It seems that lead generation companies are now targeting finance brokers.

I noticed an amusing flood of untargeted emails promising targeted leads.

Then, I flagged on LinkedIn a massively unprofessional- borderline illegal - ad for business loans, and was informed it is a lead generation company hiding behind the fact that they aren't actually offering or arranging any loans.

It's fair to say that the quality of leads will be pretty poor!

Nick43 said:

Exhibitions can work, but only if you go in with a clear objective. The stands that pull people in usually aren’t the flashiest — they’re the ones that know exactly who they want to talk to and what conversation they want to start.


For smaller businesses, I’ve noticed it works best when the event is treated as the first touch, not the closing moment. A simple way to capture details, a clear follow-up plan, and messaging tailored to your niche (especially in areas like lead gen for manufacturing or SaaS) can make a big difference.


I’ve heard similar reflections from people around Salesar — they often stress that events aren’t about collecting the most leads, but the right ones. If you leave with a handful of solid conversations and a structured follow-up plan, it’s usually worth the sore feet.

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2 posts, both mentioning the same company

Which probably sums up the quality of their leads

ctrlbrk said:

By that I mean, I don't want to know if you're making more money, but I'd be interested to know

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If I enable really aggressive ads, yes it actually does make quite a significant impact on the revenue - but I believe that it will come more from misclicks / fat fingers than actual genuine interest. It also has such a negative impact on user experience; it just isn't worth it for me.
As I mentioned on another post, I purchased UKBF back personally to keep it online rather than shut down - so only need enough income to keep the lights on. I don't draw any income from it, so no need for any aggressive ads.

This 'tweaks' as Google has automatically done only make nominal difference, but as mentioned above that isn't happening right now and in the previews that I watched those injected ads shown above were not live - hence I don't think in this instance it is the UKBF account on Google doing it (words chosen carefully).

Paul DF said:

In education, it's imperative that you'd have your credentials on your CV. If they take the form of letters after your name, then fine. You would, for instance put Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) to prove you'd taken a post-graduate course and enhanced your skills as an education professional. Many schools and colleges will look more favourably on any candidate who has a PGCE. However, you wouldn't add it to your email signature when working at a school or college because everyone around you probably has one and it would simply be superfluous. However, let's say you left education and wanted to work for a theatre company doing outreach work in schools/colleges, etc and other workshop settings with children and young people. A PGCE on your CV is going to look better than even a BA (Hons) on its own (which many candidates will probably have in the same interview room). It's not a professional body membership acronym or even a qualification (though it is) in many ways - for certain contents it is not just a badge that says you learned about Shakespeare in your BA (Hons), but that you understand how to teach Shakespeare within a formal pedagogical framework. Those with a PGCE are prized, so you'd be remiss to exclude it when applying for certain jobs.

I've never once thought anyone with letters after their name is a prat. If you're proud of things you've achieved then great. Especially where the thing you've achieved moves you to a new stepping stone in your career, rather than just means you've kept your membership of something up to date.

I do have a problem with titles given by royalty as these are applied for, not necessarily earned directly. This is open to abuse ... Titles for Cash....just nominate someone for an award and get cash in your pocket in return.

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The thread is 6 years old. It is now closed

Funds were released today after 21 business days, all resolved now.

Newchodge said:

Don't forget you will need employer's liability insurance

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Already in place. Thanks.

I went through something similar when I launched my online business. Traffic was tiny at first, and I wasn’t sure where to focus. I ended up hiring PR Superstar to help with media coverage and strategic PR, and it really helped get my brand noticed even before running ads. For social, I’d pick the platform where your audience already hangs out the most rather than trying to do both. And yes, the holiday season can be great for B2C, but only if you plan early and make your promotions clear.

Given the environmental cost, I think there is a huge problem coming!

Thanks for the data, @WaveJumper

If the site really is only around 100kW as you mentioned, that’s not huge in commercial terms, so I’d be looking very closely at load profile before jumping into solar + PPA. In my experience, it’s not just total usage but when you’re using it that makes or breaks the numbers. If most of the demand is during working hours, great, solar will offset nicely. If a big chunk is evenings or overnight, the savings can look very different.

