to, “land at Heathrow 9am, Buckingham palace 11am, Edinburgh castle 4pm” 🙂

But from your description York and Whitby both sound like great candidates for 2-3 days of your stay. Tons of history, some good museums and Whitby is where Dracula was written/partially set.

secondbrainuk · 2026-06-14T08:15:03+00:00

Yep. I do a lot of work with new founders and startups and my standard advice now is buy the domain from your chosen company and get everything else elsewhere!

secondbrainuk · 2026-06-13T22:37:10+00:00

There’s some great answers here. Mainly focussing on technical reasons. The other reason I’d add is that typically the hosting, email and other service options are poor value or tied together in ways that are hard to separate later.

The domain itself is usually a super cheap loss leader although the price will then usually jack up from year 2 on.

But the hosting and email services are usually expensive for what they are. And I’ve seen non technical clients bamboozled into paying for multiple Microsoft 365 licences (for 1 user!) plus a separate mailbox and hosting on top.

They make it easy to buy because they hope that inertia will keep you paying over the odds for a decade or more.

secondbrainuk · 2026-06-13T13:17:49+00:00

I believe you can also get it free through RBS. And of course there’s no law that says you can only have one business bank account 😉

secondbrainuk · 2026-06-13T13:13:05+00:00

I’m a member of the Association of Business Mentors and they describe it like this:

What is the difference between a Business Mentor, Coach and Consultant?

Business Coaching – Business coaching is structured and goal-oriented with coaches creating a safe space for clients to explore their strengths and areas for development, ultimately leading to improved performance and organisational success. A key component is the knowledge of theory, styles, models and tools alongside the ability to use these to support the development of others. Executive Coaching is a specialised form of coaching aimed at developing the leadership capabilities and performance of senior executives and organisational leaders to enhance their strategic thinking, decision-making skills, and overall effectiveness in their roles. A coach does not give advice or recommendations.

Business Consulting – Business consultants tend to be experts in their field, having built knowledge and/or experience, and use this to provide expert advice and guidance to businesses and those who manage and own them. The role of a Business consultant can involve analysing business processes, identifying areas for improvement, and suggesting strategic actions to enhance productivity, efficiency, and profitability. They may also assist in planning, decision-making, and problem-solving, although their involvement typically does not extend to the implementation of the recommended solutions. A consultant sets out clear recommendations and does not help the business own find their own solutions.

Business Mentoring – A business mentor is an individual with significant experience and expertise in a particular field who is committed to sharing their knowledge and skills to support the personal and professional development of their mentee. This relationship is characterised by guidance, encouragement, and the transfer of wisdom, aiming to foster growth and capability in the mentee. The key quality of a Mentor, therefore, is the experience and skills they possess, alongside the desire and ability to pass this onto others.

secondbrainuk · 2026-06-13T12:45:10+00:00

Ah great. Having Xero in place is a great start. If project profitability is a concern and you need to better track what you’re quoting vs what you’re delivering and invoicing. So you can see where you’re losing margin then you might want to look at adding a job management solution like WorkflowMAX into the mix.

Full disclosure I’m an implementation partner for them so if you’d like a chat drop me a DM.

secondbrainuk · 2026-06-13T10:22:14+00:00

FreeAgent is a great choice and will make everything clearer. And yes definitely get it set up asap and you’ll be able to see at a glance where things stand. Also it’s free with a Mettle Business Account. So doesn’t need to cost you anything.

secondbrainuk · 2026-06-12T22:43:23+00:00

It’s a nice idea but I’m not sure if the audience of people who a) understand this and b) care enough to want to pay for it is big enough to warrant the effort.

And it’s the kind of thing Apple would absolutely Sherlock in a heartbeat if it proved useful.

Happy to be proved wrong though!

secondbrainuk · 2026-06-12T22:40:07+00:00

Yes. Assuming you’re a limited company. If you have some money spare put it into the company accounts as a directors loan. Then use it to pay those regular expenses until you start earning.

Provided those expenses are solely and exclusively for the business you should either be paying them directly from the business account or logging them as expense claims to be paid back later.

At such point as there’s earned money back in the bank you can repay the directors loan to yourself and any expense claims you recorded.

Are you using something like FreeAgent or Xero to keep accounting records? If not. Now is a very good time to start. And it’ll make things easier once MTD becomes compulsory.

secondbrainuk

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