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BBL - finally 6 years are up! Spongebob plan has worked

JEREMY HAWKE
gpietersz said:
@zeus70 I cannot substantiate your numbers. can you cite a source?

The six year rule will only apply to people who made no repayments?

That would mean businesses stopped trading before the first repayment was due. They would have had to made a statement saying the business was continuing to trade, so for this to be an honest mistake the business would have had to at least intended to continue trading at the time loan was made and things to have got so much worse before the first repayment was made that it could not make repayments.

This has got to be a rare case.

Probably a lot of outright fraudsters in this situation, but the six year rule does not apply to fraud.
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That's right and if your doing it at this point in time 6 years ago you would have already known that your business was in trouble before you applied for the loan

The bank or the government officials will say that you were trading insolvency
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How do you gauge value when starting out?

Agota_OD
DavidAshdown said:
I agree the recurring fee model makes sense where there is ongoing support, updates and training.

The only note of caution I’d add is not to build the pricing purely around replacing a salary.

For me, it still comes back to the value to the client, the level of support commitment and the risk of becoming overly dependent on a single customer too early.

A sensible monthly licence plus separately scoped development work often gives a better balance for both sides.
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David is right about client dependency. Having run service businesses, I would push it further even with a rock-solid exclusivity contract, the risk is not just that the client walks. It is that you shape the whole product around one client's needs. That is how good builders end up as dependent contractors without realising it happened.
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An overlooked pressure affecting many small businesses?

Newchodge
I have a client who has been a pain since the beginning - their computer skills are close to non-existent and they did not understand what I needed when I explained I needed a timesheet every time I ran payroll (hourly paid staff, paid 4-weekly). So I designed a simple timesheet for them, with rows and columns automatically totalled and a colour code for each type of day - normal, sickness, holiday, unpaid etc. The key for that was repeated on every timesheet.

They struggled with completing the timesheet, making changes so the totals didn't work, entering totals manually, which did not add up properly, etc. I reminded them on the Monday every 4 weeks that I needed the timesheet by lunchtime on Thursday so I could run payroll for them to pay staff on Friday. Every Thursday I chased them for the timesheet. I explained several times that the deadline was 12:00 mid-day on Thursday. I often worked Thursday evening, but often also didn't get the data I needed until Friday, often late Friday so I would work at the weekend so they could pay staff on Monday. Terms were payment 3 periods in advance and I always had to chase it.

Last year I had enough when they complained that the payslips weren't available on Friday morning when the data had been there by 18:00 on Thursday. I explained that my work on their payroll was scheduled for 12:30 on Thursday and if they missed their slot it would be done when I had time. They were amazed by this.

Some months ago I notified them that I would not be providing payroll after end March this year. I chickened out of the real reason and told them new government regs meant It wasn't economically viable. They argued about that saying they weren't aware of the new regs. They asked, last week, for a P45 for someone who left on 2 April (last payroll of the year was 3 April). Their next paydate is 1 May and they haven't found a new provider yet.

What I should have done was recognise the red flags and sack them as a client after the first year, but I hoped it would improve.

Sorry, sometimes, when you work alone, you need a rant!
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Who is using llms.txt files?

BLRemovals
Shopclicks said:
Can you share how you first heard about llms.txt files? Interested to know how the message is getting out.
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I first came across it through a video by Imran from Web Squadron on YouTube — he does very practical, no-nonsense content on technical SEO and GEO topics. The video walked through what llms.txt is, why it matters for AI visibility, and the exact steps to create and upload the file. Worth watching if anyone wants a straightforward walkthrough rather than just reading about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmgudGV7U6Y
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Looking for some advice on distributing a tool to help UK exporters

Invergold
KVExp said:
Hi all!

I've been building a free tech platform to help UK SMEs with export compliance - automated commodity/HS code classification, document checklists, up-to-date regulatory warnings, that sort of thing. The aim is to make the lives of exporters in the UK simpler and easier, to focus less on paperwork and more on growing their overseas business.

It seems like post-Brexit paperwork and the recent Trump tariff changes have made export compliance noticeably more complicated for UK SMEs, and from what I've seen the support available from government bodies and trade organisations hasn't really kept pace with how quickly things are changing. I'm from a tech background and I'd love to help businesses here in the UK, particularly small-and-medium sized businesses, who are less readily equipped to deal with this.

I'm still early stage, trying to figure out the best way to get it in front of the right people. My current thinking is that freight forwarders and customs agents are the right channel - they work with first-time exporters regularly and could refer the tool to clients who need a bit of hand-holding before the shipment gets to them. But I'm not sure if that's naive.

A few things I'm genuinely uncertain about:

Is the referral logic sound? Would a forwarder or customs agent actually point a client towards a compliance tool, or does that feel like giving away something they'd rather charge for? I don't want to position it as competition to what they do - more as something that gets clients better prepared before they pick up the phone.

How do you actually reach them? Cold LinkedIn outreach feels like shouting into the void. Are there better channels - trade bodies, events, BIFA networks? Any approaches that have actually worked when trying to get in front of this audience?

Is the forwarder even the right entry point? Or would I be better off going direct to SME exporters, or through chambers of commerce, or somewhere else entirely?