I also noticed someone suggested outright purchase or finance instead of a PPA. For smaller sites, I’ve found the returns can actually stack up better that way, especially with current kit prices. PPAs tend to shine on larger, multi-site portfolios.

Have you already had half-hourly data analysed to see what your daytime consumption actually looks like?

Almost all review sites and platforms they plagued with fake and auto generated reviews. The platforms themselves don’t really care.

The fake reviews are to build up credibility for the reviewer who can then sell their services on sites like fiverr.

my biggest worry with registered address service is some unscrupulus lender giving out finance/business credit cards to the registered address, and the mail being intercepted.

The registered address would be a nice honeypot for scammers to target, if the registered address is not strict and allows collect mail, they could easily be targeted.

The market is too diluted.
Has she thought about specialising?

We used one for a stag do. But you could also look at golf holidays or sports teams etc?

Realistically I reckon most of the market just goes online.

I have only booked holidays using price comparison sites. I say this as someone who also takes a hit from price comparison sites... She either needs a local base, somewhere people can come in and promote herself as a local agent where people can come in and get help etc. Ideally a town/village where there is a big "shop local" theme or what I did... Specialise.

Get in with some golf pros for example. Buy some golf balls from the golf pro for the people going - this will help the golf pro (as they can struggle with online competition too) and its a freebie for the customers.

Maybe sports teams?
Stag do's
I would say cruises but I think thats probably a bit too diluted too.
Singles? Might be a hard sell though.
Or maybe a little morbid but I read there is a growing demand for older people to go to places like thailand for care. They get nicer accommodation, warmer climate, better care for a fraction of the price - maybe touring tris to visit 2-3 care homes? You might then be able to get repeat custom from the families when they go to visit?

Just off the top of my head.

Ozzy said:

Well done for planning ahead for your business, and it's a great start for your online marketing campaign and perfect for a business just like yours.

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That's what we need: patronising AI bots to tell us how great our idea was.

Me, I don't need any AI bot - @fisicx has all the answers

From experience, many start with either an LLP or Ltd company to manage liability and taxation. Draft a joint venture agreement that details capital contribution, management responsibilities, profit distribution, and exit strategy. Trustee accounts can be used, but legal clarity is more critical.

Adalberto is no longer a member. Closing this ancient thread.

Thank you all for your advice.

I'm in discussions with my accountant to see if there are any tax liabilities. If there aren't, it should be fairly straight forward. If there are, then it's going to be complicated.

reviews of any type are only permitted for business members.

You may also need to consider HMRC (see the links below), I am not an expert but one of my clients had a similar situation recently. You should talk to your accountant for professional advice if you are unsure.

Many sets of accounts explicitly state the director’s loan is “repayable on demand” (in which case, yes — the company (i.e. the board) can require repayment).

The company should have an agreement with you on the mechanism for repaying back any loan. However, in my experience with small companies this can often be informal and the pressure comes for immediate payment when cash gets tight. If you are unsure check the articles, any director/shareholder loan agreement, board minutes, etc.

The HMRC angle - even if the company or other directors are not asking for repayment timing, there are HMRC consequences if it stays overdrawn, some things to check with your accountant:

• If it’s not repaid within 9 months and 1 day after HMRC can impose a levy (33.75% of loan value?) on GOV.UK for loans made after 6 April 2022). Once the loan is settled I understand the levy is paid back?
• 
  
• If the loan is over £10,000 at any point, it’s usually treated as a benefit in kind and there can be personal tax / employer NIC implications.
• 
  
• If the company charges interest below HMRC’s official rate, the “discount” can also create a benefit in kind.

If this is a concern for you, a quick email or call to your accountant and they should easily guide you through your specific situation and timings.

You passport would have been stamped if entering and leaving the EU

Hey, my name is Liam and I'm working with an Estonian startup. We're basically an AI integrator company - we create automation tools, analysis tools, tuned models and so on.


Months ago we discussed a project to improve how support is handled for startups and companies, like an all-in-one best solution. I coded an MVP back then, took me about 4 months back in 2021 using Python with GPT. It wasn't as impressive as today.


