Recent content by vhjay

  1. vhjay

    Bounce back loan

    Hello fellow host! <waves> Totally agree. We're lucky in that we haven't lost all that much business as a result of this (though we did lose a few festival and events sites once dates started getting cancelled!) but our new business has very quickly dried up. We're onboarding a few new...
  2. vhjay

    Phone answering

    Thanks for taking the time to respond Emma - I do think that it's important when somebody is considering such a service not just to listen to business owners that are happy with their side of the deal, but to the people (like myself) that regularly get put through to such services. From what...
  3. vhjay

    Phone answering

    That's fair enough - as I said each business is different. I work in concerts and live events so getting through to one of these services at a crucial moment will probably annoy me more than most, I can accept that. I'll also bow out, and hope that we've at least given the OP some contrasting...
  4. vhjay

    Phone answering

    I can completely understand your point Hazel, but my concern is that the reason clients will choose the smaller or 'one person' enterprise is for the level of personal service received and the ability to contact the business owner directly without having to negotiate a menu system or...
  5. vhjay

    Phone answering

    I'm sorry, but short of your International Worldwide Headquarters e-mail address being @hotmail.com, few things on this earth scream out 'One Man Band' more than outsourcing your telephone answering. Depending on the situation, I have no issues at all in dealing with a one-person organisation...
  6. vhjay

    Phone answering

    +1 +100 in fact. I hate, hate, hate telephone answering services. They're essentially a long drawn out voicemail service provided by a real person who often knows nothing about your business that can't be read from a script, nothing about where you are or how long you'll be, and nothing about...
  7. vhjay

    Company Van, Personal Finance

    Hi All, I've recently been looking at purchasing a van on finance for our AV/media business. I visited my local dealer to discuss a finance application and they advised that because the business is around 18 months old, it'd be more straightforward to apply for personal finance, because for a...
  8. vhjay

    Employing a part-time sales person!

    Thanks for taking the time to give such an in-depth response :-) At the moment I'm open to all suggestions. I'm busy re-designing our website and integrating it with our Facebook and Twitter accounts, and won't be launching much in the way of marketing activity until this is done - as you say...
  9. vhjay

    Employing a part-time sales person!

    Thanks Louis, you're not the first person to suggest investing in SEO and PR/Social Media management rather than a member of staff. I guess my concern here is that an employee would have a vested interest in increasing sales, chasing leads and increasing turnover, as their job would depend on...
  10. vhjay

    Employing a part-time sales person!

    Hi All, I'm looking at employing somebody part-time to generate leads for our video production and photography division. We film everything from school plays to corporate promos, training DVDs and awards ceremonies and have been trading now for close to 18 months. When the phone rings, or an...
  11. vhjay

    Superfast Broadband, but wait...

    Bob, that's very good, and beats my awful 8mb Sky broadband out of the water. Put very simply, a 'ping' is a tiny amount of data that is sent to a web server to test connectivity - if successful, the server will respond, and the time taken is measured in milliseconds. The shorter the better -...
  12. vhjay

    What to do first?

    I shouldn't tell you this, as it'll go against any advice you'll get from mentors or banks, but with a new venture I prefer to jump into the deep end first, and get out and research the market, build up interest via Facebook or Twitter, and get a basic site online first to gauge interest...
  13. vhjay

    Web Design + Photography Business - Where Do I Begin?

    Ensure that you have good links with your web host - if you're wanting to offer hosting as part of the package, you'll be the first point of call for your clients if things go wrong, and you need to know that your host will have someone at the end of the phone for you so that you're not stuck...
  14. vhjay

    Superfast Broadband, but wait...

    Unless that city is Stoke on Trent...in which case you're on your own. Not that I'm bitter :-P
  15. vhjay

    Cheap website :-)

    WordPress is fairly straightforward, as are many of the site building tools out there. Most hosting companies (ourselves included) will offer a 1-click install, and assist with installing themes etc. One tip if you do decide to host with wordpress.com - use their free option, but don't be...
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