Just trying to avoid spending three months knocking on the wrong doors. Any honest perspectives from people who know this world would be most welcome!

-K
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Great initiative – compliance is a genuine headache for SMEs, especially post-Brexit.

On your questions:

Referral logic – Some forwarders might see this as giving away billable work, but the smart ones will recognise that better-prepared clients mean fewer errors, less friction, and smoother shipments. Position it as reducing their admin burden, not replacing their service. If a client arrives with correct HS codes and docs, the forwarder's job gets easier.

Reaching forwarders – BIFA (British International Freight Association) is the key trade body for UK freight forwarders and customs agents. They have regional events, a member directory, and a newsletter. Cold LinkedIn can work but needs targeting – connect with compliance managers and branch managers, not just salespeople. The Freight Forward Awards and Multimodal exhibition (Birmingham, usually June) are also good networking spots.

Alternative entry points – Chambers of Commerce (especially those with export documentation services) and UK Export Finance are worth exploring. Also consider UKBF's own I'm Looking For... section – exporters sometimes post there directly.

One caution: HS code classification is notoriously nuanced. If your tool gives incorrect codes, users could face penalties. Make sure your liability disclaimer is solid.

Happy to connect you with a few forwarders I know if helpful. DM me.
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93% of operators face sanctions at Public Inquiry – what's the one thing you've checked today that could save your licence?

Invergold
I've been looking at the latest Traffic Commissioner data, and one statistic stopped me cold: of 920 Public Inquiries held, regulatory action was taken in 853 cases. That's 93% of operators facing sanctions, including licence revocation, suspension, or curtailment.

The common thread in almost every case? Maintenance records that couldn't withstand scrutiny.

The DVSA has quietly raised the bar for 2026. Brake performance assessment at every PMI isn't a recommendation anymore – it's an expectation Traffic Commissioners are enforcing rigorously. And those safety inspection sheets, brake evidence, and defect records? You need to keep them for at least 15 months now, immediately accessible.

But here's what's really keeping me up at night – the risks most operators don't see coming.

The third-party blind spot

You send vehicles out for overnight servicing to agents or dealers who aren't audited like operators do. They say the work is done. You collect the vehicle in the morning. If it's defective on the road, who carries the liability? You do.

One transport compliance manager I spoke with put it bluntly: "The biggest risk right now is agents and dealers. They're not managed or audited like operators, but you carry the liability if something's missed."

The "we disciplined the driver" trap

I've seen two recent Public Inquiries where transport managers genuinely thought they'd done a good job. Both had investigated S-mark prohibitions (worn tyres), documented everything, and disciplined the driver. Both were criticised by the Traffic Commissioner for not investigating the cause of the worn tyre – tracking issues in one case, over-inflated tyres in the other.

The expectation now is that Transport Managers should interrogate everything. Brake test imbalance percentages. Tyre wear patterns. PMI interval stretching. Even advisory notes from previous inspections.

The question for you

What's the one thing you've checked in your operation this week that you weren't checking six months ago?

I'm asking because I genuinely want to know how other operators are keeping up with standards that keep shifting.

A few things I've learned from operators who stay ahead:

  • Don't just download tachograph data – interrogate it for patterns, not just infringements
  • Build walkaround checks so drivers can't progress jobs until mandatory items are cleared
  • Audit your third-party agents. Their compliance gap is your liability gap
What's your biggest compliance headache right now? And what's actually working?
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How are other UK security businesses balancing website performance, trust signals, and real client acquisition in 2026?

fisicx
What worked for me is really only applicable to my business. Every business is going to be different.

For you it could be a combination of word of mouth and lots of advertising. Or it could be exhibiting at tradeshows. Or lots of marketing on linkedin. You need to try everything and see what worked.

But fix the site first. So many things wrong. But you need to be a Business Member to get a review.
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Selling my Shopify skincare store?

fisicx
Codeunkie1992 said:
I run a profitable Shopify Skincare store but want to sell it due to health reasons and I am unsure how my current in-house production setup will affect its sale on platforms like Filppa.
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It will make it very difficult to sell. If you employed someone to produce the goods it would be far more attractive to a potential buyer. Right now you aren’t selling a business, you are selling a job.
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Beware the union rep

S
U.K. seems to want to catch France up at a rate of knots in terms of size of State (fastest tax growth in the developed world) / workplace protections yet we're nowhere near as productive as the French per hour worked - this reads really terribly to me for UK growth prospects (and I mean private sector growth too, public sector growth is a given under a Labour administration). Coupled with the highest energy costs in the developed world and more and more regulation, what is the plan here? Seen nothing but my taxes go up, services get worse, and more regulation so far.
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Verifying you are not a robot on own sites

gpietersz
UKSBD said:
Unless you're running your own servers, is it just a case of leaving everything to the hosts and relying on the fact they don't have their settings set too strict?
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You can do some things like throttling and blocking particular IP blocks yourself, but that does not cover everything, and if its on top of what your host does. it might be too much.

You can definitely stick Cloudflare in front of your site.

Its very hard to know how many false positives there are. If you use Cloudflare they will tell you they have block x thousand bots, but that is really x thousand blocks - you have no idea how many people they blocked, or how many bots they let through.
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