2025, I told my colleagues that I wanted to bring back this project that I'm very emotionally attached to. I started working on it in October 2024 and started committing updates locally almost every day and reviewed it with my team. Yesterday I woke up surprisingly with 6 paying users already - I feel dad proud moment. No ads are launched yet, we're currently discussing this with my colleagues, so I wanna thank you very much. I know the leads were organic from our company's website, but still it means a lot to me as a developer who was obsessed and wanted to solve a real world problem.


Briefly, this support agent is simple to setup - it learns from your website pages, it goes through all of your website or business no matter what niche, supports document uploading for knowledge as well. All of this is used to build a strong knowledge base. In the dashboard all the knowledge can be updated, edited or removed, and it can learn automatically from previous conversations with your visitors/clients.


You can simply add it to your website or shop and it will handle all the customer queries & calls, everything. It can be set up in 2 minutes. It supports voice calling allowing you to talk with the AI in natural voice, you can modify the tone, custom instructions and so on. It supports artifacts, can book meetings, get quotes and so on.


I wanted to share my story here, just to tell other SaaS members - whatever project you're hiding somewhere on your desktop, that idea you gave up on - it's now the time. With the technology we have you can make greater things with it. I'd also love to hear your stories guys, and if you have any suggestions or improvements I can make I'd appreciate it Here's the platform in question: Chirps.cc (maybe links aren't allowed in here so if it got removed by moderators that's fine).


Thank you so much.

Jprandss said:

Thought process being (from a financial point of view) that each company over the VAT limit but under the £230k threshold would benefit from the flat rate scheme (4% for us in confectionary) wheareas lumped together would all be standard rate.
Very little input VAT can be claimed back as mostly VAT free ingredients.

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My though process was there may have been a VAT disaggregation problem if you had multiple business, doing basically the same thing, all under the threshold.

I’m an engineer and accountant, and like many here, I’ve been frustrated with how Xero Payroll handles Benefits-in-Kind (BIK). Specifically, when an employee joins or leaves mid-month, or changes a car/medical plan, Xero doesn't automate the HMRC proration logic.

I ended up building a tool via the Xero API that does the math and syncs the benefit lines in seconds. I'm curious—for those managing UK payroll, how are you currently handling mid-year P11D changes? Are you still stuck in Excel, or have you found a better workaround?

UKSBD said:

The contract says - "Full time employees are entitled to 27 days paid leave per year and all UK public holidays within the holiday year"

Because they have worded that badly I assume that means the full time workers will actually get 37 days holiday next year (from April) even though they would really only be entitled to 28 had the contract been written better?

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Yes. There are 2 separate elements:

The legal minimum holiday entitlement is 5.6 weeks. for a 5 day week this is 28 days and, by law, can include bank holidays. So a sensible contract would say 5.6 weeks entitlement and a separate clause will deal with 'compulsory' holidays so if the organisation is always closed on bank holidays it would state that you would be required to use part of the holiday entitlement to cover bank holidays. That way everyone gets the same amount of paid holiday, every year. If there is a contractual working week (7 hours) that is the amount of time used in the week's holiday calculation.

A contract can over-ride legal entitlement only if it offers something better. In this case it offers 7 days' additional holiday plus all bank holidays. There are 8 recognised holidays in England and Wales but some years there will be 10 if Easter falls twice in the same holiday year, plus the government has been known to grant additional bank holidays.

The contract is, however, illegal in that it restricts entitlement to 1/12th of a completed month. You start to accrue holiday on the day you start work, so that needs to be changed.

Holiday pay is a separate question and, if there are fixed contractual hours plus additional working time must be calculated on the average week's pay over the previous worked 52 weeks. If there is, eg, a week's sick leave that week does not count for the average. The 52 weeks starts with the week prior to the week the leave starts.

Ian J said:

I still use Excel 2003 but don't tell anyone

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Not to mention the time you save, the ease of use, the low cost and the great information you get from it. It is not a secret but as they say ‘you can only lead a horse to water.’