Small Business

Do you own or manage a small business? In that case it's unfortunate but at the moment you might be having to make some people redundant (we are not going to use euphemisms like "let people go"). You need to be careful how you do it though, as the handling of this difficult issue is leading to reputation damage for a number of companies.

The reason is that people made redundant are telling ten or more people about how it went, which is their right. Social networks like Twitter and Facebook make it even easier to get word around about how well or badly someone has been treated on their way out.

If you had to guess what an innovative start-up business based in London that is securing major clients and has won a prestigious design award does, you probably wouldn't go for 'print newspapers'. But that's exactly what the Really Interesting Group's Newspaper Club does.

The club allows anyone to print their own 12-page newspaper for prices from 30p a copy. It has already been used by Penguin, Last.fm, the BBC and Wired UK.

British smaller and medium sized businesses (SMEs) are facing losses of more than £7bn from the worst Winter in decades, according to new research by Lloyds TSB Commercial.

As the impact of Britain's big freeze becomes clear, the research shows that 70% of small and medium sixed firms have been affected by the freezing conditions that have wreaked havoc across many parts of Britain.

Concern about UK job security is building again. Firstly, the Bank of England has warned that fears about job insecurity are still holding back the economy.

And the Chartered Institute of personnel and Development (CIPD) has also chimed in; it says UK unemployment compares poorly with Europe - and that the UK jobless picture is probably worse than the bare stats claim.

How about running this up your flagpole, seeing if anyone salutes at a bit of blue-sky thinking? But there's an elephant in the room – I've degenerated into fluent clichés and it's sounding a bit strained.

The odd thing – to me – is that some businesspeople really think this sort of nonsense is going to get them more work. It's a relief, then, that business generating agency Retriever has researched and proved that while 54% of companies resort to jargon to win pitches, it puts 62% of directors right off.

Here we go again with an expenses story but this time it's not in the public sector: according to new research from specialist payment card specialist fuelGenie, almost one in 30 staff are on the fiddle in small businesses.

Financial service staff are the worst offenders with some 18.2% admitting to claiming falsely (and if 18.2% admit to it you can be certain there are more).

Let's face it, the government's reputation for investing in small businesses has never been great.

Today a group of MPs are taking the matter seriously and pointing fingers at the UK government's management of its venture capital funding plans for those small businesses with prospects for growth.

There's a new batch of computer malware out there and it's attacking banks of small businesses. It's exploiting the trend for social networking and underlines the need to keep all security software absolutely up to date.

The US has reported more than $120m worth of losses in the third quarter of last year, according to a Financial Times report. ID fraud overall is costing the country $700m per quarter.

JK Rowling is the most inspirational entrepreneurial female role-model for young women in the UK, new research carried out by The Co-operative Financial Services (CFS) has revealed.

The Harry Potter author came out top of the survey, ahead of other respected names such as Stella McCartney and TV's Dragon's Den star, and successful business-woman, Deborah Meaden.

Small business owners whose staff stayed off during the snow earlier this year lost approx. £13,800 as a result, says new research from IT consultancy Ramsac.

The silly thing is that most of it could have been avoided through good business planning.

The Welsh are most likely to tip in restaurants, while the English are least likely. Despite their dour reputation, Scots are most likely to tip all the time. Those shy Northern Irish are most reticent in asking who gets the tip.

Just some of the statistics from a government campaign launched to promote better transparency in tipping. Nearly four in five consumers (79%) tend to tip, according to figures from the Department for Business, Skills and Innovation (DBIS). But only a fifth of them ask what happens to their tip (21%), something the government is campaigning to change.

The second annual Nectar Small Business Awards, sponsored (surprise surprise) by the loyalty card giant, are open for entry for small businesses in the UK.

This is an exciting chance not only to win £2000 but to be evaluated by a panel of judges including Dragon's Den's James Caan, Office Depot's John O'Keefe, Nectar's Charlie Humphreys and...well...me.

OK, this one hasn't only just opened. But I promised I'd cover any approaches from people running business academies without some sort of celebrity status.

And here we are. Jonathan Jay set up Success Track in 2008 and it's worth knowing about now because of two seminars it's running at the end of this week and the beginning of next.

The cost of borrowing money should be falling, right? Given record low interest rates and dwindling savings rates. Not to mention all the government's efforts to keep money pumping around the financial system. Wrong. it's not falling. In fact, it's the reverse. Borrowing is getting more, not less expensive.

A fifth of small businesses have seen the cost of existing borrowing rise in the last two months, according to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). Of those, a minority (6%) say the cost has risen by as much as 15% or more. Considering that small businesses are reckoned to be the lifeblood of the economy, that is bad news.

This year's Fairtrade Fortnight celebration will see a variety of organisations take part in a 'big swap' in order to raise awareness of ethical issues and promote fair trading values.

As part of the company's involvement with the celebration, Gossypium is asking people to swap their old tea-towels for brand new ones made of fair-trade cotton which they'll get for half the normal retail price.